I'm often asked to clarify if various point of sale programs are designed for a specific type of specialty retail store - also know as a "vertical". When it comes to Cloud Retailer, the most popular verticals appear to be:
Liquor Retail
Gun and Archery Retail
Trampoline Park Retail
Outdoor Sports Retail
Locksmith Retail
Mobile Retail
Gift Store Retail
C-Store
Specialty Grocery
Vape and E-Cigarette
Auction businesses
Thrift Stores
Dispensaries
If you have any questions, be sure to contact me at kevinantosh@gmail.com or 208-340-5632.
Since late 2013, I have provided free and unbiased advice to over 400 retail stores, restaurants, and museums. Many of you have been kind enough to let me know what you ended up purchasing.
On the retail side, Bindo Point of Sale (www.bindopos.com) has emerged as the clear winner. With advanced features that point of sale systems like NCR Silver and First Data Clover can't offer, Bindo combines what folks want in a POS system while keeping the affordability that cloud based systems offer.
On the food service side, Sapphire from Khamu (http://www.khamu.com/) has proven to be popular. With dedication to the restaurant market, personalized service, and a price much lower than other restaurant solutions like MICROS, Digital Dining, and Aloha, Sapphire offers a complete solution at a budget friendly price point.
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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.
Over the last couple of weeks I have fielded calls and emails from some very upset business owners. Not upset with me but upset as they recently purchased point of sale systems for their businesses without asking about EMV or chip-based debit and credit card transactions. Remember the US EMV liability shift date for chip/contact-less credit and debit card transactions is October 1st, 2015 in the United States.
2 of these businesses invested in point of sale systems that can not be upgraded to work with EMV compatible hardware and the other businesses purchased point of sale systems will require new hardware and software upgrades totaling around $1100/location - this is on top of the money recently spent on a new point of sale system.
I can not stress enough that anything related to cash registers, credit and debit card terminals, point of sale systems designed for mobile devices, or point of sale systems designed for computers should now have a clear and no-cost plan to utilize EMV compatible hardware and be able to authorize chip based credit and debit card transactions when the card is present.
To be honest - the blame falls with both the business owner (for not asking about EMV and not performing 'due diligence' )as well as with the companies selling products that are not ready for EMV.
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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.
So - I tried to clear my schedule due to several requests that I attend MAGIC and IFA in Las Vegas next week (Feb 17th - 19th 2015 for Magic at the Las Vegas Convention Center and Feb 15th-18th 2015 for IFA at the MGM Grand) but I was unable to clear my schedule.
I was, however, able to connect with some folks who will be in Vegas next week and have offered to buy dinner for anyone that is searching for a retail point of sale system.
Be sure to contact me for an invitation and more information!
The folks at Bindo Point of Sale (www.bindopos.com) have been hard at work adding new features to Bindo. Here is a list of the most recent enhancements:
• Mix & Match Discount - apply a discount when enough qualifying products are purchased
• Customer-facing Display - with our new Bindo Display app, your customers can see their order as you ring it up!
• Choose store credit as a payment-type for Split Tender transactions
• Add new inventory when creating an invoice
• Support for variably-priced items on invoices
• New payment-type filters on the Sales screen
• New filters on the Customer report
• Allow extensions for customer phone numbers
**Improvements:**
• Cash Management improvements
• Improve offline cash and check checkout
• Stability improvements
• Various bug fixes Here is a video highlighting some of the new features:
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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.
Just a quick note that Bindo Point of Sale (www.bindopos.com) has added automatic discounts that can be applied to a customers profile. This is great when you have certain types of customers that qualify for discounted pricing. It also reduces the cashier workload since the discounts are automatically applied when the customer is selected for the transaction.
Bindo Point of Sale (bindopos.com) announced some enhancement plans for 2015 that include an online marketplace which goes well beyond what a typical online shopping site can do - if your business is in the right type of locale.
The idea behind the Bindo Marketplace is to allow people to search for products and then find the closest business that has the product in stock. In need of shampoo, an AC adapter, socks, or a particular beverage but don't want to have the product shipped to you (or have to call around to see who may have the product that you need in stock)? The Bindo Marketplace will not only show you which businesses have the product that you are in need of in stock but will allow you to search for nearby businesses so you can go to the store in person or request same day delivery if available.
I like this idea with one obvious exception - it only works in major metropolitan areas. If I am in need of a dog collar but I am in McCall, Idaho, then the odds of finding multiple pet stores stores near me using Bindo Marketplace is slim to none. However, if I am in a metropolitan area like Minneapolis, MN, then there is a good chance that I could find the dog collar that I am searching for and see which nearby stores have the dog collar in stock for pickup or same day delivery.
This obviously opens up new revenue opportunities for stores that sign on to use the Bindo Marketplace but is also dependent on potential customers knowing about the Bindo Marketplace as a way to find products needed ASAP.
With Amazon starting to offer same day delivery in some areas, I suspect that consumers will gradually become accustomed to no longer waiting 2-5 days for shipments to arrive. The retailers to jump on this trend will not only be able to compete with Amazon but also be on the leading edge of a new trend.
Folks have asked me to better define what type of business would benefit from using a mobile point of sale system (one that runs on a tablet or smartphone) versus businesses that should only be searching for computer-based point of sale systems. While it is tough to create some hard and fast rules, mobile point of sale systems are generally geared towards the following:
Businesses or organizations whose annual gross sales are under $500,000/year
Single location
Businesses that move from location to location
Seasonal businesses
Businesses with low technology needs
The last one is tough to explain - basically if your business has simple inventory, reporting, and customer tracking requirements, then a mobile system should satisfy you. However, if you have more complex needs - especially when it comes to reporting - the the mobile point of sale systems may not be in depth enough for you and your business or organization.
Please visit my contact page for information on how to reach me.
Right on the heels of folks asking me for advice in selecting the best point of sale system for a student store comes folks asking for advice related to the best point of sale solution for a museum.
I have worked with many museums across the United States over the years and also conducted gift shop and admissions technology solution workshops at various museum conferences. As museums vary greatly in size and operational budgets, here is what I have found to work best.
Medium to Large scale museum with attractions or venues like OMNI theaters have found that NCR CounterPoint is a great solution since CounterPoint has ticketing options and venue seating options. Plan on a full scale solution for the entire museum running $20,000 to $120,000+.
Small and Medium sized museums are also finding out that the new generation of mobile point of sale solutions work very well and are very budget friendly. Some expamples include NCR Silver or Cloud Retailer.
I still have multiple museums using the Microsoft RMS software who have expressed an interest in upgrading to Retail Management Hero and/or using Card Defender for RMS as an interim solution.
Extremely small museums or museums that lack revenue/funding generally have to stick with a $200.00 cash register until funding or revenue becomes available to move up to a mobile point of sale solution.
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 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.
