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Software Return On Investment (ROI)

A minimum return for your investment with a quality Point of Sale System.

If taking a long overdue vacation or just a little R&R and having peace of mind is not enough, try the following equation:

If your Retail Store did $500,000. in yearly sales, you could, according to industry averages, add 15% to your Bottom Line with a quality POS system.

                     Theft and Shrinkage           2%           $10,000
                     Prompt and accurate statements           1%           5,000
                 Accurate inventory pricing at time of sale           1%           5,000
                     Built in sales prompts           2%           10,000
           Retail Stock Ledger reporting, Better turn rates, sell through & margin comparisons           2%           10,000
           Targeted Marketing {Know the Buying habits of your customers & target market}           1%           5,000
                     Web Shopping Cart           5%           25,000
                                           _______
                                           $75,000
A $250.00 per month invested in support and maintenance with free software could make the difference in your success.

*All figures are based on industry averages and may vary with each retailer.

Is Our POS Software the Best?

Why is ProphetLine point of sale software better than our competitors? We often are asked that after an online demonstration of our pos system. We never say ProphetLine is better than another point of sale software company, only that we know we have a quality product with many features, and a great support staff. A customer has to choose a pos based on functionally, budget, training, support and especially references from other retailers using the product.

The best way for us to make sure that we have a happy customer is to be totally upfront with what ProphetLine point of sale can do and can’t do. If you are looking for a certain feature and we don’t have it, we tell you. So the next time you ask about our competitor’s product, you will probably hear us say, it’s not up to us to judge their software, but we know how good ProphetLine is.

Do you have ‘Analysis Paralysis’

Everyday retailers ask “Does the software do ‘such-and-such’?” In the case of ProphetLine, our software is a very rich and proven software package that has been on the market for many years. It is designed for retailers of hard- and soft-goods, such as apparel, sporting goods, and other types of specialty retail. These retailers typically have certain features that are required, such as

Backup’s – I know I need to, but…

It’s common knowledge that you should backup your data, but there is more to doing backups than just storing an extra copy of your data ‘some where’.  The most common questions usually asked (by retailers about backups) are more than just ‘can I backup my Retail Stock Ledger data or my Open-to-Buy spreadsheets’ but are more typically like…

 

  • What do I need to backup?
  • How often do I need to do a backup?
  • What software do I use for a backup?
  • What media do I need to use?
  • How much am I willing to spend for a backup solution?

Retailers also need to consider thing such as…

 

  • How large are all the files I want to backup?

Backup media comes in a lot of different types: CD’s, DVD’s, Tape, Flash Drives, External Hard Drives or even Internet Backups. Media is more a choice of size and preference than which is best. Each type of media has uses they suited for and ones that will not work with. CD’s are great for backups up to about 700 megabytes, Flash Drives can be used for backups up to 8 gigabytes, DVD’s are can also store around 8 gigabytes and if you need more space for your backups, Tape or External Hard Drives can handle much larger data sets.

 

The overlooked part of most backup solutions is not what to backup, when to backup or how to backup, but is ‘How do I get my data back’. Tapes go bad; CD’s get scratches or will melt if stored in heat, external drives should not be stored near magnets, etc. If you cannot get your data restored, your backup solution has failed one of the most important functions – Allowing you to recover your vital business data in the event of an emergency. Every backup solution should be checked periodically to see if it can be restored.

When setting up a new Point Of Sale system, where do I start?

Setting up your business in a Point of Sale system can be a daunting task.

ProphetLine POS software aids in this task through our Getting Started section and the use of ‘Steps’ to complete the tasks of entering data to avoid the pitfalls of needing to add an entity before you can complete your next task. Example – Departments and Classes should be added prior to adding Inventory Items or each item will need to be re-visited to assign Departments and Classes.

With this being said, there is still another step that can greatly reduce the amount of time and frustrations setting up your system could cause. Although it may seem archaic, the best way to do this is with Pencil and Paper. Do your home work on your business before you start entering data. You should ask yourself questions such as…

  • How do I want to report on my data?
  • How do I want to give group discounts for sales and/or
    ‘special customers’ such as ‘club members’?
  • Am I going to put my items on a web shopping site now or in the future?

Once these and similar questions are answered, look at ProphetLine’s structure and see how you can get this functionality in the software. ProphetLine POS software also provides ‘Testing’ or ‘Training’ data for you to use to see how your ‘ideas’ will work when put in practice. If you are unsure of your setup, add them in the Testing/Training Data and check them out. This gives you the ability to test your setup without creating invalid entries in your ‘live’ data in case you change your mind.

To get an idea of what ProphetLine entities are and what they effect, consider the following…

Departments and Classes are for reporting and/or Web Shopping classification

If you wish to group like items, be more generic on your departments and specific on your classes

Example – Consider the two Department and Class lists below. If you wanted to report on Cameras broken out by brand, set your department and classes up as on the left. If you wanted to report on Canon products broken out by type of product, you might use the setup on the right.

Department Class   Department Class
Cameras     Canon  
  Canon     Cameras
  Nikon     Lenses
  Pentax     Accessories
Lenses     Nikon  
  Canon     Cameras
  Nikon     Lenses
  Pentax     Accessories
Accessories

    Pentax  
  Canon     Cameras
  Nikon     Lenses
  Pentax     Accessories

As you can see both the above lists hold the same information, but allow reporting in different formats. Other report groupings in ProphetLine are ‘Brand/Vendor Groups’ and ‘Movement Groups’. The use of these two additional groupings can add extremely flexible reporting on your inventory.

Inventory Groups are primarily for discounting like items. If you put all your Cameras in an Inventory Group of Cameras it would be very easy to give a discount on the entire group rather than updating each item individually. It is important to be mindful of the type of discounts you give when setting up Inventory and Customer Groups.

Do you give professional customers (photographers, golfers, etc) discounts on items they typically purchase a lot of? If so, do you give them discounts on the entire line (all film or clubs) or specific types (only pro grade film or high end balls and or clubs)?

Do you give discounts to specific types of customers? Club Members, Employees, Senior Citizens If so, these would become Customer Groups. When used with Inventory Groups, setting up and/or changing discounts for specific types of customers can be extremely flexible and easy.

As you can see, doing some ‘extra’ work up front, you can save yourself a lot of time and have your data in a format that will give you the reports/flexibility you desire.

Reliable ways to improve business with POS Software!

How much does it cost is the first question asked by many retailers inquiring about ProphetLine POS/Retail Management Software. In the context of your business, the first question should be how can I transform my business processes and improve my profitability? The only two reliable and efficient ways to improve your business sales and cash flow are to market more to existing customers or expand your geographical territory by making your products and services available through the Internet.

Capturing information at the point of sale is essential to mining more business from your existing customer base. Your customers will gladly give you some personal information if they know that preferential treatment or special pricing is the end result. Notifying them of new product arrivals, private showings or a pending sale are a few of the ways to build your customer loyalty and keep them shopping with you and not your competitor.

The next best way to improve your business is to implement an easy to maintain and efficient Internet presence. A brick and mortar retailer can expect a ten percent increase in sales, according to industry averages, within the first year if the web store is properly worked and maintained. It’s just another way to get your product line in front of the buying public.

Now back to the first question, how much does it cost? If you are not interested in doing the above mentioned business improvement processes, cost should be your main concern and a two hundred dollar cash register should work just fine.