Using PCI-compliant technology at the physical point of sale constitutes PCI compliance by default. While this may be the case, remember that PCI guidelines also require the implementation of measures to ensure the physical security of networks and payment technology as well as the maintenance of written security policies. Although it is critical that terminals and other point of sale hardware be PCI- compliant, compliance as a whole doesn’t stop there.

A few months back, we explained why it’s important for retailers and restaurant operators to blog just as we at pcAmerica do. We hope you took our advice! Now it’s time to look at a few ways to prevent your blog from becoming stale and, as a result, losing some of its following. Here are three strategies to start with; see our next installment for more ideas.

In the last installment of this blog, we at pcAmerica offered three strategies for keeping customers coming back. Here are three more.

With consumers continuing to watch their budgets and those who are spending more freely again, becoming increasingly selective about where they put their money down, retailers and restaurant operators must double their efforts to keep customers coming back. Here are a few strategies for moving in that direction:

As a retailer or restaurateur, you can be just as innovative, even at the point of sale. Retailers might take a page from the book of Best Buy, which last year began putting QR codes on shelf signs to give shoppers more information about the products displayed at the moment of decision.

Merchandise returns are a way of life in the retail industry, but with the National Retail Federation (NRF) pegging return fraud as costing retailers a collective $9.6 billion annually, it makes sense to take steps to ensure that as many returns as possible are truly legitimate.

What’s more, the survey indicates, organized retail crime is not only an isolated problem in a handful of areas across the country. A staggering 72% of retailers who participated in the survey said they have identified organized retail crime syndicates who are exporting goods outside of the U.S. or across state lines.

With the use of social media going through the roof, it is easier than ever for retail and restaurant customers to let seemingly the entire world know about the experiences they have had with the businesses they have patronized. If the word is good, put it to work for you.

Suggestive selling is as important for retailers as it is for restaurants. At pcAmerica, we believe that in order to sell suggestively, merchants and their employees should:

Just as customers shouldn’t compromise on the products they purchase or the food they consume, retailers and restaurateurs shouldn’t settle for second best when it comes to point of sale solutions. In the past, there existed almost no choice but to do so because most available applications were generic in nature.