New York City — KWI, an industry-leading cloud solutions provider to the specialty retail sector, has enjoyed record-breaking growth in its fiscal year 2014. The company celebrated 30 years in business adding new clients to its roster and additional key executives to its ranks. Expanding expertise, and utilizing progressive cloud innovation and advanced in-store functionality, led to an increased usage of mobile POS and real-time omni-channel capabilities, while positioning KWI for continued growth in 2015.
KWI continues to experience growth with its Cloud 9 Mobile Platform utilized by its base of more than 60 retailers, up over 100% since 2013. New clients Peter Millar, WSS, Ramy Brook, Milly N.Y. and Hello Kitty and others joined the ranks of KWI’s existing clients including David Yurman, Steven Alan, Pandora, Tom Ford, Brighton Collectibles and Intermix in 2014.
“It’s an exciting time at KWI as we grow with our clients and engage with enterprise-class retailers looking for cloud solutions to execute their omni-channel strategies faster with mobile in the cloud,” states Gary Brill, vice president of business development. “Our platform is scalable, so KWI clients are able to focus on the growth of their businesses and rely on KWI to do the rest. Retailers are experiencing the value of mobile deployments in record time with limited integration requirements, and realize immediate benefits.”
In addition, KWI has added key executive positions to lead technology infrastructure and software development. Bill Barasch joined KWI as chief technology officer and Krishna Mukherjee joined KWI as vice president of software development, each bringing more than 20 years’ experience in the fields of operations and technology.
The acquisition of the source code for the KWI Cloud 9 Mobile platform in January 2014 from Verifone, enabled KWI to turn out innovation with record speed including the newly announced Apple Pay compatibility. The platform offers an enhanced customer experience with real-time product information and provides a unique platform that can be stand-alone or combined with traditional POS in store.
“It is an exciting time for KWI and our retailers,” states Sam Kliger, CEO of KWI. “Most rewarding for KWI and our retail customers alike is the return on their investment. In a recent 2014 holiday report based on sales transactions, one of our mobile retailers had 74% of their transactions rung up on mobile and experienced an 11% increase in units per transaction and a 10% increase in average dollar per transaction versus their traditional POS in the same stores. Across the board, our 60+ clients, with a mixed POS and mobile environment, had higher units per transaction and higher average dollars per sale than those with POS only.”
Pandora, one of KWI’s larger retailers with nearly 300 stores, attributes the mobile platform in their stores to higher customer engagement. Bert Barber, manager of POS at Pandora, says, “Our sales associates are more engaged and educated on product since mobile was implemented with KWI. The continual face-to-face contact with the customer allows for sales to occur with start to finish customer interaction, increasing impulse buys and basket size. KWI has been a great partner, understanding retail and is truly available to support our business.”
For more information, visit kwi.com.
SOURCE: KWI