The release of Version 2.0 of the PCI (Payment Card Industry) Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) on October 28 was by no means an unanticipated event–yet industry buzz indicates that it has stirred up considerable retailer concern about many related issues. If you’re among the crowd, you can stop and take a deep breath—there’s nothing to fear.

Why not? According to the PCI Security Standards Council, which issued the standard, Version 2.0 contains “no new requirements” because “the standard is reaching maturity by growing older gracefully.” Specifically, Version 2.0 becomes effective on January 1, 2011, but validation against the old standard will be allowed until December 31, 2011. This gives merchants an entire year to absorb the new standard before validating against it. True, the old standard will “sunset” on December 31, 2011, after which merchants cannot use it for validation purposes, and all PCI validations must use Version 2.0 as of January 2012. Still, retailers are permitted to make the transition anytime in 2011.

Additionally, most of the changes found in the new standards are simply modifications to language used in the previous PCI DSS. They’re meant simply to clarify the meaning of the requirements and make it easier to understand and adopt the standards. For example, some revisions reiterate and reinforce the need to conduct thorough “scoping” exercises before PCI compliance assessments begin, in order to better understand where cardholder data resides. They also accommodate the unique environments of small merchants to simplify compliance efforts. Other specifics covered in Version 2.0, include, but aren’t limited to, a new definition of “system components” that encompasses virtual (online) components. The release of Version 2.0 begins a three-year lifecycle for PCI DSS development, with Version 3.0 of the standard slated for release in 2013.

pcAmerica can help you meet PCI compliance regulations and avoid problems in the future. For more information, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Your point of sale system is a workhorse when it comes to ringing up transactions, but it can be put to equally productive use for the purchase of inventory and ingredients from suppliers.

Any point of sale solution worth its “salt”, so to speak, will allow you to stop generating paper purchase orders and instead create electronic documents that may be emailed to suppliers directly from the software. Suppliers then receive the orders on a timely basis, pushing the envelope in terms of on-time shipment.

A good point of sale program will also allow you to base and automatically produce purchase orders in line with user-defined minimum and maximum “on-hand” inventory and ingredient quantities, which can be determined through reviews of historical point of sale information and adjusted in accordance with sales trends and/or altered vendor/supplier lead times. You’re then prevented from over-ordering and incurring unnecessary expenditures, as well as from being forced to tell customers that the product or menu item they want is unavailable because of a stock or ingredient shortage.

pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale solutions have been enhanced to include supplier email capabilities; Cash Register Express also features a “Quick Receive” screen for processing orders arriving at the store, and both solutions have inventory monitoring capabilities that enhance the purchasing process.

Visit www.pcamerica.com to learn more.

As discussed in our previous blog entry, there’s much to be said for building relationships with customers through social networking. However, engaging in other customer relationship management activities is equally effective—and a good point of sale system can be the linchpin.

For example, using the point of sale system to send newsletters and other email communications to customers is a great way to remind them that you’re around and to provide them with helpful information that will lead them back to your store or restaurant time and time again. Statistics tell the story: Research conducted by Epsilon and published in MarketingVOX indicates that email increases consumers’ “likelihood to buy” by 50%. More than 57% of recipients have a more positive opinion about operations that send out emails, and 71% who make a purchase remember email communications when doing so. Even better, consumers who participated in the Epsilon research effort appear to be more accustomed to offers from companies they trust and seem to appreciate the relationship, with 84% noting that they like receiving emails from companies with which they register.

Contrary to what you may believe, newsletters need not be complex. They can simply feature a brief message from you and a promotional offer—such as for a small free gift, a gift with purchase, a discount off a dining check or a complimentary beverage. As you become more accustomed to communicating with customers this way, you can branch out to include everything from information about new products or menu components, to tips for selecting a particular item (for example, what makes a good wine or how to determine the best home lighting solution), to “Q & A” pieces designed to help readers get to know you and your staff better. And while it isn’t entirely necessary, you can target email communications to particular groups of customers by viewing customer purchase histories in the point of sale database.

Both Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express from pcAmerica support email communication, and Version 12.5 of the point of sale software make it easier by supporting mass emailing through SMTP mail server. Visit www.pcamerica.com to learn more.

You can’t run from it: Facebook, Twitter, MySpace and other social networking tools are everywhere these days. They’ve even made a movie about it: “The Social Network”, the story of the Harvard University students who launched Facebook, premiered in theaters on October 1.

Yet you still may ask why you, as a retailer or restaurant operator, should extend your social networking activities beyond your personal life by using Facebook, Twitter, MySpace or the like to promote your business. Here are just a few reasons to “get networking”:

1. It attracts new customers. Just like celebrities, businesses can create “fan” pages on Facebook that existing customers can, on their own pages, indicate that they “like”. If a social media “contact” of “Customer X” notices that he or she is a fan of your business, that person is likely to view your page—and your business—and become your customer as well.

2. It gives you an edge over the unknown. Interacting with consumers on “fan” pages may not translate into immediate sales at a retail store or visits to a restaurant. However, if potential customers have been “engaging” with you and your business online, they will be more likely to seek you out to fulfill a need when it does arise.

3. It enhances your long-term branding efforts and reputation. Social media can help build and manage your brand’s status among core audiences. Urban Outfitters has a major, active presence across the big social networking sites, YouTube, etc. Conducted correctly, social networking offers a great extension of your branded customer experience.

4. It expands the reach of your customer loyalty program. Linking social networking with your loyalty program by automatically posting updates to participants’ social networking sites whenever they purchase something from your store or eat in your restaurant gives your customers’ online social contacts yet another reason to “check out” your business so they can start earning rewards themselves.

pcAmerica can help you jump on this bandwagon and integrate your loyalty program with your social networking component. Visit www.pcamerica.com to learn more.

Of all tasks you and/or your employees perform in your store, handling price changes probably ranks among the most tedious. It can also be error-prone and, in some cases, inconsistent, which can have a negative effect on your profitability picture. This is why your best bet is to insist on a point of sale solution that offers flexibility and other “next-generation” features related to pricing.

With such a solution in place, you can set mass updating of prices to occur on a set schedule. You can also select a department, a  list of items or items with specific properties and effortlessly set price changes to reflect increases, decreases, sales, special offers (like “buy two, get one free” or “buy a pound, get the second pound free”) and more—all based on a pre-determined schedule. There’s no need to manually select which prices remain the same and which don’t, or to remember to effect the changes.

Point of sale systems with built-in pricing flexibility also make it easier to grapple with the special challenges of selling goods in bulk. For example, prices on bulk items can be set by the ounce rather than by the kilogram or pound alone, enhancing accuracy and increasing the likelihood of purchase by customers who might otherwise pass up more costly offerings—like exotic spices and coffees, to name a few.What’s more, you can elect to implement bulk pricing levels not just by dollar amount—for instance, three for $1—but by percentage. Bulk pricing “menus” can be programmed to appear on the price check screen of your point of sale system monitor, further contributing to accuracy. Special price changes become simpler to effect, too—instead of a blanket mode for authorizing employee-initiated price changes, you can put into place specific utilities for specific situations—namely, authorization for price changes involving negative dollar amounts. This gives you added control over discounting.

Recognizing retailers’ need for flexibility and functionality on the pricing side, pcAmerica has expanded the price management capabilities of its Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale solutions. Learn more at www.pcamerica.com.

It’s no secret that speed and accuracy at the point of sale remain top priorities for retailers, which is one reason computerized point of sale systems have become so popular over the past few years. However, there’s more to the equation than that. Integrating even the most basic and innocuous of peripherals with the point of sale system yields significant benefits you just can’t ignore.

Take scales, for instance. An integration of in-counter scales, such as those used in supermarkets, with the point of sale system enables cashiers to seamlessly “transition” from scanning a barcode to weighing items. Customers move through the checkout process far faster than without an integrated configuration.

“Seamlessness” also reduces the potential for error. A similar integration between bakery and deli scales and the point of sale system offers comparable benefits. Here, employees can weigh the product and type in a key code; the scales then print barcode-emblazoned stickers to be scanned by the point of sale system. Checkout personnel need not spend time trying to decipher handwritten price labels, keeping customer lines moving. Even more important, there’s consistency of pricing between scales and the point of sale system.

Some point of sale software, such as Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express from pcAmerica, integrates with certain vendors’ scale software to the extent that price updates can be sent to scales automatically rather than programmed in separately. Consequently, price changes on items that require weighing go into effect as they occur, increasing accuracy, saving time in the back room and bolstering the bottom line. Additional information on Cash Register Express Version 12.5, as well as on Restaurant Pro Express Version 12.5, can be found at www.pcamerica.com.

It’s the law: Neither retailers nor restaurateurs can sell or serve age-restricted items, including tobacco, liquor and gambling products, without first verifying the customers’ age. Those that disobey the law, intentionally or otherwise, face stiff fines if caught—and even put themselves at risk of seeing their businesses shut down. Think traditional methods of performing age verification—in other words, manually inspecting patrons’ drivers’ licenses or other “official” forms of identification, like military IDs—are sufficient to stay out of trouble? Think again. Integrating an age verification solution into the point of sale system is a much better antidote.

Why? For one thing, store associates and wait staff can forget—accidentally or on purpose–to perform age verification procedures. For another, not all associates can or will take the time to subtract customers’ birth year from the current year to determine whether they are of age to make certain purchases, let alone deal with transactions that involve multiple calculations to reflect different age restrictions for different products. But integrated age verification solutions consistently and accurately get the job done, using scanners that read bar codes on drivers’ licenses and similar government-issued documents. In retail stores, cashiers are automatically prompted on the monitor to initiate age verification whenever an age-restricted item is scanned. Some solutions even prevent items from being rung up if the attempted purchaser is shown to be underage. In restaurants, integrated age verification systems let operators continuously scan patrons’ identification as they attempt entry and, in the case of establishments where underage patrons are permitted, when they try to purchase age-restricted goods.

Beyond serving as an “insurance policy” against unlawful purchase of age-restricted goods, integrated age verification systems keep records of transactions involving age-restricted inventory. These records can serve as proof of compliance, should authorities request it.

Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software has been integrated with EasyDL ™, an age verification software “plug-in” from Honeywell Scanning & Mobility Solutions. The software also features a utility that allows users to keep detailed logs of verified data, and much more. To learn more, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Over the past few years, digital video recorders (DVRs) have replaced video cassette recorders (VCRs) as the core of closed-circuit surveillance programs used by many retailers and restaurateurs. The advantages of DVRs over VCRs are, better images, superior search capability, simultaneous recording, live viewing and playback, remote access, and easier integration with security systems. Now, there’s a new wave of implementation as merchants and foodservice operators begin to integrate DVR technology with point of sale systems. For some players, this is an initial foray at tying together security with the point of sale; for others, it’s a transition from VCR mode.

Integration of point of sale systems with video surveillance of any kind benefits retailers and restaurateurs by enabling them to put a “face” to suspicious activity–for example, pairing images of a clerk placing only a portion of the cash from a particular transaction in the till and pocketing the rest with data on the transaction that supposedly occurred. What’s more, DVRs can retrieve footage by such criteria as time and date, cashier, receipt number, transaction type, credit card, product, and product brand name. They can also be programmed to trigger reports of suspicious activity, like over-rings.

The end-result of any DVR/point of sale system combination is enhanced loss prevention–a must in the wake of shrinking margins and other financial challenges faced by the retail and restaurant community. pcAmerica makes it easy to reap such benefits: Version 12.5 of its Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software features integration with Quadrox POS Fusion DVR. Users of either program need only push a button within the software’s facilities to view recorded video of an actual transaction, along with associated data. Learn more at www.pcamerica.com.

While the July 1, 2010 deadline for compliance with the latest additions to the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) has obviously passed, some retailers and restaurateurs are still scratching their heads over how to ensure that they’re really following the rules. Here’s a crash course.

Under the newest regulations set forth in the PCI-DSS, retailers and restaurateurs must adhere to what is known as the PCI Pin Entry Device (PED) standard. To toe the mark, they can only use PIN pads that meet the Triple Data Encryption Standard (TDES) and, as such, incorporate TDES (aka 3DES)  encryption keys. TDES encrypts PIN data multiple times in the keypad and is therefore very difficult for hackers to crack. Any PIN entry device that has not been certified under the PCI PIN Transaction Security (PCI PTS) program or the older Visa PED program must be removed from service.

One of the first companies of its kind to offer PCI-compliant point of sale solutions, pcAmerica has upgraded its PA-DSS-certified Cash Register Express retail point of sale and Restaurant Pro Express restaurant point of sale software to satisfy requirements set forth in the latest PCI standards. Version 12.5 of both solutions, released on September 13, 2010,  satisfy these standards with new support for now-mandated 3DES pinpad encryption. Like its predecessor, Version 12.0, Version 12.5 also ensures secure processing of credit and debit card transactions with tokenization technology. Moreover, pcAmerica goes beyond enabling PCI compliance by supporting such innovative technology as encrypted magnetic stripe readers that encrypt data before it enters the POS system.

pcAmerica can help you meet PCI compliance regulations and avoid problems in the future. For more information, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Forty years ago, on the children’s TV show Sesame Street, Kermit the Frog lamented to his young audience that “it ain’t easy being green”. While the beloved Muppet was referring to his own hue and to being “different” rather than to environmentally friendly practices, his observation no longer rings true in the latter sense of the word, either.

Unlike point of sale applications touted just a short time ago, more and more solutions on the market today take into account sustainability and environmental responsibility. Systems that use far less power than those available just a few short years ago are emerging. Point of sale hardware that allows the most detailed of receipts and other documents to be generated without an abundance of wasted paper, is becoming mainstream. Point of sale software, too, is also catching the environmental stewardship bug. Such offerings as Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express retail point of sale software and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software, new from pcAmerica, enable retailers and restaurateurs to e-mail receipts to their customers–an entirely welcome ‘green‘ alternative to paper-based documents. Merchants and food service operations can also utilize the software to email purchase orders to vendors, again conserving paper.

“Eco-friendliness” will only increase in importance as time goes on. Retailers and restaurateurs that demonstrate their commitment to the environment through the use of “green” point of sale systems stand to benefit not only from power and paper savings, but from earning the loyalty of customers who are seeking innovative ways to save the planet.

To find out how to make your pos system more eco-friendly contact pcAmerica.