NCR Gets It Together For Small Online Retailers

NCR Corp. , one of the granddaddies of the retail-enabling business, launched a new service designed to help small- and medium-sized real-world retailers profitably establish and enhance their e-commerce presence.

The new e-shopping service can integrate a retailer’s web presence with its existing environment, allowing store operators serve their customers both online and in their stores, with one common system for merchandising, customer service and order management.

“The challenge facing retailers today is how to profitably utilize the Internet to uniquely reflect their identity,” said Thomas Hertzberg, director of e-shopping services for NCR. “We can help with that. NCR has been an essential part of profitable retailing for over 100 years, and our e-shopping service leverages this
expertise.”

NCR said it signed a deal with InterWorld Corp. and will use its e-commerce software tools as the backbone of the e-shopping service. Financial arrangements between the two companies were not disclosed.

The e-shopping service will become a component of NCR’s portfolio of retail store support services, which include needs assessment, planning and design (including integration with existing systems and processes), implementation and deployment, and ongoing support.

An NCR spokesman said the company is positioning the service for retailers with revenues of $5 million and up, and a new Web site re-design targeted for a launch during the fourth quarter of this year will feature links to the e-shopping service.

In July, NCR and InterWorld teamed to launch a new online discount department store for Burlington Coat Factory Warehouse Corp.

NCR Corp. is a $6.2 billion company that customers worldwide in the retail, financial, communications, travel and transportation, and insurance markets.