Dr. John Wen, Founder and CEOCartana is at the forefront of enabling this with its powerful POS system and a suite of essential technologies that empower small and midsize retailers to operate seamlessly across multiple channels. From mobile apps and websites to embedded features and Cartana POS, all critical components for omnichannel retailing are managed under a single platform.
“We are a total solution provider for small to midsize restaurants, salons, and grocery stores,” says Dr. John Wen, founder and CEO of Cartana. “Our ultimate mission is to empower these retailers to thrive in the digital economy.”
Bringing the Power of Digitalization
Cartana was founded eight years ago when most POS systems were locally deployed, requiring costly client terminals, database servers, and high maintenance. Prior to founding the company, When was the CTO of Apex Supply Chain Technologies, in charge of designing and implementing one of the largest industrial vending machine platforms. He channeled this experience to bring the transformative power of digitalization to the retail industry.
Led by Wen and his team of experts, Cartana has reinvented traditional features and applications for retailers using modern technologies, bringing numerous innovative features to the fore and packing them into one powerful solution. The complete solution overcomes challenges associated with disparate software from multiple providers that are often inadequate to address the demands of omnichannel retailing.
“Our first focus was on building a robust cloud foundation with high availability and scalability. This included implementing a distributed infrastructure, hybrid protocols and a cross-operating system POS platform, among other foundational verticals,” says Wen.
With a strong cloud foundation in place, the team continuously developed new capabilities that align with market needs. These efforts have yielded positive results, with a growing number of retail operators choosing to leverage Cartana’s technologies.
“With Cartana, retailers can streamline their operations, enhance customer experiences, and effectively navigate the complexities of omnichannel retailing,” says Wen.
More than your Ordinary POS System
Unlike its competitors, Cartana’s budget-friendly SaaS model provides users with a $0-entry, usage-based subscription. This allows business operators to access all the necessary technology capabilities without straining their budget. When using other POS systems, retailers are often forced to pay extra to access features like loyalty cards and reward programs, costs that can really mount up. With Cartana, they can make use of every function that comes with the system without spending additional dollars.
Designed to be user-friendly, the solution is easy to use, deploy and support, enabling quick adoption. All features and integrations are built from the ground up, leveraging advanced cloud technologies developed over the last two decades. This guarantees scalability, reliability, and efficient performance for businesses of all sizes.
The omnichannel user interfaces help retailers establish a strong presence across mobile and desktop platforms, ensuring a seamless customer experience and maximizing opportunities.
Its POS system is compatible with all four major operating systems—Windows, iOS, Linux, and Android—giving businesses the flexibility to choose their preferred devices for operation while maintaining a consistent user experience.
Cartana is one of the early adopters of the highly scalable Apache Cassandra database, a horizontally scalable, distributed database, which allows it to add more hardware to improve the performance and data volume when needed. The distributed architectures ensure high availability and scalability for 24/7/365 omnichannel retail operations. Redundancy and load balancing also help with auto-recovery.
A Feature-Rich Solution
Hybrid messaging, fintech and web services, and hosting platforms are all part of the Cartana POS ecosystem, along with highly available and scalable cloud infrastructures and universal consumer apps.
The wide range of features has proven beneficial for clients over the years. For instance, small restaurants can face significant disruptions if they only rely on third-party deliveries, which eat away at their bottom line. Given current challenges, it has become imperative to establish an omnichannel presence, including a website and mobile app, to attract more pick-up orders and dine-in customers. Cartana’s complete solution facilitates all these. Whether providing digital coupons, rewards, or loyalty programs, restaurants can leverage its features to boost dine-in volumes and improve profit margins.
With Cartana, retailers can streamline their operations, enhance customer experiences, and effectively navigate the complexities of omnichannel retailing
These reliable communication features came in handy for restaurants across the Midwest when dine-in services were suspended for over a year during the pandemic. Cartana emerged as a vital support system by swiftly deploying an easy-to-use, online order solution.
This solution was particularly beneficial for dine-in-only Mexican restaurants, allowing them to transition to pick-up orders and maintain operations. Once the restrictions were lifted and dine-in services resumed, the Cartana POS system was key to facilitating instant communication between restaurants and their customers. SMS messaging capabilities helped restaurants notify their customers about the reopening of their dining rooms.
Without timely communication services, it would have taken weeks or even months for customers to become aware of the reopening, leading to significant delays in reviving the dine-in business.
With hybrid protocols in place, all functionalities across omnichannel operations can operate smoothly without interruption. For instance, if a retail store faces connectivity issues, orders placed via the website or app typically won’t reach the POS. Under these circumstances, Cartana’s hybrid protocol facilitates sending orders to an operator’s smartphone by SMS messaging, email, or directly through landline via a voice bot.
Customer Satisfaction Guaranteed
Going beyond omnichannel retailing, Cartana empowers business operators to effortlessly scale their operations. Whether expanding to multiple locations or increasing the number of employees, all aspects can be managed on the same platform.
These capabilities were a gamechanger for Roberto Vargas, owner of more than a dozen Mexican restaurants in the Cincinnati area, including the brand El Picante, El Jinete, El Barril, and El Taco Veloz. Three years ago, he decided to leverage Cartana’s technologies and activated online ordering, loyalty, gift card, and digital marketing services for all locations.
To attract more digital customers, he offered incentives for signing up on their new website hosted by Cartana and a 10 percent reward for online food ordering. The SEO performed by Cartana across major search engines ensured that orders started pouring in from their new website the very next day. The simplicity and ease of use made it an instant favorite among his employees.
Learning Every Step of the Way
Cartana’s cost-effective solutions, combined with a passionate team dedicated to client success, have been key to its growth over the years.
In a constantly transforming retail landscape, Wen and his team stay on the cutting edge of technology by attending conferences and learning about emerging technologies and innovations, such as buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) and FedNow. These payment technologies are often perceived to be complex and challenging, but to Cartana, they present tremendous opportunities.
-
we are a total solution provider for small to midsize restaurants, salons, and grocery stores
A wide range of payment options increases a retailer’s revenue potential. The team regularly analyzes use cases with new technologies and identifies those with the capacity to generate more business for retailers.
Similarly, instead of considering AI technologies like ChatGPT as a threat, the team recognizes their potential in the retail landscape. Voice and text bots have already been implemented to automate processes across various retail operations. With the next wave of AI technologies unfolding, monitoring its progress and utilizing it for the advantage of retailers is necessary, particularly for small and midsize businesses. Cartana is keeping a keen eye on these developments.
Geared toward a promising future, its sights are set on expanding beyond its current market in the Midwest. Strategic planning for a global expansion is also underway to cater to a larger client base and deliver the powerful potential of its total solution.
Powered by Cartana’s solutions, retailers can move away from siloed, disconnected systems and move to a new era driven by engaging customer experiences, regardless of the channel.
