The number one reason customers don’t return to a store is that they ‘forget’ about that retail outlet. (Source: Bill Glazier, Glazier-Kennedy). State-of-the-art POS ensures memorable and favorable customer experiences. Every point of human, digitally interactive in-store contact can be leveraged to meet customer’s current and perceived ongoing needs. Synchronized, real-time POS statistics are integrated with Purchasing. Management can respond to style changes and item trends fast. Goods sell with less markdowns for greater profit. Floor space is allocated to fast moving items while pruning slow movers. When staff know inventory counts are bullet-proof, less theft results. CSAs can complete regular and custom orders faster, interact with customers more and not make errors.

POS has an important customer-facing function. How can it best be designed to deliver speed, convenience and the best possible customer satisfaction levels?

POS can become a marketing and profit-generating center. POS gives CSAs, self-service POS kiosks, customer-owned mobile devices, or CSAs with access to full-featured lightweight wireless mobile POS units, instant access to proven customer history and preferences. Reliable order and delivery status is one click away. CSAs can knowingly sell, up-sell, cross-sell, promote special programs and create high quality, highly targeted interactions between themselves and purchasers. Customers can serve themselves, if they wish. Customers can also make returns without an original sales slip.

With full-featured mobile POS, CSAs can perform suspend and retrieve, lane busting, complete secure credit and debit transactions, accompany and assist customers. Full-featured mobile POS units given to CSAs let them move inside or outside the store with ease, and be confident in the information they provide customers. CSA contact becomes a truly customer-centric, service-oriented experience. Customers know they will save time, be recognized and can more easily enhance their lifestyle pursuits. Shopping becomes tailored to their precise needs and wants.

How can retailers achieve benefits from implementing systems to check or order inventory at other stores?

Centralized, accurate information on demand is possible when fully-integrated multi-channel inventory management solutions update inventory enterprise-wide in true real-time. Inventory status can be trusted at the current store, other stores, online, or via other existing channels. The POS or CSA can tell customers exactly what, when and where merchandise is and exactly when it will be available. All goods can be seen, sold and profits dropped to the bottom line quickly.

What adaptations will POS make in the era of mobile commerce?

Customer-owned mobile devices provide highly useful, yet necessarily constrained, access to POS. Empowering CSAs with sophisticated full-featured handheld mobile POS ensures CSAs can interact and move with customers throughout the store, drive-through, mall or parking lot. Inventory can be checked by product description or SKU. CSAs can sign up and display customer loyalty ID, scan drivers’ licenses, do age verifications, and process payments.  Full-featured mobile POS becomes a walking mobile returns desk where customers receive bar-coded receipts from CSAs when they enter the store. Customers can shop or proceed to the check out where the return receipt is scanned and their purchase recalculated or refunded. Full-featured mobile POS devices also boost staff productivity and ROI by doing ongoing inventory counts, receiving and shelf price verifications. A store system mobile-POS also dramatically reduces checkout counter footprint costs vs. a dedicated POS, and eases holiday shopping bottlenecks. Customers benefit and additional profitability is made possible.

Magstar Inc. Becomes Part of the Constellation Family

Toronto, Canada, June 13, 2012 – Magstar Inc. announced today that it has sold its shares to Constellation Software Inc. (“Constellation”) (TSX: CSU) through its wholly-owned subsidiary Constellation Homebuilders Systems (“CHS”).

Located in Toronto, Canada and Established in 1986, Magstar supplies Enterprise Resource Planning Software to mid-sized retailers across North America and the Caribbean. Magstar’s complete product suite includes Back Office, POS, Mobile POS, Warehouse, and CRM applications. Magstar has been repeatedly recognized as holding an industry leading position by the Retail Information System’s News Leaderboard.

“We are pleased that Magstar will continue its record of success within CHS and believe that Magstar’s employees and customers and partners will benefit from being part of the Constellation family.” said Steven Greenwood, newly appointed President for Magstar Inc. “It is business as usual for Magstar as we continue to develop retail management software and solutions for mid market retailers.”

Magstar’s success has been the ability to work with their customers to help them achieve the operational efficiencies they need to be profitable. Continuous improvements to the software, Point of Sale (POS) systems and now with the addition of a fully featured Mobile POS, ensures that our customers and partners have the technology they need when they need it, giving them the edge on their competition.

“The addition of Magstar will help Constellation expand our foot print beyond retail dealerships into additional areas of the retail market.” said Dexter Salna, President of CHS. “We welcome the employees, customers and products into the CHS family.”

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About Constellation:

Constellation’s common shares are listed on the Toronto Stock Exchange under the symbol “CSU”. Constellation Software is an international provider of market leading software and services to a number of industries across both the public and private sectors. Constellation acquires, manages and builds vertical market software businesses that provide mission-critical software solutions to address the specific needs of its customers in those industries.

For further information contact:
Daniel Zinman
General Manager, CHS Dealership Software Group
dzinman@constellationdealer.com
Tel: (905) 943-6149

Emily Rea
Marketing Manager, Magstar Inc.
emily@magstarinc.com
Tel: (416) 447-1442 ext. 290

Retail Software Developer, Ronald Ross Retires from Magstar Inc.

Toronto, Canada, June 13, 2012 – Magstar Inc. announced today that esteemed President Ronald (Ron) Ross has retired.

Twenty seven years ago when Magstar started it was one of the first companies to offer Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions designed specifically for retailers. For more than two decades Magstar continued to develop its own interactive POS application, promotional price management solution, customer relationship management (CRM) and customer loyalty programs.

Ron led a strong team of loyal employees that remain dedicated to the customers they serve today. Magstar’s strong presence on the RIS News, Leaderboard is a testament to the strength of the product Ron developed during his years of service.

“We wish Ron all the best in his retirement,” Said newly appointed President, Steven Greenwood. “Magstar looks forward to ongoing successes and continued growth in the retail management software market.”

Magstar will continue to be committed to helping their customers achieve greater productivity and profitability as their trusted technology advisor. Strategic ongoing product development ensures that Magstar’s software and services stay one step ahead of the ever changing needs of the midmarket.

About Magstar:
Located in Toronto, Canada and Established in 1986, Magstar supplies Enterprise Resource Planning Software to mid-sized retailers across North America and the Caribbean. Magstar’s complete product suite includes Back Office, POS, Mobile POS, Warehouse, and CRM applications.

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For further information contact:
Emily Rea
Marketing Manager, Magstar
emily@magstarinc.com
Tel: (416) 447-1442 ext. 290

However, while a consumer might shrug their shoulders and say, “I’ll just get an iPad,” retailers can’t afford to be so cavalier in their choices. With over 102 tablets on the market today, developed by 64 different manufacturers, selecting a compatible tablet to interface with an existing ERP solution can be challenging. That’s why a retailer who needs the right mobile solution may need to elicit the help of a mastermind like Sherlock Holmes and take advantage of his powers of deductive reasoning to select the best tablet for their store floor.

Tablet Usability or “Elementary, My Dear Watson”

With a mouse, keyboard, wires and cords, a desktop PC can be oddly intimidating for an unfamiliar employee. Tablets are much more streamlined. Some retailers have already begun moving away from expensive desktop configurations and looking toward mobile solutions to make an impact on the bottom line. Retailers hope that tablets can become a strategic solution that helps with line busting, customer service, customer loyalty, and returns.

For these customer-facing activities, tablets should be intuitive for the end user. On the store floor, a clerk can’t afford to be flustered in front of the customer. Fortunately, Generation Y users who grew up playing video games tend to understand tablets quickly. In addition, most of today’s ERP applications for tablet devices are designed to be so intuitive that training is unnecessary. But you should still be sure to test out the devices and applications you’re most likely to use to determine in advance their usability in the field.

Tablet Security or “You can’t play with edged tools forever without cutting those dainty hands.”

Before selecting any device that transmits customer data over a wireless network, access the security features of that device thoroughly. Keep in mind that any retailer who plans on processing transactions through tablet devices must:

1.) Set up a secure wireless network that encodes data shared across the wireless network and through the server.

2.) Follow credit card payment standards designed to ensure that financial institutions, companies, and merchants that process, store or transmit credit card information maintain a secure environment. USA retailers would need to follow the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) standards, while European and Canadian retailers would follow the EMV global standard.

Even if a retailer plans on using tablet devices to help register customers for the organization’s customer loyalty program (rather than for processing transactions), they should select a tablet capable of keeping customer data secure and safe from predators.

Tablet Features or “It is a question of cubic capacity. A man with so large a brain must have something in it.”

In the dinosaur days of computing, hardware sold software. Today, software sells hardware, especially when it comes to tablets. Since many mobile operating systems, such as Android, can interface multiple ERP systems and POS solutions, retailers are working backwards and starting their search for the right tablet by looking first at the applications and features that are offered with each device.

Retailers should define how they plan to use the tablet strategically to accomplish tasks like cross-selling, up-selling, line-busting, and performing stock checks, then check to see which devices have applications capable of supporting those intended uses.

For example, a furniture retailer might want to use the tablet to build more cross-selling and up-selling opportunities by showing customers how different items throughout the store look together. Using a tablet equipped with the right features, the salesman on the floor could scan the product and demo alternative set-ups for the customer, perform a stock check to see if the items are in the warehouse, and then process a transaction, all without leaving the customers side.

Using the case of this furniture store, naturally the retailer is searching for a tablet capable of scanning barcodes, and performing complex database calls over Wi-Fi. The tablet would also ideally feature high-definition color, and be equipped with easy-to-use applications with the ability to process transactions quickly and safely.

Featured photos by brandon shigeta, minifig, and Kaptain Kobold (2)

Note: Magstar partners with IBM to bring the best in Total Retail Solutions to our customers. Learn more about IBM’s technologies and the services we provide at http://www.magstarinc.com

In this article, we’ll share three mistakes retailers commonly make when it comes to mobile ERP and how they can better protect customers against mobile security risks in a retail environment.

Mistake # 1 – Doing the Bare Minimum

Any retailer performing transactions over a wireless network through a mobile device must follow PCI (USA) or EMV (Canada and Europe) compliance standards to ensure a certain amount of security when customers use a payment card. However, what customers and retailers don’t often know is that a merchant can often fall into the bucket of being PCI or EMV compliant, but still not be secure against outside attacks. Unfortunately for these retailers, mobile security is not synonymous with being PCI (USA) or EMV compliance.

When a retailer uses PCI and EMV standards to protect against common vulnerabilities, they’re technically compliant, yet not necessarily secure.  These mobile compliance standards are the bare minimum amount of security required to keep data safe. Retailers who want to prevent a dangerous security breach will need to go beyond the letter of the standard. A recent article “Security vs. PCI Compliance” on the PCI Compliance Guide details why using compliance standards is not enough to ensure the safety of the data collected through mobile devices. The author, Fritz Young, recommends that retailers “follow both the letter and spirit of the standard” by focusing on ways they can ensure security beyond the bare minimum. For example, retailers can:

• Store very limited data on the mobile device itself by using secure web, cloud, and client-server applications to store sensitive data.
• Maintain a high security posture and look for new ways to protect their data.
• Annually review application codes to look for new vulnerabilities and to maintain compliance.
• Find a developer who is aware of cross site scripting, SQL injection and access control violations and have them code to prevent such attacks.

Mistake # 2 – Viewing Security as a One-Time Checklist

As hackers grow more sophisticated, retailers will need to be more vigilant in safeguarding customer data. Hackers know that new technology, such as mobile ERP, is vulnerable because these technologies are in a rapidly changing in a state of flux. If retailers are not careful to patch vulnerabilities in a timely manner, hackers will mercilessly target the weak point in the retailer’s infrastructure. That’s why Joan Herbig of the PCI Compliance Guide recommends businesses avoid creating a security checklist, She says,

Can a security checklist be enough to help you achieve the sufficient security practices and controls to protect your customer data? A checklist captures the practices and controls of the right now — the moment. In other words, a checklist is only as good as the point in time in which it was written to protect against attacks. 

Retailers who are the most protected against unwanted attacks are those who never stop looking for ways to be more secure. Vendors often share patches to known problems which, if updated regularly, can help keep mobile systems secure from hackers. Applying these patches is a good way to stay diligent on known vulnerabilities, but smart retailers will also look for new ways to stay ahead of hackers.  Remember, protecting customer data isn’t like a game of chess where great players can see three moves ahead of their opponent. Sometimes the game changes and game boards are done away with completely. That’s why it’s so important to stay away from checklists and remain nimble.

Mistake # 3 – Believing Hackers Target Big Box Retailers Only

Don’t believe the news coverage. While security breaches seem only to happen to large retailers such as the TJX Corporation and Hannaford Brothers, small-to-medium retailers are highly vulnerable and a frequent target of hackers.

As big box retailers strengthen their defenses, hackers have begun looking for easy prey elsewhere. With less sophisticated technology and greater vulnerabilities, small-to-medium businesses are the perfect meal for a hungry hacker. In addition to constant vigilance, small-to-medium should perform a security analysis that identifies any and all past breaches. According to the 2011 Data Breach Investigations Report 85% of data breaches were in fact discovered by a third party months after the breach occurred.

Featured photos by maistoria, alles-schlumpf, mattcarman, and flyzipper

Note: Magstar partners with IBM to bring the best in Total Retail Solutions to our customers. Learn more about IBM’s technologies and the services we provide at http://www.magstarinc.com

A 2011 benchmark report, “Intelligent Retailer’s World of Insight,” by Retail Systems Research (RSR), provided some recommendations for retailers looking to launch an enterprise-wide BI strategy. These recommendations were based on the behaviors of retails that out-perform their competitors.

By taking the RSR model, called the “BOOT,” researchers analyzed year-over-year sales growth and distinguished retail over-performers (“Retail Winners”) from retail under-performers (“Laggards”). Researchers then issued a survey on business intelligence and compared the two groups’ responses on the topic. From this data, researchers were able to deduce how Winners and Laggards think, plan, and execute differently from one another.

In this article, we’ll discuss the findings of the Intelligent Retailer’s World of Insight report and share seven considerations to make when launching a winning enterprise-wide BI strategy.

Infrastructure

It’s important to pick a robust, “big data” hardware that can support an enterprise-wide BI strategy. The hardware systems in place should set up with an open systems configuration that can interface with any brand. Information from these applications should be stored in a central database that then can be delivered quickly to multiple applications across many separate channels. Understanding the language of IT can be difficult when making these decisions, but by working with a trusted ERP solutions company any business should be able to select the right hardware for their business needs.

Executive Involvement

Authors of this survey believe that line-of-business executives are ready to learn the language of IT, but that organizational challenges prevent progress in Laggard organizations. Survey responses indicated that Winner companies had already overcome some of the challenges that prevented Laggard companies’ executives from working well together.  Building on that conclusion, we speculate that involving company executives in any IT discussion is important to a successful launch of a winning enterprise-wide BI strategy.

Roadmap

Every enterprise-wide strategy should be broken up into incremental, value-focused steps. Retailers should first determine the kind of output they want from the advanced analytics collected, rather than focusing on the steps first. To accomplish this, many retailers work with an integration partner certified in a total retail solution to build a roadmap for their enterprise-wide BI strategy. While the retailer might be responsible for interviewing the field and determining what their needs are, a partner who has worked with multiple businesses can help the retailer select hardware, identify tools, and determine appropriate applications and delivery methods based on the desired output.

Wireless Plan for Stores

As consumers grow increasingly more mobile thanks to their smart phones, so does the demand for flexible mobile solutions within a retail environment.  This study recommends retailers immediately start planning their wireless infrastructure in order to deliver real-time data to store managers and employees in the field.

Modern Delivery Vehicles

Siloed information channels present a challenge for Winner retailers and Laggard retailers alike.

Seventy-five percent of survey respondents identified siloed operations as the biggest inhibitor to launching an enterprise-wise BI strategy. Fortunately, departments currently locked into information silos now have the ability to break free and receive a 360 degree view of the supply chain right up to point-of-sale.  However, it’s important that companies develop modern and personalized delivery methods for this information.

For example, look at the chart above. While dashboards appear to be the preferred delivery method of C-level and Line of Business executives who spend a lot of time at their desks, store managers and employees need instantaneous data beyond the office.  Unfortunately, the delivery methods identified here require the recipient to perform analytical analyses to achieve a course of action. While an executive might have time to ponder information in a dashboard, store employees can’t be expected to devote their attention to an in-depth analysis of a customer’s purchase information when the customer is standing right in front of them.

However, when BI analytics is coupled with a modern delivery system, store clerks can receive an output of the analytical data that is far more useful on a clerk-to-customer level. For example, receiving a prompt at customer point-of-sale that identified an up-selling or cross-selling opportunity based on their current and past purchase history would be very helpful indeed.

In the past, business intelligence was a trickle-down strategy. Sales reports would come in, conclusions would be drawn and then those conclusions would be dispatched into the field in a format that was difficult to digest. The emphasis on delivering the output of analysis (actionable calls-to-action in real time) directly to the field is what defines the next generation of business intelligence — and a winning enterprise BI strategy.

Featured photos by Search Engine People Blog and “Intelligent Retailer’s World of Insight” by Retail Systems Research

Note: Magstar partners with IBM to bring the best in Total Retail Solutions to our customers. Learn more about IBM’s technologies and the services we provide at http://www.magstarinc.com

The current retail marketplace is precarious for companies that aren’t already considering an integrated mobile experience outside the shopping lane. A recent Forrester Research report predicts a rapidly approaching mobile explosion: if their prediction is correct, one billion consumers will have smart phones by 2016.

Retailers under pressure to differentiate their customer service experience from their competitors are optimistic about the potential for mobile to provide a branded, engaging experience to customers. They believe that by using mobile POS strategically they can help solve tough retail pain points such as line busting or building customer loyalty. It’s a safe bet that retailers who target mobile POS now, in its early stages, will flourish into the decade, while companies without mobility are likely to seem archaic to customers throughout the anticipated mobile explosion.

In this article, we’ll look more closely at the research compiled by the Aberdeen Research Report, “Retailers Target POS Mobility for Engagement, Interactivity, and Revenue” pulling out some of the primary pressures and priorities which has led to an increased interest in POS Mobility among retailers.

Rapidly Changing Customer Preferences

One key takeaway from the Aberdeen Report is that many retailers (40%) named their inability to keep up with the service preferences of their customers as a key pressure point in 2010. In addition, though sixty percent of the 100 retailers claimed their current POS capabilities to be sub-par, less than half (42%) have begun integrating POS systems with their Customer Relationship Management (CRM) data.

The inability of retailers to provide a personalized customer experience is what makes the flexibility of mobile so attractive. Sixty-five percent of retailers targeted in the study claimed that mobile POS has already been identified as one of the key ways to help with line busting and decreasing customer service wait times. POS Mobility has also been defined as a key objective in the effort to modernize and augment the traditional POS experience to better meet customers’ growing technological and personal expectations.

Multi-system Integration with Applications

Multi-system integration with applications is important to top retailers. Forty-two percent of respondents named POS integration with other applications as a key priority as well as the implementation of dynamic marketing content through mobile devices (29%).
When you consider how many retailers (74%) operate in information silos as indicated by another Aberdeen Research Report, it makes sense that retailers would want to store customer information and purchase history all in one centralized database that could then integrate with multiple applications such as a mobile device.

However, to do so a retailer would first need to implement a quality ERP database that can handle complex data calls. It would also need to interface with a point of sale system such as the IBM SurePOS.™ that can be integrated with mobile devices and applications. Once you have an ERP database and a POS system complex enough to support mobile applications, the concept of POS mobility becomes more likely.

Mobile Applications Can Solve Retail Pain Points

The researchers in this study also identified several mobile integration priorities for top retailers. The ability to collect customer data and store it in a CRM (64%), cross-selling and up-selling (60%), and payment processing (60%) were named key target areas that companies pursuing mobile POS integration prioritize.
The interest in POS mobility makes sense when you consider that retailers often desire to know more about their customers, but don’t want to have them wait in longer checkout lines just to acquire this data. After waiting thirty minutes in a checkout line, many customers would balk at the concept of a “loyalty program”. This concern is one of the reasons why retailers today actually know very little about their customers. POS mobility helps speed up customer interactions outside of the checkout lane while providing a more engaging, personalized retail experience.

However, a word of caution: before a retailer can implement POS mobility, they first need make sure they have the proper equipment that interfaces with the mobile device. One can guess that the desire for mobile POS has fueled the conversation around multi-integration, a key pressure point for retailers in this study.  For example, an electronics retailer who wants to greet customers and ask them to join their loyalty program using a mobile device will need to first integrate the device with a secure ERP database that can store the collected data.

Once customer licenses have been scanned, information about the products they purchased will be stored in the future and then can be used to create personalized prompts a store clerk could use to cross-sell or up-sell merchandise. The marketing team could also use the information stored in the database to create campaigns which would send relevant marketing content directly the customer on their mobile phone or email based on customer behavior. These are just a few of the reasons that Mobile POS is becoming a hot topic among top retailers who desire to make retail shopping relevant for the consumer while affecting the bottom line.

Featured photos by Mike Hoff and the Aberdeen Research Report, “Retailers Target POS Mobility for Engagement, Interactivity, and Revenue”.

Note: Magstar partners with IBM to bring the best in Total Retail Solutions to our customers. Learn more about IBM’s technologies and the services we provide at http://www.magstarinc.com

In an effort to remain competitive in a world of waning buyer loyalty, many retailers are undergoing a technological metamorphosis. Several organizations have already implemented successful ERP technology to improve point of sale, exceed buyer expectations, and brand the shopping experience. In this article, you’ll discover how a customer-centric retail environment can be created through ERP solutions to build businesses, and make happier customers.

Inventory Management

 Most customers expect a store clerk to – at minimum – know what products they have on the store floor and in the back room. However, inventory management is a pain point that affects almost all retailers.

How many of us have seen a clerk disappear into the store room for 10 minutes only to come back empty handed? Have you ever left one store for a competitor’s because they didn’t have the product you were looking for? The time it takes to check on inventory, the lack of customer care that punctuates the process, and the frustration when the product is unavailable makes the average stock-check experience dissatisfying for the customer. Fortunately, technological improvements are building transparency and breaking down the information silos that have formerly trapped retailers. Today, a retailer can use ERP to deliver a stock check that increases customer satisfaction and reduces time to purchase.

The true gift of inventory management through an ERP system is its ability to empower customer-facing company representatives to turn a situation that is potentially disadvantageous into a new opportunity. For example, after discovering a pair of shoes weren’t in stock, the average customer might leave the store without a single purchase. However, a clerk working at a store equipped with an ERP solution can scan the product, locate the product within the supply chain, and ship it directly to the customer’s home free of charge. If the store is also equipped with mobilePOSdevices, the clerk can perform this operation without ever leaving the customer’s side.

 Beyond-the-Label Product Information

 Today’s customer wants retail staff members to personalize the experience beyond the product label. A customer at a wine and beverage retailer, for example, may expect a clerk not only to sell the wine, but also to convey information regarding complementary food products, flavor notes, or the Wine Spectator score of the product.

With a fully integrated ERP system in place, retailers can give their staff end-to-end visibility into a product instantaneously. After one database call, the staff member can answer probing customer questions in real time. In larger retail stores where staff members might not be within view of the customer at all times, a customer can access the information themselves by scanning the product’s barcode.

Cross-Selling and Up-Selling

As customers grow to expect more personalized retail experiences, the concept of cross-selling is maturing far beyond the old McDonald’s adage of, “Do you want fries with that?”

With an ERP Solution in place, retailers are primed to turn a cross-selling and up-selling opportunity into a service that provides true value for the customer. For example, if an ERP system was successfully implemented at an electronics store, the clerk could scan the product and alert the customer to opportunities specific to the item they are buying.

When a product is scanned, a data call is performed that can prompt the clerk to mention information pertaining to:

• warranties that apply to the product
• accessories the customer might need to operate the product (batteries, power cords, adapters)
• special sales and bundling offers
• newly available pre-orders for similar products

Whether the service is offered on a mobile level or at point of sale in a checkout lane, ERP makes it easy to build and improve buying pathways and increase customer happiness.

Featured photos by paul goyette, hfabulous, Taylor Miles, and nuanc.  Licensed under Creative Commons.

In this article, we’ll discuss how a retailer can use an ERP system as an interactive customer relationship management (CRM) solution that builds customer loyalty, sells more products, and provides a personalized brand experience for each customer based on highly accurate data.

Product Messaging Consistency

Aberdeen’s November 2010 Cross-Channel Roadmap report indicates that 74% of multi-channel retail operations are conducted within siloed channels. In an effort to increase transparency within their operations, retailers have started searching for ways to improve customer management and create a unified customer experience.

No matter what brand story is being relayed to customers, an ERP system can keep it consistent at every customer touch point. For example, if a customer is at an aquarium supplies store shopping for a fish tank pump, the retailer of that store wants convey to the customer what other tank accessories complement the pump. In the past, retailers often missed opportunities to cross-sell because knowledge about what accessories go with what products varied from clerk to clerk.

With a centralized database in place, product information can be dispatched to the customer before they reach the register. Using branded messages throughout the store, retailers can encourage all customers to scan the product’s bar code using their mobile device or a nearby scanning station to uncover product details not marked on the packaging.

• In addition, if the customer reaches the register and has not picked up any accessories which complement the pump, the store cashier can provide this service by informing the customer about other accessories which complement the product, and alert the customer to accessories currently in stock.

• If the customer wishes to buy the additional products, the store clerk can suspend the transaction while the customer or a store associate retrieves the items.

• If the product is not in the store, the store clerk can even determine the nearest location of the items and offer to have them shipped to the customer’s home.

Even if the customer is not interested in purchasing any accessories, the story the retailer told the customer was consistent throughout the entire process: trust us to provide you with an easy, informative, and efficient shopping process.

Clearing Up Price Confusion

Price confusion is a pain point which too often pits customers and retailers against one another. Take this scenario for example: a customer comes into a store after hearing about an advertised or promotional price for an item, they select the product and head to the cash register when, much to their anxiety, they discover the product is not marked as advertised.

What happens next? Since the pricing strategy was not clearly carried out across all channels, often the cashier is left solve the pricing discrepancy, creating a breakdown in customer loyalty as the customer and everyone next in line must wait for the problem to be solved.

Price confusion is a major problem for all multi-channel retailers, but for JCPenney it was a nightmare. The entire organization felt the pain of price discrepancies so severely that the chain recently eliminated individual promotions altogether. Starting in February 2012, JCPenney will suspend their weekly coupons, discounted merchandise and slashed prices for an “everyday low price” guarantee strategy.

Unfortunately, JCPenney’s everyday low prices strategy isn’t one-size-fits-all solution. Customers don’t always make price-conscious choices; sometimes they choose a retail store because it offers the best buying experience. Fortunately, ERP solutions are making it possible for retailers to offer customer-specific pricing using highly accurate data before the customer reaches the register. Now, weekly promotional activities can run more efficiently and profitably.

Reward Your Regulars

More and more customers want to feel appreciated and recognized for their loyalties, but without the right technological solutions, store clerks are often left to deduce sales opportunities without access to the customer’s entire purchase history – a difficult challenge.

To provide real value to customers more consistently, retailers are looking to ERP solutions as a way to recognize their regular clients’ buying habits and reward them for being great customers. Once their drivers licensees has been scanned (either through a mobile device or standard POS system), customers’ information is stored in a centralized ERP database that can be accessed throughout the organization’s channels. Store managers or the corporate office can create and manage promotions personalized to a customer’s unique purchasing habits.

• For example, a health and beauty store customer might receive email updates when their favorite cosmetic items (or items similar to the ones they’ve bought previously) are on sale or back in stock.

With an ERP system in place, a store associate can also build the ideal shopping experience for the customer in seconds using prompts from the computer system upon checkout.

• For example, if a loyal customer is checking out at a wine retailer, the store clerk might notify a customer that one or their wine futures is coming into stock.

• To sweeten the deal, the clerk might offer the customer a special price to pre-order a case in advance.

Without an ERP system in place, the clerk wouldn’t be able to cross reference the customer’s purchase history with the wine futures coming into stock. It’s opportunities like these that make ERP solutions integrated with POS so lucrative for retailers. They empower the retailer to increase the bottom line while increasing satisfaction for an already loyal customer.

Thirty years ago, when Cheers was in its first season, the average retail customer was a different animal than today. The internet was just a twinkle in a computer programmer’s eye; people mostly limited themselves to the products that they could find locally. Today, customers can compare product prices, read product reviews, and order at the click of a mobile phone. Despite these technological conveniences, people continue to shop retail. Why?

People still desire a personalized, tangible shopping experience and ERP solutions can help retailers provide it.  Soon, we’ll all be in a place where everybody knows our name.

 Featured photos by Photomatt28, Abi Skipp, atxryan and Erik Mallinson

Magstar’s Total Mobile POS is an enterprise-ready solution that uses Motorola’s MC75A lightweight handheld wireless devices as full-featured POS checkouts. Ideal for lane busting inside or outside a store, parking lot or drive-through checkout, Total Mobile POS is also a mobile returns’ desk. Fully-integrated into stores and head office in real-time, Total Mobile POS also allows employees to do standard retail floor and store functions such as inventory counts, receivings and shelf price and enterprise-wide inventory verification.

Total Mobile POS dramatically improves store ROI and productivity levels since it is also a complete CMR solution that can sign up, capture and display customer loyalty ID and product preferences by scanning drivers’ licenses. In July 2010, Magstar was awarded the U.S. National 2010 Innovative Solution Award for Magstar’s Age Verification Solution for liquor, wine and beer store purchases by the Retail Solutions Providers Association (RSPA) and Vertical Systems Reseller Magazine. Magstar’s Age Verification Solution can also be used with Total Mobile POS.

Magstar’s clients are on record as having notably improved revenues, customer satisfaction, efficiencies and bottom-line results while cutting costs year-over-year. Motorola can be found at NRF booth 1319; Magstar’s NRF booth is 1237.

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For more information on Magstar Total Retail:
Contact:

Brad Chisling
Magstar, Inc.
(416) 447-1442 Ext. 233
About Magstar Total Retail

Magstar Total Retail is a fully-integrated ERP for mid-size multi-channel specialty and chain store retailers. Magstar also has highly robust point solutions and professional services for tier-1 to tier-4 retailers. Magstar Total POS is a fully-integrated and full-featured POS in a mobile footprint. Magstar Total Retail provides comprehensive merchandising, POS, Mobile POS, CRM, global supply chain, BI/analytics, warehouse and financial management solutions and is noted for its highly reliable in-house 24/7/365 North American-wide support. The company celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2011. Magstar is an IBM, HP, DigiPoS, NRC and Motorola Partner. For the tenth year, Magstar has been voted as a top retail software vendor in RIS News’ Software LeaderBoard vendor performance survey; this year, Magstar achieved three #1′s and 13 other top ten rankings. Magstar is also on Integrated Solutions for Retailers “Vendors You Need to Know” 2011 listing. For more information on Magstar Total Retail, please visit NRF 2011 Booth 1237 and www.magstarinc.com.
About Motorola Mobility

Motorola Mobility, Inc. (NYSE:MMI) is known around the world for innovation in communications and is focused on advancing the way customers, retailers and world connects. From broadband communications infrastructure, enterprise mobility and public safety solutions to mobile and Mobile POS digital communication devices that provide compelling experiences, Motorola is leading the next wave of innovations that enable people, enterprises and governments to be more connected and more mobile. For more information on Motorola Solutions, Inc. (NYSE: MSI) and Motorola Mobility Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:MMI), please visit www.motorola.com/mobility.

We encourage newcomers to this topic not to think of mobility as a replacement for a traditional POS system, but an opportunity to provide meaningful customer service beyond the check-out line. In this blog post, we discuss 5 reasons why a retailer would implement a mobile POS system and cite specific cases for mobility that you may not have thought about before.

Reduce Customer Time in Line

Mobility has the power to improve the customer experience at a stationary point of sale system such as the IBM SurePOS.™ The IBM SurePOS™ series can be integrated with mobile devices and applications for efficiency in line busting. For example, during peak store times, a clerk can collect a customer’s information while they stand in line for ultra-fast check-out when they reach the register. Since the mobile device connects to the database in real time, the check-out process is already half-completed by the time the customer places the products on the counter.

A similar system could also be used to check IDs at the liquor store by scanning driver licenses at the door, thus eliminating the time it takes to check IDs in line.

Email Receipts and Collect Email Information

More and more customers are asking retailers to provide paper-free receipting services. From the retailer’s point of view, email receipts are also a great way to collect customer information while providing a requested service. With a mobilePOSsystem integrated with your point of sale, you can easily collect customer email addresses while providing paper-less receipts directly via email. If this system is combined with your customer loyalty program and tied into an ERP system, even the customer’s receipt preference can be stored in the database for future visits. You could also ask for customer information away from the check-out line so that when they reached the check-out counter their receipt preferences are saved and their information already stored.

Increased Security

Another benefit of mobile point of sale systems is that added security is required for implementation.  In some cases, the retailer may have to upgrade their technology to meet security guidelines. Anyone who is processing transactions today on a mobile device must follow either PCI guidelines (USA) or the EMV (a chip and pin technology in Canada and Europe).  They must also set up a secure wireless environment that uses data encoding across the wireless network and when communicating with the server.

To send and receive data in real time on a mobile device, your handheld will need to interface with a high-caliber point of sale solution like the IBM SurePOS™ series.IBM is a point of sale system run on a secure, well-built server. To implement these solutions, an organization must ensure the server it is running has the stability to support an ERP or mobile solution in real time. By upgrading these systems to support those solutions, you’ll not only be able to access data in real-time, but you’ll also be able to implement a secure environment to support the technology as well. While undergoing the security audit necessary for mobility, you’ll end up in a position to better protect your business and your customers from data theft.

Frees up Floor Space

Implementing a mobile solution can help the retail industry take back floor space that currently is being used by cash registers. Since mobile interaction can happen anywhere, stores can also free up space now allotted to a returns or customer service counter.

Manages Influx of Customers More Easily

Without a mobile point of sale solution, your customer service is limited to how many cash registers you have at any given time. For a retailer with multiple stores where one location is expecting a sudden spike in customers due to an event or special sale, mobile devices can be dispatched from your other locations to a that store to handle incoming traffic.

Since the mobile devices interface within the organization’s ERP solution and all customer information is stored within a collective database, no additional software licensing needs to occur on site. After the event, the manager can just return the devices to the original store. It’s this kind of flexibility that makes mobility such an attractive option for retailers who need on-demand solutions that their store managers can easily implement with ease.

Learn how an ERP system can be used to:

• Connect buyers and planners to SKU-level sales information in real time
• Control product movement throughout the supply chain
• Maintain a competitive pricing program
• Enable insights into CRM activity that go beyond card and point based loyalty programs
• Adopt multi-touch channels that allow consumers to perform transactions from anywhere in the store

How is POS evolving to meet today’s increasing in-store digital and consumer needs?

The number one reason customers don’t return to a store is that they ‘forget’ about that retail outlet. (Source: Bill Glazier, Glazier-Kennedy). State-of-the-art POS ensures memorable and favorable customer experiences. Every point of human, digitally interactive in-store contact can be leveraged to meet customer’s current and perceived ongoing needs. Synchronized, real-time POS statistics are integrated with Purchasing. Management can respond to style changes and item trends fast. Goods sell with less markdowns for greater profit. Floor space is allocated to fast moving items while pruning slow movers. When staff know inventory counts are bullet-proof, less theft results. CSR’s can complete regular and custom orders faster, interact with customers more and not make errors.

POS has an important customer-facing function. How can it best be designed to deliver speed, convenience and the best possible customer satisfaction levels?

POS can become a marketing and profit-generating center. POS gives CSR’s, self-service POS kiosks, customer-owned mobile devices, or CSR’s with access to full-featured lightweight wireless mobile POS units, instant access to proven customer history and preferences. Reliable order and delivery status is one click away. CSR’s can knowingly sell, up-sell, cross-sell, promote special programs and create high quality, highly targeted interactions between themselves and purchasers. Customers can serve themselves, if they wish. Customers can also make returns without an original sales slip.

With full-featured mobile POS, CSR’s can do suspend or retrieve lane busting, complete secure credit and debit transactions, and accompany and assist customers. Full-featured mobile POS units given to CSR’s let them move inside or outside the store with ease, and be confident in the information they provide customers. CSR contact becomes a truly customer-centric, service-oriented experience. Customers know they will save time, be recognized and can more easily enhance their lifestyle pursuits. Shopping becomes tailored to their precise needs and wants.

How can retailers achieve benefits from implementing systems to check or order inventory at other stores?

Centralized, accurate information on demand is possible when fully-integrated multi-channel inventory management solutions update inventory enterprise-wide in true real-time. Inventory status can be trusted at the current store, other stores, online, or via other existing channels. The POS or CSR can tell customers exactly what, when and where merchandise is and exactly when it will be available. All goods can be seen, sold and profits dropped to the bottom line quickly.

What adaptations will POS make in the era of mobile commerce?

Customer-owned mobile devices provide highly useful, yet necessarily constrained, access to POS. Empowering CSR’s with sophisticated full-featured handheld mobile POS ensures CSR’s can interact and move with customers throughout the store, drive-through, mall or parking lot. Inventory can be checked by product description or SKU. CSR’s can sign up and display customer loyalty ID, scan drivers’ licenses, do age verifications, and process payments.

Full-featured mobile POS becomes a walking mobile returns desk where customers receive bar-coded receipts from CSR’s when they enter the store. Customers can shop or proceed to the check out where the return receipt is scanned and their purchase recalculated or refunded. Full-featured mobile POS devices also boost staff productivity and ROI by doing ongoing inventory counts, receiving and shelf price verifications. A store system mobile-POS also dramatically reduces checkout counter footprint costs vs. a dedicated POS, and eases holiday shopping bottlenecks. Customers benefit and additional profitability is made possible.

Just as the Tin-man, Scarecrow, Dorothy and the Lion turned to the Wizard of Oz for solutions to their problems (a missing heart, brain, courage and a home, respectively), retailers are embracing mobile POS as a customer-centric solution that helps with line-busting, returns management, stock allocation and stock identification. Mobile POS can also assist retailers to collect customer information for loyalty programs and safely transfer it wirelessly to a secure ERP system.

Is mobility the solution you’re looking for? How do retailers create a mobile point of sale experience? Let’s draw back the curtain on this Wonderful Wizard of POS and find out how mobile point of sale and other mobile solutions tap into secure ERP systems to deliver customer satisfaction.

If Store Inventory Had a Brain?

Without mobile POS, the average stock check experience is not very smart. Imagine this: a customer approaches a sales associate and asks if they have a skirt in a size 6. While the clerk leaves the customer to check the back room for their requested items, any number of things can happen. The customer could lose interest and decide not to buy that skirt at all. At minimum, the clerk has to check the warehouse and other stores for their inventory, all while the customer is left feeling increasingly dissatisfied.

However, when a retailer is equipped with mobile devices that integrate smoothly into a ERP system, the customer experience changes dramatically. Instead of disappearing to the back room, the clerk’s mobile device instantly recognizes the item and locates the nearby inventory. The clerk can then tell the customer whether that size 6 skirt is down the street, or in the warehouse or at another store. If the requested item is available, the clerk can offer to have it shipped directly to their house.

As a retailer, this scenario puts customer service first and eliminates obstacles between the customer and point of purchase. The clerk remains present throughout the entire process and at the scan of a barcode is informed of available inventory, creating a seamless customer experience. If the mobile device is equipped with a mobile POS application, the clerk could even process the customer’s order on the spot.

Get the Lion’s Share of Line Busting

From the dawn of retail, line busting has been a top priority for retailers. The lion from the Wizard of Oz would agree that it takes a lot of c-c-courage and leadership to implement a solution aimed at reducing lines.

Many retailers start exploring mobile solutions by implementing a stationary point of sale system that can interface with mobile solutions easily. For example, if your store was using an IBM SurePOS™ check out system, a clerk could scan a customer’s information while he or she was in the store. Then when the customer went to cash out, their name and relevant information would already integrated within an IBM SurePOS™ system and stored in the database making for faster transactions and, ultimately, reduced costs and shorter lines.

Although most retailers could benefit from implementing at least one mobile solution, home and garden stores particularly stand to gain much from taking their point of sale systems mobile and virtually eliminating lines all together. Imagine if a customer could purchase 4 bags of mulch and a variety of plants without having to walk through a check out line. A clerk would simply approach the customer, scan the appropriate barcodes, and then be free to help load up the customer’s car.

Give Customer Loyalty a Hand (and a Heart)

Today, customer loyalty programs are often tacked on to the end of a long check out process. Imagine that instead your organization could take customers’ information while they were walking through the store. The store representative would scan a customer’s driver’s license and store only the information that is pertinent for the loyalty program. The information would be correct, it would be spelled properly and also contain the proper address. The customer wouldn’t have to fill out any paperwork or wait in line and the data on file won’t be spelled 5 different ways. Since the mobile device wirelessly transfers data to your secure ERP solution database, the customer’s identity is recognized throughout the entire retail chain. If your customer loves your store, they’ll love you even more for caring about their customer loyalty.

Send Customers Home Happy (After Returning Inventory)

When Dorothy attempts to leave Oz, a place that doesn’t seem to understand her or her needs, she clicks her heels and says, “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” While your customers may not have walloped the Wicked Witch of the East with a house, they may be wishing for the sweet release of home after an excruciating half an hour trying to return an item.

One of the most stressful operational problems organizations face involves the question of handling customer returns in a way that actually increases customer satisfaction. Today, most customers wait in a check-out line for 30 minutes to exchange unwanted items. By the time the customer has moved through the line and had a return processed, they are so frustrated that when asked if they’d like to shop or get their money back, they’ll often choose the latter and head on home.

At Magstar, we look at mobile POS from the perspective of the customer. We ask, “How can we use mobile POS to streamline return management and send customers home happy?”

We believe that if retailers performed return management via a mobile device as soon as a customer walked into the store it would improve the return experience. The clerk would scan the barcode of the return, hand the customer a bar-coded receipt and say, “Okay, go shop.” Then, when the customer found what they need, they’d check out as easily as clicking their heels. And they’d head home happy.

Featured photos by theatrebhs,  Thomas Hawk, alternatePhotography,     wistfulmactavish and Jenn and Tony Bot.

CRM is a ROI-enabler that can connect retailers more directly to their customers. Sophisticated CRM solutions enable cost-effective customer marketing by leveraging their personal data and purchasing history in all channels. Customer data can be used to tailor selections for each store to create a unique store ‘personality.’ Merchandise thus mirrors the preferences of customers who actually shop there vs. stocking shelves based on a ‘head office’ template. Greater financial returns and positive brand reinforcement result as customers realize their preferences are actually being considered. This creates more positive customer experiences and builds relationships via pre-sales, up-selling and post-sales’ activities. Customers come to know that the right product mix will be available at the location they frequent and at a price they are willing to pay.

With customers spending less and markets shrinking the feeling is that every shopper who remains loyal is worth her weight in gold. What can retailers do to keep their best customers satisfied and retain their loyalty?

Traditional loyalty programs ‘cold’ marketed customers; CRM ‘warm’ markets to them and creates positive opportunities to build relationships and reinforce your brand. Well-designed CRM solutions give your staff many more ways to build consistent, meaningful and mutually-beneficial customer relationships. Make all customer points of contact as focused, niche targeted, responsive and compelling as possible. Provide all sales staff, merchandising, store and channel management access to high quality customer information. Allow each store to have a unique and tangible ‘personality,’ based on customer demographics and buying preferences for each outlet. Time-constrained consumers will keep a retailer top-of-mind if they consider them a reliable resource that pinpoints and can even anticipate their ongoing needs.

What tools and strategies can retailers deploy right now to make a difference in the loyalty retention, conversion, frequency and purchasing trends?

Customers are becoming selective in their participation in CRM programs. Retailers must deliver and provide value in exchange for their customers’ loyalty. If the retailer offers cross-channel shopping options, ensure that the customer is aware of the benefits available to them: from signing up; to cross promotions; to pickup; and delivery options. Utilize customized personal emails, targeted coupons and promotions based on demonstrated personal shopping habits. Invite customers to in-store or web events with guest experts, celebrities and advanced product releases which focus on the customer’s interests. Utilize sales receipts to notify customers of upcoming events. Continuously tweak product selection and offerings in the store and online based on proven customer purchasing trends.
The key to retaining loyal customers, converting casual shoppers into frequent shoppers, and growing the shopper base is the “wow” experience.

How should retailers create extraordinary shopping experience to inspire loyalty?

Highly personalized emails and/or customized direct mail can include invitations to special in-store and online events, advance/special cross-promotions for new product launches with vendors. ‘Talk’ directly to customers’ mobile devices and notify them of loyalty promotions and activities when they enter the store. Create a downloadable bar-coded ‘shopping list’ for regular customers. Allow customers to present their ‘e-loyalty card’ or coupon via their PDA/phone and a 2-D scanner on checkout. Add an ‘electronic wallet’ solution as well as sending them coupons and bar coded specials for easy POS processing. Sign up members using new technology that scans drivers’ licenses rather than cumbersome error-prone methods of capturing customer information. Install POS Mobile for ultra-fast checkouts, no-fuss returns, and to instantly enroll customers in new CRM initiatives.

What strategies and tools can help retailers improve their engagement with customers through executional excellence, speed, convenience and problem solving?

A consolidated CRM, POS, mobile POS, mobile computing, BI solution will give retailers effective ways to ‘speak directly to’ customers. When fully-integrated to a sophisticated, intelligent, robust, reliable and cost-effective enterprise solution, complete transparency will result. Staff managing CRM, merchandising optimization, order management, finance and warehouse management will have all the tools needed to meet and anticipate their customers’ needs. Taking an enterprise approach to CRM will moderate costs and enhance profitability.

Knowing your customers, their spending habits and where they are geographically located, your business can adjust to changing conditions when, where and as needed. Exceptional retailers can gauge the effectiveness of their marketing programs by seeing when and how consumers’ respond. Reliable CRM data provides not only the information retailers need to be responsive to their customers, but they will see you as a retailer that they can rely on, whatever location or channel they use.