Retail Hero's Newsletter

Backorder Presto For Dynamics RMS

Another RMS Add-on from Retail Hero Backorder Presto for Dynamics RMS helps to resolve some deficiencies in Dynamics RMS related to handling backorders.

Back Order Presto helps those retailers who extensively use the RMS' backorder functionality. Up to now, Dynamics RMS has had some limitations in this area. For example:

Whenever a backorder is changed, the system automatically prints the updated receipt disregarding whether or not there is need for that. With some lengthy backorders this becomes nuisance
Dynamics RMS does not allow automatic re-ordering based strictly on backorder information.
There's no easy way to see from the POS screen if a backordered item has been already placed on the PO
If a customer has multiple backorders, it is impossible to consolidate them.
Etc.

Back Order Presto

Backorder Presto - an RMS Add-on designed by Retail Hero solves these and other issues and works directly out of the RMS POS screen.

It allows the user to overcome the deficiencies while adding more useful functionality. For example, it's no longer necessary to require the customer to purchase a partially backordered list of items at the POS because Back Order Presto allows you to "backorder all" with the click of a single button.

Some of the many handy features include:

Back Order All button (useful if the customer wants to pick up the entire order at once, even if some items are available in stock now)
Edit/Change backorders without reprinting receipts
Consolidate multiple backorders
Search orders by customer name or item number/description
Generate PO's based on back-ordered items only

Utilizing this program allows for more easily managed back orders with no hassle and frustration. The user friendly interface makes creating and managing back orders a breeze.

A demo version of the program may be downloaded from http://www.RMSExperts.com

Source: staff writer

Free Retail Business Training
from Microsoft

Retailers: Get free business tips and training from a leading authority. The Retail Owners Institute and Microsoft team up to bring free tips, education, and industry information to retailers

Get the free industry information and education to help drive the success of your retail business. Microsoft is working together with The Retail Owners Institute (ROI) to provide exclusive online business training, tips, articles, and best practices for small and midsize business (SMB) retail customers who use Microsoft Dynamics tools. For more than 20 years, The ROI has been a leading independent resource, training and educating retailers to succeed. Offerings include training and information about topics such as retail finance and improved store management. You can use your Microsoft Dynamics software to manage the day-to-day tasks of running your business. And the knowledge you gain from The ROI to move your business forward.

Get retail guidance when you need it. Many consider The ROI to be the "foremost self-help resource" on retail finance, serving independent retailers worldwide, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The ROI emphasis is on the basics of retail finance, inventory management, and cash flow control. So it is particularly relevant to owners and decision-makers of retail operations with up to 100 stores (especially those who may be accounting-averse). The ROI has been called "a virtual small business development center (SBDC) exclusively for retailers" and "a WebMD for retail owners." Its Web site currently attracts 18,000 unique visitors each month.

The ROI is launching a new Web site offering information aimed at 57 different retail segments—as well as content that will be unique to Microsoft Dynamics retail customers. The ROI will also provide information specific to Microsoft Dynamics RMS and Point of Sale on the Microsoft Web site, which will include valuable tips on enhancing retail performance.

Visit The ROI Web site to access key retail industry business tips and additional educational material.

Source: Microsoft

Retailers Need to Understand
Where Is Their Data

Retailers need to understand the importance of customer data in their organization and where that data is stored and/or transmitted according to Cyberark.

The data vaulting firm's comments as the latest (Feb 1) research from Deloitte claims to show that 86 per cent of retailers have never performed an inventory to check where customer data is stored and how that information is managed.

"The Deloitte findings confirm our own worst fears when it comes to data losses, as witnessed by the high-profile TK Maxx customer card information losses of more than a year ago and, of course, the recent laptop and data losses by various government agencies in the UK," said Calum Macleod, Cyber-Ark's European director.

According to Macleod, despite the corporate governance issues involved in the Companies Act 2006 - the provisions of which are due to be phased in later this year - and the PCI-DSS (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard), which major retailers processing card transactions must now abide by, it is clear that many retailers are not fully aware of where there data actually resides.

"Most companies *think* they know where their customer and allied data is on their IT resource but, as the Deloitte research reveals, most of them have not actually carried out an audit in this regard. The potential ramifications from this fact are quite staggering," he said.

Macleod went on to say that retailers should conduct an information audit as a matter of priority and, based on their findings, should take steps to protect their customer data, if they are to avoid possible prosecution under the Data Protection Act.
"And that's before the provisions of the Companies Act 2006 begin to get teeth," he said.

Source: Retail IT News

Loyalty Retailing - The Value
of Friendship

Many retailers go to a lot of trouble making their customers feel like "guests." Their ideal goal however, should be to treat them as “friends”.

Treating your customer as a guest isn't a bad idea, it's just short sighted. A guest may be pleased and satisfied with a particular visit, but it doesn't translate into the same affinity and desire to return again and again, that is felt when visiting a good friend.

Friendships are special things. You go out of your way to see friends. You care about their health, what they need, and you enjoy their company. Guests are frequently unwelcome and sometimes they know it. Friends are rarely unwelcome.

It takes two to create a friendship. Retailers have to get to know their customers and listen to their concerns in order to establish the trust necessary for a strong, loyal, long-lived friendship.

At this moment, hundreds of retailers are trying to capture loyalty. Retailers understand the concept of repeat business and want to do what they can to get it. Both online and offline stores, from Amazon.com to Wal-Mart, use a variety of tactics to get to know their customers' habits.

Statistics indicate that profits can be increased by 25-125 percent just by retaining 5 percent more customers. With that in mind, it's no wonder that loyalty, guest, and personalized programs are becoming big business. They all share the same basic goal of capturing market share and gaining repeat business. Smart retailers should be looking at these programs as a way to turn their customers into friends.

It takes patience. It takes more than one visit. However, as friendships develop, great things start to happen. The increased loyalty brings referrals (new friendships). It makes marketing efforts more efficient and effective. It can help a retailer gain co-op advertising from vendors designed to meet their friends' needs. Friends visit more and spend more because they know that this retailer is a friend who cares about they want.

Source: The Internet

In This Month's Issue...

- Backorder Presto For Dynamics RMS
- POS Bundle Offer
- Free Business Training from Microsoft
- Retail Humor
- Security Breach Foreseeable
- Where Is My Customer Data?
- Loyalty Retailing - The Value of Friendship

POS Bundles Offer

New HP POS System rp7500

POS Bundle

Designed with a Retail Business customer in mind, the new Hewlett-Packard rp5700 unit is a great, economical solution for Dynamics RMS. It comes with 3 year on-site parts and labor warranty

Partner PT8800 Integrated POS Unit

Retail Hero's Food & Beverage POS

Partner Tech's PT8800 integrated POS unit provides the most versatility and efficiency for heavy-load little-room retail venues, such as fast food outlets, coffee shops, snack bars etc. Together with Dynamics RMS and Retail Hero's Catalog View it will make an ideal POS system for such retail environment.

Don't forget that until March 15, 2008 Canadian customers pay the same price as the Americans - $1,404 (including the 1st year service plan cost) for 1-user Dynamics RMS Store Operations license. After the deadline the current 23% discount may be discontinued.

The customers who purchase both hardware and Dynamics RMS software from Retail Hero can receive 10% discount on any Retail Hero Dynamics RMS Add-in (Hero Points, Q-rewards, PIC-ME, Visual Catalog, Back Order Presto and others). Hardware upgrades such as touch-screen LCD, RAID-mirrored hard drives, backup system are also available - please call and ask!

Retail Humor

Hard Worker

Rossi was the manager of an upscale men's wear store in a wealthy section of town and was interviewing Abe for the recently advertised salesman role.

Rossi looks at Abe's resume and notices that Abe has never worked in retail before.

Rossi says to Abe, "What chutzpah, if you don't mind me saying. For someone with no retail experience, you are certainly asking for a high salary."

"Well I suppose I am," Abe replies, "but you must understand that the work is so much harder when you don't know what you're doing."

I was signing the receipt for my credit card purchase when the clerk noticed that I had never signed my name on the back of the credit card. She informed me that she could not complete the transaction unless the card was signed. When I asked why, she explained that it was necessary to compare the signature on the credit card with the signature I just signed on the receipt. So I signed the credit card in front of her. She carefully compared that signature to the one I signed on the receipt. As luck would have it, they matched.

Source: The Internet

The Security Breach Was Foreseeble

Privacy experts: T.J. Maxx breach was foreseeable

The breach of sensitive personal information held by TJX, operator of discount chains including T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, earlier this year was foreseeable, but the company failed to put in place adequate security safeguards, according to a report.
"The company collected too much personal information, kept it too long, and relied on weak encryption technology to protect it, putting the privacy of millions of its customers at risk," Jennifer Stoddart, the privacy commissioner of Canada, wrote in the report, which was released Tuesday.

Credit Card Fraud Preventable

Modern crime made a large-scale breach of this kind inevitable, Stoddart concluded. "Criminal groups actively target credit card numbers and other personal information," she said in the report. "A database of millions of credit card numbers is a potential goldmine for fraudsters, and it needs to be protected with solid security measures."

What made such a breach more likely was that the information had been kept for a long time, she said. "The TJX breach is a dramatic example of how keeping large amounts of sensitive information, particularly information that is not required for business purposes, for a long time can be a serious liability."
Stoddart said the affair was a "wake-up call" for all retailers.

Frank Work, the information and privacy commissioner of Alberta, added: "They must collect only the personal information necessary for a transaction." /p>

TJX disclosed in January that its computer system had been breached, putting millions of credit and debit card numbers as well as other personal information at risk. In May, TJX said it believed the hackers gained access to its information via the Wi-Fi networks.

Details of 45 million customers of TJX were put at risk. The company could offer no comment at the time of writing.

Source: ZDNet UK