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 What is our future? Where is independent fashion
retailing going? Is the future bleak or is the worst behind
us? Can we survive? Or better yet, can we thrive? Are we a
white elephant, or is there someone or something coming on a
white horse? I believe our future is bright enough we might
have to wear sun glasses! Am I sick? Everyone knows that this
is an ailing industry, with more store closings everyday. We
all know that the competition is getting keener and mark ups
are shrinking constantly. How could I ever make that statement
that our future is bright?
Let me qualify my statement
just a little bit, but certainly not enough to change the
spirit of such a bold prediction. The only qualification is
that the new breed of successful retailers
play by a new set of rules. The old standards of trying
to be successful using the same old methods are truly the
definition of insanity. This brave new world of retailing is
focused on the customer's standard, not ours. The customer
will get what they want, when they want it, at a price that
they can afford - not discounted affordability. The consumer
is finally getting hip to "make believe sales" and "mock
outlets." The outlets are succeeding, NOT because of price,
but because of depth of selection of brands in an entertaining
environment with merely fair prices.
The successful
retailers of the future will not advertise in newspapers, or
if they do, it will be very seldom. They will use electronic
media on occasion, with the exception of the Web, which will
become a must for the store of the next millennium. The Web
will be the store's brochure, Yellow Page ad , and catalog,
all rolled into one. A store without a Web page will be a
store without a sign. E-mail messages and faxes will be used,
but the advertising backbone of the retailer in the near
future will be highly targeted direct mail. The new standard
for return in direct response advertising is now 30% and that
figure is destined to rise. The line, "Half my advertising
doesn't work, but I just don't know which half" will finally
be buried. The future in direct mail or direct response
advertising, call it what you want, will not be in massive
bulk mailings. It will be in weekly small mailings, targeting
small groups of customers, informing them of things that they
have interest in.
More and more people will be working
out of their homes. More people work in front of a computer
screen all day long. The amount of face to face people contact
is rapidly diminishing. This virtual world in which we are
living will need pressure relieving escapes. We will need to
see and interact with real people. Those moments of
interaction will become more important as we become slaves to
high technology. Those moments are tailor made income
opportunities for the retailer creative enough to understand
that belonging and caring are the
foundations for servicing and selling. The time we
spend shopping will become something that we look forward to
as opposed to the drudgery it has been in the
past.
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The POS Terminal You Can Count On
Are your worried that your POS
terminals will not make it through the next holiday - what
does it cost you when your equipment is down? Radiant Systems'
Point-of-Sale Terminals are the most reliable point-of-sale
terminals on the market today. Radiant stands behind its
technology covering virtually any type of failure - including
functional wear. Radiant resolves system failures quickly and
completely. For any system failure, Radiant provides full unit
replacement - as opposed to individual component replacement -
resulting in faster return to service and a reduced chance of
future failures.
Radiant Point-of-Sale Terminals
offer:
Reliability
?
Few moving parts - backup system fan only with no CPU or
power
supply fan
? Liquid,
Power, and Wear
protected
?
Smaller, cooler units with increased reliability and
simplicity
?
Designed to work in extreme hot and cold
temperatures
Best Service in the
Industry
? Replace vs. Repair approach
o
Guarantees the life of your
hardware
?
Hardware odometers track part
life
o Parts replaced based on useful life (broken or
not)
o You receive a "like new" terminal - better than the one that
was
returned
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Radiant P1550
Point-of-Sale
Terminal | |
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Extended Product
Lifecycle
? Combined five-year purchasing
plus
five year support = 10 year product
life
o Goal of five-year minimum
purchase
window
o Extended five-year product support
after purchase window closes
To learn
more about Radiant Systems' exceptional Point of Sale
Terminals, contact Bob Evans today at (303) 738-1800 Ext. 303
or at bob.evans@armsys.com.
Tech
Tips
Faster List View
Displays
In large data files, List
View will display fastest when record number is used as the
sort column (Item # in inventory, document number in document
areas, etc.). This is because the records are stored in
that
order in the data files. When sorting by other
columns, the program must scan the entire file and reorder the
records accordingly. It is recommended you normally sort by
record number, switching to another
column only when needed
to search for a specific record.
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The Easiest $100 You Have Ever
Earned
Tell another retail store that is looking
for a Point-of-Sale system about Advanced Retail Management
Systems and Retail Pro and receive a $100 American Express
Gift Certificate. The first 5 Retail Pro customers each month
that refer a qualified lead* will receive this $100 gift - its
that easy! We strive to provide the best Point-of-Sale
products and services in the industry and want to pay you to
help us get the word out. In addition, if your referral
purchases Retail Pro, you will receive our standard
referral fee of $500 on account or 4 Client Service Hours. So
spread the word about Retail Pro and receive a fee gift each
month. Click
here to submit your referral.
*Qualified lead: must be looking to purchase a
system within 6 months and willing to see a Retail Pro product
demonstration. ARMS reserves the right to make a final
determination as to what is approved as a qualified lead.
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Meet Our Staff
Kelly Walton, Retail Pro
Trainer
Kelly Walton is the newest member
of the Advanced Retail Management Systems Training Department.
When ARMS talks about the depth and abundance of experience
that its training staff has, we are not kidding. ARMS is
very excited to have Kelly be a part of our team.
Kelly has 30 years of retail
experience. 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. 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 SpotLight
1971 That is when Retco first
opened its doors for business. This long-standing
retailer operates 14 different stores throughout Colorado's
mountain towns of Breckenridge, Keystone, Copper
Mountain, Colorado and Jackson Wyoming. The stores
operate under the names of Shirt Off My Back, Wildflower
Apparel, Breckenridge Apparel, Yike's, Shirt and Ernies, and
129 South Active Wear. These well known landmarks carry
a wide variety of shirts, sweatshirts, sportswear and fleece
products. Much of the apparel is either silk screened or
embroidered by Retco. Most of the designs are originals,
that they create themselves. Some of the stores
also carry some gift items and jewelry.
Retco is also a long term
Advanced Retail Management Systems client having first
purchased Retail Pro in 1994. Currently they are on
Version 8.52. When asked about Retail Pro and how it
performs for them, Sandy Westen, Office Manager,
responded that the information that Retail Pro's reporting
module provides is very helpful. She also said it is
both easy to use and to train new employees. Retco's
stores are all in resort towns and they experience a lot of
seasonal turnover of the staff. Training new employees
on Retail Pro is a very easy and smooth process. Working
in the office, Sandy was also pleased that Retail Pro
linked to Business Works Accounting. This is a real time saver
for her.
When you find you are up in the
mountains looking for some cool sportswear or souvenirs, check
out one of Retco's many stores.
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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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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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