Beyond the Transaction: How Uttam Kumar Uses POS Data to Drive Loyalty and Personalization in Retail

~Akanksha Harsh

Career Achievements & Global Experience:

Uttam Kumar is a Retail Technology Leader and Engineering Manager at American Eagle Outfitters (AEO), who modernizes retail commerce through a unique blend of engineering expertise and strategic vision. He brings over 17 years of retail POS systems leadership experience across the US, the Middle East, and Asia. He delivers POS solutions and guides high-performing agile teams across global markets to solve complex challenges. Based in Pittsburgh, he leads AEO’s omnichannel platform, delivering practical results and data-driven innovation.

"A transaction is the start of a conversation. When you capture its context — items, timing, tender, location — you unlock insights that make every next interaction faster, smarter, and more human."

Uttam implemented technology for American Eagle Outfitters and its sister brands, as well as for Ascena Retail and Charming Shoppes in the US. He worked with FedEx (US), Dubai retailers Retailcorp and Al-Tayer, Saudi Arabia’s United Electronics Company, and Sunrider in Hong Kong. During these roles, He has tackled everything from POS and order management to inventory and CRM systems. His expertise includes Oracle Retail (POS, SIM, ORSS), JumpMind’s mobile commerce platform, and cloud-based payments.

At AEO, Uttam drove a major POS modernization by deploying JumpMind’s cloud-native mobile POS across hundreds of stores, integrating Adyen’s payment gateway for checkout, and connecting it to Oracle Retail and E-Business Suite for real-time inventory and transaction audit. It also enabled features, like endless aisle fulfillment and unified omnichannel pricing. His portfolio includes similar engagements. For example, at Infogain, he customized Oracle’s POS suite for Ascena’s brands.

This initiative delivered a tangible ROI, including:

• Transaction speed ↑ 30% (shorter queues, higher in‑store NPS)
• Customer satisfaction ↑ 25% (per post‑purchase surveys)
• Loyalty enrollment increases after receipt‑linked sign‑up prompts
• Repeat‑purchase rate boost via targeted next‑visit incentives
• Millions in cost savings through infrastructure efficiency upgrades.

Uttam holds Project Management Professional (PMP) and Certified ScrumMaster (CSM) certifications and is an Oracle Retail Implementation Specialist in POS and Store Inventory Management — credentials that strengthen his ability to bridge engineering execution with business goals. He is an Oracle Retail Implementation Specialist (certified in POS and Store Inventory Management), further amplifying his leadership expertise in Oracle’s systems. This combination of project management and retail IT credentials helps him bridge engineering and business needs.

Data-Driven Loyalty & Personalization:

Uttam is redefining how brands build loyalty by making every interaction personal, timely, and seamless. Its data-driven approach draws on three pillars that quietly work together to elevate the customer experience.

First, real-time relevance: the platform streams POS data to its analytics engine within seconds, meaning that if a shopper buys denim in Boston, their mobile banners and email journeys adjust before they even leave the mall.

Second, segmentation at a granular level: basket composition, promotional responses, and return history feed dynamic cohorts, empowering product and marketing teams to deliver personalization tied directly to ROI.

Finally, an “omni-memory” ensures consistency across channels, whether a customer begins in-app or in-store, their preferences, size alerts, localized pricing, and even carbon-offset choices remain seamlessly connected worldwide.

Security, Compliance, & Customer Trust:

Personal data is only powerful when protected. Uttam’s stack pairs tokenized payments, end‑to‑end encryption, and adaptive fraud scoring that complies with PSD2 in Europe, SAMA mandates in Saudi Arabia, CCPA in California, and GDPR everywhere. He said, "Loyalty erodes the moment trust breaks. Security isn’t a feature; it’s the product." Uttam’s ability to turn POS data into a loyalty engine is exactly what modern retail needs,” said a peer at AEO.

He has received awards that quantify his impact. These honors reflect his on-the-ground impact and peer leadership:

• Best Paper Award (2025): IEEE Asian Conference on Innovation in Technology (co-author of award-winning research)
• Employee of the Year, Business Technology (2025): Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence (Silver Stevie winner)
• Employee of the Year, Information Technology & Hardware/Peripherals (2025): Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence (Bronze Stevie winner)
• Employee of the Year, Information Technology, Software (2025): Stevie Awards for Technology Excellence (Bronze Stevie winner)
• Technical Professional of the Year (2025): American Business Awards (ABA Stevie Awards)
• Q4 REAL Deal (2024) & Top Q3 REAL Deal (2023): American Eagle Outfitters
• Eagle’s Elite (2018): American Eagle Outfitters
• Multiple Spot Awards & Meritorious Award: Infogain India Pvt. Ltd.

As President Biden said in his 2022 Executive Order on Digital Assets, “The rise in digital assets creates an opportunity to reinforce American leadership in the global financial system and at the technological frontier.”

Uttam’s work, transforming POS systems into secure, real-time data platforms for loyalty and personalization, embodies that vision. By enabling encrypted, tokenized payments and leveraging analytics to tailor offers at checkout, he’s reinforcing U.S. leadership in digital commerce. His efforts ensure every in-store transaction contributes to a national strategy: accelerating economic competitiveness, building consumer trust, and securing America’s edge within the global economy.

Uttam is known for mentoring cross-functional teams, using Scrum, and partnering with stakeholders in product, marketing, and operations to align technology with business goals and deliver solutions that enhance customer experience and growth. He frequently organizes virtual workshops and regular stand-ups to keep global teams and diverse groups—developers, UX designers, product owners—in sync.

For Uttam, POS data is a transactional and strategic asset for personalization. He builds analytics pipelines that unify in-store and online data. By analyzing purchase history and basket data at the POS, his teams identify customer segments and tailor loyalty offers. (For example, knowing which products often sell together allows targeted cross-sell promotions on the next purchase.)

Industry research confirms this approach: POS data “helps you understand how your physical store influences customer loyalty, how much they spend online and in-store,” and can guide expansion and marketing decisions. Uttam applies these insights to create smarter loyalty programs, for instance, auto-enrolling frequent shoppers into personalized rewards tiers or sending customized discount codes based on recent purchases. This data-driven strategy has measurably increased repeat visits and average spend.

Leadership in Crisis: Navigating the COVID-19 Disruption:

Uttam’s leadership proved critical during the COVID-19 disruption. He immediately formed a war room of IT, operations, and supply chain leads spread across continents. Working remotely, they prioritized updates to e-commerce integration and contactless payment rollouts so that stores, whether open for curbside or reopening, could serve customers safely. He oversaw overnight deployments of critical software updates and coordinated round-the-clock support to help stores adapt smoothly to new protocols.

Thanks to this focus, the chain maintained continuity: stores stayed operational with minimal downtime, and new remote work tools kept global teams productive despite lockdowns. Team members credit his calm, methodical decision-making and his commitment to people and business needs during the crisis.

Future Vision: AI, Frictionless Commerce, and Sustainability:

Looking ahead, Uttam is energized by emerging trends. He foresees AI-driven personalization and frictionless checkout as game-changers: for example, using machine learning to predict inventory needs or virtual assistants to help associates locate items in-store. He is also exploring carbon-conscious payments that integrate environmental impact data into transactions — a concept gaining traction as payment providers offer greener alternatives. Uttam talks about enabling one-click mobile purchases, digital wallets that adjust tips to offset carbon, and other innovations that “keep the commerce flow seamless and sustainable.”

On a personal level, Uttam is already writing a book on retail innovation, aiming to share lessons learned across his global projects. He views this as part of his next career chapter. Ultimately, he aspires to a C-suite role as CTO, shaping technology strategy at scale and championing innovation that keeps retail human, data-driven, and sustainable.

As retail technology evolves, leaders like Uttam Kumar are ensuring every transaction drives loyalty, trust, and growth, proving that the future of commerce goes far beyond the sale.

Uttam Kumar’s leadership exemplifies how technical expertise, strategic vision, and a commitment to customer-centric innovation can transform retail. As he continues to drive advancements in AI-powered personalization and sustainable commerce, his work sets a benchmark for the industry and inspires the next generation of technology leaders.