From our perspective, we welcome ideas from developers who see the need to create a solution to an issue that may not be there currently. Our preferred developers have solid catalogues of modules you can add on that can increase your sales/business productivity and add value to your point-of-sale system that you might not otherwise discover.

Our longtime client asked us to put together a list of some of our favorites add-ons. This is by no means a complete list, however these are some of our favorites and most often-used modules for our clients. As always, if you are interested in any of these, please let us know and we’ll get you information on them.

Constant Contact Interface
Create new Contact Lists in Constant Contact and add customers to lists based on a wide variety of customer data. We use Constant Contact to stay in contact with our clients via email. Our regular newsletter is distributed this way. Clients interested can receive a referral bonus for the CC service.

Gift/ Award Card
This is a gift card solution for a single store, or you can get the multi-store option.  You can also add a Customer Loyalty feature that accumulates loyalty value using award cards and redeemable as a gift card. As business models change to reduce the amount of cash returns they give out, gift cards are essential to tracking funds available for their clients.

Price lookup
Fully automatic station that allows customers to scan items and view item information and price. Runs on any computer with a network connection to a Retail Pro system, so you can set up a terminal inside your store and allow your clients to perform their own price checks.

Yahoo! Web Store Connector
Integration between Retail Pro and Yahoo! Merchant-Starter and Merchant-Standard E-commerce web stores. This is a great option for clients who are just getting started with an online e-commerce site or who run their online presence thru Yahoo! Stores.

Cross Sell
Suggested Items are displayed and selected when a Master Item is added to a Receipt or Sales Order at POS.  You set up “Suggested Items” that correspond to the “Master Items” within your inventory and those suggestions display on the monitor for your sales staff to suggest. With a little bit of customizable development costs, you can also set up a separate monitor that displays the suggestions to your customers directly.

BOGO
You can link items together as part of a buy one, get one free promotion. When two items in the same promotion are sold together on a receipt the plug-in will discount the lower-cost item by 100% and sell the other item at a discount price. Many configurable options are available.

e-Mail Receipt
The plug-in works in the Retail Pro receipt screen. It prompts the sales associate to e-mail a receipt to a customer giving the retailer the chance to collect the customer’s e-mail address and provide a service. This comes with an e-mail configuration manager giving the retailer some ability to change the e-mail message over time. Also a great add-on to complement the Constant Contact module.

Return Reason Codes
This plug-in specifies a reason code for each item on a return receipt or a negative quantity line item on a sale receipt. Return Reason Codes are built into a UDF field within system preferences. The user is prompted to select a Return Reason Code when a customer returns an item.

Inside the wine tent, you could buy tickets for tastings at four or five different Texas wineries and each winery had 4-5 wines. Now, Texas wines have come a long way in the last 20 years. There are some decent, drinkable wines from the Lone Star State. They tend to fall pretty flat compared to the other big domestics from California and Oregon, but the wine industry in Texas is relatively young. They have a pretty good way to go, but they are getting there.

Indeed, when there’s wine about I’m either going to get in line or get in line again. Throw in some local artisan cheeses, and it was a pretty cool set up. I paid my $5 (ok, I double dipped and got two helpings for $10, but at least three of those went to my wife, I swear).

Into the line I go…first wine is a cabernet. Unfortunately, most every Texas cab I’ve ever had falls flat. Looks great, smells great, tastes like water. No big deal, though…I went back for the blend. Same thing. I had a couple of whites, mainly muscadines. The muscadine grape grows natively in Texas. Europeans first discovered the muscadine in North Carolina and thought it resembled their own Muscat or Moscato (depending on which country you are in), so they gave their new find a similar name. Both make sweet dessert wines, although Texans usually use muscadines for jellies, which are delicious I might add. Not so much on the wine, though. I was having a bit of a bad experience, albeit with wine by the quarter-cup at a time.

Finally, I came across a tasty wine that I liked. It was a merlot/syrah blend that actually had a pretty good punch to it. Ever the wine optimist, I decided to go ahead and buy a bottle. $20 in my hand, burning a hole for a new bottle of wine (although admittedly, that seemed a bit high for a Texas wine…I digress…). The man behind the small counter then whips out his iPad, rings me up, and then shows me his screen. He was using the new Square POS app.

Anytime you mix a computer nerd, halfbuzzed in the Texas heat on table wine, with a nifty new gadget that’s industry-specific, then you are going to probably slow down the line behind him. Too bad for them…I was on a mission.

“I see you have a credit card swiper there on your iPad,” I dutifully mentioned. “Is that connected to your credit card processor at your store?”
“Oh, no…this is my entire cash register,” responded the vintner. “I use this in my store.”
“Does it handle your inventory?” I asked.
“No. I don’t use it for that,” he filled in. “However, I can take this anywhere as long as I have a data connection.” We were on a 3G network at the time, even out in the sticks.

I gave him my credit card, he swiped it, and then he asked if I wanted my receipt emailed or texted to my phone. Email, please. He handed me his iPad, which captured my sig, and then I typed in my email address. In just a few minutes, I had the receipt on my iPhone in my pocket. His credit card processor takes out their portion and then credits his bank account immediately.

While not suitable for a larger retail store, it intrigues me to see such a “mobile” point of sale. I’m looking forward to seeing how this trend of mobile selling begins to creep into larger applications within the retail environment. The limitations for this small application are obvious…inventory management is important, as is the ability to consolidate your EFT transactions.  However, for our wine friend it was a perfect match for his needs.

Several key bank brands – ranging from Sovereign Bank to BB&T – are looking for alternative ways to generate revenue. For example, a number of executives said they will begin pushing the use of prepaid and credit cards, which aren’t covered by the swipe caps set by the Durbin Amendment.

However, several executives were quick to note there is no “silver bullet” answer to the situation. Even if more financial institutions encourage customers to use credit or prepaid cards, it still won’t be enough to fully cover losses from the Durbin Amendment. Most banks are looking into other options as well, such as service fees and additional products.

For example, several financial institutions – such as Bank of America – tried to put debit card usage fees into place. However, widespread backlash from customers, lawmakers and even President Barack Obama caused a number of banks to rescind these service charges.

Instead, banks are contemplating different approaches, such as charging for total accounts or selling data to merchants to determine how consumers use their cards to make purchases. In that way, financial institutions could become an ally of sorts to retailers – rather than profiting on outrageous point-of-sale transaction fees, banks could help merchants better serve customers.

“If you think about it as just the card, you will lose,” Scott Qualls, BB&T senior vice president and manager of the bank’s retail payments, told the news source.

Regardless of how financial institutions try to recoup losses, the Durbin Amendment has worked out largely in favor of retailers. As the Charleston Regional Business Journal noted, small retailers selling big-ticket goods such as televisions made out the best – merchants will be paying less in transaction fees if their average order ends up being $21 or more.

American shoppers are growing sick of standing in long lines and fighting other shoppers for the holiday gifts they want, and instead prefer to shop from the comforts of their own home, according to a new IBISWorld report.

Cyber Monday sales are expected to increase 12.4 percent this year, RetailingToday reports. Meanwhile, Black Friday sales are forecast to improve only a few points. In 2010, Black Friday sales hit $11.8 billion, whereas IBISWorld anticipates a marginal 1.2 percent increase to $12 billion this year.

“Last year, Cyber Monday sales topped the $1 billion mark, increasing 14.1 percent from 2009 totals. In 2011, IBISWorld anticipates further double-digit growth of 12.4 percent to $1.2 billion. The widely available deals coupled with consumers’ increasing propensity to shop online and via their mobile phones, are likely to keep people logging on and checking out,” the news source explains.

Those in the retail business should remember to be flexible during the holiday season. By offering shoppers the ability to shop either in-store or at home, retailers can effectively maximize their sales potential.

Members of the top social network Facebook can purchase credits for use on the site. That isn’t enough for Facebook, though – the social site is now looking to make Facebook Credits a universal currency.

Third-party websites can now use Facebook Credits to facilitate purchases. One of the sites taking advantage of this offer is RealNetwork’s Gamehouse.com, which allows visitors to play social games. Players can use Credits to purchase in-game goods.

“We have begun working with a few developers to test the ability to offer Facebook Credits on websites, with the goal of helping them offer a more unified app experience to users beyond apps on Facebook,” writes Harshdeep Singh, Facebook software engineer, in a blog. “At this time, we are focused on gathering early developer feedback.”

Facebook users can buy 50 Credits for $5, with further discounts for members purchasing in bulk. Earlier this year, Facebook made its Credits system the only way users could buy and sell products on the social network.

While the currency is limited to digital goods right now, Facebook could eventually become a larger part of the ecommerce industry if it keeps extending its reach. With more than 750 million users, it definitely has the member base to do so.

Consumers are looking to spend less when possible, with the average American’s holiday shopping budget dropping from $718.98 in 2010 to $704.18 this year, according to data from the National Retail Federation.

To facilitate this goal, they are increasingly looking for promotions and discounts. Nearly six in 10 shoppers said they will take advantage of sales when doing their holiday shopping, the NRF reports. Additionally, they hope to buy a gift or two for themselves – the average consumer hopes to leverage promotions on apparel, electronics, home goods and other items and will spend as much as $130.43 on themselves this holiday season, up from $112.20 last year.

“When it comes to retail growth this holiday season, slow and steady wins the race – and the same is true for shoppers, who are meticulously calculating the best ways to stretch their dollar,” said NRF president and CEO Matthew Shay. “Knowing their customers are more focused than ever on value, retailers will entice shoppers with promotions that go beyond discounts.”

While the NRF noted individual spending may dwindle approximately $15 compared to last year, several research firms have suggested an overall increase in spending by approximately 3 percent.

With the holiday shopping season on the horizon, retailers are beginning to stock up. This can be seen by the percent increase in cargo volume at major retail container port locations in October.

According to a report from the National Retail Federation and Hackett Associates, container traffic was up 2.6 percent in October compared to the same time last year. Cargo volume was down year-over-year in June, July and August, but the NRF was quick to note that this is deceptive, as last year, fears of shortages drove retailers to import holiday inventory earlier.

“After a summer of trying to compare apples to oranges, retail cargo is back to normal,” NRF vice president for Supply Chain and Customs Policy Jonathan Gold said. “October is the historic peak of the shipping cycle each year, and retailers are bringing merchandise into the country on their usual schedule and at normal levels again.”

While several research firms have indicated holiday spending will grow this year, many retailers are ordering inventory conservatively to minimize leftover stock, just in case the economy turns south and shoppers don’t spend as much at retail locations.

Rather than connect to its customers exclusively through its existing brand page, Walmart has announced it will create more than 3,500 store-specific Facebook pages. The retail brand is hoping this approach enables the company to better connect with local shoppers.

The key is being able to listen to specific customers, something that wasn’t feasible through its generic brand page, which has more than 9.5 million fans. The store-specific pages can also be used to update product availability and promote specific promotions and events.

“Our innovative approach with Facebook allows us to bridge the gap between local and social, giving millions of customers the personalized shopping experience they expect from Walmart,” Walmart’s chief marketing officer Stephen Quinn told Retailing Today.

The retailer is also leveraging its point-of-sale terminals to promote the initiative, with printed receipts encouraging shoppers to visit their local Walmart’s Facebook page.

Facebook has more than 750 million users, which makes it an effective marketing tool for major retailers such as Walmart. Brands can use the social site to perform a variety of activities, ranging from simple customer service to in-depth demographic marketing.

So, as a retailer, what can you do to make sure you survive this?

The most important thing is to know where your dollars are being spent and if that is the correct allocation.

A quality POS system can assist you with this. From determining statistics on inventory and customers to helping you decide what to order, your POS system should function as an assistant helping you determine buying decisions.

Are you getting what you need from your existing POS system?

If you are not, or if you do not have a system to help you with this, contact us.

We can help.

Jason McCall
800.628.2599 ext 12

One of the key advantages to using Retail Pro is the ability to accurately track your inventory quantity on hand. Combining this with other numbers, such as on order quantities, min/max, etc., allows you correctly budget your dollars towards inventory.

Do you know where your inventory dollars are?

Contact us for assistance.

800.628.2599