Monday, December 31, 2012

NCR Silver Available at Staples

An NCR Silver 'bundle' is now available at most Staples stores.  The bundle includes a Receipt Printer, iPad Stand, Cash Drawer, and Credit Card Swipe.  A 30 day free trial version of NCR Silver is also included.  The normal bundle price is $499 but a $100 rebate applies for purchases made before January 5th, 2013.

Here is a link to more information on the Staples web site: http://www.staples.com/NCR-Silver-POS-Cash-Register-System-for-iPad/product_100599

Of note, offering point of sale solutions through office supply stores is not something new - Intuit offered their QuickBooks Point of Sale bundles through office supply stores for several years.

The $499 price point is great but keep in  mind that you still need to pay the monthly NCR Silver fee after the 30 free trial period (currently at $79/month or a total cost of $4740 over 5 years - yikes!).  An iPad is not included, nor is a barcode scanner or customer pole display.  You also can't print barcode labels/shelf tags using NCR Silver.

If you truly can't afford to invest in a point of sale system (or obtain leasing/funding for a system), then NCR Silver is a viable option to a cash register.  Just keep in mind that you will likely end up spending $6000 - $7000 on NCR Silver over the course of 5 years.  For comparison, a complete Windows-based point of sale system would have a 5 year cost starting around $4000-$6000.

I have some comparison charts showing what Silver can and can't do compared to a true point of sale system.

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Friday, December 28, 2012

Microsoft RMS and NCR CounterPoint Updates Coming Soon!

A quick reminder that sales of Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ to new users as well as mainstream support ends next year (2016) so please keep that in mind if you are thinking of purchasing RMS or HQ as point of sale software for your business or organization (not a wise investment at this point).

Just a quick note that I have received emails from both NCR and Microsoft related to conferences coming in January. It appears that NCR and Microsoft will be making announcements in January related to future enhancements, versions, etc. for their point of sale software programs. I will be sure to pass along any information as soon as it becomes available.

Hopefully you have taken some time to set business goals for 2013 by now.  You would be surprised how a point of sale system likely ties in to some of your goals (and can help you achieve these goals). Contact me at 208-340-5632 or through blogger if you want me to send you an ROI (Return on Investment) spreadsheet that allows you to calculate areas where a retail or restaurant/bar point of sale system can increase your net profit.

Happy New Year!

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Microsoft RMS and HQ Feature Pack 2

A quick reminder that sales of Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ to new users as well as mainstream support ends next year (2016) so please keep that in mind if you are thinking of purchasing RMS or HQ as point of sale software for your business or organization.

As you likely already know, Microsoft has been heavily investing in both improving and upgrading their Retail Management Systems Store Operations (RMS) and Headquarters (HQ) Point of Sale software.  Recently, a feature pack was released which included the following new features and changes:

New Features in Headquarters

  • Improved worksheet handling
  • Manage store prices and sale prices from Headquarters
  • Automatic item lookup codes
  • Inactive stores
  • Inactive cashiers
  • Inactive tender types
  • New report for tracking in-transit inventory
  • Interstore inventory transfer discrepancy management
  • Support for multiple currencies in the purchase order workflow

New Features in Store Operations

  • POS task pads
  • Automatic item lookup codes
  • Gift receipts
  • Inactive cashiers and inactive tender types
  • Prevent sale of all inactive items
  • Set custom back order deposits

Other Improvements

In addition to the new features listed above, Feature Pack 2 includes fixes for the following issues:
  • Tender rounding amount is not included in the batch totals when using “Round to value” for the tender type.
  • The buttons "Add Item" and "QuickScan" on the Transfer Order and Purchase Order forms are not available when these buttons are disabled for users with a different security level.
  • Buttons are not available in the Receive Purchase Order form when the buttons are disabled for users with a different security level.
  • Voucher sales cause incorrect over/short amounts in the Batch List report.
  • The Item Movement History report does not show InventoryTransferLog Type 11 movements.
  • In the Help Files, the formula for the Inventory Turns calculation is not correct.
For a comprehensive list of all of the new features and fixes that are included in Feature Pack 2, refer to the Microsoft Dynamics RMS 2.0 Feature Pack 2 What's New document in the Download section of the Feature Pack 2 download page. (link requires that you be active on your point of sale maintenance agreement with Microsoft - contact your Microsoft point of sale partner for details.

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

NCR Silver Leasing Option & Update on CP Mobile

Information on a leasing program for the hardware required to use NCR Silver: http://www.bsminfo.com/doc.mvc/ncr-silver-vend-lease-introduce-leasing-plan-small-business-0001?sectionCode=Stories&templateCode=BusinessSolutions&user=2320483&source=nl:35911

NCR Silver is a hosted point of sale system than runs on iOS (Apple) devices.  The article states that the leasing term runs for 12-60 months but does not (?!) include the monthly cost to use the NCR Silver POS software (which runs around $79/month).  The idea is somewhat confusing as the hardware bundle for NCR Silver only runs around $1000 - $3000, depending on hardware options.  I suspect that if your budget is really limited, it would be a way to obtain a point of sale system for about the same cost as a typical monthly utility bill.

Speaking of NCR, a few details have been made available related to the next release of CP Mobile. CP Mobile also runs on iOS devices but runs in conjunction with NCR Counterpoint (traditional point of sale system designed to run on Windows based computers).

Here are the details:

We are excited to announce the pending release of NCR Counterpoint Mobile 1.5.  This new version will be available in the App Store on January 3!
NCR Counterpoint Mobile 1.5 introduces several corrections and new features, including: additional payment types, support for the Socket Mobile Bluetooth cordless barcode scanner, and performance enhancements.
Due to changes Apple has made in their App Store approval process, we are no longer able to access the unique device ID (UDID) used to register devices. Therefore, all CPMobile devices must go through a re-registration process when you complete the upgrade to CPMobile 1.5.  

Note that both NCR Silver and NCR CP Mobile are designed for 4th generation iPhones and iPod Touches as well as iPads.  

Are you in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice? I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Budgeting for a Point of Sale System - Retail

This may be a bit confusing but I thought that it would be helpful to share the worksheet that I use at my workshops that helps retail stores and restaurants calculate a point of sale budget.  Using your annual gross sales, along with data showing areas were a point of sale system generates a Return in Investment (ROI), results in a sound way to know what you can afford when it comes to point of sale systems.

Here is the worksheet specific to retail stores - I have a different worksheet for restaurants that I will post at a later date:

Since the workshop itself provides more details and instructions, visit my contact page if you want to schedule a time to go over the worksheet in more detail or obtain help completing it.
-Kevin

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

Setting Sale/Promotional Pricing in Retail Point of Sale Software

Planning a sale?  The right point of sale software program can be a huge time saver when it comes to making price changes for a sale or promotion (ie. 25% off).  Here are a couple of key things to look for in point of sale software when it comes to sale or promotional prices:

  • The system should allow you to select item, departments, categories, or even the whole inventory to change to sale prices.
  • You should be able to set a start and end date for when the sale pricing should start and end (so you don't have to redo price changes when the sale ends).
  • The system should allow for flexibility when it comes to choosing percentages and whether to use cost or retail prices to set the sale price.
Here is what the Change Price Wizard looks like in Microsoft RMS:

(in the previous step I was able to select departments and in the next step I get an option related to rounding).

If you happen to use NCR CounterPoint, here is the Promotions function found under "Inventory" and then "Prices":

The "Rules" tab allows you to set more criteria.

Considering how time-consuming it would be to change prices "item by item', these price change features are a huge time saver!