Mobility might now be the word of the day, but retail store managers, district managers and regional managers know their jobs have always been mobile, requiring stamina and extraordinary multitasking. As the position has increased focus on data and reports, managers have been forced to log time in front of PCs, taking their leadership away from the store floor. Mobile devices help: Research from IHL found that putting smartphones in managers’ hands could increase sales growth by as much as 250 percent.
But there was still a lot that required a PC or thin client terminal — until now. In the era of mobile-first retail, Samsung’s new Galaxy S10 lineup — including the S10, S10e and S10+ — offers the power, flexibility and screen real estate that enable retail store managers to access everything they need, wherever they’re working.
1. Work-Friendly Displays
Retail IT has worked hard to put the data you need at your fingertips, as well as access to productivity-driving tools like portals, alerts, labor management and reporting — enabling essential daily duties that once required trips to the back office. But limited resolution and screen real estate on most smartphones made those difficult to view. The Galaxy S10 line offers large, edge-to-edge, high-resolution screens in three sizes up to 6.4-in. With no home button or notch taking up valuable space, the screen extends all the way to the edges, so it’s easy to read and navigate through data, charts and text without going back to a PC.
2. Robust Processing Power
In the course of a day, you might need to open several cloud-based retail apps at once, view and share a new product or training video, study a planogram and more — all of which require robust power and performance. The Galaxy S10 product line includes some of the most powerful smartphones ever released, with 6GB of RAM on S10e, 8GB on the S10, and up to 12GB on the S10+. It also offers a 128GB storage standard plus expansion options up to 1TB, so you won’t run out of space for securing important documents and personal data like photos.
3. No More Laptop
Doing real work in a retail app has meant constantly traipsing back to the office, or forcing managers to lug around a laptop. But what if you could just plug your smartphone into a monitor and keep working on the same screen? Using the Samsung DeX adapter and a DeX HDMI adapter or multiport adapter, you can connect any smartphone in the Galaxy S10 line into an HDMI-compatible monitor, pair it with a USB or Bluetooth keyboard and mouse, and access your desktop anywhere. That means you can work in apps, present training presentations or product demos, share content and more — wherever you need to get work done.
4. Smart All-Day Battery
Battery life is always one of users’ top concerns when getting a new smartphone — especially one that will be used heavily throughout a long retail shift. The Galaxy S10 line’s powerful, intelligent battery manages power based on your individual usage patterns, so it can last all day and then some. Fast wireless charging means S10 devices can replenish quickly and even transfer power to other smartphones, such as juicing up an associate’s smartphone-based point of sale (POS) so they can keep processing sidewalk sale transactions.
5. Easy Virtual Access
Many retailers have adopted virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) and thin clients to replace traditional PCs. So when you want to view the dashboard you’ve customized for the key performance indicators (KPIs) that are most meaningful for you, like labor usage or promotions performance specialized to your store, that custom view isn’t on the device, it’s hosted elsewhere. Now you can easily access your virtual desktop from anywhere thanks to DeX. You can use the same Citrix, VMware or other VDI software you’re used to just by docking an S10 device to a keyboard and monitor and launching the app.
6. Protect Data and the Network
No one wants to be involved in a data breach, but a manager’s smartphone can access a lot of sensitive information. Samsung’s Knox platform is built into all of Samsung’s flagship Galaxy smartphones, providing defense-grade security so you can rest assured you won’t put company, employee or consumer information at risk. Knox is ideal for retailers with staff spread out across a large footprint of stores: No matter where a manager’s job takes them — across the store or across a district — Knox’s extensive, layered endpoint security goes with them, keeping hackers at bay. Retailers can layer on additional protection to their S10 devices with Knox Manage, an optional mobile device management (MDM) solution that enables IT to manage their mobile fleet, push out apps and set policies such as application whitelisting and blocklisting.
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7. On-Screen Fingerprint Security
Working in a retail store is a hands-on job — adjusting a display, handling merchandise, moving cases. That means you pick up, use and put down your smartphone all day long, so it’s also critical that no one else be able to access your apps and data when the device is not in your possession. The Galaxy S10 and S10+ incorporate Ultrasonic Fingerprint ID right into the screen. It reads every ridge and notch of your finger, so you’re the only one who can get in, and it works in both light and dark spaces, so it’s ready whether you’re in the backroom or outside at a sidewalk sale. By incorporating the fingerprint sensor into the screen, the Galaxy S10 maximizes screen space on the device.
8. Encrypted Storage
Some documents you deal with are ultra-sensitive — whether corporate data like employment applications and store sales forecasts, or, in the case of BYOD users, medical or financial details you use in your personal life. You want those to be extra secure. Samsung’s Secure Folder is the ideal place to store those, with the added protection of biometric authentication to ensure they’re never seen by the wrong eyes.
9. A Phone That Knows You
Your phone goes everywhere you do. If you’re a district or regional manager entering multiple stores in a day, you don’t want to reauthenticate to the secure portion of every store’s network or switch from ringer to vibrate as you navigate through your day. Bixby Routines, available on the entire Galaxy S10 line, lets you automate all that and more — activating or turning off airplane mode, do not disturb mode or blue light filters at just the right moments, for example. That lets you stay focused on your work, not your device.
10. Smart Switch
Some people avoid switching smartphones just because they don’t want the hassle of transferring data, contacts and settings — especially when changing smartphone brands. Samsung’s Smart Switch makes it shockingly easy, using a USB cable, wireless connection, external storage or a computer. So you can change out your phone and still access your store reporting, labor usage and other apps for work, plus your personal data, without having to redownload and reauthenticate everything.
The Right Tool Makes Managers More Productive
Retail is in the midst of a digital transformation, making store, district and regional manager jobs more and more data-driven. That’s why it’s critical to have a powerful tool in your pocket that allows you to access everything you need to know, anywhere you need to know it. Investing in a Galaxy S10 device is the perfect way to get past everyday obstacles and get more time on the store floor, leading your team and delivering great customer experiences.
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