Instore to unite shops with faster broadband link
Value retail group Instore is upgrading the broadband connections to its stores in a 12-month project following the renewal of a telecoms deal with Vodat International.
According to the http://www.retail-week.com The group’s 335 shops, which trade under the Instore and Poundstretcher fascias, had been linked by 512Kb-per-second broadband.
Over the next year the group – which last week revealed plans to delist from the stock exchange – will upgrade to up to 20Mb-per-second connections to cope with the increasing number of applications it is running over its wide area network.
Poundstretcher senior network analyst Jonty McNea said that the introduction of a single retail system from warehouse to point of sale next year will increase bandwidth requirements. Poundstretcher will move to real-time stock files, replacing its batch stock information update processes.
Applications it is running include e-learning, store music and IPCCTV in many stores.
An additional circuit is being introduced as a backup in event of a central failure, to make sure card transactions are not affected.
The retailer’s plans to delist come as pre-tax losses narrowed in its first half to £3.7m from £7m the previous year.
Total sales increased 2.9% to £139.8m in the 26 weeks to August 29. Like-for like sales rose 1.3%, which it said reflected the favourable weather during the first quarter and strong performances from its textiles and FMCG offers.
