Wednesday, February 28, 2018

Key Differences Between Microsoft RMS and Retail Management Hero

Having worked with multiple retailers who replaced Microsoft Dynamics RMS with Retail Management Hero, I've been provided with some valuable feedback on the biggest feature/functions that have changed or are not presently available in Retail Management Hero.

Below is a video showing some of the key differences between the Microsoft Dynamics RMS and the Retail Management Hero point of sale software programs. This is by no means meant to scare retailers away from Retail Management Hero - just a way to help set expectations when moving from RMS to RMH:



For more information, please contact RITE at sales@rite.us or 888-267-7483.



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Wednesday, February 21, 2018

Welcome to Some New Customers!

A quick "thank-you" to the following retailers for selecting me as your point of sale partner:
  • Opus One Winery - Card Defender for Microsoft RMS - California
  • The Range - RMS Plug Ins - California
  • Bullet Barn Guns - Cloud Retailer and Card Defender - California
  • Rietdyk's Milling Co - Service and Support - Washington State
  • Quantum Raynbow - Cloud Retailer Reseller - Caribbean
  • Everson Royce (3rd location) - Cloud Retailer and Card Defender - California
Happy to add all of you to the family!!!

Are you a retailer searching for a point of sale system? You can reach me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632 with any point of sale related questions.

Tuesday, February 13, 2018

Guest Article: Brand Keys 2018 Customer Loyalty Engagement Index

BRAND KEYS 2018 CUSTOMER LOYALTY ENGAGEMENT INDEX:
IT ISN'T POLITICS (OR SOCIAL ACTIVISM) AS USUAL

VOTER TRIBALISM and CONSUMER ADVOCACY CREATE UNPRECEDENTED SHIFTS IN CATEGORY VALUES NECESSITATING A NEW-VIEW OF ENGAGEMENT AND LOYALTY FOR BRANDS

100% OF ONLINE CATEGORIES SEE VALUE CHANGES IN HOW CONSUMERS ENGAGE

Amazon, Lyft, Netflix, Vanguard, Google, PayPal
and Facebook Maintain Category Dominance

New Engagement Paradigm Creates New Leadership Opportunities
For Dropbox, WhatsApp, Spotify, Yahoo.com, Instagram

NEW YORK, NY JANUARY 22, 2018 – Political polarization and more fervent social movements like #grabyourwallet, #MeToo, and #TimesUp have changed the face of brand engagement and consumer loyalty, according to the Brand Keys 23rd annual Customer Loyalty Engagement Index® (CLEI), conducted by the New York-based brand engagement and customer loyalty research consultancy (brandkeys.com). “This is the first time since the Index was initiated nearly 25 years ago where basic tenets of consumer loyalty and engagement have been turned upside-down,” said Robert Passikoff, president of Brand Keys.

Biggest Shifts In Category Dynamics and Brand Leadership

This year the Brand Keys CLEI examined 84 categories and 761 brands – from Automotive and OTC Allergy Meds to Computers, Fast-Casual Dining, Tax Preparation and Online Investing, Retail (of all types), Smartphones, Cable and Broadcast News, and Cosmetics.

How consumers view a category and how they will compare brands competing in that category changed dramatically in 100% of the Online categories. That shift resulted in a brand engagement and loyalty transformation and a shift in brand leadership of 50%.

“We’ve just never encountered these kinds of value-adjustments before,” noted Passikoff. “But then, we haven’t seen this kind of political polarization or social turmoil at the same time since we began taking these assessments either.”

What Drives Category Change? Political Tribalism or Social Activism?

The Online categories reacting most to values associated with Political Tribalism including Personal Responsibility, Moral Order, Family Values, Fiscal Conservatism, and Established Social Structures were:

1. App-Based Ride Share
2. File Hosting
3. Online Brokerage
4. Online Payments
5. Online Travel
6. Search

The sectors reacting most to values associated with Social Activism that included Empathy, EqualityEmpowerment, Individualism, and Pride were:

1. Instant Messaging
2. Online Music
3. Online Retail
4. Streaming Video
5. Social Networking

Entirely New-View of What Consumers See As Ideal

’Brand engagement’ is still best defined by how well a brand can meet the expectations consumers hold for the values that drive purchases behavior in a given category,” noted Passikoff. “But category political polarization and social activism have shaken those values to their core. If marketers think they knew what consumers’ ‘Category Ideals’ looked like before, they need to take another hard look, because as of now consumers have an entirely new-view of what is the Ideal for them,” said Passikoff.

The Future of Successful Branding (Politically and Socially)

Decision-making has become more emotionally-driven over the past decade,” said Passikoff. “But the addition of tribal political and activist values has transformed the brand space into something marketers haven’t faced before. ‘Business as usual’ won’t cut it in this brandscape.”

“We expect to see value and expectation shifts,” said Passikoff, “But we’ve never measured anything on this scale before! Fortunately the integrated psychological nature of our approach allows us to identify new and particularly resonant emotional values and measure how they impact a category. This was the year that political tribalism and social activism rose to the top and are going to change how successful branding is done in the future.”

A complete list of the CLEI’s 84 categories can be found at:

Brand Engagement Today. . . And Tomorrow

“The concept of brand engagement is pretty straightforward,” said Passikoff. “Consumers have an Ideal for every product and service; it’s the yardstick they use to measure brands. Defining your category's Ideal is where it gets tricky, as the process is not only more emotionally-based than rational, but is now confounded by newer and nuanced political and social values. And while our most recent Presidential election and its aftermath have raised levels of political debate, it has also raised more contentious issues, more social activism, and has created far more value-infused and complicated paths-to-purchase for consumers.

“The result? Massive changes in what consumers really want and equally massive gaps between what they want and what brands are seen to be capable of delivering,” noted Passikoff. “Happily, real engagement metrics can help identify and close that gap and keep marketers on the right path to profitability.”

Methodology

For the 2018 CLEI survey, 50,527 consumers, 16 to 65 years of age from the nine US Census Regions, self-selected the categories in which they are consumers and the brands for which they are customers. Fifty (50%) percent were interviewed by phone, thirty-five (35%) percent via face-to-face interviews (to identify and include cell phone-only households), and 15% online.

Brand Keys uses an independently validated research methodology that fuses emotional and rational aspects of the categories, identifies four path-to-purchase behavioral drivers for the category-specific ‘Ideal,’ and identifies the values that form the components of each driver. These assessments are leading-indicators of consumer behavior, identifying such activities 12 to 18 months before they show up in traditional brand tracking or are articulated in focus groups.

The assessments measure how well brands meet expectations that consumers hold for each path-to-purchase driver. The research technique is a combination of psychological inquiry and statistical analyses, has a test/re-test reliability of 0.93, and produces results generalizable at the 95% confidence level. It has been successfully used in B2B and B2C categories in 35 countries.


Contact: Visibility
Len Stein

Wednesday, February 7, 2018

Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ Support for 2021 and Beyond

The calls have started coming in from retailers regarding Microsoft Dynamics RMS Partners setting cut-off dates for ending support on the Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ point of sale software programs earlier than the official Microsoft end dates of July 2020 and July 2021.

If you wish to keep using Microsoft RMS and are in need of a new Microsoft Dynamics RMS Partner, then RITE is ready to help! Some reasons to consider RITE:

  • 24/7 support
  • One of the largest Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ Partners in the US
  • Team of support technicians
  • Many of us have worked with RMS and HQ back to the days when it was QuickSell 2000 and QuickSell HQ from SMS in California
  • RITE has written numerous plug-ins and add-ons for RMS over the years
  • Discounted support packages are available which can lower the hourly rate for RMS support to under $100/hour
  • Card Defender EMV/Chip Card system for Microsoft RMS, HQ, Retail Management Hero, and Cloud Retailer
  • Significant discounts for RMS users wanting to migrate to Retail Management Hero or Cloud Retailer
  • Commitment to support the Microsoft Dynamics RMS and HQ user base
I have a bunch of resources that I can send you but the first step is a quick discussion over the phone to see what you may need and how RITE can help. You can reach me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632 for more information. If you would prefer to contact me via RITE, then use kevina@rite.us or 208-994-9404.





Tuesday, February 6, 2018

10% Discount for Non-Profit Organizations

I am pleased to announce that effective today, all non-profit organizations qualify for a 10% discount towards point of sale software and/or consulting fees. The 10 % discount applies to the total cost and is sent via a tithe or donation to your organization within 45 days of when all invoices are paid in full.

Whether you are looking to spend $1500 or $1500000, this is a great way to save money when it comes to utilizing my consulting services and/or purchasing a point of sale system!

Only stipulation is that your organization must be located in the United States and I must be the one providing the consulting and/or point of sale software (limited to Retail Management Hero, Cloud Retailer, Card Defender, Microsoft Dynamics RMS, Microsoft Dynamics HQ, and Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Retail).

This is great for thrift stores, church stores, and similar organizations like Goodwill Easter Seals, The Salvation Army, etc that are located in the Western and Southern United States. Organizations in the Midwest and Eastern US can contact me to see if they qualify for the 10% discount (there is a great deal of flexibility here depending on your specific situation).

Interested in learning more?  You can reach me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com

Monday, February 5, 2018

Latest Post in the CounterPoint Users Forum

POSTINGS FROM OUR FREE  

Counterpoint® Users Group (CPUSER.ORG®) is an independent Support Group for users of Counterpoint® Point-Of-Sale Software by NCR Corporation (formerly by Radiant Systems, Inc. & by Synchronics, Inc.).  We have been serving the
 Counterpoint® Community since 2003.  Please see our Legal Disclaimer at the end of this e-mail.
 
This NCR Counterpoint® SQL User recently setup NCR SecurePay and is getting errors when swiping credit cards.  
Click here to see Posting #3286, "Card swipe issues."    

 
 
3.)  HostGator Error 404:  Page Not Found:
If you are trying to connect to our Forum and get an Error 404 Message, change the 50.87.144.104  IP Address in the link towww.cpuser.org and the link will work. 
       
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
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SALE * SALE * SALE:
Thermal Receipt Paper Rolls: 
*  $62.10/Case of 50 Rolls
*  3 1/8 Inch x 230 Feet (Epson, Bixolon, etc.)    
*  Free Shipping
*  That's 54 cents per 100 Feet!  
*  Regular Price is $69.00/Case 
*  Call or E-Mail Us Today! 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
Questions???  Call or E-mail us!  
Counterpoint Users Group 
 
Gordon Gelrod, Owner 
 
Toll-Free:  (888) 434-0844 
 
E-mail:  Gordon@cpuser.org 
Website:  www.cpuser.org   
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
        
 
CPUSER.ORG® and Counterpoint Users Group provide independent technical support services and information specifically for users of COUNTERPOINT® point of sale systems.
 
COUNTERPOINT® is a registered trademark of CheckPoint Systems, Inc. and a licensed trademark property of NCR Corporation (formerly licensed by Radiant Systems, Inc. and by Synchronics, Inc.
 
CPUSER.ORG® is a registered trademark of Counterpoint Users Group.
 
CheckPoint Systems, Inc. and NCR Corporation neither endorse nor have any affiliation with CPUSER.ORG® or Counterpoint Users Group.