Vend helps brick and mortar retailers to set up an online store in minutes

Vend has launched Ecommerce, which allows brick and mortar retailers to set up an online store in minutes, and manage their business from one place.

“Omnichannel is the single biggest trend transforming the retail industry right now,” says Vaughan Rowsell, CEO and founder of Vend, in a statement about the Ecommerce launch.

“We want to make it easy for retailers to take the step from brick and mortar to online, and remove the aspects that seem scary like web design, or how to keep track of inventory across multiple stores and channels.

Now it can literally take just a few clicks of a mouse for a customer to open up an online store and start selling to the whole world.”

He says the product was developed based on feedback from retailers who wanted a one-stop shop for their business.

“Ecommerce is a natural step for us with the POS and business services we already have, but we won’t be stopping here. We’ll be adding more features and functionality in the coming months, and building out other products that can help retailers give their customers an amazing shopping experience, no matter how or where they shop.”

Retailers around the world including The Harvard Shop, Kukri and Etsy use Vend’s POS, inventory and reporting. Vend says this is its first step towards providing more omnichannel systems for customers moving out of traditional retail and into ‘brick & click’.

EROAD launches electronic fuel tax reporting service in North America

In another development, transport technology and services provider EROAD has launched the first automated electronic fuel tax reporting service in North America.
The service makes it much simpler for trucking firms to file their quarterly fuel tax returns required by the International Fuel Tax Agreement (IFTA).
Fuel tax is the main source of revenue for road funding in the United States and Canada, and the IFTA regime ensures revenue from fuel tax relates to the actual journey travelled by each vehicle. IFTA returns are traditionally done manually using a paper-based system.
EROAD chief executive Steven Newman says the service is enjoying a positive response with orders received from customers based outside of Oregon.
The government-approved Oregon WMT solution has provided the company with the credibility it required to launch its industry-leading IFTA service. The solution utilises EROAD’s Ehubo in-vehicle hardware and its global SaaS platform to record trip and fuel data to generate IFTA returns. The EROAD IFTA solution is the first product available that satisfies the IFTA requirements for electronic systems.
“Firstly, there are big gains to be made in the leap from manual, paper-based systems to electronic ones,” he states.
“Secondly, governments and roading authorities everywhere are seeking better ways to fund road and highway networks that are under increasing pressure. We are working very hard to maintain our first mover advantage in this space, not only in New Zealand, but in all our markets.”

Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz

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