ORLANDO, USA, PERSPECTIVES 2007: Epicor|CRS, the Retail Solutions Division of Epicor Software Corp., a leading provider of enterprise business software solutions to the midmarket and divisions of Global 1000 companies, has unveiled the CRS RetailCRM 2.0 to attendees of the company’s annual customer conference, Epicor Perspectives 2007.

The enhanced customer relationship management (CRM) solution gives specialty retailers advanced tools to drive sales, increase loyalty and support the business processes necessary for success in today’s competitive marketplace. With a Microsoft.NET-based service-oriented architecture (SOA) as its foundation, RetailCRM provides integrated capabilities for customer analysis, customer segmentation, campaign management and loyalty program management.

RetailCRM is designed to support multiple sales channels, and employs powerful analysis tools that provide a consolidated view of the customer and enable targeted communications with point-of-sale (POS) or other sales channels –- supporting real-time loyalty points management.

"Epicor|CRS shares our vision to provide retailers with innovative software solutions that enhance the overall shopping experience for customers,” said Paula Paravecchio, managing director, Worldwide Retail Industry,  Microsoft Corp. “RetailCRM is built on Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Reporting Services and provides businesses with analytics tools and reporting capabilities that can be used to derive insight from data that is captured at every customer touch point to make more-informed business decisions."

Know customer, improve shopping experience
RetailCRM couples an advanced ability to segment customers by combining demographics, RFM (recency, frequency and monetary value) measures, purchase history and response to loyalty initiatives, with powerful analytics and reporting capabilities. With access to information regarding customer preferences, shifts in shopping patterns and product affinities within a segment, retailers can make faster, better decisions about day-to-day and longer-term operations.

According to a recent AMR Research report: "To increase intelligence about consumers and build shopping allegiance, 53 percent of retailers plan to add to, improve, or replace their CRM applications in 2007.  [Retail] leaders seek to retain and expand relationships with their most valuable customers by providing consistent and positive cross-channel customer interactions."