Cloud Storage?

The “cloud’ is an extremely hot topic right now in many areas of IT and personal computing, but it means different things to different people, and it can do different things for different types of businesses.

One of the simplest concepts to understand and use is cloud storage. This is essentially just remote storage of your data, and you can get this service from Google, Amazon, Apple, Mozy, and any number of others.

But, is that really a business service, or just outsourced storage? Small businesses need data security and disaster recovery, included automated backup services, not just data storage. Many companies offer this service as well, but is that the whole story?

Imagine this scenario: You have a retail store with 4 POS terminals and a back office station. You have had a busy holiday season so far and you’ve done lots of account sales and loyalty transactions with your best customers. You have a backup service, so you assume you’re good to go.

But, a desperate criminal, possibly hurt by the long recession, breaks into your store. He finds empty cash drawers because you have good banking practices, but he sees value in your computer system and steals them all.

What good will your simple backup service do you now? You need help re-installing your point of sale application on your replacement computers, and you need help downloading your data. A simple backup of your files isn’t enough. Not by a long shot.

As noted here by Mark Webster: http://www.echannelline.com/usa/story.cfm?item=27328, retailers need to be thinking about more than just offsite backup. You need to have a disaster recovery plan, and you can use the cloud to store not only your data, but your mission critical applications and other necessary information. Or, pick a provider that will do it for you, and will give you the services you need, when you need them most.

Retail Technology Flies!

I just returned from a point of sale vendor conference and it’s clear that this business isn’t standing still. Despite a relative lack of innovation before and during the recession of 2008-2010, the last year has shown that mobile devices, web offerings, cloud products, and many other new technologies are set to offer retailers powerful new ways to interact with their customers, more efficiently gather data, and reduce their operating costs.
Mobile platforms such as tablets, smartphones, etc. allow retailers to come out from behind the counter and offer their customers a much more personal and interactive experience, without reducing their data gathering capacity. You can serve a customer in an aisle or near a display, but still capture their demographic info, loyalty points, inventory balances, and process credit cards securely, all from a simple tablet device. Is your store ready for this?

The cloud is going to continue to develop, but we see lots of opportunity for hosted data storage, reporting dashboards, and remote connectivity functions, just for starters. What part of your system would you like to see in the cloud?

In short, there’s a lot going on, and I think the rate of change will only accelerate. Help us understand what you need, and we’ll get there together.

Ready for the Holidays?

I know, I know, it’s only October. I’m not ready for the holidays either, or at least not personally, but on the business side it’s time to get going.
Retailers have to be at their best during the holidays, from mid-November right through to the end of the year, especially in a down economy when customers are being extra careful with their money. A retailer who lets a customer down isn’t going to get a second chance this year.
So, what to do? Make sure your staff is prepared for the extra crowds, and really carefully analyze your inventory and your sales from this time last year to make sure you’re stocking the right merchandise and that you have enough stock.
But those are the basics, how else can you prepare? Well, the big guys are marketingto their customers (and yours) every day. I know you don’t have the marketing budget that they do, but you have a huge advantage. You KNOW your customers.
Leverage that advantage to send your customers and prospects timely and targeted offers by e-mail or even mail to invite them to your store for special prices, services, or seasonal product and throw in some special attention and expertise and you can win a repeat customer.
Take some time to identify who your ideal customer is, and what you can do for them that the big box stores can’t, and go sell THAT to them. I bet you’ll have a merry Christmas…

Getting Ready for the next PCI Deadline

All retailers accepting credit cards have an obligation to protect that sensitive data.  However, it’s more than just an obligation.  It’s a requirement put in place by the PCI Security Standards Council, an industry group that governs credit card processing regulations. 

The goal of PCI is to reduce identity and credit card theft and to protect the consumer.  To this end, all merchants must maintain in-store security systems to protect their customers’ data.  This includes making sure your POS system is compliant under the 12 points of the PCI-Data Security Standard.

The next deadline is July 1, and it states that all merchants must be using an audited and approved point of sale system from the VISA list here: www.visa.com/cisp

If you are using an older application you run the risk of fines and penalties from your processor, and ultimately you may be cut off from the processing network.

You can read more about it here: http://www.capretail.com/pci.html

Don’t wait until it’s too late, get your system up to date today.  If you need help, you can always contact CAP and we’ll get you taken care of.

CAP is Closed Today, Friday February 12th

We apologize for any inconvenience, but we’ve had a massive snow storm and our entire building is shut down. For immediate assistance please e-mail sales@capretail.com or support@capretail.com
Service will resume as normal on Monday the 15th.

Marketing Basics for Retailers

For retailers, marketing is one of the hardest tasks to tackle on a consistent basis. Sure, it’s important, but it always seems to come after the pressing things like staffing, inventory, and reports management.

But, even though you may not feel like you have a lot of time to manage a grand marketing campaign, you simply MUST find the time to put on a targeted marketing effort.

Pick a segment of your customer base and use your reports to understand what they like to buy. Rather than hoping they’ll come back to buy more, send them all a postcard with a promotion on similar items, or a new line of items from their favorite vendor. This not only increases the potential that they’ll come back to buy something, it increases your brand status with those customers and makes them feel special.

On that note, make them feel so special that they tell a friend. Give them an incentive to bring a friend in next time they come. If they bring a friend, maybe you give them a free small item or a trinket. Maybe you give them a free service or a discount. Whatever it is, reward the behavior you’re looking for, and make the reward tangible.

Market consistently to these customers, and periodically to new customers, and you can be sure that you’ll have better store traffic than you would simply by having nice displays or a well stocked inventory.

Retail Security is here to stay

Everyone has heard of the major credit card and identity data breaches at retailers like TJX and DSW, but what does that mean to the small retailer?

Well, it means a lot. Small retailers have been lucky for the past few years as hackers and other cyberthieves have targeted the plump, low hanging fruit of large businesses with lax security practices. However, it only takes a few major brands being made an example of for others to start taking extreme measures to secure their payment networks and other customer data.

So, with the big data “banks” locked up, where will the criminals turn? If it’s very complicated and expensive to target the big haul, thieves will focus instead on small returns that can be had with much less effort.

This means that in 2010, especially in light of the desperation in the economy, small retailers absolutely must implement network, firewall, user access, and other data security policies to avoid being breached. Such a breach will cost more than most retailers can afford in fines, fees, lost sales, increased auditing costs and other outlays. You simply cannot afford to NOT secure your data.

Get a qualified security auditor to review your computer infrastructure, including your software, legacy systems, and internal policies. If you still have sticky notes with your login and password stuck to your monitors, you’ve got a long way to go baby.

The time for sticking your head in the sand has passed, and the retailers that can’t demonstrate that they are secure will get passed by as well, by the PCI (Payment Card Industry) and by customers who don’t feel secure in using their credit and debit cards in those stores or on those websites. Security is fashionable now, just like being green, so now’s the time to use the latest GOOD technology to fight the latest BAD technology.

CAP has a full PCI knowledgebase to help retailers negotiate the maze here: http://www.capretail.com/pci.html

Go to VISA’s PCI Knowledgebase to learn more before it’s too late:
http://usa.visa.com/merchants/

You owe it to yourself and your customers to make your business as secure as possible.

The Cost of Lost Sales

We’ve talked a lot about inventory here, and there are lots of great strategies for maximizing turnover and throughput, but I want to talk about some of the less obvious implications of improper inventory management.

First, the obvious problems with poor inventory management are:

1) Lost sales due to empty shelves

2) Shelf space being filled with unpopular items (this takes up useful and productive shelf space, but it also portrays you as out of touch)

3) Customers can’t get the items that they DO want.

So, if you stock your store using your instincts, or by trusting the vendor reps who call on you, you run the risk of all of the above, hurting your profits and your image. But, if you have a good point of sale system to track customer purchases, you can readily compare your recent sales and inventory activity to that same activity in the year ago period for the approaching order period. This allows you to see what is selling now, as well as what sold well a year ago next month. You can use this data to make educated (and likely correct!) decisions about what to order and where to put these items in your store.

If you have the wrong items on main display, then not only will they not sell, but your customers will not be able to get the items they want, meaning you lost that sale, and you’re paying for inventory that may never sell, or at least not without a big discount. Plus, your customers may form the opinion that you don’t carry what they want, and they’ll go elsewhere to get it. We don’t even want to think about the long term costs of this effect, do we?

The takeaway is that instead of ordering and stocking by memory, instinct, suggestion, or any other false metric, dig into the data that your POS system gives you to make the right decision about what to put in your store each and every time you order. Sure, it may take a few minutes longer, but it could mean the difference between success and failure for your business.

The Power of Employees

Do you trust your employees? If so, you’re ahead of the game. But, once you trust your employees, are you happy with their productivity?

My guess would be that you’re not. It’s not necessarily because they are incompetent, or that you didn’t show them how to do the job, but it’s probably tied to the latter. If you have employees that you trust, but are underperforming, they may be lacking the tools to be more productive.

It’s hard to tear yourself away from the immediate tasks at hand to train employees to do the things that you can do yourself, but just think what you COULD be doing if your employees (even just a manager or assistant manager) were handling all of the mundane chores that you find yourself doing.

Spend a little extra time each week with your best couple of employees, including showing them how to use the point of sale system to do things like inventory counts, ordering and receiving, and system maintenance, and they can take a big workload off your shoulders.

There will always be bad employees, or employees you don’t necessarily trust with an open cash drawer, but identifying a few key employees, and then empowering them with training and access to the important information in your store will result in more time for you to spend growing your business, instead of just maintaining it.

More on Upselling

Upselling is great for related or complementary items. It only makes sense to offer a customer some shoe polish when he buys a new pair of high end wingtips, right?

Once you’ve setup your upselling links in your POS system to trigger upsell events for complementary items, it’s time to consider another way to help customers find what they need and what you want to sell.

You are probably spending a lot of time finding new and competitive items in this down economy, including, most likely, discount items or lower price point items to help your customers find what they need while saving them some money. Remember, keeping customers in these hard times will engender loyalty and position you for a strong rebound ahead of the general curve of the economy.

Use upselling techniques to highlight these new and price-conscious items to your customers. Let’s take the example of a boutique cookware and kitchen appliance store. If a customer is buying a new butcher’s knife, maybe you can upsell them into a new set of knives that are not as high end as the single knife but will help them get an entire new set for a better price than the set of knives like the single butcher’s knife. This way you get a bigger sale, and the customer gets a better value.

It’s a similar strategy to selling complementary items, but you can tweak it a bit to drive sales. Don’t forget to try different strategies and test, test, test. Once you’ve set all this up in your POS system, you MUST make time to run the reports to understand the outcomes of your offers. This will help you better plan your inventory to be more competitive and more in line with your customers wants and needs.