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Shopping
Report: 3 Biggest Holiday Trends for Young
Adults By
Farnoosh Torabi
The
National Retail Federation recently surveyed all
age groups on their spending plans this holiday
season. Among the results there were some
interesting revelations about the shopping
habits of young adult. Here are the
highlights:
Your
Smartphone Is Your Buddy
The
NRF says one in four shoppers - mostly young
adults - with an iPhone or other smartphone will
use their device to shop for gifts, comparison
shop and research products. Shopping
applications like Coupon Sherpa, Amazon Mobile,
Shop Savvy, Red Laser and Compare Everywhere are
some of my own faves.
You're
Most Likely to Buy a Gift For
Yourself
Talk
about Generation Me: NRF finds
young adults are the age group most likely to
make "non-gift" purchases for themselves (69.4%
of young adults vs. 57.1% average).
If
you must shop for yourself first, just remember
that experiences from leisure and travel are
what researchers say are one of the few real
purchases that can make us happy. Taking a yoga
class or spending the day with friends is money
well spent ... and a nice stress reliever around
the holidays.
Continue
Reading: http://moneywatch.bnet.com/saving-money/blog/so-money/shopping-report-3-biggest-holiday-trends-for-young-adults/1001/
Source:
MoneyWatch.com |
SmartAlerts is
a real-time notification service that allows
merchants to monitor their operations. It
provides timely, actionable alerts that reduce
fraud, improve operations and provide better
customer service.
Some
benefits that SmartAlerts provide include the
following:
- Retailers
can be proactive, not reactive about fraud
- Retailers
can stay in touch with their store(s) without
having to be in every store
- Retailers
can know when their credit card settlement has
failed
- Retailers
can automatically receive a daily flash report
with sales numbers
Providing
you with instant intelligence, CounterPoint
SmartAlerts is a unique service that analyzes
your CounterPoint data and transactions. Alerts,
which easily can be configured for your
business, are sent via SMS text or email when
SmartAlerts discovers an action that falls
outside the thresholds you establish.
These
alerts help you watch your business at all times
so that immediate action can be taken against
alerted activity that could potentially affect
your bottom line. Even if you are in the store
24/7, knowing instantly when these actions are
happening can make a significant difference. In
addition, it enables an owner or store manager
to stay connected to the store activities when
they are away.
Some
sample SmartAlerts that you can sign up for
include: No Sales Activity, High Sales Activity,
Excessive Price Overrides Applied, Sign in After
Close, Sign in Before Open, Excessive Voided
Tickets, Sales Over A Defined Amount,
etc.
For
more information or pricing please contact Rob
Freda at Rob.Freda@armsys.com or
800-305-0461 x311.
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US Retailers' Glimmers Of Hope This
Holiday
NEW YORK
(Dow Jones)--Even though the economy is still on
consumers' minds heading into the industry's
crucial holiday selling period, there are some
signs that shoppers may be more willing to
loosen their purse strings.
While about
61.7% of shoppers said the economy will affect
their spending decision this holiday season,
that percentage declined from 65.3% last year,
according to a survey of about 9,000 consumers
from trade group National Retail Federation
conducted by BIGresearch.
The
percentage of shoppers who ranked sales or price
discounts as the most important factor in their
purchasing decision also declined to 41.8% from
43.3%, the survey showed.
On the
other hand, the percentage of those who
considered customer service the more important
factor rose to 5.3% from 4.4%. Merchandise
quality also increased in its importance for
12.7% of shoppers, up from 11.8%.
In another
signal that shoppers are feeling more at ease
about spending beyond essential and other
practical gifts, the percentage of people who
said they'd like to receive jewelry as gifts
rose for the first time since 2008 to 23% from
20.8%.
People also
are more willing to self-indulge, with the
percentage of shoppers planning to use holiday
sales to purchase for themselves rising to 57.1%
from 52.9% last year, the survey results
showed.
Source:
The Wall Street
Journal
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Is
there a way to force CounterPoint SQL to log
into a specific company?
The "Select a
Company" login dialog window only appears when a
workstation is registered for multiple
companies.
The command line switch
"/alias" can be added to the icon's command line
to specify a company.
Edit the icon used
to start CounterPoint and modify the target
(command) line.
Add "/alias" (without the
"") aliasname to the end of the command line,
where aliasname is the Alias defined in
Companies.ini, located in the top-level
CounterPoint SQL
directory. |
Ways to Improve Your Company's
Customer
Service
Start by
determining what isn't working and put a system
in place to fix it. Then monitor what customers
are saying and communicate with them, Alice
Bredin advises
By
Karen E. Klein
Here's
another reason businesses should improve their
customer service: Customers are willing to spend
more with companies that do. That commonsense
nugget is also supported by recent surveys by
American Express of 12,000 consumers around the
globe. More than 60 percent of U.S.respondents
ranked great customer service as important, but
only one-third believe they're getting it. Alice
Bredin, author and small business adviser to
AmericanExpress OPEN (AXP), says that small
companies are missing out on the opportunity to
deliver service that could differentiate them
from larger competitors. She spoke recently to
Smart Answers columnist Karen E. Klein. Edited
excerpts of their conversation
follow.
Karen
E. Klein: Your survey says that Americans want
great customer service but aren't getting
it.
Alice
Bredin: A majority of Americans feel
companies either haven't changed their attitude
toward customer service or are paying even less
attention. Just 37 percent believe companies
have increased their focus on providing quality
service in the current economy.
Why the
disparity?
Business
owners, despite their best intentions, don't
always know what it is that will most satisfy
their customers. They might think it's price,
when really it's personalized service, like
customers being able to quickly find what they
need in the store, or getting follow-ups and
reminders.
I think a
second reason is that business owners haven't
put in place the systems and processes to ensure
that they can provide ongoing service easily.
Business owners in these challenging economic
times are working more hours and having to lay
people off. They're not as focused on things
like service.
Continue Reading:
Click
Here
Source:
Bloomberg
Businessweek |
Kelly Walton has
been a trainer with Advanced Retail for over
four years now. She primarily trains
Retail Pro Version 8 clients, but is also
certified in Microsoft RMS and Retail Pro
Version 9. Needless to say, we keep her
busy!
Kelly came to
ARMS from a 30 year career in luxury
retail. She has done it all. Her
resume lists everything from Store Manager,
District Manager to Director of Stores to
Director of Training. Kelly says that opening
new stores and training the staff is her
greatest pleasure. Her work history deals
mostly with "luxury items." Kelly has
worked for Louis Vuitton, Royal Silk and
Baccarat. Retail is even the family
business. Kelly and husband Chuck own a Great
Frame Up franchise here in Denver.
When not working,
Kelly pursues her hobbies; every one at ARMS
really enjoys the results. Kelly is a fantastic
cook and regularly shares the goodies with the
staff. This with her gardening keeps her
busy at home. She also finds time to teach
a few exercise classes for fun. When asked
about the future, Kelly jokes that when she
grows up she wants to host her own cable
show.
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Retail Management Systems on
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ARMS staff and our customers!
|
Tell another retail store that is
looking for a Point of Sale system about
Advanced Retail Management Systems. When
you refer a retailer to us that participates in
a 1 hour web presentation for Retail Pro,
CounterPoint or Microsoft RMS, we will send you
$100 - it's that simple!
Register
your referral today. Call Susie Carmen
today at (303) 738-1800 Ext 357
or E-mail her at susie.carmen@armsys.com
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