Introduction

The new rules in Major League Baseball aimed at shortening average game times can have several impacts on merchandising and concession sales at stadiums:  MLB revealed the pitch clocks have shaved an average of 26 minutes a game to 2 hours and 36 minutes. The following are some of the ways that game day sales have been impacted.

Reduced sales volume: With shorter game times, fans will spend less time in the stadium, which could lead to fewer opportunities for them to purchase merchandise and concessions. This may result in a decrease in overall sales volume.

Shift in spending patterns: As fans adapt to the new game duration, they may alter their spending habits. For example, they might make quicker purchases before the game or during breaks, rather than casually browsing and buying items throughout the game. This could lead to increased sales in specific periods, such as pre-game or between innings.

Focus on efficiency: With a shift in buying habits, stadium operators can increase the efficiency of their merchandising and concession operations with sports and entertainment POS systems. This could include streamlining product offerings or offering item of the day promotions, optimizing staffing, and adopting technology to speed up transactions. 

Changes in pricing: Stadiums may adjust their pricing strategies to compensate for the potential decrease in sales volume. This could involve offering discounts or promotions to encourage fans to spend more in a shorter time frame, or even increasing prices to maintain revenue levels.

Increased emphasis on fan experience: To keep fans engaged and spending during shorter games, stadiums may invest more in enhancing the overall fan experience with premium suites in seating. This could include offering unique or limited-edition merchandise, creating innovative food and beverage options, or providing interactive experiences that encourage fans to visit concession stands and merchandise outlets.

Off-stadium sales: Teams and stadiums might also increase their focus on online and off-stadium sales channels to offset potential losses from decreased in-stadium sales. This could involve improving their online stores, offering exclusive online deals, or partnering with local retailers for co-branded merchandise.

Ultimately, the impact of the new rules on merchandising and concession sales at a stadium will depend on how well teams and stadium operators adapt to the changes and implement strategies to maintain or increase sales in the new environment. Improving the fan experience with improved checkout efficiency, allowing fans to return to their seats will be paramount.

 

Tech for Faster Stadium Sales

To speed up transaction times in merchandising at stadiums and improve the overall fan experience, there are several technologies that can be adopted:

RFID technology: Integrating RFID tags into merchandise and using RFID scanners at the point of sale can expedite the checkout process by instantly updating inventory and allowing for quicker transactions.

Mobile ordering apps: Fans can use their smartphones to pre-order and pay for merchandise, allowing them to skip lines and simply pick up their items at designated locations or have them delivered to their seats.

Self-service kiosks: Equipped with touchscreens and payment processing systems, these kiosks enable fans to quickly place orders and pay for merchandise without waiting in line at traditional counters.

Automated inventory management: Smart inventory systems can help ensure merchandise is always in stock and readily available, reducing wait times for items to be retrieved from storage.

In-seat merchandise: Installing small vending machines or merchandise storage lockers near seating areas can allow fans to quickly purchase items without leaving their seats.

Digital wallets: By creating a digital wallet or a stadium-specific currency, fans can preload money onto their accounts for faster transactions at merchandise stands.

Queue management: Implementing queue management systems, like virtual queuing or line-monitoring apps, can help distribute customers evenly among available service points and reduce wait times. Giving fas access to approximate wait times at different stands can also help them plan their purchasing trips

Augmented reality (AR) shopping: AR can allow fans to virtually try on merchandise and make purchases from their seats, eliminating the need to visit a physical store or stand.

By adopting these technologies, stadiums can create a more efficient merchandising experience for fans, allowing them to spend less time waiting in line and more time enjoying the event.

Tech for Faster Stadium Sales

 

Item of the Day

Determining the Item of the day sales can be complicated, ideally they should create an urgency for fans to buy a specific item without cannibalizing existing sales, you can follow a systematic approach that leverages data and considers various factors. Here’s an algorithm to help you identify the “Item of the Day” for each game:

Collect data: Gather historical sales data for all items in your inventory. Ideally, you should have data for the past few seasons to better understand sales trends and customer preferences. Also, take note of any special events or promotions that might have influenced sales.

Determine item popularity: Calculate the average sales per game for each item. Rank them according to their popularity. This will help you identify the items that are selling well and those that need a boost.

Identify slow-moving items: From the ranked list, identify items that have a low sales volume per game and could benefit from being the “Item of the Day.”

Factor in seasonality and trends: Consider the time of the year, special events, or other trends that might affect item popularity. For example, if your team has a rivalry game coming up, you might want to promote items related to that rivalry.

Create a non-repeating schedule: Once you have identified a pool of items that can be featured as the “Item of the Day,” create a schedule for the 81 home games that ensures no item is repeated.

Set a discount strategy: Determine the discount percentage or pricing strategy for each “Item of the Day.” You might want to offer a higher discount for slow-moving items or lower discounts for more popular items to avoid cannibalizing sales.

Monitor and adjust: Track the sales performance of the “Item of the Day” and compare it with historical sales data. If you notice any negative impact on overall sales, adjust your strategy accordingly.

Quickbooks Desktop Alternatives: Why Choose ZeroPOS over QuickBooks Desktop POS?

Quickbooks desktop alternatives are more essential as businesses evolve. While QuickBooks Desktop has long been a trusted tool for accounting, many companies now seek flexible, cloud-based solutions that provide greater accessibility and collaboration options. With the growing trend towards remote work, cloud accounting software enables teams to access financial data securely from anywhere, eliminating the need for local installations and maintenance. Additionally, some businesses find that QuickBooks Desktop lacks industry-specific features or scalability options as they grow, leading them to explore other platforms that offer specialized functionalities.

Alternative accounting software can also provide a more budget-friendly option for small businesses or freelancers who need streamlined features without the higher costs. Consequently, there’s a strong demand for QuickBooks Desktop alternatives that offer robust, scalable, and mobile-friendly accounting solutions to meet today’s dynamic business needs.

retailcloud’s ZeroPOS is an all in one point of sale software that has been designed with today’s retailers in mind. Conduct and manage all aspects of your business with the one, easy to use system. retailcloud gives you less to worry about and more time to spend growing your business.

Key Features of ZeroPOS: 

-Processor-agnostic Solution with Dual Pricing Capability

-Multiple Support Channels i.e. Phone, Chat and Email

-Intuitive Cashier Experience

-Multiple Tender Options and Tap Pay

-Robust Inventory Management

-Powerful CRM with In-house Loyalty and Gift Cards

-Dynamic Employee Management

-Muli-location Capabilities

-Insightful Reporting

-Mobile App and Clienteling Toolkit

-Cloud-based Back Office with Real-time Updates

How does ZeroPOS’s QuickBooks Integration Work?

ZeroPOS, a cloud based pos system, is a full suite of management tools that streamlines payment processing, inventory management, and other business operations. Integration to QuickBooks Online allows you to manage your finances with ease.

Gain Sales Reporting

ZeroPOS pushes all data to QuickBooks Online as transactions are processed throughout the day. This allows you to view sales activity in QuickBooks and effectively gauge your business’ performance based on accurate financial reconciliation.

Simplify Inventory Management

With ZeroPOS you have a full suite of inventory management in one system. From purchase orders, to receiving, selling and adjusting, you can track where your inventory is at all times. Integrated with QuickBooks Online, you can make more informed decisions with your inventory management and increase profits.

Accurately Track Income and Expenses

Tracking your profits and losses, as well as your invoices and house accounts has never been easier with ZeroPOS and QuickBooks. Streamline your accounting activities and record-keeping!

Embrace the Ideal POS Solution with retailcloud

retailcloud’s integration with QuickBooks Online makes it the ideal cloud POS solution for those who have worked with QuickBooks Desktop POS. As QuickBooks moves to discontinue their POS, retailcloud is proud to offer a turnkey solution that allows merchants to gain sales reporting, simplify inventory management, and accurately track income and expenses: allowing them to take advantage of the accounting and financial management tools in QuickBooks Online. 

A full annual inventory can seem like a very daunting task as a whole. However, prep planning will break down the steps and make the full process less overwhelming. These steps will increase your count accuracy, reduce the time you spend counting, and lead you to a successful inventory overall.

Who & When
In planning for your prep, schedule your inventory day far enough in advance that you give yourself plenty of time to prep. A good practice is to have 30-45 days to prep. It is ideal to schedule your count at a time that will not be busy in your location.

Plan the team that will be doing the prep and counting. When selecting counters, choose seasoned employees as well as those who can provide fresh eyes. A key part of planning your staff, is communicating with them the importance of their role in the overall success of the inventory. Share with your team the tasks they are assigned, and create a centralized location for tracking progress of the prep.

Organize

A majority of your prep work, will be organizing your product. Make a map your that includes dates that each section is expected to be ready to count. Assign members of the team that will prep and count each section. If you have a warehouse, it is best to start there, as your team will be able to maintain the prep work once it is done. If you have freezer/refrigerators or off-site inventory, don’t forget these in your map and timelines.

Identify

Identify what it will take to organize your product for counting day. Locate items without barcodes and decide if you will generate and affix barcodes, or prep them on a manual count sheet. Designate a space or sign that will clearly identify items that will not be counted. Any defective or obsolete product should be disposed off and removed from the count area and written off from the system quantity. It is important that any receivings/transfers are frozen and staged in an area that has been designated to not be counted inventory day.

How will you count

Establish with your team how you will conduct your inventory count. Traditionally, physical counts are done with pen and paper. While this can get the job done, it requires an extra step for someone to enter all the data. Using a scanner app, will make counting your inventory a breeze. The app will sync completed counts with your POS so once you’re done counting, you can easily update your stock levels.

Using an Inventory application or device

Using an inventory application or device enables you to complete your inventory count from a handheld device, sometimes even using your phone & its camera to scan. This saves you the time of working with manual counting sheets. This process will require the use of a fully charged device or maybe a wifi connected phone. When planning your prep, you’ll want to include the set up of your device. It is also a good idea to practice with the device or app prior to count day, and review the steps and best practices with your team.

Food and Drinks for your team

You’ll want to keep your team happy and efficient on inventory day. It is a tedious process, so keeping them on top of their game will be an important part of your planning. Have water, coffee, maybe some pizza or snacks on hand. This will also boost their morale and increase their attention to detail on this important task.

Day of the count

Pre-designate a person that will oversee the flow of the count. Making notations on sections as they are complete is a great way to avoid double counting. Double checking and auditing counts as sections are complete, will be a good idea before updating stock levels. Avoid postponing inventory checks, as the best time to do it, is while everything is fresh in mind.

After the count

Pull up your inventory reports and analyze the data to see what can be done to improve your business. Use this information to identify high risk zones, and adjust standard practices to minimize losses in these areas. A good practice to adopt would be to have frequent cycle counts of areas or items that show significant discrepancies. This will help you in identifying trends within your business.

Smooth and painless inventory days are no accident. Details planned well in advance will help you be prepared and have a more accurate count, and with less stress. Making sure you have the right tools, the right people, and the right plan will help you have a successful day.

If you liked this blog you might be interested in our previous article on this topics as well

 

Let me start by says that a product return isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Based on a six-year study from the University of North Carolina’s Flagler Business School, the study looked at the return rates from various companies. And it turns out that there’s actually a “sweet spot” that equates to higher profits per customer sales. One company was found to have a magic number of 13 percent!

But a product return may not go the way merchants want. As reported in The Wall Street Journal, that same research showed numbers that were greater than this percentage actually decreased profits. And it signaled deeper, structural problems within the company itself. It could be a strict return policy or poor record keeping from accounting. Either way, these problems can lead to dissatisfied customers, increased chargebacks and much more.

I’d like to provide four simple tips that should help your business prevent excessive returns

Let customers  touch and feel your products

Allow your customers to fully experience your merchandise. Touching, Tasting, Feeling – your customers can make a more informed decision, which will minimize returns.

Market-right features

Many times such returns are the result of a retailer carrying a product that doesn’t have the features customers demand. They may still buy it, but the end result will typically be a return.

Listen to your Customers

The best way to find out what the customers want is to ask them. Salespeople will also have great insight as to what customers are asking for that a store isn’t carrying. Paying attention to the responses and acting on them will help minimize returned merchandise. Keeping tabs on the competition can also be useful.

Informative displays

“With tight payrolls and a large turnover of associates, displays are more important than ever before,” says Tom Hebrock, vice president of retail services at Stuart and Associates in Brentwood, Tenn. “This is what the customer relies on if they can’t get employee assistance in the store.”

Displays need to have consistent information for one type of product. The sign also needs to include accessories that are needed but not included so the customer doesn’t get home expecting what’s not there.

Informative displays will also help store personnel communicate the benefits and features of the products they are selling. While it would be nice for associates to memorize every feature of every product, the expectation is unrealistic, and detailed displays will assist them in selling.

Follow these tips to prevent excessive returns so that you can operate in the Sweet Spot of customer returns.

In retail location matters, and brick and mortar retailers spend a lot of time and resources in getting new customers to walk in their stores,  but that is just the beginning; keeping customers coming back is the key to operating a successful retail operation. Here are some tips on how to do that

Brand awareness

Let’s start here,  keep reminding them where they are – have associates greet them by using your store name “ Welcome to (store name);  Can I help you find something?” Remind them where they are whenever possible – Thank you for shopping at (store name); try to use shopping bags, digital receipts where your store name is prominently displayed. Whenever possible use preprinted hangtags or if you don’t want to invest in them – try a stamp or sticker with your name and logo.

Exceed expectations

Here is a low-cost value add for your customers, have associates be aware of surprising customers with random acts of kindness (I don’t mean give away free product or discounts) – taking time to carefully package items, spending a little more time to make sure the customer experience is curated for the customer.

Inventory transparency

Provide accurate information to the customer or product availability. Give associates the tools to know what’s in stock, what’s on the way in and when it can be expected.  Pay particular attention to your product mix and train your associates on complimentary and replacement product.

Value your relationships

Loyalty and club programs (especially experienced based ones) are the cornerstone of retail – Club programs can range from simple pricing discounts like grocery stores offer or experience-based ones that many airlines focus on. One of my favorite example of a club program is a neighborhood restaurant who has a point system for visits and once you get to a certain level – they guarantee you a table anytime – I’ve seen them set up temporarily set up tables for their top customers even when fully sold out – I’m sure that those customers feel the restaurant always value their relationship.

Last but by no means least

Get online

Consumers want easy access to their favorite stores, have an online site that has accurate information on products and inventory levels (ideally connected to your inventory system) and tied to your POS (so customers have one view into all their activity). This allows customers to view product, make purchases and even process returns at their convenience.

Keep the shopping process simple yet enriching is what will keep them coming back. Keep reminding the customer where they are (frequency of impression is real) and have your associates stay focused on providing a quality experience. These are some simple yet inexpensive ways in driving return activity.

It is important that business owners are presented with business tools and hardware which fits their needs. While there are plenty of Android based Point of sale out in the market, there was still void in the space mainly the integration with secured payment integration. PAX’s bold step to fill that void with a suite of smart terminals from 4” screen size to 15” is in that direction.

We are announcing the retailcloud full features Point of sale on PAX E500 terminal. E500 is a sturdy terminal in its own class which can handle your point of sale operations, inventory management, payments and customer engagement in a secured way.  

With E500 you can now downsize the Point of sale hardware but still get and advanced solution. PAX E500 comes with 8” touch screen, 3”  customer facing screen, Integrated EMV payment terminal, NFC Payments, Integrated 3 inch printer, Extension ports to connect extra peripherals

Here are some other benefits of using retailcloud POS on PAX e500

Sturdy Hardware and All in one Terminal

PAX E500 is All in one terminal with Printer, Tablet, Payment device in single unit. It is built with high quality hardware and have gone through rigorous certifications for the payment industry. PAX E500 comes with high quality & solid performance, equipped with multiple peripherals ports, large paper roll, technologies of auto-brightness setting, magic SR and grease proofing enabling smooth touch of screen.

Full Fledged Point of Sale Software

retailcloud’s Point of sale app on E500 provisioned through the Paxstore is one of the only Full Fledged POS software available for E500. It has

  1. Advanced Order Module with Sales, Refunds, Exchanges
  2. Customer Relationship Module to engage your customers
  3. Inventory management for your multi or single location business
  4. Employee Management with Attendance tracking
  5. Cash Drawer Management features with detailed end of day reports
  6. Cash Discounts and Surcharging programs  
  7. Many More

Next Generation Payment Device

Accepting payment have evolved over a period of time. EMV is gained traction and store owners feel short when they don’t accept Apple Pay, Google Pay, Samsung Pay or Alipay. Pax e500 can accept

The Solution is PCI Certified and compliant to the Payment Standard defined by the industry.

PAX E500 with retailcloud is easy to setup and get going. If you are interested in the program please contact us where we can help you order, setup your terminal and train to modernize your store operations.

According to a recent infographic from Community Merchants USA, 66 percent of all point-of-sales (POS) transactions are done with plastic – credit, debit, or gift cards. As we all know, there are VISA/MC and association fees that must be paid by the retailers to accept credit cards. A major trend in many industries is to pass on the expense to the customer at the time of the sales transaction. Tacking a small percent onto each sale, can result in a significant savings for the business.

Are Cash Discounts right for you and your customers? Here are pros and cons that can help you decide.

PROS OF A CASH DISCOUNT PROGRAM

Reduce Fees – Obviously, the biggest pro is reducing or eliminating card processing fees associated with accepting credit cards. If you don’t process cards, you don’t have to pay for the service.  

Easier to implement and explain than a credit card surcharge  – Another way some merchants pay for card processing is to assess a surcharge on products bought with a credit card.  There is sometimes push back. For instance, it’s illegal to add a card processing surcharge in 11 states. Implementing a cash discount, though, is legal everywhere.  And it’s pretty easy to explain that all items in the store are priced with a built-in service fee, but that the fee is deducted if you pay with cash.

Encourages cash payments – Although many people prefer credit cards, a cash discount may encourage a customer to use cash instead of a card for their purchase. These means less time between the sale and when you have access to the funds. There is no processing time or wait period for cash in your hand.  Plus you eliminate some fraud exposure.

Reduce chargebacks  – With fewer people using cards in your store, it’s likely the number of chargebacks will also decrease. If this has been a problem for your business, this decrease may actually help reduce the card fees you do pay, because you’d be perceived as less of a risk.

CONS OF A CASH DISCOUNT PROGRAM

Some customers may not carry cash – Lots of people simply don’t carry cash anymore. Expecting to use ApplePay, some shop armed with just their phone. And if a customer is opposed to making a purchase without getting a discount, they may walk out without buying anything.  You could experience a drop in sales volume.

Conspicuous signage – To offer cash discounts, you must post what the law refers to as “conspicuous signage” throughout your place of business to let customers know they can receive a discount if they pay by cash or gift card rather than using a credit card. Also, while expressed as a discount and not as a fee, some customers may view the posted “offer” in a negative light.

Implementation – To be compliant with a cash discount program, your receipts must clearly reflect that there is a service charge on items and that that service charge was removed for a cash payment. That means revising your POS system software.  Plus you’ll want to be sure you follow any changes in the laws around cash discounts in the future to avoid any penalties.

Potential Drop in Sales  – Studies have show that consumers spend more when using their credit cards. If cash appears to be a more attractive option in terms of managing credit card processing fees, be aware that it could end up discouraging and depressing your overall sales results.

If you chose to implement a cash discount program, make sure you go into it with your eyes open. Follow the rules closely to avoid issues and penalties, and be sure to evaluate the success of the program against any declines in sales you may experience to be sure the program is working for you.

Making Payments Easy

The sleekly designed Poynt Smart Terminal with it’s built in EMV reader and Interactive Customer Display makes it easy for small retailers to step up from their calculator registers into something that provides them with flexibility and integrations into todays must have retail solutions.

Poynt users of all sizes will have a couple of decisions to make in deciding if Register or Skycraft POS best meets their needs.  This post will help navigate the waters and simplify the decision.

Register features

Both apps have the ability to create user pages to easily layout items making them easy to find, and both also support line item and order level discounts, coupons and fees, as well as the ability to set tax levels based on the item. Register has a limit of 500 SKUs per catalog so if you have more than that you will need to move up to Skycraft POS which has unlimited SKU’s.

Skycraft Advantage

poynt-front

With Skycraft POS in addition to the features mentioned above you also get category management features that allow you to run margin and performance reports by up to 3 classifications and 5 attributes. Leaving lots of room for growth. The inventory management module is also quite comprehensive allowing you to easily identify categories that are impacting your net margins.

There is also a built in CRM list builder app to easily get and launch marketing campaigns, a loyalty program to offer club pricing, discounts on merchandise to your most valuable customers as well as Time & Attendence with time sheet management. These together with Sales Tax Settlement reporting and Barcode Label printing are the most popular features on Skycraft Point of Sale App.

Other benefits of the Skycraft application is that you can add Advance Orders for online ordering with delivery or pick up in Store, you can also connect your Poynt to Windows and Android POS devices on retailcloud and there are phone apps for cycle counting and other inventory functions. You can also connect to retailcloud online and launch an ecommerce store within minutes.

Regardless of which application you select you cant go wrong with your new Poynt Smart Terminal.

Other Interesting Apps

If you are not considering using the Poynt to get one view of your transactions, inventory and customers, there are some other apps (most of these features are already included or available in Skycraft POS) you may want to also consider

Let me know if you have any questions or feedbacks on the apps recommended here. You can reach me on twitter @retailmadesimpl or post your comments below

inventory

Inventory Management is the heart of retailers effort to manage their assets. It can be disastrous if they are not approached properly. A lot of retailers rely on the tools mainly on their point of sale systems or retail management systems. In some cases point of sale do not provide what they wanted or they tend to rely on other third party tools to manage these assets. You can simply rely on a spreadsheet or a  very complex enterprise grade systems which gives tons of options ( a lot of time it comes with increased complexity ) or it can be like the tools which retailcloud provides which balances simplicity and usability. 

Ultimately it should focus on

Here are 5 ways to make Inventory Management easy

  1. Organize your products with proper meta data.
  2. Use inventory management tools which fit your needs.
  3. Incorporate inventory management business process into your workflow.
  4. Vigilant about your inventory.
  5. Measure and Forecast.

Organize your products with proper Meta data.

This is one of the key first step to have a clean inventory. This is important not only for management but for visibility & discovery.

Once you have a good organisation of the product, it is always easy to look into your inventory and sort, filter through your product whichever software or tools you may use.

Right Inventory Management Tools

Right tools are important for the job. Inventory management doesn’t just end with adding or updating product , counting product. So it is important to have the right tool for the job. retailcloud provide various tools on POS, Web and mobile which can be chosen for your convenience . For some mobile may be convenient and it may be desktop for others.

A few examples of tools which may help

Incorporate Inventory Management business process to your workflow

It is always good to have good business process tied to your retail management. This can be when an inventory is brought into the location, moved between locations or if you have to account for damages. If you do not have any of these processes or not used to any of these don’t worry we have built workflows right into retailcloud tools so that you don’t have to do the heavy lifting.

Example of a few workflow process are

  1. Inventory Receiving process to a locations ( Store Inventory , Warehouse Inventory )
  2. Inventory Transfers between Locations
  3. Inventory Reconciliation &  Cycle Counts
  4. Purchase Order Management

If you have a custom workflow you can achieve this by leveraging our API’s Check with us how we can help you to improve your inventory management  

Vigilant about your Inventory

It is always good to extra set of eyes to know what is going on with your inventory . The smart way to do is through notifications, alerts and approval management process

Retailers that participated in the 2016 NRSS say that employee/internal theft amounted to 35.8 percent of inventory shrink in 2015. The report also found that the average loss of dishonest employee cases dropped from $1,546.83 to $1,233.77

Source : losspreventionmedia.com

retailcloud provides various alerts for tools for configuring the alerts at various roles and a permission based feature activation.

In addition to this a more Actionable alerts like below will provide better insights to their inventory

Measure and Forecast

Last but not the least measure your inventory or use tools which provide insights about inventory. Any of the above mentioned ways are not relevant if you don’t measure and have a good idea about how you should sell your existing inventory. 

retailcloud provide various tools to get you insights. Some of the amazing tools are

  1. nGuage – A KPI mobile app focuses just on the indicators which matters for retailers
  2. Dashboard – Back Office and in app dashboard on your POS.
  3. Attribute Analysis Report – Show how your products perform by meta data.
  4. Overstock & under stocked report.

STATIONERY

Online-Sales

That is an amazing statistic, online marketing accounts for 8% of total retail sales while still driving online commerce companies like Amazon to a market cap of close to 400 billion only behind Apple, Google, Microsoft and Berkshire Hathaway.

Technology is the what is driving this change, there is nothing quite like having a supercomputer in the palm of your hand to empower you to connect to any retailer or to find the product you are looking for. Anywhere and Anytime!

While Amazon and large retailers have had a jump start, technology has even the playing field for small retailers; they now have a chance to allow consumers to discover their product and offer the same global access to these products.

However global access is not the only or even the primary reason to get online, Millennials have expressed a clear desire to get back in stores, they want access to store data and availabilities on their phones, technology drives their entire shopping experience. To compete for the spending dollars of this fast growing segment you have to be where they are making decisions

Everyone loves lists; so here is my list of the Top 4 reasons you should have an online presence;

Product near me searches

This is one of the fastest growing type of searches. Looking for shoes, just type in shoe stores near me in a chrome browser and see where consumers are being driven to? Try it yourself, when the local listings come up which one are you likely to click on, the ones that show address and phone number or the ones that have product websites.

Insight into Inventory

Consumers can very easily see what product you carry and what is available in your stores.  With easy search capabilities they can search for any product based on their size or see all color style and size choices available for pick up today in your store.

Convenience of Purchase & Returns

Connecting your online store to your brick and mortar makes it easy to buy or exchange product from anyplace.  Connected commerce allows you to easily grow not only to an online store but to easily support and integrate all the new distribution options available in social media commerce. Remember you have to be able to show your product where consumers are buying it.

Ease of Implementation

Deploying a web store and connecting it to your physical inventory is no longer complicated,  a few simple clicks and you are up and running. For example the retailcloud web store product can deploy an online store that is fully integrated into your customer lists and inventory within a few minutes; using the launch email feature you can also trigger an email to everyone in your database telling them about the store; convenient, connected and simple. It’s why online shopping is only just scratching the surface.

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An exciting journey begins with Zero POS and Star mPOP

Finally, a winning POS combination that everyone can use!

Zero POS and Star mPOP flexible powerful and beautiful!

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Free POS software and hardware

Zero POS was designed to be the ideal merchant solution, beautifully designed, simple to implement, simple to use and priced perfectly. All that was missing was a hardware solution that matched its principles and ideals; and then suddenly Zero saw mPOP; it was love at first site.

What’s a mPOP you ask?

Its an an all-in-one POS Solution! Star Micronic’s mPOP is to POS what combination VCR TV’s were to the 90’s! Still thinking about what that means? The mPOP is a combined cash drawer, printer and tablet POS hub. Its sleek, streamlined look is refreshing in a world of clunky, noisy, cash drawers that take up valuable counter space. Best of all it is designed, manufactured and supported by Star, a company with a long history in providing reliable hardware solutions to retailers. Pair this station with a Samsung tablet and retailcloud tabPOS software and you have yourself an updated point of sale location that is bound to satisfy any retailer.

The back-story

When we first saw Star’s mPOP solution in their early development stage we were impressed by its footprint, look and potential affordable price point. From that time it was a constant commitment from Star’s Product team , their belief in retailcloud solutions and follow up which got things exciting. We were also able to get our hands on an early pre-production version which was important for us to build and test for viability.

Affordable

The Integration of Zero POS with mPOP is important because Zero POS is the only solution which offers a full fledged mobile POS Solution for such a great price; zero dollars per month for the software.

Simple Set Up

The setup for an existing or new customer is completed in 4 easy steps:

– Sign Up for ZeroPOS & get ready with your account (5 min)

– Turn on your mPOP Hardware (under 1 sec)

– Pair the mPOP hardware in bluetooth settings (under 1 min)

– Choose the paired bluetooth mpop in the Zero POS hardware settings (under 2 min)

Who Would Best Benefit:

– QSR or espresso bar type environment when you want to pair it with many Start Printers (LAN)

– Clienteling scenarios to allow associates on the floor with tablets to communicate both the customer and with the mPOP at the cash wrap

Tablet VS. Desktop

Pros to a tablet solution:

– The looks – These have a techy modern look that suggest your business embraces cutting edge technology. Customers love seeing new technology especially in small mom and pop type stores.

– Customer Impact – Shoppers feel like they get more value while shopping at a small store that has a fancy point of purchase. There’s -something special about a place that can maintain its character but also stay modern with their business side matters.

– Smaller footprint – Less clutter on your counter always looks good.

– Full featured – Tablet applications include all the features small and midsize retailers need.

Cons to a tablet solution:

– Screen size limitations – If you are looking for a large display, desktop solutions have better options.

– Lower memory capacity – Applications will not be as robust.

– Sacrifice performance – You should limit use of other applications on tablets to optimize performance.

– Fewer portals to attach peripheral devices

– High Volume traffic business may find that the desktop is able to process quicker

You don’t need to have a big computer on your counter to make it seem like you have a top of the line point of sale. mPOP only takes up a fraction of your counter space and paired with retailcloud, has a full lineup of features. Consider what features you need today as well as what you will need as your business grows. This will help decide what hardware solution is best for your business.. mPOP and Zero POS prove that you can deliver reliability, power, design and efficiency at a price retailers will love.

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