San Diego –
Cricket Communications, a unit of wireless carrier Leap Wireless,
said it will employ Brightstar’s Inpowered retail-management software for its
growing network of company-owned and affiliated stores throughout the United
States.
The software suite, which manages inventory and
various point-of-sale (POS) processes, will be used at all Cricket-owned stores
and more than 4,000 preferred retailers and authorized dealers across the
country.
Among its features, Inpowered allows stores to monitor
inventory levels, manage cash at the point of sale, and record and track all
in-store and online sales.
Cricket’s Keith Buckley, supply chain management
senior VP, described Brightstar’s supply-chain management technology as
flexible, easily implemented, and “tailored to the serialized nature of our
industry … We needed a POS system that would help our sales teams sell more
services, gain important intelligence about our sales and ensure that Cricket,
as a company, manages our inventory in a cost-effective way [and] Inpowered fit
the bill perfectly.”
Additional features of Brightstar’s Inpowered
technology include:
·
helping retailers keep track of their
inventory, commissions, and profits all at once, eliminating problems with
tracking sales, sales commissions, store inventory, returns, and transfers;
·
providing information to retailers instantly
by compiling data in real-time rather than batching daily or even weekly;
·
validating mobile phones’ electronic serial
numbers (ESNs); and
·
the ability to processing multiple languages
and currencies.
Implementation of the system is slated to begin later
this year.
Miami-based Brightstar is a global,
multi-billion-dollar provider of customized distribution and integrated
supply-chain solutions for the wireless and IT industries, with sales and
distribution facilities on six continents.
Cricket and its parent company Leap, a spinoff of
Qualcomm, operate in 23 states and hold licenses for 35 of the top 50 U.S.
markets.
