Roundup: Catalog Fulfillment and Operations

And though there’s usually a point-of-sale (POS) module for counter sales in a catalog management system, companies with large-scale retailing divisions will need a separate retail or POS system to manage that end of the business.

All of that said, the aggressive merchant who wants to perform sophisticated customer database analysis won’t be satisfied with the reporting tools that come with virtually all of today’s catalog management systems. While systems vendors have spruced up their reporting platforms (and in fact, often have picked this as the area to put their best foot forward with a slick user interface), the reporting options offered are a far cry from the data warehousing, data mart and database analysis tools required by the knowledgeable database marketer.