|
|
|
Retail
Pro Free Training Seminars
If you have not
heard, Advanced Retail Management
Systems has been conducting Free Retail
Pro Training Seminars called
"What's In Store 2005"
in various cities. The recent seminar
in Denver was a great success; here is
what one attendee had to say "The
seminar with Jeana was very helpful in
determining that Retail Pro is
continuing to go where retailers need to
be." Judy Myers, Sport Shop Manager,
Hot Springs Lodge & Pool
As a current Retail Pro user you will
not want to miss this opportunity. Our
next seminar will be held in St. Louis,
MO at the Adams Mark Hotel 315 Chestnut
on March 22nd. If you still want to
attend, please e-mail
marketing@armsys.com. Please RSVP by
March 11, 2005.
Doors
will open at 9:30 am, presentations are
from 10-3:00 and a box lunch will be
provided.
Presentation Topics:
Retail Pro Version 8 Training by Jeana
Thomas
Physical Inventory
Clean House
Screen Designs
Island Pacific Presentation of Retail
Pro Version 9
Flex Watch, the Latest in Retail Video
Security Systems
Doors
Close at 5:00
If you
would like to see a Seminar in your
city, please contact us at
marketing@armsys.com.
|
|
|
A Message from Island Pacific on your
Retail Pro Membership, Protecting Your
Investment
Continual Product Improvements
We at Island Pacific, the developers of
Retail ProŽ, are committed to bringing
you the best in retail management and
point-of-sale software, both now and as
you continue to grow. Our passion for
perfection and our dedication to
continuous product development challenge
us to make ongoing improvements and
feature enhancements to Retail Pro. In
fact, well over half of our staff is
involved in software development,
ensuring that Retail Pro remains the
system that sets the industry standard
for specialized retailers like you. That
means that you will never have to worry
about outgrowing Retail Pro.
Empowered for
Success
Our technical expertise
and the support of our value-added
network of Business Partners plus the
investment protection of Retail Pro
software make the Membership Plan a
logical choice for your business. Sign
up for the Retail Pro Membership plan
today, and join the thousands of other
member retailers worldwide who have
chosen Retail Pro as their partner for
success.
The Benefits of
Membership
The Membership Plan is just
another great example of how Retail Pro
continues to work for you, long after
your initial investment. Your Membership
Plan provides the peace of mind in
knowing you'll never need to buy another
point-of-sale or store management
program. Your Membership also ensures
that as your business grows, you will
continue to benefit from the development
of new features and enhancements for
Retail Pro.
When you participate in the Retail Pro
Membership Plan, you receive these
benefits:
ˇ Free software
enhancements and upgrades. Enhancements
and upgrades keep your system updated as
each new generation of Retail Pro
software is developed.
ˇ No-cost product
e-Manual updates and special
supplements. Get extra help with those
new features!
ˇ "Members only" web
site. Product documentation and
information from Island Pacific. Forum,
online newsletter, retail news and event
information...all in one place!
ˇ Developer news
briefings. Learn about planned product
enhancements and much more!
Plan to Renew
your Membership
After your first year of Membership,
fees for subsequent years are based on
your particular software configuration.
A substantial discount is available for
special multi-year memberships.
To renew your Retail
Pro Membership please contact Stacey
Ryan at 1 800 305 0461 x 321 or email
Stacey.ryan@armsys.com. |
|
|
Video Surveillance Systems protect you
from theft!
Retailers are challenged
by theft and store liability. Customer
and employee theft as well as worker's
compensation claims eat into a
retailer's profits. RemoteManager.IP
integrates Retail ProŽ point-of-sale
with video surveillance systems to
provide an efficient and effective means
of managing these challenges.
With RemoteManager.IP, you can:
ˇ Monitor employee performance from the
store or remotely
ˇ View customer transactions
ˇ Investigate security and liability
issues
RemoteManager.IP allows you to store and
retrieve information easily and is
scalable. Retailers can view synced
video and sales information on one
screen. This helps retailers determine
if items were rung up/scanned correctly.
RemoteManager.IP also allows the
retailer to store an unlimited number of
transactions.
Call our sales department for more info
on Remote Manager IP
800-305-0461 or e-mail
marketing@armsys.com |
|
|
Retail Pro Continued Training Courses
Advanced Retail Management Systems
(ARMS) has some exciting news for you
regarding continued training courses for
Retail Pro. Far too often we find that
retailers are using only a fraction of
the many features in Retail Pro.
The main reason for
this is a lack of understanding on the
numerous features in Retail Pro and how
they can be used to work for you. Many
users of Retail Pro are satisfied with
the core trainings offered by ARMS and
perhaps a few more advanced report
trainings. Retail Pro can do so much
more for you.
Spending some extra time on more of the
features in Retail Pro will help you to
reduce costs and increase efficiency in
many areas of your operation. There are
also expanded features that can be
installed to further your experience
with Retail Pro.
You have the tools
available in Retail Pro and we are here
to help you use them. Listed in this
brochure are a just a few of the areas
that you may be interested in learning
more about,
Click Here to read about them.
Please keep in mind
that our trainers are often booked
several weeks in advance. Contact us
today to schedule a training
appointment, 303 738 1800 x 320 Rosie
Grant, or email
Rosie.grant@armsys.com.
Visual
Merchandising Part 1:
Taking the
mystery out of a well-designed store
By Rich Kizer &
Georganne Bender
Visual Merchandising -
the fine art of presentation and
display - is one of the most important
pieces in running a retail store, yet it
is often one of the most neglected.
Visual Merchandising is an art, but it
is also a science with specific,
easy-to-implement formulas to help you
sell more merchandise. Here, we start a
discussion of the basics used in the
savviest retail stores. Next month,
we'll continue with such elements as
color, fixtures, cross-merchandising,
and more.
A LITTLE STORE
PLANNING
Your first mission is
to set your fixtures in a pattern that
allows for maximum traffic flow. Your
store layout will determine how
customers will shop the store, and it
very often is affected by the shape and
size of your sales floor. Three of the
most popular are the Grid layout, the
Loop or Race Track layout, and the Free
Flow layout.
Grid layouts are
commonly used in grocery stores and big
box stores. In a Grid layout the
fixtures run parallel to the walls, so
customers typically grab a shopping
cart, start in a front corner and walk
each and every aisle. Grid layouts are
easy to shop because they offer clean
sight lines throughout the entire store.
Another advantage of the Grid layout is
that it allows for maximum End Cap
exposure. And we all know that the job
of an end cap is to encourage impulse
purchases. Use your ends to display
promotional and high impulse items -
never to house basic merchandise.
You will find Loop -
or Race Track - layouts in a variety of
stores including Target, Best Buy, and
Kohl's. This layout offers a clearly
defined main aisle that circles through
the store like a race track. Fixture
placement in a Loop layout differs in
different parts of the store: The
perimeter fixtures run perpendicular to
the wall, and the fixtures in the center
of the loop run parallel to the side
walls. In a Loop layout customers
typically flow to the right and move up
and down the aisles in a serpentine
manner.
In a Loop layout,
perimeter walls are just as important as
end caps because the layout leads
customers to the wall each time they go
down an aisle. This means that walls
need to be merchandised with particular
care.
A favorite choice of
specialty retailers, such as
scrapbooking stores and Hallmark Card &
Gift Stores, is the Free Flow layout.
This layout offers multiple
opportunities to highlight merchandise,
and create display vignettes, that make
the merchandise more romantic, but
unlike the Grid and Loop layouts, the
Free Flow doesn't allow you to maximize
inventory per square foot.
In a Free Flow layout,
there are no set aisles, so customers
roam the store freely. Fixtures are not
placed in straight lines, rather they
are angled to easily move customers
throughout the store, exposing them to
merchandise displays at every turn.
You may already have a
blueprint that will help you visualize
the entire store to determine choice of
layout and appropriate locations for
merchandise departments. If you don't,
measure your store and draw a rough
blueprint of your own. Add in all the
columns, doors, bathrooms, and other
nuances, and hire an architectural
student from your local college to
create a blueprint for you.
In either case, make a
copy of your blueprint, mount it to a
piece of foam core board, and overlay it
with tissue paper. That way you will be
able to merchandise and remerchandise
your sales floor on paper before you
ever touch a fixture. This will save you
loads of time and aggravation when
contemplating floor moves.
Click here to view full article.
Stay tuned for next month's article
Visual Merchandising Part 2! |
|
|
Custom Programming
Advanced
Retail Management Systems is pleased to
announce that we now offer Custom
Programming Services. With 18 years of
experience in retail technology, we can
help you identify and realize new
solutions suited to your business needs.
Adapting data systems to your
organizational processes saves you time
and money and our reasonable rates can
bring operational streamlining within
the reach of every Specialty Retailer.
We have
established an excellent reputation in
providing solutions that include the
following:
ˇ Website and
multi-application integration
ˇ Data mining and data
transfer
ˇ Custom applications
ˇ POS system
enhancements
ˇ Process automation
ˇ Extensions for a
wide range of point-of-sale and
inventory devices
We
recently completed a series of
customizations for the ARC Thrift Stores
that included system integration modules
that synchronized Retail Pro purchase
orders and inventory data with their
existing ERP system as well as a
customized approach to managing their
unique inventory pricing, tagging and
discount structures.
The
ARMS Research and Development Group is
headed by Shawn Wong, who brings the
diverse experiences necessary to
understand and provide the optimum blend
of technology, form and function.
Shawn's background includes retail
management, web operations, system
administration, software and database
development and experience with multiple
POS platforms.
In
future News Briefs, we will highlight
case scenarios in which Specialty
Retailers were able to realize major
improvements and achieve goals that were
previously unattainable. If you would
like to explore the possibility of
Custom Programming to consolidate your
POS system and operations, contact Shawn
at 303 738 1800 x 358 or email
Shawn.wong@armsys.com. Custom
Development projects are generally
completed in 3-6 weeks and there is no
charge for the initial consultation. |
|
|
Tech Tips
Pro Tip: Updating Discounts After
Changing the Quantity Sold
If you need to change the quantity being
sold after applying promotional pricing
simply return to the receipt item list
and change the quantity. When you select
TENDER again, select APPLY if the dialog
appears again to apply the new pricing.
Pro Tip: Discounts Before Adding
Customer
If items are added to a document before
a customer is added, and discounts are
given to any of the items listed on the
document, subsequently listing a
customer with a defined discount will
override the previous item discount with
the defined customer discount.
Pro Tip: Cashier Changing the
Customer Discount
A cashier's ability to edit a customer
discount is limited by that cashier's
discount maximum as defined in system
preferences. The cashier is only allowed
to change the discount to the maximum
discount allowed for the cashier (even
if the customer discount is higher than
the percentage allowed for the user).
Pro Tip: Giving Cash Back While
Ringing Up a Purchase
To give cash back while processing a
purchase by a tender other than cash:
1. Enter the amount of cash to be
returned to the customer as a negative
number first. For example, if the
customer wants $50 back, enter - 50.
2. Select CASH from the tender toolbar.
The screen will show $50 cash is due in
change.
By entering the amount of cash back
first, the new undefined amount displays
how much the customer owes (including
the amount due for the cash you are
returning to the customer).
3. Tender the new undefined amount as
usual.
The
Retail Spotlight
|
|
|
Canyonlands
National Park, Arches National Park,
Hovenweep National Monument and Natural
Bridges National Monument.
Big
places with incredible vistas in
southeastern Utah. The Canyonlands
Natural History Association, founded in
1967 as a private non profit corporation
assists in the education of visitors to
these and other public lands in
southeastern Utah. CNHA operates a
number of stores in the park and
monument visitor centers with
approximately 20% of the revenue being
returned to the same park agencies to
provide for scientific research and
educational programs. These active
stores require a good point-of-sale and
inventory control system.
In
November of 2004, CNHA partnered with
Advanced Retail Management Systems in
purchasing Retail Pro for 8 of their
stores. Sam Wainer, Operations Manager
for CNHA says, "we were looking for a
system that will allow us to draw on the
data from our stores. We found that with
Retail Pro." The reporting capability of
Retail Pro coupled with the accounting
link to Business Works sealed the deal
for selecting Retail Pro. The ARMS
technical team worked with CNHA to
convert the data from the former
point-of-sale system, Keystroke, to
Retail Pro. Of the conversion and
implementation process, Sam says, "we
are incredibly happy with the support
provided by the ARMS staff."
The
next time you are looking for a family
vacation, check out Canyonlands Natural
History Association to assist you.
www.cnha.org. If you are not headed
to Utah any time soon and want to still
be a part of protecting our natural
treasures check out the website to see
how you can participate. |
|
|
Meet Our Staff
Ann Pack-Retail Pro Certified
Technician
Data Conversion Technician
Ann has
been with ARMS since 2002. Ann has been
working with computers for 14 years and
came to ARMS from Merrill Lynch where
she worked as a LAN Administrator. Ann's
innate ability to help people, along
with her strong technical knowledge, has
allowed her to flourish and become a
"gem" for ARMS.
Ann enjoys challenges, troubleshooting
and being in an environment where there
is something new to learn each day. Many
of her unique days, for example, occur
when she is in the process of helping
Clients upgrade from Version 6 to
Version 8.
Ann is
the proud mother of two teenage girls,
Emily, 16 and Bethanie, 13. One of their
favorite activities together is the
adventure of "shopping" of course! Tim,
Ann's boyfriend, spends much of his
spare time playing golf. Although Ann is
not an avid golfer, while accompanying
Tim, she enjoys driving the golf cart
around on the green. Ann also enjoys
Jazzercise, movies, hiking and reading.
Ann feels she was lucky to be at the
right place and at the right time to
become an employee of ARMS. |
|
|
Referral Program
Receive
$500 credit on account or 4 Client
Service hours every time you refer a new
customer that purchases Retail Pro.
Retail Pro 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 Pro provides the
technology for retailers to excel.
Call your sales person today at
800-305-0461 or
click here to complete the form on
our web site to refer another retailer
and start earning valuable rewards!
|
|
8100 Southpark Way # A-10, Littleton, CO
80120
303-738-1800 | Fax 303-738-9563
Denver - St. Louis - Chicago
www.armsys.com
|
|
