Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail “offers retailers a deep level of integration across point of sale, store management, supply chain, merchandizing and financials,” The announcement represents another implementation step in Microsoft’s verticals strategy, announced last September, “We are taking a very different approach than other businesses,” said Kees Hertogh, product manager for Microsoft Dynamics AX. “Instead of cobbling together a solution, we decided to buy IP where a partner has extended our own solution to provide a completely integrated solution.”
The package will be available this summer in 16 countries, with a plan for further expansion to the full range of AX-supported locales by the end of 2010. According to Crispin Read, general manager of Microsoft Dynamics ERP, the store management and point-of-sale components of Dynamics AX for Retail will be available first, to be followed by other components in coming months.
He added, “Because we have enabled a truly connected retailer experience through a single, end-to-end Microsoft-provided solution, customers can lower the total cost of ownership, reduce complexity and improve the accuracy of information, all of which is vital in today’s evolving retail environment.”
In future releases look for features including assortment planning, back office processes, and merchandising. Many of these features come from acquired IP that has not yet been released by Microsoft.
The company played up the “close interoperability” of Microsoft Dynamics AX for Retail with additional Microsoft products including Windows 7, Microsoft Office, Microsoft SharePoint Server and Microsoft SQL Server.”
The release of AX for Retail in mid-2010 coincides roughly with the release of Commerce Service and Payment Service, two ERP online services announced in November by Microsoft. Commerce service extends multi-channel commerce situations by providing a link between ERP and e-commerce systems. Payment service will let AX customers process payments from Dynamics ERP across multiple channels like point of sale and call center through existing payment processing services like First Data Merchant Services and PayPal.

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