The Modern Retailer’s Playbook for In-Store IT

Introduction

Step into any retail store today, and you’ll see how vital the in-person shopping experience still is to the industry. While e-commerce may dominate headlines, physical stores remain indispensable for building customer relationships, driving loyalty, and achieving long-term profitability. But as the retail landscape evolves, so too does the complexity of delivering seamless in-store operations.

Consider the stakes when a checkout system stalls during rush hour or a price-check kiosk is suddenly unresponsive. Worse yet, imagine syncing errors breaking a Buy Online Pickup In Store (BOPIS) workflow, leading to unfulfilled orders and customer dissatisfaction. These aren’t just small hiccups, they’re costly business disruptions. Among global 2,000 companies, retail faces the highest cost of downtime averaging $287 million annually.  They disrupt trust, stall productivity, and leave revenue on the table. From payment terminals to inventory scanners, today’s retailers rely on a web of IT systems where even minor glitches can ripple into major consequences.

That’s where intelligent observability steps in. By delivering real-time insights across IT systems and networks, it enables retailers to tackle issues like lagging POS systems, poor Wi-Fi connectivity, and broken BOPIS channels before they spiral out of control. The result? Higher efficiency, happier customers, and a smoother in-store experience. This blog will explore how intelligent observability not only identifies hidden pain points but empowers retailers to stay proactive and deliver operational excellence in an increasingly competitive landscape. Because in retail, flawless in-store operations are no longer optional—they’re essential.

The Challenge

Retailers today operate in a high-pressure environment where customer expectations are soaring, and every moment of downtime can have rippling consequences. The stakes are higher than ever with 81% of retailers report experiencing POS downtime at least once a year. 

Maintaining flawless in-store operations is no small feat, especially when a single misstep in IT systems can disrupt countless aspects of the shopping experience. Here are three critical areas where retail IT systems are most vulnerable—and where the stakes couldn’t be higher:

Point of Sale (POS) Problems That Stop Transactions in Their Tracks

When a POS system slows down or breaks, the impact is immediate and highly visible. Imagine a rush-hour checkout line paused because of a failed receipt printer or a touchscreen that refuses to respond. These situations don’t just create delays; they lead to frustrated customers abandoning their purchases, leaving carts behind, and walking out the door. For retailers, that’s not just a lost sale but also a ding to brand reputation.

Store Infrastructure and Network Failures That Block Productivity

Behind every smooth in-store shopping experience is an invisible network of infrastructure working quietly to support operations. But when Wi-Fi is spotty or there’s latency in backend services, the entire system starts to crack. Staff may be unable to process payments, customers can’t access loyalty apps, and essential tools like payment terminals or tablets go offline. These interruptions don’t just affect the customer; they trap employees in a cycle of inefficiency, tying their hands when they could be serving shoppers.

Inventory and Fulfillment Challenges That Undercut Efficiency

The path from stockroom to storefront is riddled with potential potholes, especially when handheld scanners fail to sync or automated workflows like Buy Online Pickup in Store (BOPIS) hit snags. Without real-time inventory updates, stores face inaccurate stock counts, leading to unfulfilled orders or disappointed customers who can’t pick up what they’ve already purchased online. Price-check kiosks going offline only add to the frustrations, increasing inefficiency and complicating employee tasks.

The consequences of these challenges are impossible to ignore. Abandoned transactions pile up. Employee productivity takes a nosedive. And operational inefficiencies ripple across every corner of the business. Retailers can’t afford to treat these issues as minor inconveniences because their customers won’t see them that way. Addressing these obstacles head-on is no longer optional—it’s critical to delivering the seamless, reliable experiences that today’s shoppers demand.

The Solution

Every in-store customer experience depends on a series of critical moments, and each one reflects the strength of a retailer's IT systems. New Relic’s intelligent observability tools are designed to ensure these moments unfold flawlessly, providing a seamless shopping experience while helping IT teams stay one step ahead. Here’s how New Relic supports each stage of the customer’s in-store journey:

Entering the Store and Exploring

The experience begins the moment a customer enters the store. They might glance at dynamic digital signage promoting today’s deals or use their smartphone’s loyalty app to check their rewards. Behind the scenes, these interactions rely on robust IT systems. If digital signage fails to update or a loyalty app struggles to connect due to Wi-Fi issues, it creates frustration and hinders engagement.

New Relic provides IT teams with real-time visibility into these systems, identifying network bottlenecks or connectivity problems before customers even notice. By ensuring digital tools operate seamlessly, retailers can create a welcoming, tech-enhanced environment where shoppers feel valued from the start.

Interacting with Store Employees

Shoppers often rely on store employees to assist with their purchases. This could involve checking product availability via handheld devices, scanning items with mobile POS systems, or answering questions using a store terminal. However, when handheld devices fail to sync with inventory databases or employee terminals face slow response times, the entire process grinds to a halt.

With New Relic monitoring these systems, syncing issues or slow performance can be diagnosed and resolved proactively. For example, if a handheld scanner experiences lag, alerts notify IT teams immediately, enabling a quick fix. This keeps employees efficient, customers satisfied, and the in-store experience running smoothly.

Completing the Purchase

The final step in the journey is where it all comes together. Customers line up at the checkout counter or head to the service desk to pick up a BOPIS order. Whether it’s running a credit card, printing a receipt, or retrieving an online order, everything hinges on the reliability of the store’s IT infrastructure. A stalled payment terminal, a delayed BOPIS order, or a receipt printer failure can turn this critical moment into a source of frustration.

New Relic’s observability platform ensures that payment systems, order fulfillment workflows, and backend processes operate efficiently. If a POS system starts to slow or a backend service threatens to disrupt BOPIS orders, New Relic flags the issue before it becomes a full-blown outage. The result is a frictionless, trustworthy checkout experience that leaves every customer with a positive impression of the brand.

Improving Experiences Across the Entire Journey

From the moment customers walk through the doors to the point where they leave with their purchases, New Relic equips retailers with the insights needed to optimize performance at every touchpoint. By proactively identifying and resolving IT challenges, New Relic helps create a unified, seamless in-store experience that delights customers, empowers employees, and drives operational excellence. For retailers, it’s not just about meeting expectations but exceeding them at every stage of the customer’s journey.

How It Works

Delivering flawless in-store experiences requires a complex interplay of systems, services, and tools that work seamlessly behind the scenes. New Relic makes this possible by providing a comprehensive platform to monitor, optimize, and connect these systems with business outcomes. Here’s how it all comes together:

Core Systems Powering the Customer Journey

Retail success depends on the reliable operation of several interconnected systems, each critical at different stages of the customer’s in-store experience:

• Digital Signage and Loyalty Apps ensure engaging, personalized shopping by displaying relevant promotions and helping customers track rewards.
• Employee Terminals and Handhelds facilitate product lookups, inventory checks, and mobile point-of-sale transactions.
• Point of Sale (POS) Systems handle the mechanics of payment, receipt printing, and transaction completion.
• BOPIS (Buy Online Pickup in Store) Workflows integrate online and in-store channels to deliver a seamless fulfillment process.

New Relic provides the observability tools needed to ensure these systems function as intended. By monitoring the health and performance of everything from network connectivity to backend services, we help retailers maintain a seamless operation.

Mapping Systems to High-Value Capabilities

New Relic doesn’t just watch these systems; it actively keeps them performing at their best through a range of high-value capabilities:

• Real-Time Monitoring ensures every component, from handheld scanners to backend servers, is closely tracked. IT teams get immediate alerts if anything operates outside of normal parameters, enabling them to take quick action.
• Proactive Issue Resolution helps identify potential bottlenecks or disruptions like slow POS systems or syncing errors before they impact customers, allowing teams to resolve issues before they escalate.
• Performance Optimization uses data-driven insights to enhance key workflows, ensuring systems like BOPIS or loyalty platforms run smoothly—even during peak shopping hours.

By integrating these capabilities across critical systems, New Relic empowers retailers to deliver consistent, high-quality experiences for both customers and employees.

From IT Signals to Business Outcomes

New Relic’s solution goes beyond technical diagnostics by incorporating an actionable intelligence layer. Our intelligence engine transforms raw IT signals into insights directly tied to business outcomes. The business impact is significant, 50% of retailers cite AI as the primary driver for observability. Tools like Pathpoint trace specific IT metrics to their effect on business goals, delivering clarity for both technical teams and business leaders.

For instance, if a POS system experiences latency, Pathpoint can pinpoint its direct impact on checkout efficiency, transaction completion rates, and overall revenue. This clarity enables retailers to focus on high-priority issues that have the greatest influence on business success.

Intelligent Systems for Strategic Goals

By connecting the dots between IT systems and business performance, New Relic ensures that technology works not just seamlessly but intelligently. Whether preventing system downtime, ensuring positive customer interactions, or aligning IT performance with retail strategies, New Relic’s solutions provide a roadmap for operational excellence that drives meaningful business outcomes. For modern retailers, it’s not just about systems working well; it’s about systems working smart.

What’s Next?

For those seeking a deeper understanding of how to implement this architecture, stay tuned. An upcoming blog will explore the technical details of New Relic’s architecture and real-world deployment strategies, tailored specifically for engineering and operations teams looking to harness the full potential of intelligent observability.

Measuring What Matters: Key KPIs for In-Store Retail

Once you have visibility across your entire in-store stack, the next question is: "What should we be watching?" Effective observability isn't about drowning in data; it's about focusing on the key performance indicators (KPIs) that directly reflect the customer and employee experience.

Based on our technical architecture, here are the high-level metrics that matter most for each critical component.

Point of Sale (POS) Systems

The cash register is the heart of the store. Its performance is non-negotiable.

• Transaction Duration: The total time from hitting "pay" to the receipt printing. We recommend tracking the average and the 95th percentile (P95​) to understand the experience of your most impacted customers. A slow checkout is a primary cause of shopper frustration.
• Application Error Rate: The percentage of transactions or operations that result in a software error. This is a leading indicator of issues that force manual overrides or cause the system to freeze.

In-Store IoT (Scanners, Kiosks, Beacons)

These devices empower both staff and customers. They must be reliable and responsive.

• Device Uptime / Availability: What percentage of your handheld scanners or price-check kiosks are online and operational at any given time? A "dead" device is useless.
• API Response Time from Device: When a staff member scans a barcode, how long does it take for the price and inventory data to appear on screen? Slow responses hinder employee efficiency and slow down customer service.

Payment Processing

This is where revenue is realized. Every transaction must be fast and successful.

• Authorization Success Rate: The percentage of payment attempts that are successfully authorized versus those that fail. A dip here can mean an immediate loss of revenue and customer trust.
• Gateway & Processor Latency: The time it takes for your payment gateway (e.g., Stripe, Adyen) to respond. Even a half-second delay here, multiplied across thousands of transactions, adds significant time to every checkout.

Backend Services (Inventory, Pricing, Promotions)

These are the unseen engines that run the store. If they sputter, the entire customer-facing experience suffers.

• API Throughput & Response Time: For a service like inventory lookup, you need to know it can handle the volume of requests (throughput) from every POS and scanner during peak hours without slowing down (response time).
• Database Query Performance: The speed of the database that powers your backend services. A single slow query in your promotions engine can bring the entire checkout process to a crawl when applying a discount.

CRM / Loyalty / Marketing Platforms

Personalization happens here. Accessing this data must be seamless.

• Customer Lookup Time: How quickly can your POS retrieve a customer's loyalty account or available offers? A long wait erodes the "surprise and delight" of a personalized deal.
• Integration Error Rate: The percentage of failed API calls between your core systems and these marketing platforms. These errors can lead to customers not receiving loyalty points or being unable to redeem valid coupons.

By focusing on these KPIs, IT teams can move from a reactive stance to a proactive one, identifying and fixing issues before they turn into long lines, frustrated staff, and lost sales.

The Outcome

Proactive Problem-Solving for Seamless Operations

With New Relic, IT teams can tackle potential issues before they impact the customer experience. Proactive monitoring and automated alerts ensure smooth operations across critical systems like POS terminals, loyalty apps, and BOPIS workflows. This means fewer disruptions, more satisfied customers, and smoother day-to-day operations.

Faster Mean Time to Resolution (MTTR)

When problems do occur, resolving them quickly is essential. New Relic reduces MTTR by providing real-time visibility and deep diagnostics, enabling IT teams to detect, diagnose, and fix issues at lightning speed. This minimizes downtime, keeping operations moving efficiently and customers happy.

Data-Driven Decision-Making

The power of observability isn’t just about detecting problems; it’s about uncovering opportunities. New Relic equips retail leaders with actionable insights that highlight inefficiencies, trends, and areas for improvement. Whether it’s optimizing BOPIS workflows or improving employee productivity, these data-informed decisions drive better performance across the board.

Enhanced Customer and Employee Experiences

A seamless in-store experience fosters customer loyalty and leaves a lasting impression. With New Relic ensuring reliable technology at every touchpoint, shoppers enjoy fast, reliable service—from digital signage to checkout processes. Meanwhile, employees are empowered with tools and systems that work as intended, allowing them to focus on delivering excellent service.

Aligning IT Performance with Business Goals

Every issue resolved, workflow optimized, and system improved contributes to broader business success. New Relic, through tools like Pathpoint, connects IT metrics to business outcomes, making it easy for retail leaders to see how technology directly impacts KPIs like transaction completion rates, revenue growth, and customer satisfaction. This alignment ensures that IT investments actively support and amplify business goals.

Driving Operational Excellence

Ultimately, New Relic’s solutions create a foundation for sustained operational excellence. Retailers can reduce inefficiencies, improve performance across critical systems, and maintain a competitive edge in an evolving landscape. With New Relic, it’s not just about keeping the lights on; it’s about building a smarter, more adaptable in-store operation.

Through proactive problem-solving, faster MTTR, data-driven insights, and seamless experiences, New Relic empowers retailers to turn IT challenges into opportunities for growth. The result? A stronger, more reliable foundation for achieving lasting business success.

Conclusion

Flawless in-store operations are no longer a luxury for modern retailers—they’re a necessity. New Relic empowers businesses to achieve operational excellence by tackling IT challenges proactively, optimizing critical systems, and aligning performance with essential business goals. The result? Happier customers, empowered employees, and a seamless shopping experience that fosters loyalty and drives revenue.

Leading retailers like Adidas Runtastic, Domino’s, and Topgolf have discovered how intelligent observability transforms their operations. They have moved beyond reactive to predictive, turning potential problems into competitive advantages. Explore our 2025 Observability Forecast for Retail and eCommerce to discover insights from 147 retail leaders on how they are turning to observability to protect revenue.

Curious about how New Relic can transform your in-store operations? Contact our sales team today to explore the solutions that can take your retail business to the next level. The future of retail starts with smarter IT, and we’re here to help you lead the way.