Marcole: Interactive Point of Service Systems

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> Partners: MarCole and IBM help retailers generate new business
October, 2003
MarCole Enterprises Inc., an independent software vendor (ISV) that provides interactive point-of-sale software to Small and Medium Business (SMB) retailers, has developed a solution, Gift RegistryWorks, based on IBM technology that takes the guess-work out of gift giving.

Retailers, including Neiman Marcus, Linens 'n Things and Boscov's, use the Marcole/IBM solution to offer a service that allows customers to purchase gifts from a list generated by the registrant. The registry system provides real-time, on demand access from wherever the gift buyer may be.

As a provider of interactive, multimedia systems for retailers, MarCole was convinced of the advantages of open source. It was an easy decision to choose IBM over Microsoft because Microsoft couldn't offer us what IBM does in terms of standards-based robust, feature-rich Java 2 Platform Enterprise Edition (J2EE) solutions targeting retail environments, said David Pava, vice president of sales for MarCole.

One satisfied IBM/MarCole customer is Boscov's, a $1.1 billion department store chain operating in five mid-Atlantic states.

MarCole has the only game in town that I'm aware of for gift registry that runs on a Linux platform, said Harry Roberts, CIO of Boscov. It reduces the cost of computing and provides a very scalable, robust infrastructure.

MarCole has a longstanding relationship with IBM and recently joined the IBM ISV Advantage Initiative. MarCole is offering WebSphere Application Server and DB2 running Linux. MarCole defines the SMB market as businesses with fewer than 100 stores.

MarCole was the first to incorporate high-quality digital product images with gift registry applications, enabling registration and purchase of special order items. MarCole understood the value of IBM's assistance in enabling retailers to become on demand e-businesses by providing open platforms running on Linux — WebSphere Application Servers and DB2. In fact, their gift registry and electronic catalog solutions are Web-enabled and provide an integrated platform on WebSphere Application Server running on eServer xSeries.

Pava said he envisions matching product photos stored on participating manufacturers' image servers with retailer gift registries in real time — enriching the gift registration and shopping experience — while driving revenue for retailers and their suppliers. For more information on MarCole, visit: http://www.marcole.com

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