If you haven’t started using digital signage yet, you’re behind the curve. Businesses that have incorporated this electronic medium are already harnessing its power and using it to increase sales, boost traffic and display digital endorsements of the store or restaurant. This functionality is already being used by dozens of pcAmerica customers and is being adopted at a very rapid rate.

Not convinced yet? What if you could make the entire platform pay for itself in the form of advertising and even generate revenue for your business along the way?

It’s easier than you think. After the system is installed, the business owner may opt to pay off their original investment by selling advertising space on the signage. These ads complement the business by elevating the status of certain brands, services or suppliers that want to raise brand awareness and boost sales in the store.
What are the advantages of advertising on digital signage? Consider this: digital signage is a customizable form of publicity. Using the pcAmerica solution, business owners may store graphics and information so they can make changes to the signage instantaneously.

Advertisers can be assured that this is a great opportunity because it’s a virtual guarantee that the message will be seen by their target audience.

In addition to generating revenue that will pay off the system, these electronic campaigns will help a business save money in advertising costs by reducing the amount of materials, manpower and wasted money invested in printed ads.

For more information about how you can make digital signage work for you, please contact your account manager at pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374.

Everywhere you look, electronic messages have taken over. As we are increasingly comfortable with technology permeating every aspect of our lives, it seems like a natural progression to extend the digital medium into every day shopping trips and dining out.

Digital signage is one such medium. This interactive gateway allows a business to communicate directly with a consumer, engaging them at a critical decision making point—while they are in the store or restaurant.

Previously, incorporating digital signage was an overpriced budget buster, but it doesn’t have to be anymore. Below are some of the most common obstacles (and ways to overcome them!) for businesses that haven’t made the leap, or still don’t believe it’s financially possible.

Challenge: Digital signage is expensive.

A digital signage function is built right into pcAmerica’s POS packages—Cash Register Express™, Restaurant Pro Express™ and Cash Register Express—Fuel Edition™ (version 12.5).  This affordable alternative offers excellent graphics quality with no additional fees or hidden maintenance costs.

Challenge:  It’s going to take too much work to incorporate digital signage with my current set up.
Until now, digital signage has been an expensive proposition for business owners, requiring pricey equipment, coordination of different vendors, specialized software and steep monthly fees.

The pcAmerica solution does not require costly changes to implement, rather, the requirements are simple: a POS system, Logic Controls LV3000 LCD Pole Display or second LCD monitor and hosting done locally or on the Internet.

End users store their own graphics and information, allowing them to update it easily and as often as they like.

Challenge: Digital signage is a fad that is not worth the time or effort.

Digital signage is a valuable tool for businesses. It conveys important messages, in-store specials, promotions or advertising directly to patrons during the most important part of a transaction—while they are deciding whether or not to make a purchase.

Customers who incorporate pcAmerica’s digital signage function into their businesses will see the benefit almost immediately. This user-friendly platform will help increase revenues by displaying information about impulse buys, promotions and other specials to customers while they are in the store.

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

This year, restaurants in all categories have been dedicating an increasing number of dollars to their marketing budgets.  As the cost of food and commodities rises, diners are increasingly selective about where they eat, how often they go and the overall value they get in return.

More than ever, social sites like Pinterest and Facebook are influencing how people make choices. This has led to an increasing number of businesses jumping onto the digital bandwagon, allocating a larger portion of marketing and promotional budgets to their online presence.

Business owners have used social networks to increase brand awareness, drive repeat business, generate new customers and address customer satisfaction issues.

New social networking platforms, like SNAP Rewards, allows customers to associate their social network accounts to brand loyalty programs. These digital endorsements, tweeted or posted on Facebook walls, are generated automatically after the customer makes a purchase. The result: viral sharing and promotion of a restaurant, which translates into increased visibility and sales.

Using Restaurant Pro Express™, restaurateurs can see sales data in real time, allowing them to decide where to focus their marketing and promotional efforts.  Restaurants may also invest in digital signage displays to post their menus, highlight higher-profit margin items, display nutritional information and convey information about in-store promotions.

Digital signage is an effective marketing tool that’s worth exploring: restaurant owners are able to directly convey their most important messages to diners while they are present, including specials, upsell or cross-sell menu items or advertising, which helps generate additional revenue for the restaurant.

For more information about how you can incorporate digital signage into your restaurant, please visit pcAmerica.com.

Restaurant patrons are turning to the internet more and more to talk about their meals, tweeting about their experiences and even rating and writing about their meals on websites like Yelp, Urban Spoon and Chowhound.

People spend so much time online that it makes sense for a restaurant to integrate online ordering into their websites. Several large, national chains including Domino’s Pizza, P.F Chang’s, Panera and Chipotle have online ordering services available.

Now included in Restaurant Pro Express™, the online ordering functionality allows diners to enter their orders online through the restaurant’s website, designate whether it’s pickup or dine-in, pay with a credit card before the order is prepared and send the orders automatically to the kitchen. The online ordering capability is restricted based on a restaurant’s operating hours.

The system takes the guesswork out of waiting around for the order to be ready by notifying the customer how long it will take to prepare or deliver their order. Diners may also specify what time they would like the order to be delivered or prepared.

Implementing an online ordering system means reduced overhead for the restaurant and a better customer service experience for patrons. They have more control over the ordering process and can peruse the menu at their own pace, securely process their payments and never waste time on hold or redialing when there’s a busy signal.

In turn, restaurant owners and managers are able to reduce printing costs of menus and boost profits by processing more orders with less staff.

For more information about implementing online ordering for your restaurant, please contact an account manager at pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374.

Where would a restaurant be without its menu? No matter where you go in the world, every restaurant has one. Managing the menu in a point of sale system is a critical operation, as the items need to be categorized properly and set up so the servers can efficiently navigate the screens to get orders placed as quickly as possible.

Restaurant Pro Express™ makes inputting and managing menus easy, regardless of their length. Does the restaurant feature different menus for different courses? No problem–managers can configure different menus for breakfast, lunch and dinner. The restaurant POS system can be set to automatically switch between menus on a schedule while giving users the option to manually switch to a different menu at anytime.

The restaurant point of sale software also has the capability to run holiday menus, giving staff the opportunity to plan ahead.  A Thanksgiving menu can be planned and programmed in advance for the holiday, then set to automatically turn on and off at the correct times.

When wait staff is selecting menu items, Restaurant Pro Express™ may prompt the server for modifiers for that item.  If a diner orders a steak and wants mushrooms on top, the server can select that topping for the steak on screen. Modifiers can be forced, meaning they must be selected or optional. Servers are walked through the modifiers one at a time, which reduces the number of errors.

Modifier groups may be created to allow more than one selection when applicable, such as toppings on an ice cream sundae. In order to prevent kitchen backups or confusion, menu selections can be modified or deleted if the order hasn’t been sent to the kitchen printer. After that point, manager permission is required to make changes to an order.

The POS system also allows for shortcuts to reduce the amount of time the server spends at the terminal. For example, the “reorder round” functionality saves time by allowing servers and bartenders to reorder several drinks without having to manually reenter them.

The pcAmerica support staff can assist your restaurant with correctly setting up and using your Restaurant Pro Express™ software.

For more information, contact pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374 or visit www.pcamerica.com/restaurant-point-of-sale.

Everyone loves a deal, especially one at a deep discount. Social coupon sites like Groupon, Living Social and Restaurant.com have exploded onto the online scene with steep discounts—between 50% and 80% off—on retailers and restaurants in user-specified regions, as well as national deals available online.

It sounds like a dream come true for business owners and managers—attract a crowd of new people to your business with a deal and have them return again to pay full price. But for some businesses that participate in the social coupon craze, it has been a revenue-losing disaster. Take, for example, the cupcake bakery in London that made news around the world when it received an unprecedented 8,500 orders for a deal that offered 75 percent off 12 custom cupcakes costing only $10. All of the orders were fulfilled, although it cost the owner an entire year’s worth of profits, an experience she herself calls a “nightmare.”

However, there are ways businesses and restaurants can make these types of deals work for them. Limiting the number of vouchers available and setting an expiration date will help the business anticipate how many offers they will need to redeem.

Restaurant owners thinking of offering a “daily deal” to lure new diners should consider making the offer item-specific and stacking it with higher margin selections and upsell items that may not be as popular, such as desserts, sides and drinks.

Rather than offer a $25 for $50 at a restaurant, an item-specific approach gives restaurants the opportunity to prepare for a rush of diners who will all be ordering the same things.

An offer than includes a specific appetizer, two entrees of the diners’ choice and a specific dessert and drink will allow the restaurant to be more efficient in their operations, which should reduce the amount of waste in unused food and actually lower the cost per item. In addition, it gives the restaurant the opportunity to showcase upsell selections and beverages by including them with the offer. This gives diners the opportunity to try extras they may not have ordered otherwise, with the hope that they will enjoy the new items and purchase them again at full price.

By offering a stacked social coupon, restaurants can make these deals work for them. The coupon will draw new diners who are likely to frequent the establishment again and pay full price.  In addition, people who already dine at the restaurant will take advantage, but they will have the opportunity to try items they do not typically order, increasing the likelihood that they will purchase them in the future.

Much like Groupon, pcAmerica’s point of sale software can offer your restaurant or retail store solutions that will market to your customers and keep them coming back. To find out how visit pcAmerica.com or contact a sales representative today by calling 800.722.6374

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.

Google Wallet allows users to check out using “tap and go” technology on any Pay Pass-enabled terminal. Currently, there are more than 300,000 merchant locations that accept Google Wallet, including Bloomingdales, Subway, McDonald’s, The Home Depot and 7-Eleven, among other major retail and restaurant chains.

pcAmerica offers several pieces of hardware that are compatible with Google Wallet payments. For more information, please contact your pcAmerica sales representative at 1-800-722-6374.

Mobile POS has been attracting a lot of attention lately—and with good reason. A mobile POS solution can positively affect every aspect of a restaurant’s business, from shorter wait times and efficient service to a faster, more secure payment process.

Mobile restaurant point of sale technology offers all of the benefits of a traditional point of sale terminal on a unit that fits in a pocket or an apron. Especially useful during a restaurant’s peak hours, a mobile application can help table turnover via increased point of sale throughput. Mobile POS also gives restaurant servers some extra “breathing room,” as it reduces the time spent inputting orders and processing credit card payments. Servers can spend these extra minutes with their tables trying to upsell desserts, drinks or sides.

Taking orders on a mobile POS system can save a restaurant time and money by reducing the number of forgotten orders and kitchen backups, errors and resources spent remaking food or drinks that were improperly inputted into the primary workstation.

Additionally, mobile point of sale gives a restaurant another layer of protection. Payments are processed in front of patrons and their credit cards never leave the table, virtually eliminating the possibility of theft or security breach.

Some restaurants have taken mobile POS to another level by using an iPhone®, iPad® or iPod touch® for interactive ordering. Although iPad® use in a restaurant is still fairly novel, some restaurants may use a wine application that allows customers to search for wine by region; color or rating and suggest food pairings from the menu.

pcAmerica’s new soon to be released mobile point of sale solution, 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. By 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.

To find out more visit, www.pcamerica.com.

pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express™ and Cash Register Express™ now include the option to email customers digital receipts in lieu of traditional paper ones.

Several companies, including Williams-Sonoma, Nordstrom, the Gap, Whole Foods Market and Sears have already begun offering paperless receipts, an option that was first introduced in Apple stores.

Digital receipts offered at the point of sale are catching on—a marketing survey completed by Epsilon reports that 35% of the 3,900 retailers surveyed currently offer e-receipts. Why should you consider offering this option as well?

Convenience—for both the business and the patron—of a digital receipt is compelling.

Shoppers are rarely able to keep track of all the receipts they receive, but these proofs of purchase are often required to make a return. Returns are less frustrating for shoppers who are able to locate the receipt in their email, saving people the trouble of rooting around in bags, pockets and the floors of their cars. The ability to make hassle-free returns moves customer service lines faster and increases the chance that people will shop at the store again.

Offering digital receipts also gives businesses the opportunity to collect email addresses of their customer base, which can also be used to email coupons, promotional information and other announcements.

Record keeping is a snap for customers who opt for e-receipts. With an email record of their purchases, patrons can keep, sort and retain purchase information for tax purposes or to double check credit card statements.

Clearly, digital receipts are better for the environment. The more digital receipts a business issues, the less receipt paper it needs to purchase. Each year, 9.6 million trees are cut down to produce receipt paper, according to Alletronic.com. In addition, the thermal paper that receipts are printed on cannot be recycled because it is heavily treated with chemicals.

E-receipts are a smart choice for businesses and their customer base. Please contact your account manager at pcAmerica at 1-800-722-6374 to find out how you can start issuing digital receipts.

Keeping track of paper trails, receipts and sales figures can be a major headache, especially for a multi-station store or chain. Cash Register Express™ takes the stress out of end-of-shift reports and creates more comprehensive figures for a business.

Cash Register Express™ includes 75 reports, most of which can be run between a date range with several pieces of selectable criteria. Nearly any action performed at the retail POS terminal can be recorded and reported on within the Reporting screen. Reports can be viewed on the screen, printed and selected reports may be exported to Microsoft Excel.

In many retail stores, cashiers and sales associates are required to count their drawer at the end of their shift. The system’s blind balancing function will help keep employees honest when handling cash. If the counted amount differs from the expected sum, the system will automatically prompt the employee for a recount. Using the cash count screen in the point of sale terminal, cashiers can count their drawers quickly and go home.

Cash Register Express™ also has the capability to provide online access to detailed business reporting by synchronizing data with OnCloud™, an Internet-based system of reporting and back office management tools. This web-based suite of reporting, inventory, employee, labor and management tools is accessible from a web browser on any computer with Internet access. It works in conjunction with an existing pcAmerica POS system, making it the perfect solution for retail owners that need to easily monitor and manage from a remote location.

For more information about the reporting functions of Cash Register Express™, please visit www.pcamerica.com.