Retail POS and E-Commerce

As more and more retailers realize they need to have an e-commerce solution, they encounter the task of finding (or replacing) both a POS system and an e-commerce (or shopping cart) platform that integrates with their POS system.

I've had quite a few calls and emails about this over the last month or so - thus this post with some general advice:

1. You will find that most retail POS systems only work with certain e-commerce site and vice versa. It is not a universal solution in most cases. Be prepared for this and realize that your choice of POS software may dictate the e-commerce options available to you (or vice versa).
2. There are some exceptions but the complexity of a POS system usually drives the e-commerce options.
3. Custom development of an e-commerce site may be an option for retailers who have a large online presence.

So, when searching, you need to weigh in on were your sales come from as well as your POS and e-commerce "wish lists" for features and functions.  If you find that most of your sales come from in-store sales, then weigh more heavily finding a great POS system. If online sales bring in the most revenue, then spend time finding the best e-commerce platform. 

Retailers whose online sales are fairly small (less than 3 to 5 orders per day), may find it easier to not have the POS system and the e-commerce site share inventory and customer information.

Each situation is somewhat unique so please contact me at 208-340-5632 or kevinantosh@gmail.com with any questions or personalized advice.

E-Commerce, Loyalty and Similar Add-Ons for RMS and RMH

I've been contacted by multiple businesses recently inquiring about the various shopping cart, e-commerce, customer loyalty, and email marketing add-ons for the Microsoft RMS and Retail Management Hero (RMH) point of sale software programs.  A few folks have also asked what the mobile options will be for using RMH on mobile devices like smartphones and tablets.  Lets try and hit the highlights and you can always contact me for more detailed information.

Microsoft RMS:

• Shopping Cart/E-Commerce: NitroSell has proven to be one of the more popular shopping cart/e-commerce add-ons for the Microsoft RMS point of sale software
• Customer Loyalty: Hero Points and bLoyal are two that I have worked with in the past
• Email Marketing: RITE Retail Emailer can do some basic email list compiling and then you can export to your own template or a third party email marketing program
• Mobile Version: There are add-ons for RMS that can work on mobile devices but these are normally special mobile devices like what you would see at a garden center or warehouse and not consumer mobile devices like iPads. 

Retail Management Hero (RMH):

• Shopping Cart/E-Commerce: NitroSell has committed to offering a solution for RMH - more information will be released in 2017
• Customer Loyalty: RMH will have some basic loyalty tracking and Hero Points will offer more enhanced customer loyalty functionality
• Email Marketing: Nothing announced yet but RMH can capture email addresses so exporting to third party email marketing program may be possible
• Mobile version: Nothing official but a mobile friendly version of RMH will likely be available sometime in 2017

How to obtain a 30 day trial version of Retail Management Hero: http://www.pospondering.com/2017/01/how-to-obtain-30-day-trial-license-of.html

Do contact me if you have any questions on the above or are in need of no-cost retail point of sale advice for your US located retail business. I can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (mountain time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com

Insights on Point of Sale and E-Commerce

A well written article from Soumen Das at UniteU offering some insights and advice related to point of sale systems and e-commerce:

Retailers Missing Out on the Promise of the ‘Endless Aisle’
For years retailers have focused on the wrong technologies —in-store TV networks, augmented reality, RFID, magic interactive dressing room mirrors—instead of mobile point of sale tools.by
Soumen Das
Founder and CEO
UniteU.
(www.UniteU.com)

The retail industry is going through a painful period of digital disruption. Walk any mall or department store and you will encounter RFID tags, interactive video displays, even iBeacon technology, etc., designed to, hopefully, enrich the shopping experience.

But perhaps retailers have focused on the wrong technologies? Mobile point of sale (mPOS) is one digital innovation that retailers have been slow to adopt, yet the impact on revenue can be substantial. According to a Forrester Research Inc., report (June 2014), “The State of The Digital Store 2014,] “Perry Ellis...experienced a 14% lift in average order volume once it implemented ‘endless aisle’ capabilities in-store.”

How can a single technology make such a difference? The answer is to be found in the idea that the entire shopping experience can be transformed when sales associates have access to off-site inventory tracking and recommendation engines. This coming transformation is often referred to as ‘clienteling,’ in which sales associates are empowered to help shoppers find out-of-stock items and make suggestions for associated products.

In a clienteling situation, shoppers are introduced to an “endless aisle” with virtually unlimited inventory and choices. Can’t find that blouse in your color or size? Not to worry! The color of your choice can be shipped to your home today. Recommendations engines can also provide sales associates with smart suggestions to complement that blouse. This intelligence provides real potential for sales floor employees to increase average order value.

Roadblock: IntegrationHowever, the advent of the endless aisle has been roadblocked by a lack of payment system integration. To avoid operational nightmares, mPOS devices must be tightly integrated with existing enterprise systems and operational processes. This can seem a daunting task as integration needs may extend from existing retail systems (POS, ERP, accounting systems) to digital inventory, which may live in an external e-commerce platform.

Innovators such as Square® have revolutionized the mobile checkout for small merchants and service providers, such as taxis, making it easy to accept payments anywhere an iPhone can connect to a network. However, accepting payments for small, medium and even larger merchants is not enough. Without integration employees often must spend hours after a day selling, manually reconciling their sales with the backend systems that manage inventory, orders, commissions and financial reporting. And, vendors like Square® sell these services bundled with credit card merchant accounts, great for micro merchants but it creates issues for larger merchants with established merchant accounts, typically with better rates.

Another approach is a response from the traditional POS (Point of Sale) vendors, who are busy mobilizing their complex POS systems that over the years have evolved into much more than payments systems. The challenge here being that not all of these capabilities translate for ease-of-use and meeting consumer expectations on mobile devices. Another issue is that the richness of data, in terms of product imagery and descriptions in POS systems, is not sufficient to meet consumer expectations or in assisting sales associates.

Increasing Average Order VolumeSo what is the solution? “Forrester expects that e-commerce platform vendors will continue to invest in and evolve their mPOS capabilities” [Forrester Research Inc., Market Overview: Mobile Point of Service Solutions for Retail – September 2013]. E-commerce solutions already have four winning components; integration with existing store systems, rich product imagery, cross selling data and interface usability.

With minimal customization, merchants can leverage numerous backend connections already developed for their e-commerce and mobile commerce needs to coordinate orders, invoices, inventory levels and gift cards. These systems are constantly updated with new payment method integrations and emerging technologies, generally provided by the vendor via automatic updates. From a usability standpoint, e-commerce solutions are built for conversion and to increase average order size via recommendation engines, so product search, recommendations and checkout are already customer-friendly.

In he year ahead, retailers should seriously consider integrated mPOS solutions that have evolved from e-commerce platforms. Generally they offer the endless aisle and recommendation engine features that result in increased ROI and make back-end integration quick and effective.
ENDSoumen Das | CEO and FounderUniteUSoumen Das has been CEO of UniteU since its inception in January 1999. As founder and CEO, Das has provided the vision and managed the growth of the company from start-up through the completion of its technology and subsequent year over year steady growth.

Prior to founding UniteU, Das applied his MBA and Bachelor of Science degree in Electronics to his work at Xerox, including various capacities ranging from product support and front line management in Europe and Latin America to technology, business strategy and operations at the forefront of Xerox digital and Internet initiatives.

Das continually demonstrates to UniteU, its customers and partners a proven ability to apply information technology to solve real problems for the online retail industry.Contact: VISIBILITY
Len Stein: lens@visibilitypr.com914.527.3708