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Retail Pro
International, LLC Update
As you are probably aware,
Retail Pro was acquired by Valens Offshore SPV II,
Laurus Master Fund, Ltd. and Midsummer Investment, Ltd.
and formed the new company Retail Pro International, LLC
in June 2009. The new company, backed by its group
of investors, with an asset base of approximately $1.5
Billion USD, is focused on product development and has
remained on track rolling out Version 8.6 and Version
9.3. In July, the company appointed Kerry
Lemos as the Chief Executive Officer.
As
CEO, Kerry is responsible for the vision, expansion and
leadership of Retail Pro International. Kerry
brings over 20 years experience in the application
software industry. He has held senior executive roles at
Hotel Information Systems, Avantos, Kadiri and most
recently, Sage Software. Throughout his career, Kerry
has created, developed and optimized channel
distribution organizations, resulting in higher levels
of partner satisfaction and productivity. Kerry
has deep experience in international business, having
lived abroad and engineered joint venture projects in
The People's Republic of China, Mexico, Brazil and
Europe. With a proven record of ethical and
responsible management, coupled with the ability to
inspire, Kerry has succeeded in bringing businesses to
the next level.
Retail Pro 8.6
Update
Retail Version 8.6 has now
been on the market for over 90 days. We have had
great success rolling out this new version and are ready
to upgrade customers upon request. A brief
overview of the Version 8.6 features is noted below.
- PA-DSS Compliance and
Certification
Retail Pro Version 8.6 is the only PCI
Certified Version in the Retail Pro 8 Series (prior
versions including 8.52 and back, Version 7 and
Version 6 are not PCI certified). On January 1,
2008, Visa implemented a series of mandates to
eliminate the use of vulnerable payment applications
from the Visa payment system. These mandates require
acquirers to ensure that their merchants and agents do
not use payment applications known to retain sensitive
cardholder data (i.e. full magnetic stripe data, CVV2
or PIN data) and require the use of payment
applications that are compliant to the PA-DSS
specifications. VNPs and agents must
decertify all vulnerable payment applications by
October 1, 2009.
- Software - Based
Licensing
Retail Pro 8.6's software-based licensing model
will allow a retailer's IT staff to ensure there is
minimal downtime should their retail system suffer a
hardware failure. The days of waiting for a
replacement hardware dongle, due to its failure, are
now a thing of the past as the software-based
licensing has the ability to authenticate in real-time
keeping the retailer open for business and able to
continue selling.
- Ingenico i-Series
Support
Retail
Pro 8.6 brings hardware support for the Ingenico
i-series pin pads, i6550, I 6580, and i6780 for use
with PC Charge and RPPS (RBS).
- Credit Card Holder
Name
Often it
is required by various regions around the globe to
print the name of the card holder on a receipt when
making a purchase via a credit card. Retail Pro 8.6
will provide this needed functionality.
- Enhanced Gift Receipt
Support
The
Retail Pro 8 series world, up to this point, has had
to utilize an "Off-the-shelf" plug-in to adequately
print gift receipts at Point of Sale. Retail Pro 8.6
brings this functionality into the core product
eliminating the need to purchase a plug-in for this
POS process.
- User-Interface
Branding Updates
To add a bit of modernism to the Retail Pro 8
series interface, all icons and logos will be moved to
the newer branding established within Retail Pro 9,
providing a cleaner, updated look on a proven product
line.
- Small Business
Edition (ECI Support)
It has been long established within the Retail
Pro 8 series arena that Retail Pro 8 Shop edition does
not allow the integration of ECI systems. The release
of Retail Pro 8.6 will remove this limitation with the
release of Retail Pro 8.6 Small Business edition.
- Promotions Plug-in
(Planned release for 8.6.x, January,
2010)
The
Retail Pro Promotions module allows the retailer to
create industry standard promotions such as buy one
get one (BOGO), buy this get that, date and time
driven offers, quantity based offers, and
prioritization of overlapping offers just name a few
of the key areas functionality.
In regards to Version 8.6, the
only way to qualify for this release is by having a
current Software Assurance Plan.
Please contact our Inside Sales Team today at (800) 305-0461
and ask for Stacey or Andrea or E-mail us at insidesales@armsys.com to
schedule your V8.6 upgrade.
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New Partnership
with First Data for Payment Solutions
Advanced Retail
Management Solutions (ARMS) is excited to
announce its partnering with First Data
to provide integrated electronic payment solutions
coupled with Point of Sale/Inventory Control solutions
for small and mid-sized retailers. Our combined solution
includes:
Point of sale
and inventory control
Purchase
order
management
Reporting
First Data
payment processing services (Industry leader in credit,
debit, check and
gift transaction processing)
By working together, ARMS
and First Data are able to provide a complete solution
with the latest technology.
For more information,
please contact Andrea Ellerbrock at
ARMS, 1800-305-0461 xt 324/andrea.ellerbrock@armsys.com | | |
Follow Advanced Retail Management
Systems on Facebook
Keep up with latest
happenings in Retail and your particular POS\Inventory
Control software by becoming a fan of Advanced Retail
Management Systems (ARMS) on Facebook!
By being a fan of
ARMS, you will receive information about your software
including special "web only" tips & tricks that
won't be given elsewhere. You'll be among the
first to learn about new release and features, training
opportunities, and links to interesting information on
the web. Connect with the ARMS staff and our
customers!
To become a fan of
ARMS on Facebook, click here. | | |
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Retailers entertaining new
ideas to spark sales
By Tyrone Richardson Of The Morning
Call
Area
stores are beefing up customer service and personal
touches to lure shoppers.
Patrons listen to live music at Amber Connection
in Allentown. The fashion boutique's owner, Urszula
Abolik, hosts events such as recitals and belly-dancing
demonstrations to draw potential customers. (April
Bartholomew/The Morning Call)
Lisa O'Brien, owner of
Underwired vintage clothing store in downtown Bethlehem,
is focusing on keeping her prices reasonable and getting
to know her customers by name as she tries to make it a
personal experience in her shop.
Urszula Abolik, owner of
Amber Connection fashion boutique on Hamilton Boulevard
in Allentown, hosts events such as belly dancing
demonstrations and recitals to draw a crowd with the
hope they return to purchase some of her store's
goods.
In the midst of one of the
toughest economic climates since the Great Depression,
retailers have been parched for profits as cash-strapped
consumers continue to curb spending.
The lack of profits have
sent some retailers like Reading-based department store
chain Boscov's to file for bankruptcy protection last
year and others going out of business like the nation's
second-largest electronics retailer, Circuit City, and
mall toy store chain KB Toys.
Surviving the tough
climate has forced some retailers into consolidation of
operations, store closures, layoffs, in addition to
balancing a concept of enticing consumers with
budget-friendly ideas like deep discounts, deferred
payments and layaway plans.
With the retail industry
more competitive and customers more scarce, Underwired
and Amber Connections are among some merchants pushing
the entertainment end of shopping to draw a sale at a
later date.
"To maintain viability
during these tough times is to stay with the customer no
matter what," said Charles Marinello, chief executive
officer of Retail Initiatives Consulting Group in
Allentown. "If the consumer is having financial
difficulties you have to be cognizant of that and find
ways to make it easier for them, that being layaway
programs and similar (methods)."
Marinello said retailers
are also shifting to carry large quantities of basic
necessities, adapting to consumers only purchasing their
needs over wants.
Retail trade association
National Retail Federation projects sales in 2009 will
decline less than 1 percent as the nation continues to
succumb to a recession.
Continue
Reading:
http://www.mcall.com/business/outlook/all-outlook09-retailers,0,6602402.story
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Retail Spotlight
Eccentricity, currently
located at 290 Fillmore Street in Cherry Creek North,
has been in business since 1986. Started by Gayle
Larrance, this fabulous boutique offers such treasures
as women's designer clothing, home accessories,
hand-made jewelry and unique gift items. Keeping track
of inventory in a thriving and bustling boutique while
wearing many hats as the owner was a challenge.
Gayle had been using Charter, but found that the
inventory tracking and the reporting was not as helpful
as she would have liked it to be. Gayle switched
to Retail Pro in July of 2008. Since that time she
has found that not only is the POS portion of Retail Pro
more user friendly, but that the overall system has been
a greater help. With the assistance of the
support/training team at ARMS, Gayle uses many custom
reports that were designed for her specific business
needs. She has also noted that since using Retail
Pro that her buying decisions have become much more on
target with her sales figures. Lean and mean would
very aptly describe Gayle's buying lately. She has
also mastered the use of using her customer module for
sending frequent email blasts to keep her clients in the
latest fashion loop. Gayle and her staff have been most
eager students and are constantly looking for new ways
to access data from their system to drive their
business.
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Tech Tips
Customer Discounts
Cancel Previous Document Discounts
Adding a customer with an assigned customer discount
to a document that already has discounts applied
(whether to individual items or a global discount)
results in the cancellation of the other discounts. For
example, let's say customer James Johnson has a 10%
customer discount assigned, and he purchases an item
that is 15% off. If you first list the item on the
receipt, THEN add Johnson as the Bill To customer, the
15% item discount will be overwritten by Johnson's 10%
customer discount. On the other hand, if you list
Johnson on the document first, and then list the item,
the item discount will be applied, overwriting the
assigned customer
discount. | | |
Meet Our Staff
Tim
Richmann
Director of Financial
Services
Tim is the newest member of Advanced
Retail Management Systems team. Tim brings over
twenty-five years of accounting, Controller and CFO
experience to ARMS. Prior to joining ARMS, Tim worked in
various industries including concrete, nuclear
pharmaceuticals, transportation, and medical IME. Tim is
also an adjunct faculty member for Metro State College
at Denver teaching Managerial Finance.
Tim transplanted from Omaha after
completing his bachelors in business administration from
the University of Nebraska and subsequently obtained his
MBA from Webster University in 2002. Tim is married and
has one step-daughter. He enjoys woodworking, golf, fly
fishing and all that Colorado offers.
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Small business: Keeping a sales
team, well, sailing
August 27,
2009 By JAMIE HERZLICH
Keeping a sales team motivated these days can be a
full-time job.
With all the doom and gloom in the marketplace, it's
easy to fall into a slump, particularly when sales are
down and the pressure is on to perform.
But now's the perfect time to be working with your
sellers on perfecting their pitch and helping them see
beyond all the negativity so they're better equipped to
deal with the challenges ahead, say experts.
"Owners and managers' primary job right now should be
to find a way to keep their sales team out of a negative
pattern and help them find the silver lining in this
supposed dark cloud," says Richard Isaac, president of
Sandler Training of Hauppauge, a sales and training
development firm.
To be sure, there are still sales to be made, says
Isaac. It's just a matter of prospecting harder.
"You have to continually remind your sales people
that there are still people buying," Isaac says. "Hold
weekly meetings to encourage them and coach them through
these tough times."
Use these meetings to discuss what's working as
opposed to focusing on what's not working, recommends
Mike Sperduti, president of Emerge Sales Inc. in
Bohemia.
"Make it a positive meeting," he says.
Look to the team to see who had a good week and have
them share with the rest of the group the tactics they
used, he advises.
Source:
http://www.newsday.com/columnists/jamie-herzlich/small-business-keeping-a-sales-team-well-sailing-1.1383881
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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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8100 Southpark Way # A-10, Littleton, CO
80120
303-738-1800 | Fax 303-738-9563
Denver -
Chicago
www.armsys.com
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