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.
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
Radiant P1550
Point-of-Sale
Terminal
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
Custom
Button to Display the Set Discount in Store Operations
POS
How to create a custom button to allow
discount/price level changes in POS.
1. In
Manager, go to Database | Registers | Custom POS Buttons.
2. Make note of the last number
used.
3. Click New.
4. In the New Custom Button
window, enter the next sequential number in the number field.*
5. Select Internal Command as the
style.
6. Enter the text that you would
like to display on the custom POS button; for example
Discount.
7. In the Command field, type
ShowDiscount.
8. Enter additional information
into the Description field. This field is for information only
and will not appear at the POS screen.
9. If you would like to load a
picture that will display on the Custom POS Button, click on
Load and browse to the saved file. If you do not load a
picture, the default graphic is a 3.5" floppy disk.
10. Re-launch POS.
11. Go to the Display Properties
window by pressing Ctrl + F6. Check the option to Display
Custom Buttons on Right Side. Set the percentage of the window
you would like the buttons to appear on.
12. At any time during the
transaction, you can click on Custom POS buttons to display
the Discount/Price Level window.
Referral Program
Receive $250 credit
on account or 2 Client Service hours every time you refer a
new customer that purchases Microsoft Retail Management
System*. Microsoft Retail Management System has grown to be
the premier Inventory Control/POS software for small to
mid-tier retailers.
Whether you know a
single store or a 20-store chain, Microsoft Retail Management
System provides the technology for retailers to
excel.
Call your sales
person today at 800-305-0461 or complete the form below to
refer another retailer and start earning valuable rewards!
Call your sales person
today or click here to
refer another retailer and start earning valuable
rewards!
*Minimum purchase of $10,000 required
.
Meet Our Staff
Susie Carmen, Sales
and Marketing Assistant
If you have become an ARMS client
in the past 5 years chances are you have spoken to Susie who
helped you along in the process of searching for a point of
sale and inventory control system. Susie has been with ARMS
five and a half years. Prior to joining the ARMS team, Susie
worked in the food brokerage industry with Pillsbury and a
local Colorado Brokerage House. Before moving to
Colorado, Susie also held a fascinating position as the
assistant to the President for a major sub-contractor for NASA
in Houston, Texas. She attended college in Texas and
also Metro State in Denver, majoring in Psychology and
Sociology.
Susie's
responsibilities at ARMS are varied and she tackles each one
with equal pride. Her dedication to the company and
willingness to assist anyone make her a valuable
employee. Susie sets demos, sends out literature and/or
demo disk packets and is in charge of all the marketing
materials. She assists the salespeople and Sales
Manager. Susie is the first to volunteer for new
projects. She is the proud grandmother of three, Keoni
Skye, Tyler and Blaine. Susie is about the most
passionate person you will ever find with her love for the
sport of NASCAR! An avid photographer on the
weekends, Susie enjoys hiking and photographing the wildlife,
flowers, and spectacular scenery found in our Colorado
Mountains.
Retailers say 45 Could Be the Next 15
In Hot Apparel Market By JENN ABELSON,
THE BOSTON GLOBE
Barbara Trombetta can count on one hand the stores
where she finds clothes that actually fit her.
The
47-year-old Boston public schoolteacher says she is frustrated
with small shirts and tight-fitting pants that don't flatter
her middle-age figure.
"It's really hard," Trombetta
said. "I've got money to spend, but there are not a lot of
places to spend it."
But if merchants have their way,
Trombetta won't be complaining for long. Once considered
uncool and unsexy, the apparel market for older women is hot.
These women are growing in numbers and so are their purses: By
2010, women 45 and older are expected to unseat teenagers as
the biggest spenders on clothing, shoes and
accessories.
Indeed, retailers think 45 could be the
next 15: Over the next year, companies such as American Eagle,
Gap and Gymboree are expanding existing concepts aimed at
older women or unveiling new ones. Talbots is making the
biggest bet, proposing last month to buy rival J. Jill for
$517 million in a bid to create the nation's largest specialty
chain catering to women over 35.
"A lot of stores
basically walked away from the older woman," said Marshal
Cohen, chief retail analyst for NPD Group, a market research
firm in Port Washington, N.Y. "But the teen market is being
sliced so thinly that retailers need to regroup. And stores
are finally beginning to recognize that this is a customer who
can no longer be ignored."
What's made older women
attractive? Namely, many of the 40 million women of the
baby-boom generation who are now in their 40s and 50s. The
group's sheer size will increase the overall spending in the
$101 billion female apparel market. And unlike past
generations, women have more disposable income and are willing
to spend it on their looks, merchants and consultants
say.
That's in part driven by women waiting until their
30s and 40s to have children, whose fashion sense can rub off
and encourage parents to routinely update their own wardrobes
rather than just buy new clothes when it becomes a necessity.
Add to that higher divorce rates than a generation ago,
putting more women over 35 into the dating scene, where they
want to look their best and stay in style. Hollywood and
television shows such as "Desperate Housewives" are also
promoting the middle-age woman as sexy.
"This generation refuses to grow
old and dress like their mothers," said Olga Conley, chief
financial officer for J. Jill, which appeals to older women
with its casual style of loose sweaters and flowing skirts.
"We are trying to grow this chain as fast as we can so by the
time other guys come in, we're a force to be reckoned
with."
It's a necessary strategy as more
competitors look to older women to boost sales as malls become
overrun with teen retailers, including Hot Topic and
Abercrombie & Fitch. Even companies that indulge youth are
growing up: Gap Inc. launched a new chain, Forth & Towne,
last year aimed at women over 35. Children's clothier Gymboree
Corp. started Janeville in 2004 to cater to older women; today
it has 16 stores. And last week, teen chain American Eagle
announced it will open the first four stores of its new Martin
+ Osa brand targeting older women this fall.
For
Talbots and J. Jill, which have long served older women, the
challenges will be to bring in new customers as rivals crowd
the market and to adapt to the changing tastes of this
generation. Teamed up, the two companies would have 1,283
stores and an annual revenue of about $2.3 billion. The
acquisition represents Talbots' first since it opened in 1947.
If the deal is approved, the combined companies would overtake
Ann Taylor, which had about $2 billion in sales last year, and
widen their lead over Chico's, which had about $1.4 billion in
sales last year, according to analysts.
Beyond the
clothes, merchants have spent considerable time designing
stores that appeal to older women. For J. Jill, which plans to
open at least 40 locations this year, that meant adding
waterfalls, soft music and a so-called "wall of women" that
displays portraits of beautiful women of all ages. Talbots has
created wider dressing rooms and bigger mirrors for women of
larger sizes. Gap's Forth & Towne offers fitting rooms
with three-way mirrors, dimmers and enough room to seat a
friend.
Retail analysts say the push to please older
women is likely to remake the look of malls much in the way
teen brands such as Abercrombie & Fitch have done over the
past decade. Merchant after merchant jumped on the youth
bandwagon and even department stores -- once a haven for women
over 35 -- focused on juniors.
For women such as
Jennifer Caccamo, 54, the era of the older woman can't arrive
fast enough. "We can't wear the belly shirts and short shorts
you see everywhere," Caccamo said. "But we still want to be
stylish. We need something that makes us feel
good."
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
Bridge the Gap with StoreFront
Advanced Retail Management
Systems now offers complete integration from Retail Pro and
Microsoft RMS to StoreFront, the leading e-commerce platform
for small to medium sized businesses. As the world's most
popular e-commerce solution, StoreFront powers over 50,000
online stores. StoreFront allows you to leverage your brick
and mortar point-of-sale investment with a powerful on-line
web-store.
With the StoreFront Integrated
Solution you can: ?Automatically download orders, upload
products and transfer customer data ?Manage inventory from
a single interface ?Process transactions through
StoreFront or your Point-of-Sale system ?Reduce manual
entry and improve accuracy
Complete E-commerce Packages are
available including StoreFront software, integration, website
design, setup and services to help you quickly launch your
store.
StoreFront is easy to use and affordable. To learn more
click
here or call Bob Evans today at 303-738-1800 or E-mail him
at bob.evans@armsys.com
This email was
sent by: Advanced Retail Management Systems 8100 Southpark Way,
Unit A-10 , Littleton , CO, 80120 ,
