XSilva announced version 2.1 of their LightSpeed point of sale software for the Apple Mac platform, fixing several minor bugs and adding refinements to Tax Inclusive support.
Furthermore, LightSpeed now supports the new Web Store 1.1 (sold separately) and a new matrix system for size and colour information. Another new separately sold add-on is On-Target Reports offering customization of the 250+ reports that come bundled with every copy of LightSpeed.
The availability of Mac OS X-friendly Point of Sale solutions is giving Apple VARs a new window into small businesses. Retail and restaurant outlets looking for good-looking hardware more and more buy the Apple designed hardware, together with POS software such as XSilva Lightspeed (I will blog about this product in a separate post later). Besides the Apple hardware and the POS software, Mac resellers earn extra money with networking and typical Point of Sale devices such as barcode readers and receipt printers.
Read more at Apple VARs Cash In On Point-of-Sale Solutions
This viral video was created by halo, manufacturer of a web based Point of Sale system. Though I doubt you can solve hardware related problems with a web-based solution, the video is funny enough. Besides that, they offer $10.000 for additional videos of people destroying their POS systems.
Dell will team with SAP to offer an integrated point-of-sale (POS) store solution, enabling retailers to utilize SAP for Retail software solutions on Dell’s Retail OptiPlex 745 POS systems and Dell PowerEdge servers. The alliance, which brings together the world’s biggest business software maker and the No. 2 PC maker, promises to deliver systems that help retailers run their business more cheaply and efficiently.
Enhanced POS features — including accurate and timely customer demand data, real-time inventory visibility and integrated returns processing — combined with seamless connections into core merchandising and supply chain processes, will help enable retailers to better track purchase behaviors, identify buying trends and process customer transactions more rapidly.
How loyal are your customers? Are they coming back because the way you treat them? Or Just because you offer cheap prices?
Some retailers go beyond the call of duty to make customers feel more than welcome in their stores. Some make them feel like guests. Furthermore, they may be pleased and satisfied with a particular visit, but it doesn’t translate into the same affinity and desire to return again and again.
Should you treat them as friends? A friendship is special things. People might go out of their way to see a friend. They care about them, whatever they might need or enjoy their company. On the other hand, a guest, in most cases, is unwelcome whereas a friend is not!
You need two to tango, right? Retailers must invest more time with their customers and get to know them and listen to their concerns in order to establish the trust necessary for a strong, loyal, long-lived relationship.
Loyalty translates to repeat business. Statistics show that a 5 percent of customers’ retention could increase profits from 25 to over 100 percent.
Retailers understand the concept of repeat business and want to do what they can to get it; however, they should look into turning their customers into friends rather than treating them as guest.
It takes patience and more than one visit to achieve it. Friendships are not built over-night, they need time to mature but they can have great benefit as long as you are honest and sincere. Cheap prices will not do the job.