The Retail Technology Contract Map

A multi-site retailer signs technology contracts across finance, IT and store operations, and they rarely sit on one list. This map shows what each one covers, who usually owns it, which clauses cost money, and what happens to it after an acquisition. Use it to build your own renewal calendar, or to check the one you have.

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Contracts every multi-site retailer holds

Point of sale and mobile POS

Who usually owns it: IT, with store operations deciding how it is used.
What it covers: The POS software licence or subscription, per-lane or per-device fees, mobile POS devices, support and maintenance, and the link to the payments processor.
Clauses that cost money: Per-store and per-device fees set at an older store count, annual price escalators, support tiers you no longer use, and an auto-renewal that commits the whole estate for another term.
After an acquisition: Two POS contracts on different renewal dates, and an acquired banner still paying for the platform it is leaving.
Ask before you renew: How many lanes and devices are you paying for, and how many are in use today?

Payments processing

Who usually owns it: Finance or treasury, and sometimes nobody once the person who signed it has left.
What it covers: Card acceptance, the rate structure, terminals or terminal leases, card-not-present authentication and chargebacks.
Clauses that cost money: The pricing model, early termination fees, terminal leases that outlive the processing agreement, and the notice window.
After an acquisition: Two processors, two terminal estates and two sets of statements nobody reconciles.
Ask before you renew: What did you pay last year, all in, per transaction, and who checked it?

ERP

Who usually owns it: Finance and IT jointly, which often means the renewal sits with whoever signed the original order form.
What it covers: The ERP subscription or licence, modules, user counts, hosting, the support contract, and the partner that maintains your customisations.
Clauses that cost money: User minimums, modules bought for a phase that never went live, hosting and support priced apart from the licence, and price protection that ends at renewal.
After an acquisition: Two ERPs, two support contracts and two partners, until someone decides which system of record wins.
Ask before you renew: Which modules and users are live today, and what does each one cost?

Ecommerce platform

Who usually owns it: Ecommerce or marketing, with IT holding the integrations.
What it covers: The platform subscription, fees tied to online sales or order volume, hosting, apps and extensions, and the agency or partner that runs the site.
Clauses that cost money: Fees that rise with online sales, minimum commitments, apps billed one by one, and agency retainers that renew on their own dates.
After an acquisition: Two storefronts, two sets of apps and two agency contracts, even when the plan is one site.
Ask before you renew: What does the platform cost as a share of online sales, with every fee included?

Product information management

Who usually owns it: Merchandising or ecommerce, often with no single budget holder.
What it covers: The PIM software, user and channel counts, the number of products or records, connectors to each channel, and the implementation partner.
Clauses that cost money: Pricing tiers set by record count or channel count, connectors priced per channel, and partner change orders billed against the contract.
After an acquisition: Two product catalogues, often in two systems, and nobody yet named to own the master record.
Ask before you renew: Which pricing tier are you on, and how close are you to the next one?

Order management

Who usually owns it: Ecommerce or supply chain, with the stores living with the result.
What it covers: The system that routes online, in-store and ship-from-store orders, per-order or per-location fees, and its links to ERP, POS and the warehouse.
Clauses that cost money: Per-order or per-location pricing, overage charges in peak season, and integrations maintained under a separate services contract.
After an acquisition: Two systems routing orders for the same customers, each with its own per-order fee.
Ask before you renew: What did peak season cost in overage charges, and who approved them?

EDI

Who usually owns it: Supply chain or IT, through a provider nobody in finance has met.
What it covers: The EDI network, per-document or volume charges, setup fees for each trading partner, and mapping support.
Clauses that cost money: Volume charges that grow with every new supplier, setup fees per trading partner, and minimum monthly charges.
After an acquisition: Two EDI providers, often connected to many of the same suppliers.
Ask before you renew: How many trading partners are you paying to connect, and how many sent you a document last quarter?

Electronic shelf labels

Who usually owns it: Store operations, with IT holding the link to pricing.
What it covers: The labels, base stations, the software subscription, battery replacement, installation and support.
Clauses that cost money: A software subscription often priced per label for as long as the labels hang, battery and replacement terms, and a term that outlasts the hardware warranty.
After an acquisition: Two label platforms, or one banner with labels and one without, and a decision about which to extend.
Ask before you renew: What does the label estate cost each year once the hardware is paid for?

Store devices and device management

Who usually owns it: IT, though the devices are often bought store by store.
What it covers: Tablets, handhelds and printers, the device management software, carrier data plans, repair and replacement, and any leases.
Clauses that cost money: Device leases that outlast the device, management fees for devices no longer in service, and data plans on lines nobody cancelled.
After an acquisition: Two device fleets, two management consoles, and lines still active in stores that closed.
Ask before you renew: How many devices are you paying to manage, and how many connected last month?

Telecom and the store network

Who usually owns it: IT, or whoever signed it last time.
What it covers: The circuits and internet at each store, the managed network service, wireless, phone lines and the support contract.
Clauses that cost money: Per-site terms that do not end when a store closes, early termination fees, and automatic renewal site by site.
After an acquisition: Two carriers, overlapping managed services, and circuits at stores that have closed or moved.
Ask before you renew: Does your circuit list match your store list?

Email and productivity software

Who usually owns it: IT.
What it covers: Microsoft 365 or its equivalent: email, office software, collaboration, security add-ons and the licence tier for each user.
Clauses that cost money: Licence tiers assigned by default rather than by need, seats for people who have left, add-ons bought once and renewed every year, and the annual true-up.
After an acquisition: Two tenants, two sets of licences, and the same people counted twice.
Ask before you renew: How many licences belong to people who still work here, and at which tier?

What furniture retailers also hold

Consumer financing

Who usually owns it: Finance, with the sales floor relying on it every day.
What it covers: The program agreement with the financing provider, the promotional plans, the fee the retailer pays on each promotion, and the link to POS.
Clauses that cost money: The fee on each promotional plan, volume commitments, exclusivity, what the provider pays the retailer, and the renewal and notice terms.
After an acquisition: Two financing programs with different promotions, and a decision about which one the customer sees.
Ask before you renew: What did your financing promotions cost last year, net of what the provider paid you?

Protection plans and warranty administration

Who usually owns it: Sales or finance, and often nobody once the program is live.
What it covers: The protection plan provider, the administrator that handles claims, the retailer's share of plan revenue, and the link to POS.
Clauses that cost money: The retailer's share of each plan, claims handling standards, exclusivity, and the renewal term.
After an acquisition: Two providers with different plans and different terms for the retailer's share.
Ask before you renew: What share of each plan do you keep, and when was it last negotiated?

Delivery routing

Who usually owns it: Logistics or the distribution centres.
What it covers: Routing and scheduling software, driver apps and devices, customer delivery notices, and per-stop or per-vehicle fees.
Clauses that cost money: Per-stop or per-vehicle pricing, add-on modules for customer messaging, and minimums that do not move with seasonal volume.
After an acquisition: Two routing systems planning deliveries out of overlapping distribution centres.
Ask before you renew: What does each delivery cost in software, and does the price come down when volume does?

Product configurator

Who usually owns it: Merchandising or ecommerce, with the stores using it on every special order.
What it covers: The configurator software, often priced per seat or per store, the loading of product data, and the links to POS, ERP and the website.
Clauses that cost money: Per-seat or per-store fees set at an older store count, charges for loading each new collection, and integration support billed separately.
After an acquisition: Two configurators building the same kind of order in different ways.
Ask before you renew: How many seats are in use, and who pays to load each new collection?

Take the map into your renewal meeting

The PDF has every card on this page and the five questions, so you can check each contract against it with whoever owns it.

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