Retailers are always looking to reduce the cost of store operations while continuing to deliver an exceptional shopper experience. United States retailers, including Ten Thousand Villages and the State of Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board, are using retail solutions from SAP AG such as the SAP Point-of-Sale (SAP POS) application to manage critical retail processes including pricing, payments, promotions and returns. With SAP POS, employees can quickly learn the new system and reduce point-of-sale mistakes, enabling retailers to be more agile, profitable and customer-centric.

With SAP Behind the Scenes, Ten Thousand Villages Focuses on Building a Better Life for Artisans Ten Thousand Villages operates a network of retail stores in North America, and a website that offers a sustainable marketplace for handmade products from developing nations. As one of the world's largest fair trade organizations, the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed.

The need for improved data security prompted Ten Thousand Villages, an SAP customer since 2002, to upgrade to the latest version of SAP POS. The application encrypts customer data for storage in the company's database and transaction files, which is essential in helping Ten Thousand Villages maintain compliance with the data security standards of the credit card industry. SAP POS not only protects customer data, it also improves the processing speed of sale transactions, enhancing the overall shopper experience.

"SAP offers a flexible and reliable point-of-sale solution that will grow with us to protect our customers' information and address our changing business needs," said J. Leonard Wolf, information technology director, Ten Thousand Villages. "Our staff and volunteers are passionate about our products and the people-driven mission behind them. With SAP software in place, they can spend their time welcoming customers and selling products that support our artisans instead of worrying about store operations."

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This BeyeNETWORK news item contains information from a recent press release by the company mentioned.