| What is Retail Management/POS? | | | | retail. Using customer segmentation you can make |
| POS software originally referred to software | | | | sure you target the right customers with the right |
| applications designed to speed up sales till/checkout | | | | products and offers.o Reports |
| processes. Since its origins, however, POS software | | | | Monitoring different types of marketing campaign and |
| has evolved to include so many more features that it | | | | resulting sales can tell you what's working and what |
| is now more commonly referred to as Retail | | | | isn't, enabling you to establish what types of campaign |
| Management Systems (RMS). | | | | work for which products.o CRM compatibility |
| These days, a good RMS can be expected to offer | | | | If you already have a CRM (Customer Relationship |
| the following functions: | | | | Management) system, your RMS software can |
| - POS | | | | interface with it and enable you to store detailed sales |
| - Inventory control | | | | information for every customer. CRM + POS = |
| - Automatic purchase order creation | | | | essential market information more effective marketing. |
| - Automatic price updates | | | | 3. Manage your inventory |
| - Barcode scanning | | | | Quick stock turnover = better cashflow, and RMS |
| - Accounts receivable + payable | | | | software can help you identify what's moving, and |
| - General ledger | | | | what isn't.o Top sellers + dead inventory |
| - Payroll | | | | Knowing what's selling is essential to any retail |
| - Customer tracking & follow-up | | | | business, and RMS can tell you what your top sellers |
| - E-commerce + website shopping cart integration | | | | are. Not only does this help you stay on top of pricing, |
| - Shop management | | | | but it also ensures you never run out of popular lines |
| - EDI (electronic ordering) | | | | by automatically sending purchase orders to your |
| To help you understand what a good RMS can do for | | | | suppliers when stocks start running low. |
| your business, here's TRG's guide to the main benefits. | | | | Equally, having lots of dead stock can tie up your cash |
| 1. Increased profits | | | | and take up valuable stockroom space. RMS identifies |
| Obviously, there's little point investing in dedicated retail | | | | slow or non-selling lines, helping you to take remedial |
| software if you're not going to see a return on your | | | | action.o Seasonal sellers |
| investment, and good RMS software has numerous | | | | Some products sell especially well at particular times |
| profit-boosting capabilities.o Fewer pricing errors | | | | of year. RMS can provide you with detailed monthly or |
| Leaving your staff to price items can lead to pricing | | | | weekly sales breakdowns, identifying patterns and |
| errors which cost you money. RMS allows you to set | | | | enabling you to time product orders and promotions. |
| and control the price of every item in your store, | | | | 4. Reduce accounting work |
| minimising such errors. It will also calculate the REAL | | | | Bookkeeping is a time-consuming process and takes |
| cost of any discounts you choose to make, e.g. how | | | | up valuable time you could be devoting to selling. RMS |
| many more items you need to sell if you reduce the | | | | software cuts down the amount of accounting work |
| price by 5%.o Control price points | | | | you have to do by automating most of your |
| Every item has a "magic" price point which maximises | | | | processes.o Process automation |
| profits, but finding out what that price point is can take | | | | RMS can automate tasks such as calculating monthly |
| hours of research. RMS can analyse your sales | | | | sales tax, printing monthly statements, entering sales |
| records and tell you the ideal price for each item, i.e. | | | | transactions into Accounts receivable, posting receipts |
| the highest you can go while still selling as much as | | | | to journals, and posting transactions into general ledger |
| you can. Why sell at $2.49 when you can sell just as | | | | software.o Track debtors and creditors |
| many at $2.99?o Reduce dead inventory and | | | | By keeping close tabs on who owes you money and |
| maximise turnover | | | | who you owe money to (and when it's due), RMS |
| Do you really know what sells and what doesn't? You | | | | helps you improve your cash flow management and |
| might have a vague idea but RMS can tell you exactly | | | | ensures that your customers pay you on time, and |
| which items are flying off the shelves and which are | | | | that you keep your suppliers happy by meeting their |
| piling up in your stockroom, enabling you to phase out | | | | deadlines.o Maintain a clear audit trail |
| unpopular lines and focus on those which sell quickly, | | | | Everyone dreads end of year accounting and |
| thus improving your cashflow.o Reduce employee | | | | reconciliation, but RMS can take away this particular |
| theft | | | | headache by keeping a clear audit trail throughout the |
| Individual log-ons combined with daily profit margin, | | | | financial year. |
| inventory control and voided/cancelled/deleted sales | | | | 5. Make your customers happy |
| reports mean any thefts canbe spotted immediately. | | | | Happy customers mean more sales, and RMS |
| And by letting your employees know about the full | | | | software can help create a POS experience that will |
| capabilities of your POS software, they'll be less likely | | | | make your customer service special and memorable.o |
| to try and steal from you.o Critical information | | | | Speed up the checkout process |
| If a line suddenly stops selling (or suddenly starts!) it | | | | A good RMS system will offer bar code checking, |
| might take you a while to notice. But your RMS | | | | touch screens and instant credit card authorisation, |
| software will tell you immediately so you can adjust | | | | meaning your customers have minimal waiting time at |
| pricing to maximise profit or minimise loss.o Electronic | | | | your checkouts and you get to sell more goods.o |
| cheque verification | | | | Individual credit/discounts |
| Bad cheques are still a big problem for retailers. But | | | | With full customer data available at the touch of a |
| linking your POS system to an online electronic cheque | | | | button, personal discounts or credit can be applied |
| verification service can help you minimise the damage | | | | immediately, meaning fewer misunderstandings or |
| done by bad cheques. Cheque verification services | | | | problems at the checkout.o Fast order delivery |
| have been shown to enable retailers increase their | | | | Some larger items need to be delivered to the |
| collection rate on bad cheques to as much as 80%!o | | | | customer's home. Electronic POS can send details of |
| Better rates from suppliers | | | | the order to your warehouse before the customer has |
| By tracking any disparity between sales volume and | | | | even left the store, enabling rapid delivery and a happy |
| profit margin, RMS can help identify which supplier | | | | customer!o Paper-free refunds |
| deals you should be renegotiating! Showing a supplier | | | | Mishandling a complaint or request for a refund is the |
| how much of his product you're selling is an essential | | | | easiest way to lose a customer, but how many |
| tool in helping you get better deals. | | | | refunds do you refuse simply because the customer |
| 2. Improve your marketing | | | | has lost their receipt? As your RMS software stores |
| It is cheaper to get business from existing customers | | | | a record of all purchases, you can call up electronic |
| than to go out and look for new ones, but are you | | | | receipts and make sure that anyone who is entitled to |
| doing all you can to get your customers to come back | | | | a refund gets one, receipt or no receipt.o Professional |
| to your store again and again? Good RMS software | | | | paperwork |
| can help you with this.o Sales letters to customers | | | | RMS software produces crisp, clean, readable |
| Following up a sale with a thank-you letter, information | | | | receipts, invoices and delivery notices that make you |
| about related products or special offers/personal | | | | look professional and avoid any misunderstandings |
| discounts is a great way to get repeat businesses. | | | | with your customers. |
| Detailed purchase records combined with professional, | | | | TRG International is proud to offer RetailPro, the global |
| stylish letter generation can help you keep in touch with | | | | leader in Retail Management Systems. Used by over |
| your customers and have them coming back for | | | | 55,000 retailers in more than 70 countries, it offers full |
| more.o Automated mailings | | | | retail/POS functionality, and combined with our |
| Regular mailings (by post or e-mail) enable you to | | | | experienced installation and technical support teams, it's |
| conduct drip/nurture marketing, a proven technique in | | | | the perfect choice for Vietnamese retailers. |