Napa-Based Retail Realm Holds Winery Summit

Napa, CA, June 17, 2015 --(PR.com)-- Catering to an important retail vertical located on its home turf, Napa-based Retail Realm (www.rrdisti.com) held a Winery Summit last week at the upscale Meritage Resort and Spa, in the heart of California Wine Country. The purpose? To introduce many of Retail Realm’s existing and future clients in the wine trade to the latest offering from Microsoft, “Retail Realm Essentials® powered by Microsoft Dynamics” and highlight its fit for the sector.

Describing the Microsoft Road Map for Retail, Duncan Taylor - Microsoft’s Global Retail Industry Director - described how the transformation in consumer purchasing habits and influences had led Microsoft down the path of developing new, robust and multifaceted management systems for the retail space and point of sale that respond to an evolving multi-channel culture. In an era where it is commonplace to access an array of media (internet and social media in addition to the more traditional broadcast and print) for research purposes before making the important decision to buy; where methods used to finalize purchases include a plethora of mobile devices in addition to the more traditional visit to brick and mortar stores/locations; retailers must rise to the challenge. Consumers now expect to access goods at times and locations of their choosing, and the ability to accurately forecast demand, maximize the smart use of stock to cover all the available sales channels is paramount to a) remaining competitive b) fulfilling the demands being made by consumers and, ultimately, c) a successful retail business. The resulting “Retail Realm Essentials® powered by Microsoft Dynamics” (based on the robust Microsoft Dynamics AX platform) makes this all possible and is scaleable to grow with a business … It is also well suited to the requirements of winery groups. With many wineries in the Napa area currently using Microsoft Dynamics RMS (Retail Management System), Taylor emphasized that Microsoft will ensure that existing RMS users have a solid and easy transition path to this immensely more flexible, modern and scalable retail centric solution.

Ryan Grant, Software Support Manager at Retail Realm (who has an in-depth understanding of wineries, with a background of 20+ years working in the wine trade) then took attendees through the Retail Realm Essentials® solution, homing in on those functionalities (both back office and at the POS) that are particularly pertinent to the sector including: discounts and promotions, loyalty, integration –out of the box- to a number of EMV compliant card processors, enhanced inventory and reports; mobility to facilitate a number of activities (including stocktake); label printing; video display/signage solutions for tasting rooms. He also demonstrated how adept the system is at managing multi-store/site locations and touched upon a number of other developments, integrations and enhancements that are in the pipeline.

But no Winery Summit would be complete without the presence of other players in the marketplace that either currently operate within the winery sector and/or have relevant products and enhancements that already integrate with or are in the process of being integrated to Retail Realm Essentials®. bLoyal which specializes in customer retention/loyalty for tasting rooms and simplyCMS which offers a direct to customer e-commerce platform specializing in wines (with the stringent U.S. laws associated with wine sales being factored into both companies’ solutions) also gave presentations. So too did Dinerware, which caters to those wineries that have on site restaurants and/or delis; credit card processor, Heartland, and Retail Hero (which gave a preview of a new single location POS solution, “Retail Management Hero,” to accommodate the smaller winery).

The event also included an exhibition area with stands from all the presenters. Other food and beverage solution providers included Granbury Solutions and Vin 65. As Retail Realm distributes Microsoft’s solutions exclusively through Resellers, two such Resellers, Blue Horshoe and UXC Eclipse, also exhibited.

Further information on “Retail Realm Essentials® powered by Microsoft Dynamics” can be obtained by contacting sales@rrdisti.com.

About Retail Realm: For almost two decades multinational company, Retail Realm has specialized in creating and managing a portfolio of vertical business software solutions that are marketed worldwide through a community of resellers. Retail Realm is a leading distributor of Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System (RMS), Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail and the new “Retail Realm Essentials™ powered by Microsoft Dynamics.” The company has also adopted additional add-ons and stand-alone products developed by leading companies that enhance or integrate with RMS and/or Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail.