Taiwanese firm Advantech has acquired Aures Technologies, a French company known for its smart retail PoS and kiosk products.

This move aims to strengthen Advantech’s global coverage in smart retail products and services.

Advantech vice president MC Chiang said the global retail industry had gone through significant challenges in recent years due to the Covid-19 pandemic, supply chain disruptions, global inflation and interest rate hikes. Simultaneously, the rise of AI and shifts in consumer behaviour have spurred industry transformation and consolidation trends.

In response to these changes, Advantech has been deepening its presence and expanding its hardware and software portfolio. Aures is a well-known brand in the western market, with design and development capabilities in PoS and kiosk products. Leveraging Advantech’s expertise in intelligent systems and global logistics, the collaboration of Advantech and Aures holds prospects for both companies, their employees, customers, partners and the global smart retail sector.

Patrick Cathala, chairman of Aures, said Advantech not only possessed profound product technology and a globally streamlined operation and manufacturing system but also had a long-standing reputable brand.

“These are the key factors that led us to choose Advantech as our partner,” said Cathala. “We believe Advantech can empower Aures to extend its accumulated brand heritage and value proposition.”

KC Liu, chairman of Advantech, said Advantech had been actively initiating its third transformation in recent years, redirecting to a sector-driven strategy.

“Among these markets, smart retail has been identified as one with significant potential,” he said. “Aures and Advantech highly complement each other in terms of regional coverage, product portfolio and organisational capabilities, which also reveals Advantech’s shift from a traditional product-driven approach to deepening its presence and operations in each strategy-focused sector. With the core direction of AIoT plus edge computing, Advantech aims to create more profound impact and value in the future.”

As a publicly listed company in France, Aures has established a presence for its PoS equipment in Europe, Australia and the USA, boasting high brand recognition and a robust sales network. Notably, its subsidiary, Retail Technology Group, based in the USA, serves as a provider of retail IT system services with a nationwide service network.

In the future, Advantech (www.advantech.com) and Aures (aures.com) plan to leverage strengths and the business foundation of each other to promote global business expansion and upgrade product offerings. Following the acquisition, Aures will maintain independent operations, while Advantech will assist in optimising its management system, creating synergies through product roadmap integration, technical support and cross-selling initiatives.