From Eight Aging POS Systems to a Cloud-First Retail Operation in 14 Months

What was slowing them down.

An 8-location specialty retailer was running on POS systems purchased in 2011 — systems the manufacturer had sunset in 2019. Inventory was tracked separately at each location with no central view. There was no e-commerce presence. When the pandemic closed all eight stores simultaneously, the business had no alternative revenue channel and processed zero sales for 11 weeks. Leadership knew they needed to modernize but didn't know where to start or what it would cost, and were understandably afraid of disrupting the operation that had been running for 22 years.

The solution.

We conducted a 90-day digital readiness assessment — interviewing staff at every level, auditing all eight POS installations, mapping the inventory and supply chain process, and evaluating 14 vendor options across cloud POS, e-commerce, and inventory management. We delivered a prioritized 18-month transformation roadmap with specific vendor recommendations, total cost of ownership models, and a phased implementation sequence designed to minimize operational risk. We then managed the execution: cloud POS rollout across all eight locations (8 weeks), centralized inventory implementation (12 weeks), and Shopify e-commerce launch (18 weeks).