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Fast, Bright, Cool, Quiet and
Tough....
By Bruce
Klepper
That's how Radiant Systems
describes the P1550 Point-of-Sale Terminal and I
agree.
For many years, Advanced Retail
Management Systems (ARMS) had been looking for the "perfect"
all in one Point-of-Sale terminal that would be reliable,
compact, easy to service and offer high-performance. Last
month ARMS became a certified reseller for Radiant Systems.
Founded in 1985, Radiant
Systems provides innovative store technology for the
retail, hospitality, petroleum and convenience store, and
cinema industries.
In March,
I visited Radiant Systems' state-of-the-art 100,000 sq. foot
Operational Facility in Alpharetta, Georgia. In this facility,
Radiant Systems designs, engineers and assembles their
products - in 2005 Radiant Systems shipped over 25,000 POS
terminals. From design to assembly, Radiant Systems delivers
the highest level of quality assurance on new products as well
as refurbished products.
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The Radiant P1550 is an
all-in-one retail-hardened POS terminal. When you first look
at the P1550 you will notice that it has one of the brightest
15-inch touch screens in the industry - this is due in large
part to their use of 4-bulb backlight technology as versus
many competitive products using 2 bulbs. In terms of
processing power, the P1550 uses an Intel Pentium M Processor
optimized for low power consumption with high
performance.
P1550
Point-of-Sale Terminal
What we found very impressive is
the P1550 uses passive cooling: no airflow over the
electronics and no fans in normal use - the 1550 is quiet!
Standard configuration, the P1550 contains a 3.5" hard drive
with Windows XP Professional, 14 peripheral ports and a
3-track integrated Magnetic Stripe Reader (MSR). Integrated
customer displays or pole mount customer displays are also
available. You can combine the P1550 with an integration tray
to hold the receipt printer and keyboard on top of the cash
drawer for maximum space efficiency on your counter top. Add
to this cable restraint and concealment and the P1550 is a
well-designed, attractive point-of-sale unit that will be
impressive in any store.
Last but not least, what really
sold us on Radiant Systems is they offer one of the best
warranties in the business. They offer a "replace not repair"
warranty (included first year at no additional charge). If you
have a system failure Radiant Systems provides a full unit or
"like new" replacement. Each unit contains a hardware odometer
tracing part life and when Radiant Systems returns a
replacement unit they replace parts based on useful life -
broken or not! All this guarantees the life of your hardware
investment with the lowest cost of ownership over the years.
Enough
said, I think you can see, like Radiant Systems, who is
passionate about their products, we are also very excited. The
Radiant P1550 and P1220 (12" touch screen model) have been
tested and approved for Retail Pro Version 8. For more
information contact Bob Evans at (303) 738-1800 Ext. 303 or at
bob.evans@armsys.com
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Tech
Tips
Is your
Retail Pro data important to you?
Are you backing up your data? Do
you check your backups to make sure that they are working? It
is very easy to check on the status of your backup if you are
using the Hard Drive backup system. You only need to use
Windows Explorer to look at the files that are being backed
up. It is a good idea to check the size of the backup folder
and compare it to the size of the data that you are backing
up.
VERIFYING
SCHEDULED BACKUP
1.Double left click on "MY
COMPUTER".
2.Double left click on "(M:)" drive (or whatever
drive letter that is assigned to the backup
Drive)
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3.Single right click on the
previous day's folder.
4.Single left click on
"Properties".
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| 5.Verify that the day "Created"
was from this morning's backup.
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6. Document the "Size:" and
"Contains:" quantities.
7. Double left click on "MY
COMPUTER".
8. Double left click on the "(R:)"
drive(assuming this is not Workstation 1, if it is workstation
1 click on the "(D:)" drive or whatever drive letter Retail
Pro is installed to)
9. Look for the "V8" folder and single
right click on it.
10.Single left click on "Properties."
11.Verify the file quantities you documented in step 6 are
the same. Note- there may bea small discrepancy of a few
files, this is not critical.
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SOL ... store of
lingerie, Denver's premiere lingerie boutique has been
providing the finest products and exceptional customer service
for the past nine years. Providing professional
bra fittings is the backbone of this Cherry Creek North
landmark, and it is owned and operated by Cindy Johnson and
Jeanie Peterson. These sisters credit the success of SOL
to the collaboration of niche marketing, complementary talents
and a passion for customer service.
One of the tools that the SOL
uses in their success is Retail Pro. SOL opened its doors nine
years ago with Retail Pro Version 6.51 and they recently
upgraded to Version 8.51. The upgrade has enhanced their
already existing business practice of tracking customer
sales.
According to Janelle Kenny, Marketing
Director, SOL is very passionate about tracking customer
sales, preferences and every contact or conversation with a
client. With Retail Pro Version 8.51, they have
customized the customer records to track favorites,
anniversaries, customer notes and have set up alerts of
product availability. The combination of customer
tracking and the extensive reporting capabilities continue to
make Retail Pro an important tool for SOL's staff of
professional sales consultants.
SOL's expertise in bra fitting
and their staffs' passion and enthusiasm for what they do make
SOL a destination shop in Cherry Creek North. Their
website can be viewed at www.SOLlingerie.com
Appealing to Repeat,
Loyal Customers
from Joel R. Evans,
Ph.D. & Barry Berman, Ph.D.
Part 4: Better
Communication with Current Customers
In this
article, our focus is on communicating with ongoing customers.
Our assumption (based on the previous articles in our
"Appealing to Repeat, Loyal Customers" series) is that your
business has started to develop a customer data base and that
you are also now at least thinking about enacting a frequent
shopper program. There are several basic issues to consider in
preparing to better communicate with your current customers.
What topics / themes should be covered?
During the year, there should be a
combination of "image" and "product/event" oriented messages;
yet, the two messages do not have to be presented together.
Image messages are broad and intended to portray positive
company traits to customers (such as the number of years a
firm has been in business, the family-owned nature of a
business, the emphasis on customer services and a friendly
sales staff, the quality of products sold, etc.) These
messages are long-term in emphasis and geared to making
customers feel good about the firm.
Product/event messages are more
specific (such as the introduction of a new product, a special
sale, holiday shopping, etc.). The purpose is to get
short-term business. Frequent shopper programs are both image
and product/event oriented.
What audience
should be addressed?
Press here for the remainder of
the article.
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Meet Our
Staff
Debra Brewer,
Director
of Financial
Services.
Debra joined ARMS'
management team
on January
23rd as the new Director
of
Financial
Services. She is settling into
the
position and is already
very involved in
the daily
operations. Debra is a native of Charleston, SC and has
lived in Northern California for many years before moving to
Denver. Debra has an MBA from Regis University in
accounting and finance. Prior to joining ARMS, she
worked for Cenveo, a national visual communications and
marketing firm. Her responsibilities included the conversion
of the financial reporting for two of their larger plants to
the centralized financial reporting within the corporate
office. Her previous position was that of Controller for
Martin-Ray Laundry Systems, Inc.
When asked about her position at ARMS, she says, "It is an
exciting place to work because of the strategic goals of the
business. The challenges are here and they are positive
because they give you the opportunity to develop in other
areas professionally."
In her spare time, being a number's person, Debra loves to
do Skoduko puzzles and also loves to take power walks.
The management and staff at ARMS are very happy to have
Debra as part of the team.
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Signage for Fun, Influence,
and More Business
One of the biggest
issues I deal with in working with the independent retailer,
and one that has the biggest influence on a stores sales, is
the issue of signage. Signage is a form of service. Signage is
brand building. Its image creation and it can create an
emotional attachment to a business. The most important
advertising a plumber, landscaper, or any tradesman can have
is the lettering and signage on the trucks. The most important
thing a retailer can do is to create exterior signs that
invite customers in their store.
Interior signage can
even turn a store around almost instantly. It's interesting
that it has such an impact on the independent because they
traditionally undersign their stores. Maybe it's because they
don't have the sign making abilities that a larger store might
have or they just a lack of understanding of how powerful
signage can be. But whatever the reason, small stores can
experience big sales increases with the right signs. On the
other hand, the larger retailer has, in many cases, gone
overboard with signage. Manufactures love to give the large
stores signs about their products that smaller businesses
aren't offered. The bottom line is large stores have too many
and small stores don't have enough signage.
Press here for the rest of
article.
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ARMS is pleased
to announce the selection of Chase Paymentech as the payment
processor of choice .
Chase Paymentech and ARMS have
teamed up to bring you a competitive edge in the marketplace
by providing the best card processing service at a low member
rates.
Exclusive program benefits for ARMS customers
include:
?Free Cost Comparison
of your current credit card
processing
?Low member discount
rates on Visa/MasterCard
transactions
?Free $25 Gift Card
for members who switch to Chase
Paymentech
by April
30th!
To take
advantage of this exclusive offer contact Chris Quirk at
303-471-5075 or e-mail Chris at christopher.quirk@paymentech.com
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Referral
Program
We have streamlined
our business referral program to make it attractive to
you and show our thanks for sending us new business. Here are
the Details of the new plan.
Advanced Retail Management
Systems Lead Referral Plan:
Receive $500 credit on account
or 4 Client Service hours every time you refer a new customer
that purchases Retail ProŽ.
Retail ProŽ has
grown to be the premier Inventory Control/POS software for
small to mid-tier retailers. Whether you know a single
store or a 100 store chain, Retail ProŽ provides the
technology for retailers to excel.
Call your
sales person today or click here below
to refer another retailer and start earning valuable
rewards!
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8100 Southpark Way # A-10,
Littleton, CO 80120
303-738-1800 | Fax
303-738-9563
Denver - St. Louis - Chicago
www.armsys.com
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