Merchants looking to switch to a mobile POS have several factors to think about, one of the most important ones being the hardware they are going to purchase for their new solution. And while it’s exciting to be hip and have barely-there technology, is it the most practical?

If you’ve decided to take the plunge into mobile POS, a wireless network and point of sale package are all you need to get started. However, making the right hardware choices can be the difference in a smooth, successful changeover to mobile technology versus a rocky start and frustrated staff.

One of the most important pieces of equipment will be the handheld computer that the staff will use to ring up sales or take orders in a restaurant. The device needs to always be at the ready to take an order or complete a transaction. Can it fit into a pocket or an apron? How will sales people or servers ensure it’s easily accessible?

How the handheld will be carried is one of the biggest considerations, especially if the business is using a sought-after device like an Apple® iPod touch® or iPad®. Rarely will light-fingered customers or employees make off with a traditional handheld, but an unattended Apple® device would certainly be tempting.

Durability and ease of use is another concern. The screen should be bright enough that it’s easy to read and it shouldn’t be a struggle to enter in information. And sure, those slick-looking tablets are appealing, but what happens if it gets dropped? Or if it gets wet? Often times, a business that chooses an impractical mobile device will replace it so many times that it’s no longer cost effective.

Finally, consider your end goal. Are staff members going to process payments and print receipts on the spot? If so, consider purchasing an encrypted credit card reader that attaches to the mobile device.  Wireless mobile printers are also available for printing receipts without having to leave the customer waiting. pcAmerica’s mobile point of sale package interfaces with Epson’s Mobilink™ wireless mobile printer, enabling staff to either print a receipt on the spot or email customers a paperless receipt.

For more information about mobile POS and the choosing the equipment that is right for your business, please call your pcAmerica representative at 1-800-722-6374.

It may seem like a small change, but offering loyalty programs such as buy 10 coffees, get 1 free can make a big difference in your customer base and the amount of money they spend at your gas station or convenience store. Statistics show that consumer spending is 46% higher at stores that offer loyalty programs and more than 70% of families participate in a program of some sort.

If your idea of a loyalty program is a nightmare of punch cards, unorganized coupons or angry customers over missing rewards, you can breathe easier now. Cash Register Express™ has marketing and loyalty functions built into the software. It’s easy to cross-sell promotional items and offer discounts, all without issuing wallet-cluttering punch cards and coupons or dealing with irate customers over lost vouchers and unclaimed rewards.

Cash Register Express™ makes it easy to automatically track and issue rewards, give frequent visitor discounts, and offer in-store promotions and sales, including gas gift card promotions.

If you’ve got a new loyalty program and want to spread the word, look no further than your POS terminal. Cash Register Express™ also includes digital signage capability, giving owners the ability to display important messages or promotion information on a variety of point-of-sale accessories, including LCD pole displays, full-size LCD displays and pin pads. This feature ensures that information about loyalty offerings, new products or limited time offers reach your customers at the most important point—while they are in the store browsing or waiting on line.

Cash Register Express™ makes loyalty programs and transactions easy.  A single point-of-sale station can process pre-paid and post-paid fuel transactions, pay-at-the-pump, loyalty cards, fleet (gas) cards, car wash sales, discounts and coupons. In the same transaction, cashiers can process traditional convenience store sales, including food service items such as coffee and sandwiches, prepared foods and packaged products.

Cash Register Express™ is simple to learn and use. The system comes with a free, 90-day technical support package, 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Customized loyalty cards and gift cards are available from pcAmerica. For more information about how you can get started with Cash Register Express™ or launch a loyalty program, please call 1-800-722-6374.

In 2011, Internet Retailer.com reported than more than 33 million Americans use their phones for shopping, and more than two million people have purchased items on their phones.  Think you’ve got the lowest prices in town? Smartphone users will put your claim to the test, as they can scan bar codes with their phones to compare prices online.

Mobility is taking over—shopping, payments, opinion leaders—people are heavily influenced by what they see on that tiny screen. Consider this: the average American checks their smartphone 125 times a day. There’s a lot of information you can absorb in that time!

Information is traveling faster than ever before. In a single second, 750 tweets are shared on Twitter, while Pinterest drives more referral traffic than YouTube, Google+ and LinkedIn combined.

The mobile revolution has given restaurants and retailers a whole new medium to consider. Customers can use social media like Facebook, Twitter or blogs to tell about their experiences or purchases in real time, and blast it out to their friends and followers. A celebrity with thousands of Twitter followers may Tweet about an amazing new product and, with a few clicks, cause a purchasing frenzy. Likewise, a negative endorsement of a product or service could unexpectedly wreak havoc on sales forecasts and marketing campaigns.

Previously, retailers could track supply and demand through the point-of-sale system, but the influence of social networks and real time reports can no longer be ignored. Many retailers are tracking demand by monitoring website activity and in-store purchases while others are going a step further and monitoring social media sites for product or company mentions. By incorporating online data as well as in-store figures, retailers are able to learn more about customer preferences, shopping habits, and interests. These numbers will help a business forecast how much inventory should be on hand and assist in the creation of flexible campaigns better suited for such a fickle retail landscape.

Gas stations and convenience stores are tempting places for would-be robbers and shoplifters. According to the National Association for Shoplifting Prevention, 54% of shoplifters regularly steal from convenience stores. These stores are easy targets—simple floor plans, open late-night hours and few staff members working, especially overnight.

Gas station and convenience store owners looking to deter theft can add additional layers of protection using Cash Register Express—Fuel Edition™. This solution includes the option to integrate a security camera and DVR system to record in-store activity so owners and managers can review incidents at any time.

The software also introduces a new level of accountability for employees. Refunds, voids, age verification and price changes require an employee’s unique login ID or job code, giving managers the ability to track employee activity and pinpoint questionable transactions. Cash control features can be used to identify discrepancies down to the cashier or shift, making it easy to identify and root out unscrupulous workers.

Two of the hottest selling products at gas stations and convenience stores are age restricted items. One-third of all beer—or 2 billion gallons a year—purchased in the U.S. is sold at convenience stores. Cigarettes and tobacco products are also major income drivers, making up nearly 37% of sales in 2008.

Fines and penalties for selling these items to underage teens can cost a business big bucks, so owners should protect themselves with Fuel Edition™’s age verification feature. This functionality will help reduce liability and insurance costs by preventing the sale of alcohol and tobacco items to minors. Cashiers will be prompted to swipe the shopper’s driver’s license through the credit card reader, validating their age before proceeding with the transaction.

For more information about Cash Register Express—Fuel Edition™, please contact your pcAmerica sales representative at 1-800-722-6374.

Mobility is on everyone’s minds. According to a recent survey by the Federal Reserve, one out of five people used their mobile phone to access their bank account, credit card or another financial account last year. An additional one out of five indicated they are likely to start doing so in the future. In fact, the Federal Reserve predicts that by 2013, this number will rise to one in three.

Banking and regulatory agencies like the Federal Reserve have been preparing for the inevitable mobile payment revolution, which is expected to spread like wildfire when it takes hold. In the U.S., we are extremely late to the party—mobile payments are commonplace in many parts of the world. It’s even the dominant form of payment in developing parts of the world like Kenya and South Africa. The infrastructure is far less developed in these areas—the entire country may be served by one telecom company and a few banks. Although it seems like a technological shortcoming, these simpler networks have given rise to a more secure and accessible banking and payment system in what were once predominantly cash societies.

If the revolution is happening so fast in these emerging countries, how come it’s so slow to catch on in the U.S.? Fortunately, we already have secure, advanced payment systems, and there are so many players already established on the landscape that coordinating all of them can be difficult and time-consuming.

It’s inevitable that mobile payments will catch on, so forward thinking companies and retailers have already started to adapt. Visa has released a set of incentives for merchants to use mobile options, MasterCard has formed a partnership with Google and Google Wallet and PayPal recently struck a deal with 15 retailers, including Toys R Us, Barnes & Noble, Abercrombie & Fitch, Jamba Juice and others, to give consumers the ability to pay with their mobile phones.

Don’t get left behind when mobile payments take over. pcAmerica offers several pieces of hardware that are compatible with Google Wallet payments. Please call your account manager for more information at 1-800-722-6374.

If you feel like you are addicted to the Internet or your Smartphone, you are in good company. Online reports show that in 2011, Smartphone users processed 89 percent more data than they did in 2010.

Online communities are thriving—Facebook has more than 845 million users, while 300 million people have Twitter accounts. An article in Time Magazine estimates that in a single month, Americans spend 53 billion minutes on Facebook, the equivalent of 100,000 years. And that’s just one social network—it doesn’t include the 17.2 billion minutes people spend on Yahoo, or the 12.5 billion minutes we spend Googling information.  The list of what we do online is endless—from reading the newspaper and compiling research to watching videos on YouTube.

People spend a massive amount of time on the Internet, so savvy business owners looking to raise brand awareness or boost their business should be paying close attention to increasing their online market share.
The easiest way to drive new business to your store or restaurant is to keep your website current. If you are showcasing products you no longer carry or have a Christmas dinner menu posted in May, then it’s time for an update. Also, exchanging links is an easy way to draw traffic to your site. The more sites that link to a website, the more traffic the site will attract and the higher it will rank in online searches.

Blogging is also a way to attract people to your website. By periodically posting blogs about products, services or general information about your industry or business, you can guarantee a boost in the number of visitors to your site.

Consider initiating a direct email campaign to customers. These emails will ensure that information about sales, coupons and other messages will be read by people who have visited your store or restaurant and encourage them to come back.

It’s free to start a Facebook page or to open a Twitter account for your business. Both of these vehicles will enable store and restaurant owners to communicate directly with their customer base.

pcAmerica offers point of sale solutions that you can incorporate into your online marketing plan by leveraging social media. Call pcAmerica at 1.800.722.6374 to find out more.

Commercials… what’s that? Most people have become savvy at avoiding advertising, whether its commercials that keep us from our favorite shows by fast-forwarding on DVRs or changing the radio station during ads. Reading newspapers and magazines online saves us from flipping past advertisements to find what we actually want to read.

Shopping habits have certainly changed as consumers are more technology-oriented and sophisticated than ever. The Internet has taken over as the primary opinion leader that people turn to when considering a new purchase, deciding whether or not to try a new restaurant or searching for the best deal.

As digital content affects the decisions of where we shop, what we buy and where we eat, smart business owners should take the time to consider the most effective ways to communicate with their customers.

Rather than spending advertising dollars on campaigns that people are likely to avoid or not even see, why not communicate with shoppers through the medium they are most comfortable with—electronically.

Digital signage virtually guarantees that customers will see important messages about new products and current or future promotions in-store by conveying them at the most important point—while the customer is in the store browsing or waiting on line.

Clients may store their own graphics and update the signage as often as they wish, reducing the cost of re-print materials for advertising flyers, inserts or brochures. This hands-on approach eliminates the need for pricey third-party hosting and maintenance.

By providing additional information directly to customers via digital signage, business owners can generate additional sales revenue, recruit new people for their loyalty programs and even display digital endorsements from Facebook and Twitter.

For more information about how you can incorporate digital signage into your marketing, please contact your account manager at pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374.

Digital signage is one of the most dynamic, flexible vehicles for communication that a business owner can integrate with their operations. This digital interface is an attractive, effective addition to any retail or restaurant environment—whether it’s a retail store, gas station, independent coffee shop or chain of restaurants.

New digital signage functionality is available in pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express™, Cash Register Express—Fuel Edition™ and Restaurant Pro Express™ version 12.5. There are no monthly fees or costly equipment required. The requirements are simple: a Logic Controls LCD pole display or second monitor and hosting done locally or on the Internet. End users may store graphics and information to upload themselves and changes as often as they like.

Digital signage is easy to control and can be modified quickly, allowing it to be incorporated into virtually any environment. Restaurants may display their menus digitally, list nutritional information or convey information about the brand, loyalty programs, in-store promotions or upsell menu items.

Retailers may use the same digital interface to influence customer behavior by create eye-catching displays and showcasing brands or services, which will ultimately drive sales and boost profit margins.
Digital signage also has the potential to pay for your entire point of sale system with the sale of advertisements to companies that will complement a store or restaurant’s operations.

Making information available via digital messaging helps businesses reduce the cost of traditional campaigns, by saving money on printing, distribution and wasted materials that will be discarded after the promotion has ended.

Please contact your pcAmerica account manager at 1-800-722-6374 to get more information about what you can do to incorporate digital signage into your store or restaurant.

At the start of 2012, point of sale industry executives predicted that companies would be investing heavily in mobile POS technology and business owners would look to convert or replace their current POS with a mobile solution.

At pcAmerica, we believe in mobile POS technology and have seen first-hand the benefits this platform provides. A mobile solution means less waiting for everyone involved—diners wait less time for tables, receive their meals faster and pay the check right at the table without the common back-and-forth to deliver the check, pick up the payment and then return with the change or credit card slip.  Servers will spend less time waiting to input orders into a stationary POS terminal and turn tables faster, meaning a higher level of service, more tips and overall higher profit margins for the restaurant.

Restaurant Pro Express™ Mobile is ideal for a variety of hospitality environments including restaurants, bars, nightclubs, stadiums or any environment where wireless POS capability is needed. Using Restaurant Pro Express™ Mobile, business owners will find all of the features they expect on a stationary point of sale terminal on an Apple® iPod touch® or iPhone®. It will also be available for Google Android devices in future releases.

For more information about integrating Restaurant Pro Express™ Mobile with your current system, please contact a pcAmerica account manager at 1-800-722-6374.

If you can’t remember the last time you upgraded your Cash Register Express™ (CRE) or Restaurant Pro Express™ (RPE) software, chances are you are way overdue—and missing out on more than 40 new and exciting features available in version 12.5.

RPE™ and CRE™ version 12.5 offer several new functions that will enhance customer experiences, including a digital signage option, the eco-friendly ability to email receipts to customers and send purchase orders to vendors electronically.

pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express™ and Cash Register Express™ now accept payment through Google Wallet, a mobile payment system available as an Android™ application. Google Wallet, an application that stores credit cards, loyalty information and gift cards, became available in September 2011.

The software also includes an online ordering integration for restaurants, giving customers the option to order and pay online, as well as a self-serve interface for stores and eateries that want to set up a terminal for customers to order their own food. These features engage the customer and encourage larger orders by giving customers extra time to look through the menu and discover new items they’d like to try. This automated ordering also helps reduce labor costs and increase revenues.

Gas stations may opt to upgrade to Cash Register Express – Fuel Edition™, an integrated fuel pump module. The new software, available for additional charge, integrates with most major pumps and card readers, allowing cashiers to seamlessly control fuel pumps, sales and other transactions from the point-of-sale system inside of the store. A single point-of-sale station can process pre-paid and post-paid fuel transactions, pay-at-the-pump, loyalty cards, fleet (gas) cards, car wash sales, discounts and coupons. In the same transaction, cashiers can process traditional convenience store sales, including food service items such as coffee and sandwiches, prepared foods and packaged products.

If you aren’t running Cash Register Express™ or Restaurant Pro Express™ version 12.5 and are interested in an upgrade, please contact pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374 or visit www.pcamerica.com.