Empowering Roots Canada’s digital transformation journey

Roots Corporation combines its iconic look with a stylish Point-of-Sale system Empowering RootsDAVIDsTEA Canada’s digital digital transformation transformation journey journey

Elevating their historical roots The Canadian retailer selected the HP RP9 G1 and HP MX10 Mobile Retail Solution to meet the modern expectations of today’s consumers as part of a digital transformation that honours its heritage.

The founders of Roots Corporation What Roots wanted was for customers was needed to meet Roots’ expectations. started with a simple idea. Their passion to engage and connect with the shopping It also needed to run Oracle XStore POS, for aesthetics and affinity for the experience in their stores, leveraging which Roots intended to implement in Canadian wilderness inspired an iconic technology to facilitate walking in, concert with the new hardware selected. brand now known across North America, experiencing, and enjoying the Asia, and online. Since its first store environment. opening 40 years ago in Toronto, Roots “People perceive technology when they “People perceive has endeavoured to stay true to the walk into a retail location,” said Sergio guiding principles of its brand while at Gomez, IT Director at Roots Canada. technology when the the same time keeping up with the “First, through how the devices look and customer experience expectations of second, how they are able to interact walk in to a retail contemporary consumers. with those devices.” location,” said Sergio Roots needed to reinvent its shopping What better way to impact perception experience to focus on improving than at the heart of retail operations – Gomez, IT Director at one-to-one engagements. The retailer the Point-of-Sale (POS) System? Overall, Roots Canada. wanted the customer journey to be more Roots’ POS hardware was outdated and than just your every-day retail industrial. A stylish and engaging POS interaction: walk in, purchase, walk out. system that was durable and retail-grade 2 Empowering RootsDAVIDsTEA Canada’s digital digital transformation transformation journey journey

The road to implementation As part of the vendor selection process, Roots wanted to be an educated consumer when it went looking for a new POS system. Core technical requirements and security did not only inform their decision, but just as importantly, its aesthetic look and durability.

HP naturally became a candidate the devices in a matrix for required and very appealing in being able to provide a because of its longstanding reputation desired characteristics. sleek appearance at the cash desk” said for being at the forefront of tech design Almost all the stakeholders favoured Katelyn Toms, Manager, Store Systems. trends. After touring HP’s Retail Division’s HP’s solutions; specifically, they opted Roots’ HP solutions also included popular Headquarters in Houston, Roots was for the HP RP9 G1 Retail System, a 15.6” peripherals, such as receipt printers, cash invited to HP’s testing lab to see its all-in-one solution, and the HP MX10 drawers, 2D imaging barcode scanners, solutions in action. Convertible Retail System, a 10” mobile customer displays, and services through HP’s Quality and Reliability Labs subject solution. 100% of the stakeholders at the extended warranties for both the HP HP equipment to military-grade reliability Roots (including representatives from RP9 G1 and HP MX10s. testing to retail-proof HP POS hardware Retail Operations, District Managers and HP’s Four-Hour Response Solution Care for the best consumer experience – a fine Store Managers) preferred the HP Pack covered the system and attached balance between rugged to handle a solution, especially the added customer accessories, guaranteeing response time high-transaction retail environment and benefit of the customer display and the anywhere in Canada where Roots stores visually pleasing to complement the mobile feature of the tablet. The were located. HP laser printers for store aesthetic. combination of static and mobile allowed management reporting rounded off the Post-visit, Roots looked to internal for the retail experience to be adaptable store technology solution. stakeholders for feedback and set up a across the sales floor: ready to go when mock-retail environment at its head the customer was ready to buy. office. Participants were asked to score “The aesthetic of the RP9 and MX10 were 3 Empowering RootsDAVIDsTEA Canada’s digital digital transformation transformation journey journey

Moving from idle to efficient Deployment began as a pilot at a half dozen Roots stores, followed by the bulk of locations being upgraded over a short but smooth six-week period. Stores came online with the new hardware within two hours of receiving the product, as HP had set up, staged and tested the product prior to shipping.

Simultaneously, Oracle XStore POS went Now, when field employees encounter a reducing manual returns post-sale. live on the HP hardware without any hiccup, troubleshooting is simplified by Future functionality of using the disruption to retail or back office streamlining support from the HP Help interactive touch for customer input and operations. When systems arrived Desk, reducing the amount of back and interactive marketing could be explored. in-store, it was simply plug-and-play for forth between retail and head office With the mobility of the MX10, the on-site install team. Benefits were technical support. Being able to react employees could now implement quickly seen by both employees and quickly through the HP Help Desk meant “save-the-sale” capabilities by bringing customers, as the implementation a boon to productivity, and less stress for an e-commerce platform direct to the improved operational efficiencies from both head office technical support and customer without interruption, increasing the start. the retail staff on the front lines. In conversions and the average number of addition to increased speed of service, transactions per day. Employees also For employees, the learning curve was the biggest asset to the customer nearly non-existent. Roots initially sent have added functionality at their experience was demonstrated through fingertips, with the ability to view out trainers to coach the staff on the new the customer display for the RP9 and the products online and check store hardware but the trainers were met with option for mobility with the MX10 inventory, reducing customer wait times. little to no follow-up questions. convertible station. Pre-implementation, Roots was With the customer display, there are no experiencing an increase in service calls surprises when paying for merchandise, due to hardware components failing. improving overall transaction times and 4 4 Empowering RootsDAVIDsTEA Canada’s digital digital transformation transformation journey journey

Keeping up with customer demand It should come as no surprise that Roots’ digital transformation journey has been healthy for its bottom line too. Along with the major times of year for any retailer, like Black Friday and the holidays, Roots’ peak period for the year is in August, when it has its big back to school sweat sale.

With an increase in traffic comes an “The store staff love the features that the increase in the number of transactions. mobile solution provides outside of the For Roots, implementing the new standard point of sale functions, as well For Roots, implementing technology has reduced Total Operating as the benefits of the customer display in the new technology has Costs (TOC) by lowering cost of service communicating pricing and discounts to and reducing rate of in-field incidents customers,” said Katelyn Toms, Manager, reduced Total Operating requiring attention from support teams. Store Systems at Roots. HP’s modern POS components such as “The devices are no longer driven by how Costs by lowering cost of faster, more reliable SSDs replaced long they are going to last, but by how service and reducing rate failing hard drives and enhanced remote you use them and the applications management capability reduced the need available,” said Gomez. of in-field incidents. for truck rolls and physical service calls. Finally, the HP solution care pack reduces For store employees and operations Roots’ internal costs in the unlikelihood staff, implementing the HP POS platform that any components in the new POS was a big boost to productivity, while system fail. customers see more accurate and speedier transactions.

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Dressed for success

Roots Canada expects to process even more transactions as its business continues to grow and it’s confident that its new hardware running Oracle XStore POS software can keep up. Five years ago, it was difficult to understand and rare to see the place of technology within the retail space. Now, you can’t run without it. HP is taking the time to invest in Roots and help the retailer react quickly to that growth making the interaction between hardware and software, between customer and store associate, between consumer and their newly purchased item – just easier.

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For more information on HP Retail Solutions, visit hp.com/go/retail

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