POS Software

This weeks roundup has a few interesting point of sale announcements. Xsilva, the company that offers LightSpeed Point of Sale software for Mac user has released a new promising version. We then feature a website that has an incredible demonstration of using an iPhone with a new Mobile POS application called GBmobile. If you have ever had any doubts about investing in a mobile point of sale solution, watch this video and think again as you run to purchase an iPod. The third POS headline we focus on this week is a reminder for small retailers that are running a point of sale software that’s based on the Windows Operating System. Microsoft is ending security support for it’s long time stable Windows XP and retailers need to know the consequences of not upgrading their core OS software.

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?””

Welcome back to the weekly roundup of Retail News and Point of Sale reviews. We missed the roundup last week due to a very busy holiday weekend but we’re back and here to bring you some weekly highlights in the world of small retail and point of sale.

Our first feature this week is the announcement of a new web based point of sale software offered by a company called Slingshot. We then go into another announcement of a new product line from Ink Jet Superstore that will give you more options when purchasing POS supplies. The third article we highlight this week is a way for small retailers to obtain a small business loan from a big ally. Next is the fourth article of the week that explains how a very reputable company can help gain your small business the exposure it needs. Wrapping up the weekly round up this week is an article that offers some statistics on where you should hire employees and why.

1. Slingshot Software Releases Web-based Point of Sale (POS) System – Slingshot, a company that provides web-based enterprise business software solutions for retailers has announced this week the deployment of their web-based point of sale software. The company states that the pos software will be

“…unique in the fact that it will allow retailers to centrally deploy and administer software, upgrades, promotions, user interface and configuration changes instantly across the enterprise.”

The only information you can gain about this new web-based POS is to request a demo from the company website.

2. Inkjetsuperstore’s New Product Line Launch– POS Supplies – Providing printer ink solutions at the lowest prices for over 10 years, InkJetSuperStore is now offering a new product line, POS supplies. The new product line includes the following items: ATM Paper Rolls, 1 Ply, 2 Ply, 3 Ply Paper Rolls, Thermal Paper Rolls, Colored Thermal Paper Rolls, Gas & Convenience Store Paper Rolls. Head on over to their website and check to see if you’ll be using their point of sale printer supplies.

3. Sam’s Club now offering small business loans – There was a lot of chatter on the web this week about Sam’s Club offering small businesses the opportunity to obtain a loan through them. The company will be testing an online program that could give qualified merchants between $5000 to $25,000 loans.

“The Sam’s Club small business loan pilot will focus on serving Main Street minority, women and Veteran owned small business owners as well as micro-entrepreneurs under the SBA’s Premier Outreach Express products such as Community Express, Patriot Express and Export Express loans.”

4. How Bloomberg BusinessWeek’s Business Exchange can Help Your Small Business Gaining More Exposure – Grow your small retail business reach by teaming up with Bloomberg Business Exchnage, a creation of BusinessWeek. This article will outline the features and benefits you could gain by joining now.

5. Why You Should Hire Employees Using Social Networks – This is a very interesting take on why you should hire employees through social media. It’s working for many small retailers out there. Head on over and read another way social media could be helping your business.

Welcome to this weeks roundup featuring articles on point of sale and retail news. The first article we showcase this week shows how one restaurant saved money by using the iPod as a POS solution for its staff. Then we have an announcement of a new real time reporting tool for Counterpoint point of sale software. Then we move on to the third article which is all to familiar to many small retail businesses, the dreaded swipe fees. These fees are under stack by many small and large retail establishments plus the Senate is already taking steps for regulation of these fees. The fourth article in this weeks roundup is an opinion article from The Retail Specialty Expert and it talks about avoiding dumb discounting, We then end the roundup with a small tutorial on how to gain retail marketing insight from the data that you collect daily in your POS database.

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.

You might notice that there are only three titles in this weeks roundup post. That would be due to find three very interesting articles on small retail businesses using Apples technology as mobile point of sale devices. The mobile POS world is advancing very rapidly among small retailers and customers alike. The three articles we feature first will help give you a better visual and understanding of what an iPad or iPhone could do for your retail business. The fourth article we feature this week has 6 practices a local retailer should use to gain exposure in local search results for nearby customers. Then we end this weeks roundup with a one chapter excerpt from a book that will give you informative information for one way you can help grow your retail business.

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.

This week in our roundup comes with a huge announcement for small retailers looking to purchase mobile point of sale software. One company has just announced a large discount for retailers purchasing their POS Software in the next few days. Our second article comes from Bloomberg Businessweek with some tips for small retailers to simplify PCI compliance. The last three articles we feature were all published by the Retail Customer Experience, which if you are a regular reader, you will know we feature many articles from this informative site. This week one article talks about the emergence of digital signage in some small businesses you would not expect. The last two articles give study results on consumers and how they are buying.

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.

This is a special bonus video for customers of the MerchantOS Point of Sale Software that also use Freshbooks online invoicing software. The quick instructional video will show you exactly what you need to do to integrate your customers and inventory from Freshbooks to your MerchantOS point of sale account.

This weeks roundup features two announcements regarding the point of sale industry that will be affecting many small retailers. Heartland Payment Systems has launched a new security option for POS stations that will help retailers comply with the new PCI compliance. The second announcement stating the sale of CAM Commerce to Accelerated Payment Technologies will enhance small businesses using this point of sale software. Our third article this week will shed some light on using mystery shoppers to collect data in your small retail establishment. Then we move onto a way to bring new customers in and retain the old by offering coupons that are easy to find. The weekly roundup ends this week with a tip about a website that will assist small businesses in their daily duties as well as provide some online advice.

1. Heartland Payment Systems(R) Commercially Launches State-of-the-Art Payment Card Security Technology – Heartland Payment Systems is now offering a way small and large businesses to assure their customer data is safe across all payment options without any increased fees.

2. Accelerated Payment Technologies Introduced Following Sale Of CAM Commerce Point-Of-Sale Software Division – I was surprised at the sale of Cam Commerce this week but the good news is that this will help customers of the company’s point of sale software with a higher quality. Accelerated Payment Technologies is the company that will take over and provide POS customers with a 100% focused integrated payment system with new innovative technologies.

3. Opinion: Why mystery shopping isn’t enough for retailers – Although this is an opinion article, it raises some very valid point when considering using mystery shoppers to evaluate your overall customer service. Many small retailers use mystery shoppers to provide insight on satisfaction, spending, loyalty and employee knowledge but the numbers might not be as they seem.

4. Study: 60 percent of customers look for coupons before shopping – Coupons are still a valuable way to retain and gain new customers according to a recent study by The Integer Group. They state that 60% of consumers look for coupon before entering their favorite retail establishment and this could greatly affect their spending. As a small retailer offering coupons at the front of your store could bring the satisfaction and sales you’re looking for.

5. BizSugar Sweetens Your Small Business Social Media Marketing Campaign – As a small business owner you need to be up with the times, fads and new technologies in order to compete with larger brand name stores. This article outlines some of the fascinating things you could be learning at a comprehensive retail website called BizSugar.

Company Name: Lecere Corporation
Product Name: FIRMS Handheld Restaurant POS

FIRMS Handheld Restaurant POS Software Overview

Lecere is a company based in Oregon that is composed of a team of individuals that have many years in the restaurant and technology fields. The FIRMS restaurant POS software solution is designed with future technologies in mind and offers a total restaurant point of sale solution. The software is an integrated set of SaaS modules used to excel any restaurant from a small mom and pop operation to a large well known chain.

FIRMS provides the restaurant owner five individual, on-demand modules:

• Point of sales (POS), with online delivery or takeout accessible via a web browser, PDA, or cell phone
• Networked, multiple-restaurant accounting
• Powerful online reservations capability for restaurants, accessible via a web browser, PDA, or cell phone
• Mapping and geocoding for directions to the restaurant, display of nearby, and optimized delivery
• Data mining, which allows the restaurant to target selected customers for special offers

Lecere states on their website that with as little as an inexpensive handheld device you can purchase modules as your business grows. This will alleviate the high cost of certain business operations and improve customer service. FIRMS is compatible with a variety of handheld computers including the new Apple iPad eliminating the need for larger high cost POS systems.

Video – FIRMS Handheld Restaurant POS iPad Demonstration:

For more information visit the Lecere website.

Company Name: Action Systems Inc. (ASI)
Product Name: Restaurant Manager Write-On Handheld

Write-On Handheld Restaurant POS Software Overview

ASI boasts the Write-on Handheld restaurant point of sale software is a complete solution that can assist hundreds of restaurants through out the country. The software runs on numerous wireless handheld computers including the popular and seemingly inexpensive iPod Touch. You can take orders, process payments and do a variety of other things while never leaving the customer at the table. Using Write-on Handheld in conjunction with Restaurant Manager you can access all business data from numerous locations at the touch of a button on your handheld device.

Restaurant Manager is the true software behind the successful restaurant point of sale solution.  The complete package includes the ability to run for customers to order online, receive real time alerts, the ability to add a touchscreen POS and an extensive backend restaurant manager with one stop reporting.

The company which has over 20 years experience in creating point of sale solutions states:

Our restaurant POS software can provide integrated Online Ordering, inventory management and control, wireless table side ordering and payment, real-time alerts, mobile management capabilities and robust back office management can help increase revenue, cut cost and boost your bottom line.

Video Outlining the Handheld Restaurant Manager POS Software

It’s a little outdated but it gives you the basic idea of the capabilities.

You can find much more valuable information at the company website and explore all the possibilities this could open for your restaurant.