Industry Summary Articles

Infor today announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire Starmount, a modern store systems provider serving large and mid-market retailers. When the acquisition is complete, Starmount will provide point-of-sale, mobile shopping assistant, and store inventory management products along with a data-rich commerce hub to engage shoppers, streamline operations, and support consistent cross-channel customer interactions. The acquisition is expected to enable Infor to accelerate delivery of Infor CloudSuite Retail, a new, modern suite of enterprise applications delivered in the cloud and designed for today's retailing landscape. 

As retailers struggle to force outdated software to meet the new demands of the industry, Infor has been building CloudSuite Retail to address these issues by providing modern, cloud-based software services.  After forming its Infor Retail business unit during the summer of 2015, Infor announced a collaboration with Whole Foods Market to build a modern merchandising system, and subsequently the acquisitions of GT Nexus for supply chain network, Predictix for demand management, and now Starmount for store systems.

"The market is littered with antiquated software built 20 or 30 years ago that just can't provide what modern retailers need," said Wade Gerten, VP of Customer Experience & Digital at Infor.  "They want alternatives, built in the cloud, with native support for mobile.  This acquisition will help Infor bring such solutions to market faster."

Infor is investing heavily in products that help retailers achieve converged commerce, the next step after omni-channel in which retailers use a single selling system for all consumer interactions.  Not only does converged commerce improve the customer experience with accurate and timely information across all touchpoints, but it's also cheaper to operate, avoiding many of the costly integrations necessary with traditional omni-channel approaches.

"Since announcing our intention for Infor CloudSuite Retail last fall, our phones have been ringing off the hook with retailers hungry for the software to help them overcome the serious disruption the industry is facing," said Corey Tollefson, SVP and GM of Infor Retail. "For Infor it is all about accelerating delivery of the solutions our customers crave, be that through building software as we are with Whole Foods Market, partnering with industry leaders, or buying leading-edge technology like Predictix and Starmount."

Austin, TX.-based Starmount experienced 41 percent year-over-year growth in 2015 and counts among its customers Abercrombie & Fitch, Burlington Coat Factory, Perry Ellis, and Urban Outfitters. Terms of the deal, which is expected to close within 30 days, are not being disclosed.

To view the original press release, please click here.

Search for Infor on CIMdata.com