Marilyns Blog

Of the hundreds of reports that are included in CounterPoint SQL, many are geared toward sales history. Studying your sales trends can tell you a lot about your businesses. They enable you to effectively manage your store, and remain prepared for the future. 

Sales history reports are tools to help you manage your current inventory and make buying decisions. You can better plan for sales and incentives, manage clearance and markdown items, market to new prospects, and even help drive repeat business. The bottom line is these reports will improve your profitability. 

How do these reports accomplish these goals? Ask yourself the following questions:

• Do you know who your best customers are?
• Do you know the last time each of them were in your store?
• Who is your best sales person?
• What is a good target for sales?
  • Sales Volume?
  • Profitability?
  • # of tickets?
  • # of lines?

• Who is your best vendor?
• What is your inventory turn rate?
  • How does that compare with others by industry or by product category?
• What product category has the most sales?
• What product category has the most profit? 

Using Sales History reports to answer these questions will have the following affect on your business (in no particular order):

1. Increase the amount of each transaction
2. Get your customers to shop more often
3. Increase referrals – free advertising to increase your volume
4. Do internal staff training – find out who is best and leverage them
5. Set data-driven goals for each salesperson
6. Measure key metrics about your business 

Collecting and analyzing would be quite daunting for a manager without a tool like CounterPoint SQL. Reports such as the Flash Sales Report, Sales Analysis By Group, Sales History by Customer by Item, the unique CounterPoint Dashboard and many others can empower you to take control of your sales and profits! 

Call CCS Retail Systems today for a free personalized demonstration that will show you the power of knowledge and awareness when it comes to managing your store!

 1-800-672-4806

The average retailer says there are two types of vendors. Those that are even smaller than the retail stores they supply, and those that are much larger. The smaller vendors tend to be largely under-financed and unorganized. They also seem to have little understanding of customer service, and are always making excuses of why they can’t meet your needs. The larger vendors have spent a lot of time and money building their brand, and tell the retailers how they need to operate.

It does not have to be this way! There are features within CounterPoint SQL that will allow you to monitor and manage your vendor relationships. These vendor relationships shouldn’t’t be measured purely in gross profit percentage or dollars. The key factor of your profitability is gross profit return on inventory investment.

Ask yourself these questions about your vendors and the products they supply:

• What type of inventory investment must you sustain?
• Do they reliably ship on time?
• What is their average lead time?
• Do they frequently mis-ship?
• How consistent is their quality?

Reports within CounterPoint SQL can answer these questions quickly and frequently. It’s difficult to calculate how much you can save through more efficient vendor management. Even if you estimate it to be as little as 5% of your annual sales, this feature alone is enough to provide a return on investment on the purchase of your system well within your first year. Call us at 800-672-4806 or Email CCS Sales today to look at the potential return from the other features of CounterPoint!

 

 

We have a new customer that is starting a new business. The business will start out online, and then will transition to a brick & mortar retail store in a few months.

The new customer chose to take advantage of the services offered by CCS and Radiant Systems. They will be utilizing CounterPoint SQL to manage their inventory both online and in their land-based store. The E-Commerce website will be designed by Radiant Systems, and hosted by CP Online. Once setup, the customer will be able to manage the site through their Point of Sale software, CounterPoint SQL.

Very key to them was that the E-Commerce system is fully integrated into the CounterPoint POS software.  When they are ready to open the physical stores, they will already have all the systems in place to immediately start operating the checkouts and back-office.   Other systems reviewed did not have this critical capability. 

This business owner had a number of options, but says they ultimately chose CCS Retail Systems due to the value of the services we offered, and the quality of information and service they received during the sales process. Whether you are the owner of an existing business or a new start-up company, you can depend on CCS to exceed your expectations and help you manage your costs, and increase sales.

Shrinkage is defined as loss of products between manufacturer and point of sale. The national average of shrinkage has been estimated anywhere between 2% and 12% of sales. So how does this shrinkage happen, and what can a retail owner do about it?

1. Employee Theft- No one likes to think that this is happening in their business. After all, why would I hire someone I don’t trust, right? Well, the truth is that it happens in almost every retail business, and is the #1 source of shrinkage. This includes discount abuse, refund abuse, even credit card abuse.
– How can a POS system help? With a robust Point of Sale and Inventory Control System like CounterPoint SQL, you can have the checks and balances in place to identify these discrepancies before they affect your margin.

2. Shoplifting- Coming in a close second is shoplifting. Methods include concealment, altering or swapping price tags or transfer of containers.
– How can a POS system help? CounterPoint SQL uses the combination of a bar-code management system and item images within Point of Sale that would alert a clerk of bar-codes being switched. The software also has validated returns, which match returned items to the original ticket kept in Sales History.

3. Administrative Error- Administrative and paperwork errors make up approximately 15% of shrinkage. Simple pricing mistakes due to markups or markdowns can cost retailers quite a bit.
– How can a POS system help? Pre-built pricing rules and layers of inventory checking processes are built into CounterPoint SQL that will allow you to reduce these errors significantly.

4. Vendor Fraud – The smallest percentage of shrink is vendor fraud. This occurs when vendors deliver or stock incorrect amounts of inventory, or bill for products not provided.
– How can a POS system help? Vendor Management is accomplished through multiple reports and direct integration with your accounting software so that you are only paying for product you have received.

So stop the bleeding! Call CCS today to schedule a consultation to discuss where your shrinkage may be occurring, and how we can help curb those losses.

The solutions I have discussed up to this point in earlier articles were all about the software, and what it can do to help your business. Today, I’d like to point out the Radiant All-In-One solution Retail Station as the lowest total cost of ownership over time.

 
The most advanced POS terminals, the Radiant 1520, 1550, and soon the 1750 are bundled with top-of-the-line peripheral devices to provide you with everything you need for running an efficient store. They have a lower total cost of ownership because they run longer than competitive products, and return to service faster if maintenance is required. 

These durable units are designed for the retail environment, so can withstand water, dirt, and dust to a much greater degree than a personal computer or competitors’ machine. If you’re interested in seeing just how durable they are, ask me to send you a video that demonstrates just that. 

When you choose CCS as the single source for your software and hardware needs, you reduce implementation risks and optimize the technology solution for your operating environment. Call me today to discuss what options are most appropriate for your business!

Customer Tracking is an integral part of CounterPoint SQL. The software retains complete details of every customer, including detailed sales history.

With the Receivables Option, you can charge sales, track accounts receivable, credit limits, account aging, cash receipts processing, and statement printing. A customer may be set up within the Customers portion of the software, or “on-the-fly” in Point of Sale. Basic customer information includes name, address, email, two contact names, fax numbers, and phone numbers.

A customer may be assigned to a specific category that you define. This allows you to group similar customers for reporting and analysis, loyalty programs, and discounts. Customer Profiles allow you to build a valuable database of information to assist in analyzing and marketing to your customers.

Up to 20 user-defined profile fields may be tracked for each customer, such as birthday, preferences, membership status, etc. Use this information to target market customers based on their buying habits, geographical location, birthdays and anniversaries, or even their favorite colors or items.

CounterPoint SQL allows you to reward loyal customers with points that can be earned and redeemed in a manner that you define. This means customers can earn points for all items they purchase or just for certain items. The number of points can vary based on the item number, category, vendor, etc. as well as sales info (date, store, day of the week, time of day, etc.).

So Customer Tracking is just one way that CounterPoint SQL offers a return on investment for you and your business.

Give me a call today to discuss other ways a system not only pays for itself, but provides a significant increase in sales!

Call: 1-800-672-4806 or email: sales@ccscentral.com 
 

In a previous article, I discussed Return on Investment you will receive by implementing an effective Point of Sale & Inventory Control System. Today let’s look at that topic "in reverse". What is it costing your company NOT to act now, or in delaying implementation of a system?

For the sake of our discussion, let’s assume your annual sales are $1.2M and your average inventory on hand is $400k. We are also assuming your cost of goods is 50%. If your actual numbers are more or less, feel free to use them, the formula still works.

The Inventory Management portion of the software is the backbone of the system. Implementing this alone will make sure you have the right product at the right time. It allows you to eliminate or decrease inventory that doesn’t sell, and increase inventory that sells. Overall this can increase your sales by 10%. So $120k minus $60k for cost of goods, and we’ll subtract another $10k for miscellaneous costs. That’s $50,000 added to your bottom line each and every year!

The system can also allow you to decrease the amount of inventory you keep on hand by approximately 20%. So if you decrease your inventory by $80k times a 30% carrying cost, that adds another $24k to your bottom line.

What about Vendor Management? Receive Vendor discounts on payment terms, quantity ordering, mark-down money, and have leverage for future negotiations. We estimate that you can receive 6% in vendor discounts using our system. 6% times $600k cost of goods, adds another $36k to your bottom line.

I could go on and on, including Gift Cards, E-Commerce, Auto-Purchasing, etc. So think about it! For every month you continue guessing at your inventory levels, or your sales information; for every month you allow your shrinkage to be 6-12% of your annual sales, for every wasted hour of labor,

HOW MUCH ARE YOU LOSING PER MONTH BY NOT ACTING NOW?

There are some signs of Economic recovery already.   Good news for retailers.  The Bloomberg Press reports retail sales are up 1% in January.

"Feb. 12 (Bloomberg) — Sales at U.S. retailers unexpectedly halted a record six-month slide in January, an advance that may not be sustained as job losses climb.

The 1 percent increase followed a 3 percent drop the prior month, the Commerce Department said today in Washington. Excluding cars, the gain was 0.9 percent. Last month rise reflected higher gasoline prices and more spending on items including clothing and food.

There were enough post-holiday sales to lure people into the stores; the question is whether that is sustainable — and the answer is, obviously not, said Tom Porcelli, a senior economist at Castlestone Management Ltd. In New York. A collapsing job market means spending will deteriorate further, he said. "

Read the rest of the Article:

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&refer=&sid=a3CnzNPP2Bl4

Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

CCS Sales.