Retail technology company Aptos has announced significant advancements in how retailers can access and utilise their data through a collaboration with Snowflake, a prominent data cloud platform. The partnership aims to streamline data access for clients using Aptos’ various software applications, which include Point of Sale (POS), Order Management Systems (OMS), Merchandising, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Sales Audits.
This initiative marks the beginning of a phased rollout scheduled for this year, after which Snowflake is expected to become the primary method for Aptos’ Software as a Service (SaaS) customers to retrieve data related to transactions, orders, inventory, and customers. Aptos indicates that this integration will significantly enhance the way retailers visualise and analyse their data.
Nikki Baird, vice president of strategy and product at Aptos, highlighted the challenges faced when the company initially embarked on its unified commerce journey. In an interview with Women's Wear Daily, Baird stated, “We had to make trade-offs between operational insights and overall business insights, which makes it challenging to truly achieve a unified view of a retailer’s data.” She expressed optimism regarding the transformation that the Snowflake partnership entails. “We’re not only providing that unified view; we are also revolutionising the way our customers access and leverage data,” she added.
Aptos aims to foster deeper data connections across its solutions, enabling retailers to draw insights that extend beyond operational functions. “For example, when you think about order data contained in an OMS solution, that data has value beyond just the operational aspect of OMS. Retailers can leverage their OMS data to analyse and improve store operations, merchandise planning, allocation and replenishment, etc.,” Baird explained.
The commitment to integrating with Snowflake underlines Aptos’ ambitions to deliver a truly unified data ecosystem. Baird emphasised, “Unified commerce starts with unified data. We’re on a mission to deliver that, and our investment in Snowflake’s AI Data Cloud is an important step on that journey.”
Aptos’ chief technology officer, Tushar Sachdev, reinforced the significance of this initiative as part of the company’s evolution as a modern SaaS provider. In anticipation of a substantial increase in research and development (R&D) spending in 2025, Sachdev noted that this investment will focus on key customer-driven priorities, including rapid access to new features, enhanced performance and reliability, robust security, and near real-time data access facilitated by Snowflake.
Sachdev clarified that data accessed through Aptos’ systems will be readily available on the Snowflake platform, with users needing just a single click to share data from Aptos’ Snowflake environment to their own. He also highlighted the security benefits of this transition, stating, “Leveraging Snowflake also reduces data exposure without limiting our retail customers’ access and use of data, which aligns with our focus on robust data privacy and security.”
Looking ahead, Aptos is set to showcase live demonstrations of these innovations at the National Retail Federation’s Big Show, taking place next week in New York City. The collaboration with Snowflake is anticipated to enhance smart data utilisation in the retail sector, aligning with evolving industry demands and technological advancements.
Source: Noah Wire Services