Microsoft Windows XP

Customer Solution Case Study

Spanish Retailer Signs Co-Marketing Plan

After Deploying New Point-of-Sale Solution

Overview “...The decisive factors for using Windows XP

Country or Region: Spain
Industry: Retail
Embedded were the support behind Microsoft
and the number of applications and devices
Customer Profile
El Corte Inglés (ECI) is a leading
that are easily integrated with the new
retailer in Spain with €12 billion operating system."
(U.S.$14.5 billion) of annual
Pedro Espinosa, Head of the Avenew Expertise Centre, Informática El Corte Ingles
revenue and more than 72,000 El Corte Inglés (ECI) is a leading retailer in Spain with
employees at 80 retail centers in
Spain. €12 billion (U.S.$14.5 billion) of annual revenue and
more than 72,000 employees. ECI executives wanted to
Business Situation
ECI wanted to rejuvenate its point- improve the company's Avenew point-of-sale (POS)
of-sale system by replacing its IBM system and market it to other retailers. Working with
4690 operating system, which was
too inflexible to meet the needs of Microsoft, Accenture, and its own subsidiary firm,
shoppers and could not provide Informática El Corte Ingles (IECISA), ECI first decided to
modern sales tools for its staff.
look for a replacement for its IBM proprietary operating
Solution system. After a proof of concept, ECI decided to
Microsoft® Services recommended
that ECI adopt Microsoft Windows® standardize on the Microsoft® Windows® XP Embedded
XP Embedded. ECI is working with operating system and Web services. ECI has delivered
Accenture and Microsoft to market
the new point-of-sale system to the new architecture to a specialty fashion store where
other retailers. staff are now better supported, enabling them to
Benefits provide excellent service for shoppers. The solution is
 Sales outlets now provide not only being extended to all ECI stores by 2008, but is
improved service
 Improved sales tools for staff
also being offered to other retailers after a co-marketing
 Integrates easily with mobile deal.
devices
 Electronic audit trails replace
paper
Microsoft Windows XP
Customer Solution Case Study

Spanish Retailer Signs Co-Marketing Plan

After Deploying New Point-of-Sale Solution
 Situation
El Corte Inglés (ECI) is a leading
retailer in Spain with €12 billion
(U.S.$14.5 billion) of annual revenue
and more than 72,000 employees in
80 retail centers across Spain. In
addition to its stores, ECI also has
associated businesses in banking,
travel, and supermarkets.
Almost 10 years ago, ECI
commissioned its subsidiary,
Informática El Corte Ingles (IECISA), to
develop a solution to manage
thousands of its retail outlets. The
“It may seem solution was based on IECISA’s store
unusual that a management computing
environment, Avenew, which aims to
Spanish technology improve efficiency by integrating
research and point-of-sale (POS) activities, sales
management, and enterprise-level
development firm information.
should aspire to
Based on the original solution, which
burst onto the ran on the MS-DOS® operating
international system, Avenew has been through
many iterations, each of which has
market, but we are added quality year after year. Avenew
confident that the has also been sold to other European
and North American stores. It was
IECISA, Accenture, developed through ECI’s experience
and Microsoft in POS systems, which goes back
more than 20 years.
alliance will win a
great deal of Recently, IECISA began working with
Accenture to improve the Avenew
support in the global point-of-sale system by employing a
market.” more customer service-oriented
computing environment with Web
services. Accenture became
responsible for marketing,
implementing, and maintaining
Avenew.
Pedro Barsanti, Partner-Retail
Industry, Accenture, explains, “It may
seem unusual that a Spanish
technology research and development
firm should aspire to burst onto the
international market, but we are
confident that the IECISA, Accenture,
and Microsoft alliance will win a great
deal of support in the global market.”
But, in the beginning, ECI itself was a
long-term IBM customer and initially
proposed upgrading its store systems
from IBM 4690 operating system to an
Open Source-based solution.
Solution
IECISA turned to Microsoft® Services
and asked for technical and strategic
advice on how best to solve technical
issues around deploying a new
operating system on legacy hardware.
Microsoft Services recommended
standardizing on the Microsoft
Windows® XP Embedded operating
system and a service-oriented
architecture with Web services. The
first step was to build a proof of
concept, funded by Microsoft, and
then to work with IECISA and
Accenture to optimize the new
environment and minimize the
footprint.
This involved meeting with ECI
management and staff at all levels,
describing benefits and options, and
helping them to gain an
understanding of what they were
trying to do and how the new system
could solve their business issues.

Pedro Espinosa, Head of the Avenew
Expertise Centre, Informática El Corte
Ingles, recalls, “The proof of concept
showed conclusively that the footprint
would require considerably less in the
way of memory than any possible
alternative. The performance of
Windows XP Embedded was excellent.
But the decisive factors for using
Windows XP Embedded were the
support behind Microsoft and the
number of applications and devices
that are easily integrated with the
new operating system.”
In August 2003, ECI decided to deploy
the store system on Windows XP
Embedded with 23,000 licenses. The
first store, which sells specialty retail
fashion goods, went live with the new
system in November 2004 with a
favorable response from staff and
managers. The new software
deployment at all ECI retail outlets
will conclude by the end of 2008.
The Avenew solution, now completely
revitalized, means system
administrators can make any
necessary changes for the application
quickly and easily. The customer can
then choose between a centralized
system architecture and a distributed
architecture.
In the centralized architecture, the
back-office server, which is located at
head office, provides database and
communications services to the
different stores. In the case of the
distributed system architecture, on
the other hand, there is a back-office
server in each store. “It is this
decentralized structure that has been
used until now,” says Barsanti. “We
recommended using the first option,
since our cost saving on hardware is
spectacular.”
Avenew's open, vendor-neutral
environment is another huge
advantage of the solution. Barsanti
observes, “Traditionally, point-of-sale
software and hardware have been
tied down to a proprietary framework
because they were developed by the
same company. However, the industry
is now adopting solutions that are
based on open standards and support
integration between disparate
systems. They are also much more
user friendly.”
Benefits
Point of Sale Becomes Point of
Superb Service
By using Windows XP Embedded,
retailer ECI will make its promotions
environment more flexible, a decisive
factor in favor of Microsoft given the
growing sophistication of the point-of-
sale computing market.
Espinosa observes, “The key issue for
us was to change the existing
application to support our employees'
interactions with store customers by
giving retail staff more tools at the
retail outlet. The difference is that you
can now get information through the
terminal instead of just ringing up the
sale.”
Improved Distribution of
Merchandise

“Our retail outlets
will become points
of superb service for
store customers,
which will lead to
greater customer
satisfaction. Queries
about promotions or
whether items are in
stock elsewhere can
be resolved
immediately on a
touch screen….”
Pedro Espinosa, Head of the Avenew
Through the Internet, any authorized
employee can access reports filed in a Barsanti explains, “There are still
centralized database. Added to this, many chain stores whose systems
applications in the new solution will work with out-of-date operating
be more easily adapted to mobile systems and hardware platforms.
devices. The user will benefit from Store owners will begin to realize the
greater mobility for inventories, considerable return on investment
recounts, and distribution of that Avenew offers.
merchandise.
“Point-of-sale systems are also used
Espinosa comments, “Our retail by store personnel. Typically retailers
outlets will become points of superb experience high staff turnover and,
service for store customers, which will therefore, training must cost as little
lead to greater customer satisfaction. as possible. Avenew is built to be
Queries about promotions or whether flexible, because each retailer may
items are in stock elsewhere can be customize some of the system's
resolved immediately on a touch parameters to suit the individual
screen, without sales assistants features of each business.”
making shoppers wait while they
telephone various other stores or The new solution is attracting a great
search the stock room.” deal of interest from retailers outside
of Spain. Announcements about new
New Development Environment sales are expected soon.
Suits Market Demand
With the revitalized solution, ECI is
keeping Avenew at the leading edge
of retail point-of-sale systems. For
example, the electronic ticket log
means inquiries can be made
electronically at the terminal, with no
need for paper rolls for the audit trail,
because historical data can be stored
in other media.
Rapid Return on Investment for
Retailers
Three of the factors most valued by
the retail industry when considering
new point-of-sale systems are price,
usability of the application, and its
capacity for internal development.
Avenew breaks new ground on all
three counts.
For More Information
For more information about
Microsoft products and services, call
the Microsoft Sales Information
Center at (800) 426-9400. In
Canada, call the Microsoft Canada
Information Centre at (877) 568-
2495. Customers who are deaf or
hard-of-hearing can reach Microsoft
text telephone (TTY/TDD) services
at (800) 892-5234 in the United
States or (905) 568-9641 in Canada.
Outside the 50 United States and
Canada, please contact your local
Microsoft subsidiary. To access
information using the World Wide
Web, go to:
www.microsoft.com

For more information about

Accenture products and services,
visit the Web site at:
www.accenture.com

For more information about El Corte

Inglés (ECI) products and services,
visit the Web site at:
www.elcorteingles.es

Software and Services Partner

 Products  Accenture
© 2006 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved. − Microsoft Windows XP
This case study is for informational purposes only.
MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR Embedded
IMPLIED, IN THIS SUMMARY. Microsoft, MS-DOS, and
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Document published January 2006