Unless you don’t get out much, you’ve more than likely encountered promotional and advertising messages conveyed right at the point of sale. The linchpin: digital signage, displayed alongside current transaction information on such peripheral devices as LCD pole displays, full-size LCD displays and pin pads. An integrated digital signage feature–for instance, the one that’s been added to Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express from pcAmerica–makes it happen.

But why supplement traditional customer communication vehicles like periodicals, radio, television stations, billboards, direct mail and more by displaying advertising on point of sale peripherals? For one thing, integrating digital signage with peripherals reduces the amount of money spent on reprint material for flyers, signage and brochures. It also makes it possible to deliver specific messages to specific audiences in specific locations. As an example, during the checkout process, information about a sale on diapers can be relayed only to customers whose purchasing histories show that they have bought a particular brand of diaper at a given store in a chain, when only that store has a surplus of the product it must move off the shelves.

Additionally, digital signage integrated with the point of sale system and channeled through peripheral hardware lets retailers do a more effective job of playing up sale items and encouraging impulse purchases. “Plugs” for this merchandise appear where shoppers cannot help but see them–for example, on the pole display that shows transaction information as their purchases are rung up–and content can be updated as rapidly as needed. Even better, extra revenue can be generated by selling advertising space on the peripherals to vendors and suppliers.

To find out more about our digital signage solutions contact pcAmerica.

Sure, using a computerized point of sale system in your restaurant trumps using a cash register any day of the week. However, going several steps beyond the basics by insisting on software with a few additional “bells and whistles” makes great sense from a sales and operational standpoint.

Consider, for instance, a “combo meal” feature. Such a feature guides cashiers through the steps entailed in taking orders for “combination” meals, saving time and increasing order accuracy. Individual items that are ordered separately may be “packaged” together so customers can receive an automatically calculated discount, without adding any time to the process or introducing any margin for error.

Restaurant and retail (deli and convenience store) point of sale systems with self-ordering capabilities yield tangible benefits, too. In self-ordering scenarios, restaurateurs and retailers install a dedicated terminal where customers order their food. Credit card transactions can be completed right at the terminal; cash transactions, by printing tickets and paying at a separate register. With a self-ordering feature in place, businesses effectively leverage the power of online ordering by engaging customers, encouraging a higher level of spending and eliminating the labor costs that would be incurred if orders were to be taken by an employee.

Self-ordering is an option on Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express retail point of sale software. The “combo meal” capability also ranks among more than 40 new features added to the upgraded version of Restaurant Pro Express.

To learn more about the newest version of Restaurant Pro Express and Cash Register Express Version 12.5 visit pcAmerica.

If you’ve been reading this blog for the past few months–and maybe, even if you haven’t–you probably know which basic capabilities to look for in a retail point of sale solution. However, there’s more to this issue than meets the eye.  Increasingly, savvy retailers are also insisting on point of sale software with one or more special features that yield their own set of benefits. And you should consider following suit.

One such feature allows tips to be added to transactions in retail establishments where tipping is customary–for instance, hair and nail salons. This makes it easier for patrons to reward employees for good service, in turn encouraging personnel to treat consumers well, bolstering staff morale and cultivating repeat business going forward. A feature that permits commissions to be split by item, rather than allowing only one salesperson to earn an entire commission for a multi-item transaction, has a similar effect. Associates will work harder to sell individual pieces of merchandise when they are assured that they themselves will “collect” as a result.

Yet another new, highly desirable point of sale system capability paves the way for easy, effective, simultaneous price-changing on multiple goods. Even better, mass updating of prices can be set to take effect at a certain date and time; lists of items, departments or goods with specific properties can be selected for price change action.

Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express from pcAmerica, released on September 13, 2010, offers these and many more accoutrements among its menu of 40-plus new features. To learn more, visit pcAmerica.

Recent installments of this blog have focused on the addition of different software modules to retail and restaurant point of sale systems to bolster their capabilities. But forward-thinking vendors like pcAmerica aren’t stopping there. Instead, they’re adding state-of-the art features to the software itself—features that add value and bring with them a host of benefits.

On the retail side, one such feature is “tip functionality”, wherein tips can be incorporated into transactions completed at businesses whose employees usually receive gratuities. Think salons, car washes, and other retail service businesses—you get the idea. Similarly, with some software, managers can split commissions by item, assigning a different salesperson from the store to each item on each customer’s list of purchases. There’s also a price batch feature, a simple and effective means of changing the prices on multiple items at the same time. Mass updating of prices can be completed in accordance with a set schedule—no muss, no fuss. Rounding out the retail list is a feature that streamlines the receiving process and bolsters operating efficiencies by enabling inventory receipt and purchase order information to be entered into a single screen.

To the restaurant front comes “combo meal” order-taking functionality. Such a feature lets fast food and counter service restaurants accept combination meal orders more easily. This feature can walk the cashier through the process of taking a combo meal order. If items are rung up separately, the “Auto-Combo” feature will recognize this and automatically combine them together to give the customer the combo meal discount.

Moreover, enhanced LCD and pin pad features help restaurant operators and retailers alike generate more revenue by displaying advertisements on a variety of point of sale peripherals, such as pole displays, digital signage displays, and pin pads. Flash messages or pictures can be uploaded on a timed basis to publicize and draw attention to merchandise and sales promotions.

These capabilities are among the more than 50 features found in the newly released Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale software. Contact your pcAmerica sales representative to find out more about how these enhanced solutions can benefit your business.

If you would like to find out more contact pcAmerica.

If you’re like most retailers and restaurant operators, labor scheduling ranks among your least favorite tasks. Slotting staff members into shifts can be extremely time-consuming, and confirming just how many employees are slated to work a particular shift and the roles to which they’ve been assigned often necessitates a significant effort as well. Adding insult to injury, the time wasted performing these jobs could be much better spent on other initiatives with the potential to grow the business—for instance, formulating marketing plans, devising new promotions, and interacting with customers to provide the highly desirable personal touch that differentiates your operation from its competitors.

Integrating a labor scheduling interface into your point of sale system is the best and most effective way to streamline the labor scheduling process. Such an interface permits you to quickly assign employees to shifts without performing any complicated calculations. It also lets you get a handle on which and how many staff members will be working during individual time intervals and aids in confirming who among each crew has been assigned to which function, from ringing up sales to re-stocking inventory and from waiting on diners to serving as host or hostess. You can print schedules for employees, ensuring that everyone is reminded of his or her responsibilities and minimizing the potential that employees show up for work when expected, without any slip-ups. Schedules from a previous week can be automatically imported into the current week’s schedule, eliminating the need to work from scratch and saving additional valuable time.

With some software, such as the Employee Labor Scheduler module that’s part of the new Version 12.5 of Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express from pcAmerica, there’s also a “labor cost percentage” report. This shows labor expenditures as a percentage of sales for a given period, leading to more informed decisions concerning just how much labor to schedule which leads to reduced costs. The benefits of this software is seemingly a long one.

For more information on how a point of sale system can improve your business, contact pcAmerica.

Retailers with fuel pumps have long utilized one point of sale system for pump-related transactions and another for transactions pertaining to other inventory, such as food and grocery items sold in their adjacent convenience stores or similar establishments. However, a much better alternative is now available in the form of solutions that handle fuel sales and other transactions from the same point of sale system.

Such solutions comprise fuel pump point of sale modules that interface with traditional point of sale software used at checkout counters. With these solutions in place, fuel sales and other transactions can be handled from a single point inside the store. Transaction times at the fuel island are greatly reduced, without interfering with compliance initiatives (such as adherence to data security requirements set forth in the Payment Card Industry-Data Security Standards, or PCI-DSS) and marketing endeavors (for example, promoting branded items with a fuel purchase).

What’s more, integrated fuel pump and point of sale software solutions make it easy to collect payment for fuel and significantly decrease the potential for such problems as customers driving away from pumps without paying for their gasoline purchases or attempting to pump more fuel than they have paid for. Cashiers are empowered to handle all fuel-related functions right from the in-store computers on which the “regular” point of sale system runs. Cash Register Express Fuel Edition processes pre-paid and post paid transactions, pay-at-the-pump, loyalty cards, fleet (gas) cards, & car wash sales.

Version 12.5 of pcAmerica’s Cash Register Express point of sale software can be seamlessly integrated with the company’s new Fuel Pump POS software module—affording you all of the above benefits, and others. The powerful, yet user-friendly system processes all standard fuel-related transactions, and meets all PCI requirements.

For more information, visit www.pcamerica.com.

While standalone meal ordering solutions are readily available in the marketplace, a trend toward applications that integrate the online ordering function with restaurant point of sale applications is quickly emerging. At pcAmerica, we believe the latter route is the best way to go, and it’s the path we’ve followed by integrating our Restaurant Pro Express restaurant point of sale software by adding online ordering as a feature in the upcoming release of version 12.5.

What’s the advantage of integrating online ordering and restaurant point of sale applications? Like online ordering systems themselves, integrated ordering/point of sale solutions streamline the overall Web-based meal purchasing process and increase profitability. They can also give you a better handle on inventory and make it easier to save orders from cancellation should a customer’s desired food item(s) be temporarily unavailable for purchase. As an example, if a customer tries to order a special and the supply of that item has been entirely depleted, that information is transmitted from the point of sale system to the ordering system and the customer is notified immediately, in time to select a substitute meal item instead of cancelling the order altogether.

In short, online ordering systems are good for business. Computerized point of sale systems are good for business. Together, these solutions are great. If you would like more information regarding computerized point of sale systems, contact pcAmerica.

Okay, so you’re sold on the benefits of implementing online ordering in your restaurant. Now it’s time to select from among the many solutions available in the marketplace. But don’t let your excitement about the potential advantages to be gleaned from offering customers the opportunity to place orders via a Web site force you into making a rash software purchasing decision. Rather, take the time to ensure that the solution you choose has the features that will maximize the return on your technology investment.

For starters, be sure to find a solution that includes far more than a simple menu display and order-entry feature. Your “pick” should offer customers an opportunity to specify what time they would like their orders. Based on criteria entered into the system during the set-up phase, the solution should also indicate to customers how long it will take before their food is ready for pickup or will be delivered to its destination, as well as restrict ordering in line with restaurant hours (in other words, customers can order tomorrow’s lunch at 10 pm the previous evening, but cannot set its delivery outside lunchtime hours).

While features that enhance your customers’ online ordering experience are a “must” no matter which solution you choose, so too, are those that help you do a better job of handling orders placed in cyberspace. A good system, such as pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express, will be configured to require online credit or debit card payments before orders are prepared, and to transmit orders directly to the kitchen for printing immediately upon receipt. You should be able to customize the Web page on which orders are placed, with your own colors and according to your own specifications. Ditto for the ability to designate in the point of sale system which menu items are visible on the online ordering screen and which aren’t and to set up special pricing promotions for online ordering. Operators with a single store should be able to set up delivery zones so that delivery is limited to certain desired areas; those with multiple stores should have the option to route or “push” orders to certain stores based on location or other parameters. Finally, the system should generate different reports for tracking online sales versus in-store sales, so that each may be addressed with separate business strategies.

The Restaurant Pro Express point of sale solution from pcAmerica offers these features, and more. For additional information, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Chances are, you’ve heard quite a lot in recent months about online ordering solutions. Maybe you’ve even used them yourself to get takeout or a delivery from another restaurant. And now, it’s time to seriously consider implementing such an application for your own operation.

Why?  For one thing–and it’s no secret–time-crunched consumers are, increasingly, seeking ways to speed up the purchase of food for breakfast, lunch and dinner. At the same time, restaurateurs need to scale the financial challenges posed by competition and the after-effects of the recession, as well as to work harder to distinguish themselves from the pack. Online meal ordering solutions can help you address these and other critical issues.

In fact, online meal ordering solutions yield numerous benefits to restaurants of all kinds. For one thing, online ordering capability saves time, improves order accuracy, makes it easier for customers to find out about specials and promotions and, truth be told, gives patrons enhanced control over the entire ordering process. The end-result is increased customer satisfaction and increased sales, coupled with a reduction in “comp’d meals” due to errors or mistakes in orders. Other advantages include the ability to boost sales by leveraging the system to intelligently “up-sell” high-margin impulse menu items or other fare based items on individual customers’ previous orders, as well as cultivate diners’ loyalty by collecting their email addresses and subsequently sending them promotional information in line with specific criteria, like ordering frequency and location.

But that’s not all. Having an online ordering system also enhances security by processing debit and credit card transactions without human intervention, streamline orders by having them sent straight to the kitchen, reduce labor by processing more orders with less wait staff, and minimize or eliminate printing expenditures by showcasing your menu online instead of on paper. What’s more, it increases your potential to attract new customers who might not otherwise patronize your establishment.

Choosing pcAmerica’s Restaurant Pro Express restaurant point of sale solution, which now offers an online ordering component, is a clear path to capitalizing on the popularity of online commerce. For more information regarding online ordering, visit www.pcamerica.com.

Chances are, you’re very excited about the benefits your retail or restaurant operation will reap as a result of migrating from a cash register to a computerized point of sale system. However, the same may not go for at least some of your employees. There will be those whom the idea of ringing up transactions on an unfamiliar, seemingly complex piece of equipment—even if that equipment is really quite user-friendly–strikes true fear. Even the more computer-savvy among your staff won’t necessarily be entirely comfortable with the change.

That’s where training comes in. Reputable software vendors, such as pcAmerica, offer some form of training to their retailer and restaurateur customers, be it on-site, in a classroom, via the telephone or computer, or a combination thereof. Take advantage of this training, but go beyond it. Reassure staff members that you don’t expect them to master the new point of sale system in five minutes flat, even after they’ve undergone one or more modes of training. Offer them opportunities to practice after hours. Provide them with collateral material they can review in their spare time. You may even want to help them over the hump with incentives and little rewards—gift cards in small denominations, for example—for persevering and learning everything they need to know about your new IT setup.

Additionally, emphasize to the more reluctant converts that the features of a computerized point of sale system—for example, touchscreen commands or the bar code scanning function—actually eliminate guesswork and errors at the checkout counter. Moreover, point out that the faster staff members can move customers through the point of sale, the happier those customers will be—and the fewer complaints they themselves will have to field.

In the end, it’s a “win-win” situation for everyone. Don’t let them forget it.

To find out more about how a computerized point of sale system can help your business, contact pcAmerica.