Aptos Customer News: Key Milestones from the First Half of FY2025
Read below for inspiring insights from executives from WSS, WHSmith North America, Buckle, Halfords, Finish Line and Skechers.
At Aptos, our fiscal year starts on October 1, which means we reached the halfway point of our FY2025 on March 31. Where does the time go?
So often in retail, we’re focused on the future. What trend will shoppers gravitate toward next? What new capabilities will retailers want in their stores? What policy changes will impact retailers today — and will those policies change tomorrow?
It’s true: A future-focus is important, but sometimes it feels good to pause, reflect and celebrate. And that’s exactly what we’re doing with this blog post. Below you will find summaries of six major customer milestones during the past six months. While we could have highlighted dozens more, we had to limit ourselves, so six stories spanning six months felt like the right approach.
WSS
WSS, a subsidiary of Foot Locker Inc., completed its rollout of Aptos ONE POS in early 2025. This retailer offers a vast selection of footwear, apparel and accessories from top brands. With more than 140 stores, WSS maintains strong connections within diverse communities and is renowned for its neighborhood-focused stores.
Sarah Derba, Senior Director, Information Technology at WSS spoke onstage during NRF 2025 and offered detailed insights into the recent Aptos ONE implementation. Sarah’s candor, energy and overall commitment to adopting cutting-edge technologies to deliver tangible benefits to employees and customers resonated with everyone who was fortunate enough to hear her speak (which you can too, by watching the session replay below).
In the retail tech space currently, it must be hard for retailers to cut through the noise (“Unified Commerce!” “Modern POS!” “Seamless CX!”) and get to the heart of what a particular technology investment can deliver to their business.
Yet, Sarah keeps it real, saying, “When evaluating POS systems, we put a lot of consideration into questions like ‘How is this going to perform in the field?’ and ‘Is this going to make the job easier and better for our employees?’”
She adds, “Now that we’re live with Aptos ONE, we’re seeing firsthand the positive impact that it has on employee and customer satisfaction and the overall energy in our stores.”
Congratulations to Sarah and the entire WSS team on their adoption of Aptos ONE.
WHSmith North America
WHSmith is a leading global travel retailer with more than 1,700 stores across 30 countries. In 2018, WHSmith acquired InMotion, the largest airport-based technology retailer in North America, and in 2019, it acquired Marshall Retail Group (MRG), America’s leading specialty retailer in the airport and casino-resort marketplace. WHSmith North America, incorporating MRG and InMotion, now operates 340+ specialty retail stores located in airports and resorts across North America.
Recently, WHSmith North America went live with multiple SaaS-based solutions from Aptos to support optimal inventory performance and data-driven decision-making across its retail network.
A longtime Aptos customer, WHSmith North America upgraded to the latest versions of Aptos’ Merchandising, Warehouse Management and Sales Audit solutions — and transitioned from on-premises to a cloud-based SaaS model. Additionally, WHSmith North America deployed Aptos Analytics to gain a comprehensive view of its enterprise-wide data.
Commenting on the technology initiative with Aptos, Joshua Bellendir, CIO and SVP of IT at WHSmith North America, said it was one of the smoothest projects he’s been involved with during his career, attributing that success to the trust, communication and preparation demonstrated by the WHSmith North America and Aptos teams.
There are exciting times ahead for WHSmith North America; congrats to Joshua and team on this major upgrade and SaaS migration.
Buckle
Specialty retailer Buckle is one of the latest retailers to select Aptos ONE as its new POS platform.
Buckle is a specialty retailer focused on delivering exceptional service and style through unforgettable experiences. Offering a curated mix of high-quality, on-trend apparel, accessories and footwear, Buckle operates 440+ retail stores.
Buckle has been leveraging Aptos software since 2018. The recent decision to move from Aptos’ Windows-based POS system to Aptos ONE, which is a mobile-first application, reflects Buckle’s ongoing commitment to evolving its tech stack to meet guest expectations.
According to Brandon Hauff, Vice President of IT at Buckle, “Our mission is to create the most enjoyable experience possible for those shopping with us and those working for us. Our investment in Aptos ONE supports that mission, bringing to life an experience that is relevant, informed and frictionless.”
We’re looking forward to Buckle’s upcoming rollout of Aptos ONE.
Halfords
Halfords is the UK’s leading provider of motoring and cycling products and services, with 400+ stores and 600+ garages. In recent years, Halfords has invested heavily to accelerate its digital transformation, with a key emphasis on unifying the customer experience across brick-and-mortar and online touchpoints.
As part of a recent software renewal agreement with Aptos, Halfords is upgrading to newer versions of Aptos’ POS, CRM and Sales Audit applications. Aptos’ POS and CRM solutions play an important role in the success and growth of Halfords’ loyalty program, which has over 4 million members. Halfords leverages Aptos Sales Audit to validate and consolidate its transaction data.
“We view the customer journey in a very holistic way,” said Adam Gerrard, Chief Data and Information Officer at Halfords. “We view Aptos as an omnichannel technology specialist, and we are pleased to continue our long-standing partnership with this firm.”
Congrats to Halfords on its continued focus on delivering customer journeys that are highly experiential and service oriented.
Finish Line
In early 2025, Finish Line completed a major technology initiative with Aptos involving our Merchandising and Analytics solutions. Finish Line runs these solutions to optimize merchandising strategies across its retail enterprise and obtain actionable insights for its end-to-end merchandising activities.
Todd Steiner, Chief Information and Technology Officer at Finish Line, said: “The ability to react quickly to customers’ needs is extremely important to us, and with Aptos’ technology, we will be able to optimally position inventory to maximize sales, reduce stock-outs and delight shoppers.”
Finish Line is part of the JD Group, a leading global omnichannel retailer of sports fashion and outdoor brands. Finish Line is one of the largest retailers of premium, multi-branded, athletic footwear, apparel and accessories in the United States. This retailer operates hundreds of retail stores and is also the exclusive partner of athletic shoes for Macy’s, one of the United States’ premier department store operators.
We are excited to see the results this project delivers for Finish Line’s business, customers and employees. Thank you, Todd and team, for superior collaboration and communication throughout the project.
Skechers
From its diverse footwear offering to a growing range of apparel and accessories, Skechers is a complete lifestyle brand. Skechers sells its collections direct to consumers through approximately 5,300 Skechers stores around the globe and Skechers e-commerce sites, as well as through a network of third-party partners.
Recently, we signed a renewal with this multibillion-dollar global leader in the footwear industry. With that renewal, Skechers will continue its use of our solutions for POS and Sales Audit for its Skechers-owned direct-to-consumer distribution channels.
When we announced our partnership with Skechers in 2019, the Senior Vice President IT and CIO at Skechers, Chris Coye, said: “We believe that Aptos is the right technology partner to support us as we improve the infrastructure and efficiency of our direct-to-consumer operations.”
It’s been an exciting journey with Skechers over the years, and we’re grateful to Chris and the Skechers team for opening the door to this next phase of our partnership.