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 Retail return fraud seen down this
holiday
season
Thu Oct 29, 2009 6:42am
EDT
CHICAGO
(Reuters) - Retailers are expected to lose less money
due to fraudulent returns of merchandise this holiday
season from a year ago as stores tighten return
policies, according to a survey released on
Thursday.
Return fraud is expected to cost
retailers $2.74 billion in 2009, down more than 17
percent from $3.32 billion a year earlier, according to
the National Retail Federation's survey of loss
prevention executives at 134 retailers.
Many retailers have adopted stricter
return policies in recent years, including requiring
receipts and adhering to time limits on returns in order
to cut back on fraud.
"Retailers are constantly trying to
fine-tune return policies to create guidelines that
honest customers can live with and dishonest people
can't get around," Joe LaRocca, senior asset protection
advisor for NRF, a retail trade association, said in a
statement.
A total of 6.4 percent of holiday
returns are expected to be fraudulent this year, down
from 7.5 percent a year earlier.
Continue
Reading
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSTRE59S0FY20091029
Source: Reuters | | |
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The Smart Move: Invest in
Technology Today to Improve Your Business!
Now is the time
to invest in your company so as business picks up you
are in a stronger position to compete. Leasing is
the answer to "creative financing" to get the technology
you need today to move your company forward.
Whether it's new Point of Sale equipment, an upgrade to
your credit card processing system with gift cards, a
service contract or additional software, leasing with
affordable payments is the solution.
Choose one of
the following deferred payment plans to get your 2009
tax deduction with minimal lease payments until
2010:
7 Payments
of $100
The terms are simple: you pay a $100.00 Security
Deposit and your next six payments are $100.00. If
you buy in October 2009, your first regular payment is
May 2010.
60 Days
Deferred Payment
You pay one month's payment
as the Security Deposit with no invoices until 60 days
after funding. Since lease payments are billed in
arrears, this is actually a 90 day deferred payment
plan. Buy in October 2009 and make one payment,
zero payments for November and December and payments
resume in January 2010.
Lower your cost with the 2009 Tax
Deduction
The 2009
Economic Stimulus law permits the depreciation deduction
for the first $250,000 in equipment/software purchases.
The deduction is on your personal tax return if you are
a sole proprietorship, LLC or S Corp. This deduction
helps offset other income on your personal tax return.
If the deduction exceeds your income, the extra carries
forward to the next year. For example, if you are in a
30% tax bracket, a $10,000 technology purchase will save
you $3,000 in taxes for a net cost of $7,000.
Be bold and invest in your business
today!
To learn more
contact Susie Carmen at (800)
305-0461 Ext. 357 or E-mail her at Susie.Carmen@armsys.com
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Tech Tips
Adjustment memos:
Starting to Track
Adjustments
We generally recommend that you start using
adjustment tracking after you have done a complete
physical inventory. This establishes your baseline. You
will then be able to audit changes in inventory
quantities and valuations back to the defined starting
point.
If you are installing
Retail Pro in an existing business, we recommend that
you turn off tracking until you have entered your entire
inventory and then do a physical inventory.
Defining New Items
in Inventory
When you create a new item and you are tracking
adjustments, the system will not allow you to enter a
quantity, price, or cost while in
inventory. | | |
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Little Shops Make Big Plays for
the Holidays
Merchants Roll Out Christmas Wares
Weeks in Advance to Lure Customers Away From Large
Discount
Retailers By DANA MATTIOLI
Small
brick-and-mortar shops that rely on seasonal sales are
seeking creative ways to avoid last year's bloodbath of
discounting, as cash-strapped consumers are expected to
gravitate toward big-box and discount
retailers.
Toy and gift
shop Groovy dc rolled out its holiday merchandise in
early October-a full month earlier than
usual-advertising Halloween and Christmas
simultaneously. "Because of the economy we said, let's
get the inventory out while there's money available,"
says co-owner Manuel Cortes, who says holiday sales
account for upward of 25% of the Washington, D.C.,
store's annual revenue.
Wonder Works, a
specialty toy store with locations in Charleston and
Mount Pleasant, S.C., set up its Christmas windows in
mid-September, a month and half earlier than usual, and
began offering layaway a few weeks earlier too. Owner
Christine Osborne says 45% of business comes between
October and the end of the year. Her strategy seems to
be already working-September sales at the toy stores
were up 8.5% from last year. "People are anxious and
want to secure items and budget out their money," she
says.
Even more
than in previous years, small shops have to worry that
penny-pinching consumers will go elsewhere, experts say.
Customers have "shifted a lot of their spending away
from the specialty retailers and moved toward mass value
centers like Wal-Mart," says Frank Badillo, senior
economist at Retail Forward, a research and consulting
firm specializing in the retail
industry.
Continue
Reading
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB200014240527487047548045744917
63191182676.html#mod=todays_us_marketplace
Source: The Wall
Street
Journal | | |
 Sage BusinessWorks Version
2010
Sage BusinessWorks
will be releasing the new Version 2010 soon for
customers on their maintenance plan. We have
tested the compatibility of the version with the Retail
Pro accounting Link and found that it will work properly
without any additional program changes. If you
have any questions, please email: doug.hubka@armsys.com
| | |
 Meet Our
Staff
Susie
Carmen
Sales
& Marketing Assistant
Susie has been with
Advanced Retail management Systems since 2000. If
you have called in looking for a system, you have
probably talked with Susie. She also is our
tradeshow Event Coordinator and wears many hats in the
Sales Department.
Prior to ARM, Susie worked
for NASA's shuttle program, was Staff member
for Colorado
presidential campaigns and involved in the medical and legal fields. Susie
is also a certified professional photographer and has
been published around
the world.
Susie came to Colorado
after completing college in Texas. She finds much
love in her Music and
Photography interests and is currently studying the
Finnish language with hopes to make a trip to Finland
sometime in 2010.
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 $500 for 5 Minutes
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 to refer another retailer and start earning
valuable rewards!
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 6 Ways To Create Opportunities
on LinkedIn
October 28,
2009 By Lisa
Barone
Life is so unfair. Just because
they're shinier, Twitter and Facebook often scoop up the
attention for being social networking powerhouses. And
they are! However, if you're a small business owner, you
also need to be paying attention to LinkedIn.
Over the past few years, LinkedIn has proven itself
to be a legitimate business tool for many, helping SMB
owners to develop and nurture targeted opportunities.
And if the numbers of "friend requests" in my inbox are
any indication, the strength of the site isn't
decreasing. In fact, it's growing.
There are lots of opportunities for SMB owners to
leverage LinkedIn to build traffic, branding, authority
and even their real life Rolodex. Here are a few of my
favorite ways to use and create opportunities with the
site.
Establishing Expertise: Unlike some
of the other social networks, LinkedIn lets you
establish credibility solely as a professional in your
field. By filling out your profile, listing your
affiliations, displaying references, participating in
Groups and answering questions through the Q&A, you
time and time again brand yourself as someone who knows
their stuff. By being consistent, you establish yourself
as the "go-to" person for that subject area. It's great
for personal branding, but it also puts you in their top
of mind the next time they need someone in your field.
Its hard to get that qualified branding anywhere
else.
Share Content : There are lots of
ways to share content via LinkedIn, but you need to be
sure to do it in a way that adds to whatever discussion
you're part of. There's very little tolerance (read:
none) for business owners who come in self-promoting or
trying to sell to other members. However, SMB owners can
share content by including links in their status
updates, linking to relevant posts during Group
discussions or while answering LinkedIn Questions. You
can also share and organize content by taking advantage
of some of the Widgets that LinkedIn allows members to
use on their profiles, like the ones from WordPress and
SlideShare. It's worth remembering that people looking
for content on LinkedIn, are actually interested in it.
They're not talking about what they had for lunch or
casually passing by. They're there for a reason.
Do Some Market Research: If you
don't mind the occasional sales pitch, the LinkedIn
Answers area offers SMB owners a fairly cost effective
way to get some knowledge transfer, talk out ideas, and
even hold mini focus groups! In the past, I've watched
SMB owners collect market research, demo new
sites/tools, ask for advice on how to do something more
cost effectively, and just throw out early stage product
questions. Because everyone on the site is business
oriented, most are very willing to help one another out
(especially if helps them look like the expert in the
group).
Continue Reading
http://smallbiztrends.com/2009/10/6-ways-to-use-linkedin.html
Source: Small Business
Trends | | |
8100 Southpark Way # A-10, Littleton, CO
80120
303-738-1800 | Fax 303-738-9563
Denver -
Chicago
www.armsys.com
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