STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. (May 18, 2015) – Celerant Technology recently held its 11th annual Client Conference in the heart of New York City, featuring a vendor “meet and greet” with some of the top technology partners in the retail industry that kicked off two full days of training and workshops on retail strategy with Celerant’s retail software platforms Command Retail and Stratus Retail. Some of the top trends in retail were covered throughout the event, including Mobile, Omnichannel Retail, Payment Security/EMV, and offering a personalized E-Commerce experience. Industries represented at the conference included Apparel, Sporting Goods, Bookstores, Specialty Merchandise and Firearms.

In addition to informative, hands-on training with Celerant systems, attendees were also able to speak directly with top Celerant personnel regarding how the conference curriculum could best be leveraged for their individual businesses.Due to the coming deadline for retailers to be EMV-ready, payment security was an issue reviewed extensively at the conference. Retailers were given the opportunity to learn more about EMV and the pitfalls of not incorporating it into their business.

“We are now in the process of implementing EMV in our stores, so it was good to get a clear, face-to-face understanding of payment security overall,” said Nick Rhoads of Schuylkill Valley Sports. “For such a complex and crucial part of business, it’s good to have a partner like Celerant who can help simplify the process to get our operation as secure as possible.”

On the topic of Omnichannel Retail, there was time dedicated to automated order fulfillment, and how individual stores could be treated as separate warehouses to optimize shipping routes based on pre-defined variables chosen by the retailer.

“I am processing north of 1,000 orders every day; Celerant has given me the ability to automate the fulfillment process for all my orders, whether it’s in-store, on our website, over the phone or on Amazon,” said Anthony Qaiyum of Merz Apothecary. “This event gives me an opportunity to learn about new features that can increase my operational efficiency, as well as give Celerant feedback on the tools I am currently using.”

On the E-Commerce front, there were sessions that covered increasing conversions by accessing customer shopping carts in real-time to decrease abandonment, as well as offering instant email incentives to help close sales online. The mobile POS functionality within Stratus Retail was also on display, giving retailers flexibility within their stores that they never had before.

“This was our first conference, and the chance to sit down with Celerant staff and learn about our retail system was invaluable,” said Michael Brown of Frontier Justice. “Our business combines firearm sales, apparel, firing range, classes, and more under one roof; Celerant had informative, dedicated sessions for firearms dealers that showed how a single system can bring together our entire business.”