POS Software



             


Monday, March 10, 2008

How To Make Your Cash Register Ring All Day

A woman walks into a sweet-smelling shop, the product display is exquisite, the perfumes and oils and soaps bright and enticing.

She is approached by a young man. His face is bright, enthusiastic, well-scrubbed. His hair is clean and fragrant, his nails trimmed, his suit pressed, and his shoes polished. Then he opens his mouth and uses words with the sophistication of a back-alley brawler.

The magic is lost. After a few flustered words, a few patent excuses, the woman leaves.

The cash register remains untouched, and the proceeds for the day the same. Hour after hour this tragedy continues.

What tragedy befell this merchant?

Meanwhile, she, still in need of cosmetics and toiletries visits another store in the mall. There the pace is hectic, the display mauled over, and the salesman, despite careful grooming in the morning, now appears disheveled by too much work.

She approaches with hesitation, and her impatience and resistance, too, are stronger.

Seeing her approach, the salesman speaks.

She smiles for the first time that day, the pinched look on her face disappears, the pursed lines around the mouth soften.

Eloquent words flow from his lips, words of courtesy, interest, and charm.

He shows her one product after another, describing the benefits and the magnetism of each in turn.

Soon she is moving swiftly, from one choice piece of soap to another bottle of exquisite scents. She piles up her arms then asks him to assist her to carry more. Together they carry the boxes to the counter. The cash register rings yet again, the drawer is almost overflowing with ill-pressed bills, and the salesman barely has enough time to close it and catch his breath when she has been replaced by yet another eager customer.

Why the good fortune of this merchant?

Business. It is simple. It is the words you use.

Business. It is complex. It is the words you use.

Words create reactions, people buy or refrain from buying because of them.

A product is manufactured. A service is created. A structure is built around them. A strategy is designed to deliver them to the public with the most appeal. Yet without words, no perception is created.

The beautiful product image is not interpreted. The stirring value of it’s content is not appreciated. The elaborate service model is not permitted full execution.

Without words, it is only so much dust. Another product that sits on the shelf, another enterprise that is unvisited, another service that is not sought.

But add words, the right words, and it is as if the dust is now fairy dust. Everything now has a certain magic, a mysterious appeal, an allure that cannot be denied. Even yesterday’s outdated product is perceived with a nostalgic touch and considered a vintage find. The eager hand of the customer reaches for it. Money is exchanged. The cash register rings. The merchant is happy, his face uplifted in a smile, a vision of prosperity glazing his eyes.

What do words do?

They lift up perception.

A product is just another product. Until words are added to it. Then it takes on luster and power and comes into a life of its own.

Heed your words, your spoken words, your written words.

It’s not enough to throw a pitch, to make a broad appeal for interest, to say any foolish thing that comes to mind in a clumsy grope for rapport.

Something else is necessary, the right words; and behind the words, a service philosophy, a genuine desire to be of help.

Business is about words. The right words. The expressive words. The words that lure, dazzle, entangle.

Each person is in a world of their own, a trance of mixed variety, and your product is just another product, until you add the right words to it; then it flies off the shelf, and behind your customer is another, waiting eagerly in line to satisfy the perception that the words she overheard you speak aroused in her.

Business is simple if you use the right words. It’s complex if you use the wrong ones.

Train your sales people with the right words and magic happens.

The rest of the story, the quality, the display, the structure around which the business is molded pale in comparison to the words used to describe the merchandise.

Business is about words.

Whatever the business, regardless of the magnificence of its shape, size, and reach; regardless of its originality, brilliance, and design; deny it the power of words, and like a magnificent ocean liner striking a reef, it will sink like a rock.

Saleem Rana would love to share his inspiring ideas with you. Hunting everywhere for a life worth living? Discover the life of your dreams. His book Never Ever Give Up tells you how. It is offered at no cost as a way to help YOU succeed. http://www.theempoweredsoul.com/enter.html

Saleem Rana. Please feel free to pass this article on to your friends, or use it in your ezine or newsletter. It's a shareware article.

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Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Point Of Sale Advertising Is 36% Less Effective Than It Could Be

How I loathe those awful, cheesy pages promoting the "secrets" of point of sale advertising. They usually offer nothing more than common knowledge with a bonus picture of a slick, 1980?s suited guy grinning at you.

However, this page will try to inform you about exactly that: a ?secret? market of 210,000 shoppers every 2 weeks (that?s 34,000 more shoppers more than Tesco?s) that most point of sale advertisers completely overlook.

I am talking about Motorway Service stations. 1 of these stations attracts 22 times the footfall of high street branded convenience stores. The stations have all your familiar shops: Boots, WH Smith, M&S Food, Burger King, The Body shop, in short: practically every shop you can find in your local shopping centre.

The average spend at CTN?s for every visit at a Motorway service station is ?5 compared to ?3.06 a head at conveniences stores. The logic is simple: if the average person spends ?1.94 more at a service station, and they attract 22 times the footfall, your ad at a service station is 22 x ? 1.94 (=?42.68) more worth than in any non-motorway convenience store, which translates in a 36% higher effectiveness rate in generating ROI for your advert.

Advertising in 131 Motorway service stations gives you the added bonus of launching a nationwide advertising campaign with excellent geographical distribution covering major arterial routes between all major areas.

Research conducted by Mintel clearly showed that motorway stations attract 27.3 million visits every two weeks, a number that will only grow in the future. Already there are 500,000 more cars on the road since 1999, and motorway stations carry 1/3rd of the national car traffic (despite representing less than 5% of the UK?s road system.) 75% of drivers on long motorway journeys stop for a break at one of the stations and 15,000 people a day purchase an average of ?5 in snacks for themselves and their families. Amongst the most popular snacks are crisps, a drink, chocolate, sweets, and sandwiches, pies or pasties. It is true in general that there is an overall decrease of chocolate and sweet snack purchases due to raised standards of health awareness. But not so for motorway stations: there the chocolate and sweet snack products perform as strong as ever in the battle to keep blood sugar up and find a kick to fight the monotony of driving long distances.

Do me a favour, next time you organize a point of sale advertising campaign, consider trialling and testing your campaign in motorway stations. I?ll bet you you?ll see your revenue rocket. You can send me a thank you email afterwards at llammens@admedia.co.uk

Find out more about Lorenz's point of sale initiatives in the UK.

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Monday, February 11, 2008

Retail Point Of Sale

There are a number of channels of distribution available to the producer, which may be employed by him to bring his products to the market. Consumer goods may be distributed generally through channels, in each of which the manufacturers may use the sales branch or sales office as the additional alternative. One of the channels used is Producer-Consumer, where no middleman is involved. Sales are made from house to house or by direct mail. A second channel is Producer-Retailer-Consumer, by which goods may be purchased directly from manufacturers. Retail stores may also be opened by manufacturers by this channel. A third channel is Producer-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer, which is the traditional and most economical channel. Penultimately, there is Producer-Agent-Retailer-Consumer, in which many producers use manufacturing agents, brokers, etc. for reaching the retail market. Finally, there is Producer-Agent-Wholesaler-Retailer-Consumer, where the services of agents are utilized by the smaller retailers, who purchase from a wholesaler and sell to small stores.

A large number of channels of distribution are available to the manufacturer for bringing his product to the ultimate consumer. Efficient distribution at the least cost and attaining the desired volume of sale can be secured only after experience, study and analysis. The notice of the product, its unit value, its technical features, and its degree of differentiation from competitive products are the factors which may limit the number of potential channel alternatives.

A retailer, as the name indicates, does retailing, which is to say he sells to ultimate consumers. In the distributional hierarchy, retailers are below the level of stockists, distributors, and wholesalers. Sometimes, retailers are termed dealers or authorized representatives. The retailer often operates in a smaller territory or at his specific location; earns lesser commission compared to higher levels in the channel; he does not carry out stock holding and sub-distribution functions.

A stockist or distributor or wholesaler is also a large sized operator but not on par with the marketer or sole selling agent in level, size and territory of operation. Stock holding and sub-distribution, as per the policies laid down by the manufacturers or the marketers, are the main functions of stockists/distributors.


Point Of Sale provides detailed information on point of sale, point of sale displays, point of sale hardware, point of sale marketing and more. Point Of Sale is affliated with Affordable Point Of Sale Systems

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Thursday, December 20, 2007

POS Software

Point of sale (POS) software integrates the physical devices in the POS systems with computer language and thus facilitates automated data processing. POS software not only monitors almost all day-to-day activities of any business, but also helps to run them systematically, keeping track of income and expenditures, inventory, stock, and clearance, billing, customer, and transaction records and customer service through touch screen information kiosks and vending machines. Speedy business transactions and accurate budgeting helps vendors increase their profits significantly. The software also helps in paging in hotels and restaurants, taking online food orders and delivery of food items.

The very first POS software was introduced by IBM, which came out with IBM 3650 and 3660 Store Systems in August 1973; the software was first installed in Pathmark Stores in New Jersey and Dillard?s Department Stores. Now, POS needs have become so wide and varied that different POS software is tailored to suit the specific needs of different industries. The most popular of these industries include restaurants and retail stores. Software for each of these industries has unique features that automate sales and customer transactions and ensure staff accountability. For example, POS software for a hotel will ensure that a guest?s personal calls are automatically are automatically billed into his account by the computer and added to other charges. And a retail outlet?s POS software will require employees to swipe their cards to record their work hours and will keep stock of all the product details. Some point-of-sale software also includes credit and debit card swipe facility, fake-check tracing, and report-generating capabilities for day-to-day and monthly transactions.

Vendors usually take trials of different software before deciding the best software for their industry. Essential for the installation of basic POS software are computers, printers, cash registers, scanners, and keyboards. Barcode printing software, cash register express software, and inventory software are essential for any business that uses a point-of-sale system.



POS Software provides detailed information on POS, POS Software, POS Systems, Restaurant POS and more. POS Software is affiliated with Metal Store Fixtures

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