News

Starmount unveils open shopper engagement platform Starmount Connect

January 15, 2012

Starmount, a software provider focused on helping retailers optimize the shopper experience, today introduced Starmount Connect, an open shopper engagement platform that empowers retailers to deliver a more personalized in-store shopping experience and increase in-store sales. According to the company, Connect unifies rich online data from multiple sources into a single stream, empowering store associates with the knowledge and tools needed to keep the brick-and-mortar shopping experience competitive and convert in-store shoppers into buyers.

"Stores have the staff to assist shoppers, but many associates know less about the products they're selling than the customers they are supposed to be serving," said Jerry Rightmer, president and chief technology officer for Starmount. "Connect delivers a wealth of consumer-focused information to sales associates throughout the shopping/buying process, empowering retailers to deliver the best of the in-store and digital shopping experiences."

An open Web services platform built on industry standards, Connect is an enterprise solution that delivers information and capabilities relevant to the shopping process to any selling channel, including mobile, store, social media and the Web. Through Connect, sales associates and customers can use any device to access comprehensive, product-related information from external sources and retailers' enterprise systems. They can check pricing, availability, product reviews, purchase history — anything that can help close a sale in the store.

Key capabilities include:

• Product research:View images, specifications, product descriptions, ratings and reviews; Get current, location-based pricing and promotions;
• Product suggestions: Provide alternate items, up-sell items or complementary items;
• Product availability:Determine current inventory availability at a location; Find items in geographic proximity to a location;
• Product search:Search for products based on attributes, price ranges, manufacturers or ratings;
• Shopper activity:View top items, most active stores, top search items, activity sources and more;
• Store search: Look up store locations, operating hours and maps.

In addition, Connect features an analytical dashboard that reports on consumer shopping activity, providing deep insight into consumer behavior and sales and promotional efforts.