Today we’d like to introduce you to Kurt Beeken.
Hi Kurt, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I have been in software for retail since 1986. Whether in-store or on the web I have always been involved in providing software products and services to help retailers do a great job of managing their stores.
I started on the store side pre-internet when point-of-sale devices were cash registers with only limited ability to output a daily sales file that could be imported into an accounting and inventory system. This was the early days of small to mid-market retailers implementing affordable technology solutions to manage their stores. Working for a company with an early iteration of retail management software for multi-store retailers I spent 7 years learning how brick-and-mortar retailers account for sales, purchasing, transfers, adjustments, accounting, and reports such as Open to Buy. I even wrote my own software package that was implemented in a few casino gift shops in Reno Nevada.
When e-commerce became more than a gleam in someone’s eye I dove in around the mid-1990s working with many of the earliest internet startups including 800.com, buy.com, and wine.com. While those were online-only well funded venture-driven startups, I had the belief that the brick-and-mortar retail community could enhance their reach and profitability by diving into online sales. Realizing POS companies and e-commerce platform providers were lacking a synergistic connection and understanding of how to make POS and e-commerce work effectively together, my partner Paul Duncan and I launched Retail Dimensions in 2003.
This depth of experience in retail brick-and-mortar and e-commerce gives Retail Dimensions the ability to bring more depth to the table for retailers than companies that specialize in either POS or the web. We understand how retailers think and what is important to them and many times find ourselves in a consulting role to help retailers get the right solution and avoid the wrong solution.
In 2023, the most popular e-commerce platforms for small to mid-mark retailers are Shopify, BigCommerce, Magento, and WooCommerce. RDi has integrated all of those platforms to provide retailers with an omnichannel solution for connected commerce to sell anywhere, anytime on any device. Over 2,000 integrations later RDi is still the most flexible and fully featured e-commerce solution available on the market today.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Technology constantly changes requiring software companies such as ours to constantly be enhanced to respond to both technology architecture changes along with needing to meet the constantly increasing demand for more sophisticated features.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are the best at connecting retailers’ inventory management systems to their online stores, allowing them to sell on the most popular channels of the day any time, anywhere on any device.
We have been doing this since 2003, longer than anyone. We not only understand the e-commerce side of retail but have lived in the retail software world for decades. By understanding both sides of the house we can be as much holistic consultants as we can be integration implementers.
Our focus is to simplify business and improve lives. To live up to that requires more than just moving data between two software systems. We work hard to understand what is important to each retailer we serve and are always willing to help out proactively in any circumstance.
We are in the delicate position of sitting in the middle between POS software publishers, resellers, web agencies, hosting companies, and retailers. Diagnosing what is happening with any particular integration is where our staff’s job starts. They are trained to identify which of these players needs to address an issue, share that research with that player and proactively engage with them to accomplish tasks or solve problems. No finger-pointing allowed.
RDi is a very relationship-oriented company. While retailers may have similarities between them we find that there are also differences that make each retailer special. They are entrepreneurial, think outside the box, and in general a ton of fun. Our products are built to be easily customized to fit a retailer’s unique needs as we realize that each retailer is unique which we respect and honor by treating them as such.
What sort of changes are you expecting over the next 5-10 years?
Technology-wise our industry is divided into two main architectures, on-premise-based solutions and cloud-based solutions, and some that are a hybrid of both. That schism is likely to increase as more SAAS (Software As A Service) models become prominent.
Feature-wise it’s becoming increasingly important that retailers have an online presence whether they choose to sell or be omnichannel retailers. People expect to find them on the web, buy from them on the web and specify that you either ship the order or they will pick it up or a retailer will deliver it.
All of this should happen seamlessly and the online shopper expects their gift cards will work online or in-store and their loyalty points and rewards will be available in either system.
Contact Info:
- Website:www.retaildimensions.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/retaildimensions/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Retaildimensions/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/retail-dimensions-inc/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@retaildimensions
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