Following our recent review of customer feedback, it has become clear that the main area our customers feel needs addressing and improving within our platform is Emergency Till, our till that runs offline when broadband connection has been lost. We have taken this on board and are pleased to announce that we will be launching a new and improved version this autumn.
As you know, we are always looking to lead the way when it comes to innovation within the retail technology sector. As part of our review of what is known as Emergency Till in our RetailStore platform, we looked at ways in which we can utilise new technologies to vastly improve the functionality of this feature. One such technology is HTML5.
Web technologies and the word “offline” are 2 terms that most people wouldn’t associate with each other. However, the introduction of HTML5 changes this. There are many exciting new technologies brought by HTML5, but offline capabilities are the most relevant to the Cybertill RetailStore platform.
Caching files within the browser has been available for many years, but HTML5 allows us to take that one step further. Initially designed to help developers speed up their web apps, HTML5’s caching technologies are so powerful that they allow us to integrate our software directly with the browser.
The inclusion of new browser technologies, such as AppCache (Application Cache) and Local Storage, allow us to implement some innovative tools to improve the user’s experience when using our products. The greatest example of this being our new offline mode within the till.
The new caching features of HTML5 allow us to store a copy of our application, locally, on the retailer’s machine. We can make it accessible to users when there is no internet connection. As well as this, we can store a snapshot of the data that a till needs to operate locally. This makes it possible for our retailers to work seamlessly during times when their internet connections are intermittent or unavailable altogether.
Once a connection to our cloud based system is available again, our till will use the locally stored data to sync with RetailStore and bring everything up to date. All of this is done in the background so that our retailers can focus on what is important to them.
By bringing together the new features of HTML5 and our web technologies, we are able to revolutionise our Offline Till solution.
The new fully integrated Offline Till will:
- Be hosted in the same browser as the standard online version of the till
- Enable the browser cache to automatically store the till skin and data including the current transaction
- Activate within the browser when broadband connection is lost
- Sync all data automatically when broadband reconnects
This offers a number of benefits for the retailer:
- Seamless transition between online/offline solutions to improve customer experience and remove service disruption when internet connection is lost
- The ability to complete a sale that is started online once the till moves into offline mode
- Remove the requirement for a separate software application to be installed on POS machines
- Remove the need to learn how to use more than one software application
- Improve reliability of the till connection
- Improve compatibility with tablets and mobile devices
Watch this space for more in depth information about our new Offline Till feature which is due for launch this autumn.
Rachel is passionate about retail and the ever-changing retail technology environment, with a keen eye for upcoming retail trends that are set to shake up the sector.
