Our first article this week will help give small retailers a basic overview of the various mobile payment options that are available and has a great link to an actual field test cnet did using Bing Nation. The second article showcases how furniture retailers are using new mobile technology to help sell off site inventory. The third feature this week is a short real life example of a perfect process for collecting email addresses while your employees are processing the point of sale payment.

A new mobile app for consumers to earn reward point is being implemented by a few large retailers. This announcement is number four this week in our featured point of sale and retail news. Then we end this week with some great tips and advice to help small retailers avoid fraud in their retail businesses.

1. Making sense of mobile payment – This great article posted on cnet will help you understand the four and “a half” categories that mobile customer payments fall into. There is a lot of buzz going on in the retail world about mobile payments it would be a good idea to brush up on the differences between them. In the start of the article there is a link to a field test done with Bing Nation, one of the vendors offering retailers the opportunity to take payments via mobile point of sale.

2. More furniture, mattress sellers using smart technology – It was a surprise to read about a small furniture store that is using mobile technology to display inventory available for their customers to buy. This is simply a great way to offer exactly what the customer wants without the huge overhead. The small business owner states:

“We’re a small store and a custom order store to a large extent, so our folks are used to really trying to demonstrate the possibilities off of one piece. We want to be able to sell many different versions. All this does is give us a very portable, quick, easy access to a lot of these options,” Harlow said.”

3. Point of Sale Email Capture: A True Story – This article is short and sweet BUT it’s a true account so pay attention. The article displays a positive experience at a point of sale checkout with a clerk collecting the authors email address for store promotions. The author even includes pictures of the form that was filled out and the welcome email that was received.

4. Retailers, Mall Group Sign on to “Walk In, Win Points” Mobile App – Four large retail brand stores announced their customers will be benefiting form a new mobile app called, Shopkick. Once shoppers start using the app they earn rewards when walking through the door of a participating merchant. This is all done by a signal sent via the shoppers mobile phone. The shopper can save up points to cash them in for various items on the retailer’s web site. Another article featured at Mashable outlines the way Best Buy is participating in the Sidekick mobile app.

5. How to Steer Clear of Fraud? The Experts Weigh In – It was shocking top learn by reading this article that 31% of all businesses that are subject to fraud have fewer than 100 employees. This is important information for many small retail businesses that tend to employ few people. These great tips will help you put in place some precautionary measures that will help you prevent your business from being a victim.

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The third article in this weeks round up is an interesting opinion on how the iPad will change the retail industry and I have to agree. The possibilities of endless improvement in customer service are very exciting for both retailers and consumers. The fourth article this week will help small business owners with the basics of technology for thos3eof you who feel out of the loop. Then our last feature this week will give you 8 ways to get overall improvement from your employees.

1. SMB Innovator: Brown Coffee Company Lets You Pay Via Text Message – An innovative way that one small retailer is standing above the crowd and joining the growing fad of convenience. Aaron Blanco, the owner of The Brown Coffee Company allows customers to pay for their coffee using a simple text message and a service called Venmo. Over 200 small retailers across the country have started using this service as an alternative form of payment and convenience amongst its customers.

2. Point-of-sale Software Top Ten Mistakes to Avoid – This article contains some great advice when you are looking to purchase POS software for your small retail business. Things you may not think about are mentioned such as obtaining references or one system fits all. This is an essential read if you’re looking into purchasing a new piece of point of sale software.

3. How iPads are Going to Change the Face of Retail – Although it might still be a while before the iPad and similar tablets are perfected for use of mobile point of sale hardware, the anticipation is exciting. The author of this article points out a few ways that an iPad in the hands of a customer service representative will change the face of the retail industry.

4. Technology Basics for Business – This is a very basic overview for the less technology savvy business person. A wonderfully informative article posted at the Wall Street Journal will help any novice retailer learn the basics of technology.

5. 8 Ways to Develop Your Worker’s Core Competencies – All retailers know that their employees are a reflection of their brand and their establishment. To have the best success at having an employee as a “good” influence for your retail business you should know these 8 easy ways you can help them grow with your business.

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Our retail industry news this week is full of tips for small businesses. We start off with our third article with seven must do things that will keep customer loyalty. Then we found an article with seven tips for small retailers to be successful when lobbying a government office. The last article we feature has a few common sense low marketing ideas that will work in any business, small or large.

1. HP Tablet Goes Enterprise, WebOS Tablet Due Too? – The Enterprise tablet will be released by HP in the near future and will be available to enterprise customers only. The tablet will run the Windows 7 operating system and will be able to perform mobile point of sale operations. There is not an official release date but this will offer small retailers another option for a mobile POS.

2. ScanSource POS & Barcoding Enhances Hospitality & Retail Services Offering Through Distribution Agreement With ParTech – This partnership is sure to take off in the businesses in the retail industry using or interested in using PAR’s technology solutions. Here it is straight from the president of ScanSource POS & Barcoding, Jeff Yelton.

“PAR has a laser focus on the hospitality industry, delivering rugged, robust and reliable hardware and peripherals for resellers selling into the industry. We are pleased to be the only distributor offering these high-performing solutions to hospitality resellers.”

3. Seven requirements for becoming customer-centric – As a small retailer you can never read enough tips on customer service. That’s why we feature so many articles from the Retail Customer Experience. Yet again, here’s an information packed article that will help you become more customer-centric.

4. Seven Lobbying Mistakes Small Businesses Make and What to Do Instead – This article is so unique that it makes itself valuable. There might only be a small select few small business owners that benefit from the advice given but it’s advice that hard to find. Learning how to influence your state and local government could be an essential survival skills…read more to find out.

5. 8 Low-Cost Marketing Tips for Small Retailers – This is a clear and concise article that outlines eight great tips on using low cost marketing methods. The number one tips is to develop a budget including the time you spend, after all time is money.

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Our retail news of the week was slim, which we assume is good considering the majority of news takes on a bad tone. The fourth article we feature this week is more of a fun read but it could actually help some small businesses owners connect with their customers, it’s an article listing the top ten people in America who influence shoppers. You should stick around for this one because you might sell a product that would relate to one of these ten people to a potential customer. The last article we focus on is sort of a different subject relating to small retailers and social media. It’s a short tip on informing and teaching your employees about your business relationship with the various social media outlets.

1. Xsilva Systems releases LightSpeed 3.1 – This Mac POS software has been reviewed on our site and is one of the premiere point of sale software suites for the Apple Macintosh also known as the “Mac”. The LightSpeed POS popularity is largely due to the ease of use, simplicity and functionality of the versatile software. The company has enhanced the PCI security compliance, many setup features, customer merging features, matrix improvements and even the implementation of emailing customer receipts which is becoming a more frequent request with the use of the iPhone as a POS terminal. Visit the Lightspeed 3.1 full features page to see the amazing functionality of this point of sale software.

2. GBmobile Mobile Point of Sale: iPod Touch – I’m a sucker for a video demonstrating new technology that is functional and easy to use. That’s what happened when I happened upon this video looking through the weekly small retail news. The video showcases the use of an app called GBmobile on an iPhone with an adapter that reads credit cards. Watch as the person easily scans a barcode (also allows for manual price entry), swipes the credit card, processes the transaction and prints a POS receipt via a wireless printer…you’ll be amazed and it might even get the wheels turning for you to start looking into a mobile point of sale system for your small retail business.

3. Sluggish corporate ill-prepared for death of Win XP SP2 support – This announcement is a heads up to all small retailers that have point of sale terminals running Windows XP SP2. In today’s sluggish economy there may be many small businesses that can’t afford to upgrade the core software of their POS. Microsoft will discontinue support for the Security Upgrades that are required for this software by the end of the year. Read more about how this will affect your business if you’re running Windows XP.

4. Top ten people who influence American shoppers – The Retail Customer Experience is an excellent place to find the latest retail industry news and this week is no exception. This article lists the top ten people in the public eye including politics, entertainment and business, that influence what shoppers purchase in the United States.

“For the last two decades, Americans believed bigger was better—from the size of our houses to our cars to the amount of food on our dinner plates. But the economic recession, coupled with other factors like the green movement, is fundamentally changing American attitudes,” said Benett.

5. Share the Social Media Knowledge – We are not going to spoil this short but informative article by giving you a brief summary instead I will post one quote form the article that I know will get your attention:

“Its frustrating when you try to use a promotion from Twitter and the store associate asks, “what’s Twitter?””

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1. Helping speed up flow of restaurant orders – Mobile point of sale device have been a largely talked about subject as of late, including here on the Wizard of POS. This article shows how one small restaurant chose an iPod over another POS installation for their staff to use while taking orders on the floor. The author talks about Michael Benaroch a man who developed this point of sale software to run on both a touch screen POS and the iPod.

“It takes about 20 minutes to be trained on the touchscreen, and then if you know the screen, it’s almost no adjustment to use the iPod,”

2. Radiant Systems Announces Launch of Real-time Alerting Tool for the Retail Industry – This week Radiant Systems announced the launching of a new real time reporting tool that will work alongside their Counterpoint POS software. The new tool will help small retailers monitor activities within each location and send SMS text or email alerts to prevent fraud and provide better customer service. The president of Red Bandannas states that the new software has enhanced employee morale and improved customer satisfaction since its implementation.

3. Swipe fees are hurting small businesses in North Carolina – The only thing I disagreed with in this article was the title because it’s not just small businesses in North Carolina, every small retailer across the country is dealing with these fees. This article is a good hard look of the truth of what retail businesses are dealing with currently with the large increase of credit card swipe fees. The ceiling is limitless and companies like Visa or Mastercard have no limits on how high these fees could rise. Congress has already starting discussing some regulations that might be put into place to help struggling small businesses but it’s yet to be seen if anything will really be done about it.

4. Opinion: Do not give in to ‘dumb discounting’ – For an opinion article this one hit it right on the nose. If you’re a small retailer that thinks you have to use deep discounts to draw in customers and make sales think again. This is a great source of information to see examples of large retailers using deep discounting that ultimately confuses the customer.

“Discounting is a great tool when carefully designed to increase frequency with your core and must-have customers. When applied with a shotgun, it is usually dumb discounting.”

5. Finding retail marketing insight from within your database – This informative article might give you an insight on how you could be using your point of sale data information to fine tune your marketing efforts. This in depth article goes into data discovery, analysis and data strategy.

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1. Square: A Great Payment System for Churches – When I first read this article I knew for sure it was making the roundup. The author, Shaun Takenouchi, explains the background on this device, how it works and even includes pictures of the actual iPhone running the point of sale. Then he goes on to display a video demo from YouTube and as an added bonus he explains why small retail merchants of all kinds could benefit form using an iPad or iPhone equipped with a square to accept mobile point of sale payments.

2. Point of Sale usability study targets iPad & iPhone systems – Since we featured such a positive review on using these devices as mobile POS solutions we decided to give a true customer experience using it. The author of this article goes into detail on a couple negative effects that these type of mobile payments could have if you don’t know how to avoid them. After reading the observation of the customer during a transaction you will be prepared not to make the same mistakes this small retailer did.

3. Apple Readies New App for Retail Staff POS Units: Report – After featuring both articles above on using Apple Technology for a retail mobile point of sale answer we thought you might like to read what the company is planning to launch for the retail industry that is using their platform as a mobile POS. You’ll find what they have in store for retailers will get you excited about the future.

4. Six best practices for managing local retail search results – An online business listing for your small retail establishment has become a significant part of driving new customers along with higher profits. This will give you six of the best ways to handle your online retail business listing and keeping your information as current as possible.

5. Excerpt: The Retail Doctor’s Guide to Growing Your Business – the author of this book is a blogger at The Retail Customer Experience, a site we feature many articles from. In this article a chapter from his book explains how understanding the four employee personality types can help avoid the pitfalls of a bad worker. Knowing who your “drivers” are and how to help them succeed will grow your small retail business in all areas.

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1. Pingysoft announces the sale that goes stale for RingItUp Pro – If you’re a small retail business and you own an iPhone, Ipod Touch or an Ipad you are in for one big treat. Pingysoft announced today that they are offering their mobile point of sale software called RingItUp for a mere $.99. Yes, there is one catch, the price will double each day until it reaches the full retail price of $39.99. So head on over to the website and check it out to get in on one of the biggest discounts you’ll find.

2. Simplify PCI Compliance for Data Security – When it comes to being PCI compliant many small business owners feel overwhelmed by what needs to be done to assure data security. This article will outline a few tips that retailers can do to simplify the process and maintain adequate security in their retail establishments.

3. Digital signage comes to the country store – Rural America nd small retailers are embracing the advertising power of digital signage. StandVision LLC has reported that they are deploying several systems in rural stores in Illinois. Agricultural equipment, electricians and plumbing stores are jumping at the chance for this new technology that utilizes a 40-inch LCD screen.

“So when people come in to get parts for their equipment, they’re usually not that happy,” he said. “And what the digital signage actually does is give them something else to focus on … It kind of helps calm the whole situation down.”

4. Study: Grocery shoppers highly susceptible to in-store marketing – This is good news for any small market or retail store, the survey shows that up to 90% of shoppers, consisting mainly of women buy on the fly and are highly likely to purchase a product that has effective in-store marketing.

5. The four types of convenience store shoppers – this article comes with another study conducted by Cole & Weber United. It focuses on the four types of customers that enter your convenient store. One of the obvious shoppers would be your regulars and then people that live in the neighborhood. The article goes into a great description of each type and why you should know which kind of customer you’re selling to.

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It was great to hear this week that small retail businesses are finally gaining ground in the battle of credit card fees at their POS terminal. Although the amendment still has to pass The House, experts are confident this will be a huge win for the small retail industry. This is outlined in the first article in this weeks roundup. We then move on to an article that focuses mainly on mobile POS advancements but the beginning has an encouraging update on Dairy Queen’s success using the technology. The third feature this week lead into much bigger things as excitement and curiosity took over. The article showcases new tools that add incredible functionality to restaurant point of sale handheld devices.

I found another great video demonstrating a new restaurant point of sale system that uses the iPad. I decided to write a review post on both systems that will be featured tomorrow morning…so be sure to check back.

Our fourth article this week was an interesting point of view that small retailers should be seeking small suppliers to do business with. Then the last feature is a few marketing tips that will help your small business grow profits even when tines are hard.

1. Swipe This: Small Businesses Smile About Card Fee Controls – On Thursday the US Senate passed an amendment that small retailers across the country are excited about. Although it has yet to pass The House, it could essentially limit the fees that retailers pay for debit and credit card sales. Assistant Senate Majority Leader Dick Durbin, D-Ill., who proposed the amendment said:

“Making sure small businesses can grow and prosper is vital to putting our country back on solid economic footing.”

2. Shoppers Check Out of Stores Via Cell Phone – There has been much talk about mobile point of sale technology and it is growing by the day. The retail industry needs to start embracing and preparing for the types of mobile POS options on the market. We featured an article last summer announcing Dairy Queens plan to implement a mobile loyalty program for cellar customers with a “certain” chip attached to their phone. Well according to this article co-owner Dave Reasner says its working and customers are returning at a 3% increase.

3. New Tools Push the Boundaries of POS – The announcement of ASI’s Restaurant Manager POS software being available for the iPod Touch was amazing to me. The new tools that add profitable benefits for restaurant owners’ especially small ones who are looking for a way to compete with large chain restaurants. For a low cost a small business owner could have a handled system that increases customer satisfaction tenfold. That’s the reason for tomorrows review on two “new” restaurant point of sale handheld options.

4. Small Retailers Should Foster Big Relationship With Small Suppliers – This article is slightly hard to read but the information contained is valuable. It focuses on the reasons small retailers should consider partnering with small local suppliers versus larger wholesale suppliers. The overall benefits could easily outweigh any additional cost you would be saving dealing with a big brand company.

5. How retailers can market their way out of tough times – I agreed with these authors when they said

“In an economy like this, cutting back on marketing is flirting with business suicide.”

This article gives five great tips on how to bring marketing back into your small retail business plan without emptying your bank account.

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Most small retailers immediately think of the iPhone or iPad when mobile POS is mentioned. This can stop some brick and mortar companies in their tracks because they associate those products with high cost solutions. The fact of the matter is there are many products available on the market that can slowly ease a small business into the mobile market.

This week I ran across two low cost solutions that small retail businesses could easily start using to show their customers they are moving ahead with the times and using some new mobile solutions at the point of sale.

Mobilescape Launches InstallmentPay, Enabling Mobile Merchants to Schedule Future Payments at Point of Sale – The market’s leading mobile solution for credit cards sales has announced a new feature that many small retailers selling large ticket item will cherish. The software now features the ability for the merchant to schedule up to three easy payment installments to pay for merchandise. This helps alleviate the financial strain on the customer while retaining sales for the retailer.

Mobilescape offers the following solutions for small retailers.

• Flexible amount and dates.
• AVS (Address Verification System) entry.
• Expired card detection.
• Online scheduled transaction details.
• Online transaction resubmits.

A simple, push button solution for all your marketing and customer data collection needs, period – Sterizon offers brick and mortar retailers a way to collect customer opt-in information and feedback with a small, simple mobile device. You can effectively collect a variety of information from any location within or outside your storefront.

I read about this great service on Twitter and was skeptical UNTIL I reached the website. I have to say that small retail businesses could benefit from this entirely while increasing customer service. Sterizon offers a way for retailers to build Birthday Clubs, E-Clubs, Email Lists, Mailing Lists, Rewards Clubs, Twitter Followers, and Guest Surveys etc.

The handheld device used costs approximately $150 and each club has a subscription price to enable easy delivery of custom messages.

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1. Why I won’t be buying an iPad for now – Curiosity lead me to reading this article which involved the common sense aspect of waiting for a future release of the iPad before purchasing. As I read the article the author led into a bonus…why small retailers should be considering purchasing a later version of this product due to the benefits the new technology will bring to the retail industry. This leads into the next article about integrating the square and iPad for a full point of sale system.

2. Square Turns Your iPad Into A Cash Register – Jack Dorsey, Twitter Creator, has implemented his vision, the Square with Apple’s new iPad at Sightglass Coffee in San Francisco. The square will allow you to use your iPad as a total mobile, portable, POS station.

3. Building in-store interactive content that works – Great tips from the Retail Specialty Expert on which interactive content you need to be displaying in your store. The author, Troy Carroll, details various retail industries (entertainment, grocery, furniture, ect) with a few tips on what digital media works best with the customer base.

4. The Disloyalty Card – Again curiosity struck me and I had to read this article featured at the Insight Driven Retail. A small retail business owner thinking in reverse developed a disloyalty program for his customers that encouraged them to visit his competitors. I’m not telling you more of the story, you’ll have to read the article to learn his ingenious plan and how it worked.

5. Loyalty programs: what works, what doesn’t – That leads us to loyalty programs that do work. It’s defiantly proven that given the right customer loyalty program can retain and excel your customer base. Again some great tips provided by the Retail Specialty Expert that every small business owner needs to read. Grab a pencil and paper to revise or create your small retail loyalty program.

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