Panasonic today showcased its new range of POS Systems, peripherals and retail Toughpad tablets designed to address the specific challenges of retailers in the new era of Omni-Channel retail. With customers rapidly changing their buyer behaviour to use multiple shopping channels during purchases, including brick and mortar stores, mobiles, the web and other media, new technology is required to deal with this Omni-Channel Retail era.

Panasonic, with a dedicated European retail team with specialist advisers in every major European territory, unveiled a POS system ,peripherals and a new specialist retail Windows tablet with integrated payment options, designed to address the challenges of today’s retailers, supermarkets, fast food restaurants and the hospitality sector.

“We have created the ultimate mobile devices for today’s rapidly changing retail industry,” said Francesc Castro,  European Manager Retail at Panasonic. “With the intuitive and engaging visual capabilties,  easy integration into existing POS and back-end systems and secure integrated payment capabilities, the Panasonic Retail Solutions are  designed to help retail staff take customers through the entire buying process in an easy and efficient process, whatever their preferred buying channel.”

Countertop POS Cradle for 10 inch Toughpad Panasonic has launched a new specialist retail Countertop POS cradle for its larger, 10 inch screen Toughpad FZ-G1 rugged tablet. The cradle, which can be colour and logo customised*1 for retailers, enables the fully rugged tablet to be directly integrated with a retailer’s existing POS system.

The cradle is equipped with all the features required for effective integration of the mobile device, including two powered USB and Serial ports for connection to POS systems and peripherals such as coin dispensers and receipt printers. The cradle also has a LAN, VGA and HDMI connection plus 2x USB 3.0 and 2x USB 2.0 ports and a security lock feature.

The larger Toughpad FZ-G1 fully rugged tablet is ideal for retail environments where a larger viewing screen is more important, such as sales situations involving the presentation of visuals and information on screen or in tough retail environments such as warehousing or logistics, where the rugged capabilites come into their own.

Powerful enterprise modular POS system Panasonic has also unveiled its high-end, more powerful JS-970 CoreTM i5 model POS workstation. This latest enterprise–grade fixed POS system is the big brother to the JS-970 All-In-One launched in November 2014 and comes with a more powerful Intel® CoreTM i5-4590T vProTM  Processor (6 MB cache, 2.0 GHz up to 3.0 GHz with Intel® Turbo Boost Technology).

Compatible with a variety of Windows operating systems and with existing Panasonic POS device cabling and peripherals, such as coin dispensers and cash drawers, it features an all-in-one flexible, modular design ideal for the retail, quick service restaurant (QSR) and hospitality industries.

The Panasonic JS-970 range comes with a 15 inch, XGA (1024x768) display for clear viewing and a resistive touchscreen capability. A 17 inch SXGA resistive touchscreen and a 15 inch capacitive touchscreen are also available as special project options. Screens can be tilted and second screens added. It also includes a range of powered and regular COM and USB interfaces as standard to ensure retailers have the choice to connect to all the peripherals they need.

Other additional options include a magnetic stripe reader (ISO track 1,2,3), secure magnetic stripe reader (T-DES and AES encryption), optical scan fingerprint reader and secure magnetic stripe & fingerprint combination. In addition I-button and Dallas Key options are available for server login and identification and an optional shutdown battery is available to allow the system to close down safely and securely during a prelonged power interruption.

First all-in-one mobile Windows POS tablet Panasonic’s first all-in-one, mobile Windows 8.1 based POS tablet with integrated payment technology is designed to meet the needs of retailers and their customers with just one device. The Toughpad FZ-R1 is a 7 inch tablet with inbuilt EMV card reader and pin pad to handle chip and pin, magnetic stripe reader and NFC technology for touch and go payments.

The Toughpad FZ-R1 comes with integrated bar code reader, for stock inventory and logistics purposes, or a camera for capturing images in realtime or for use in retail augmented technology in the sales process.

Built specifically for the retail sector, the device has a daylight-readable touchscreen and can be operated with the stylus, by finger or by gloved operators, ideal for those in the catering or retail logistics environments.

With 3G and 4G communications capabilities, the Toughpad FZ-R1 can meet the needs of retail customers in any location and the device can be docked into its own cradle which enables it to integrate directly into the retailers POS system.

Pricing and availability The Toughpad FZ-G1 Countertop POS Cradle is available from April  2015, priced from £354 + VAT. The JS-970 CoreTM i5 Model is available from April 2015, priced from £560 + VAT The Toughpad FZ-R1 will be launched toawrds the end of  2015.

For further information visit: www.toughbook.eu