Arcadia Group is to roll out a new EPoS system to stores to improve its multichannel offer.

The group, which owns retailers such as Topshop and Dorothy Perkins, is rolling out the software to over 2,500 stores, including its Topshop branches in New York and Chicago. It is hoped the move will help the retailer to better integrate its online and physical stores systems to up its multichannel capability, and to enable it to consider services such as click-and-collect.

A pilot of the roll-out, using software from PCMS, will start in June with the aim of having 50 stores operating under the new system by the beginning of 2012. The roll-out to the rest of the stores will continue throughout next year.

Head of business systems David Hale said the system will speed up store transactions as well as introducing new capabilities to the business. The system will also help the company meet PCI compliance standards, the set of security standards retailers must meet when processing credit card transactions.

Hale said: “It’s an EPoS platform that will take us into the future. We’ll be looking at every combination of store and web retailing.”

Hale said successful multichannel retailing needs flexible ecommerce systems, a flexible EPoS system and integrated supply chain systems. He added the group is assessing its core merchandising systems and supply chain systems at the moment, with that being the next development phase.

The group is also currently updating its website, upgrading to version 7 of IBM Websphere platform. It has also recently implemented software from CA Technologies, which allows it to manage its IT and ecommerce projects more easily, improving visibility of an entire project by replacing different systems and spreadsheets with one central portal for a project. Hale said it makes life easier for project managers and improves productivity.

The department has abut 50 IT and ecommerce projects on the go at a time.

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