Archive for the ‘AmberPOS Benefits’ Category

Are you considering upgrading your cash register to a point of sale program? Or are you opening up a new retail business and trying to decide if a point of sale program is for you?

Investing in a high quality point of sale program can play an important part in the success of your retail business. Here are five reasons you should consider investing in a point of sale program:

(1) Point of Sale Programs Improve Your Customer Experience

A high quality point of sale program can drastically improve the customer experience at your retail store.  Firstly, POS programs can speed up the time it takes for a clerk to complete a transaction through the use of bar-code scanners and digital weight scales.  A bar code scanner can automatically scan in the items a customer is purchasing, so that the clerk doesn’t have to manually type in each item into the till, preventing human error and tracking transaction with much more detail.

The clerk can also scan in coupons with bar codes on them, and even a customer membership card to track the customer.Secondly, point of sale programs can improve the customer experience before the transaction happens as well.  For example, if a customer walks in and inquires about an item they are looking to purchase, the clerk can instantly pull up a real-time inventory report to not only check if the item is available at that location, but also look up inventory from other locations as well.  Special discounts, promotions, customer tracking and store returns can also be greatly improved through the use of a POS software program.

(2) Point of Sale Programs Improve Your Inventory Tracking

As a retail business owner, one of the biggest monetary investments you’ll make will be in your inventory.  Some retailers have millions of dollars of inventory, and a point of sale program can greatly increase the accuracy of your inventory tracking practices.  POS programs can allow you to automatically tag your inventory items with bar code labels, allowing you to identify each item in your inventory easily and quickly with a simple bar code scanner.

Manually counting inventory can be a tedious task, but with point of sale programs the process can be greatly sped up and made more accurate by utilizing inventory count scanners that automatically count your inventory through the use of bar codes.  Faster and more frequent inventory counts and more accurate inventory tracking at the till can significantly reduce the amount of inventory theft or “shrinkage” your business experiences.  Without accurate inventory tracking, a lot of retail business owners who still use cash registers don’t even know they have missing inventory until months after it has been stolen.

(3) Point of Sale Programs Improve Your Purchasing Decisions

Point of sale programs can also help you to track your transactions with your vendors.  The software can help you to identify inventory items that are running low on stock and suggest specific items to add to purchase orders.  Tracking purchase orders for each vendor also allows you to identify which inventory was purchased from which vendor at which time.  This can be a huge time saver for warranty purposes or for vendor returns.

Running specific inventory sales reports can also help you to identify both top selling items and also poor selling items so that you can make better purchasing decisions when buying inventory from vendors.  Instead of purchasing products that the vendors are trying to get rid of themselves (which can often be stagnant items they can’t even sell) you can make decisions based on what is already selling well in your stores.  This can save you tens of thousands of dollars in purchasing the wrong inventory items that aren’t selling well in your stores.

(4) Point of Sale Programs Improve Your Business Awareness

Through the use of hundreds of specialized and customized reports, you can keep a finger on the pulse of your business in real time.  Instead of waiting for an accounting firm to “crunch” the numbers for your business months after anything can be done, you can keep track of your business sales and numbers on a weekly or even daily basis.  Sales reports, inventory tracking reports, clerk sales reports and hundreds of others can be run at any time to give you real-time snapshots of where you’re business is at.

If you hire a new clerk or a new manager, you can track your sales or any other business metric in real time any time you want.  This allows you to make better up to the minute, day-to-day decisions you wouldn’t otherwise be able to make.

(5) Point of Sale Programs Improve Your Bottom Line

Perhaps more than an other investment you can make in your retail business, a high quality POS program can provide you with a high return on investment by improving the profitability of your business.  Being able to serve your customers faster and more efficiently, coupled with being able to track and manage your inventory more accurately and being able to run specialized reports to keep an eye on your business can all work synergistically to improve your bottom line.

The initial investment in a POS program can usually be offset almost immediately in the amount of time saved by clerks at the till running transactions, and the amount of time saved managing inventory.  Human labor is a big cost to retail businesses, so every process and task that can be automated or made more efficient through the use of point of sale software and hardware can be a big savings to your business.

AmberPOS – Point of Sale Software

AmberPOS is a top of the line point of sale program developed from scratch with the retail business owner in mind.  For over 15 years we’ve worked with retail business owners across North America to develop and customize a POS software which delivers unsurpassed quality and performance to our customers.  We pride ourselves in providing top level customer service, support and training during and after your software installation.

By choosing AmberPOS as your Point of Sale software provider you’ll never be left alone without support or training like some of the “off the shelf” programs which may seem cheaper based on their initial price tag, but which end up costing you much more later on in wasted time, additional labor costs and leave you frustrated and unable to run your business properly.

Contact us today for a free, no obligation consultation and demo with one of our Point of Sale specialists by visiting this page or by calling us at 778-285-2855.

Is your POS software HST ready?

New changes for HST (Harmonized Sales Tax) are coming into effect on July 1st, 2010 in British Columbia, but the HST changes affect retailers in all provinces across Canada, not just BC retailers.  Many retailers running computerized point of sale systems are wondering if their POS software will be able to handle the new dynamic HST tax structure.

There are a few challenges involved in making HST work with POS software and AmberPOS is ready to handle all the HST changes automatically.

Province Specific HST Tax Rates

The first challenge with the new HST tax is that it is a dynamic tax that is customer location specific.  Meaning, the new HST tax rates will be different for people located in different provinces.

For example, if you are a retailer located in BC, when you sell something to a customer who resides in BC, you will have to charge them 12% for HST.  However, when you are selling something to a customer in Ontario, you will have to charge them 13% for HST.  To make things even more complicated, if you’re selling to a customer in Alberta, you will have to charge them 5% HST.

In this way, HST is a dynamic tax that is dependent on the location of the customer, not just the retailer.  Meaning, HST is not based on just one single rate, but on a different rate for each province.

Even provinces which are not switching to the new HST system will have to charge HST to customers in provinces which do have HST.  For example, a retailer in Alberta will have to charge HST to their BC customers.  This is especially important for retailers with online web stores that ship product outside of their province.

AmberPOS is fully ready for the new HST changes coming into effect and our software automatically calculates the proper HST to charge your customers, so that you and your staff don’t have to worry about making that decision manually at each transaction.  This speeds up client processing and eliminates undercharging/overcharging clients by taking the decision away from the hands of the clerk who may not fully understand HST rules.

Point-of-Sale (POS) Rebates for British Columbia HST

In addition to province-specific HST tax rates, your POS software also has to take into effect Point of Sale Rebates for HST.

What is a point-of-sale HST rebate?

Point of sale rebates are similar to PST exemptions under the current tax system.  Certain items (such as the ones listed below) will get an instant rebate during checkout which will reduce the amount of HST payable by the purchaser by the 7% (in BC) provincial portion of the HST.  This means that on items such as books, purchasers will only pay 5% HST.

Which items have point of sale HST rebates?

POS rebates for HST will apply to certain designated items such as:

• motor fuels
• books
• children’s clothing
• children’s footwear
• children’s diapers
• children’s car seats and car booster seatsfeminine hygiene products

AmberPOS point of sale software will allow you to provide HST POS rebates for such items automatically so there is no memorization required for your staff members.

HST Related Resources

• Place of Supply Rules for HST
• GST / HST Info Sheets
• GST / HST Notices
• HST Publications

Is it time to upgrade your POS software?

Automatic integrating of features such as HST compatibility is just one example of the benefits of running our state-of-the-art AmberPOS software.

AmberPOS is constantly being updated and improved based on the feedback we receive from our retail customers, and based on the ever increasing demands of the retail industry.  By choosing AmberPOS, you are partnering with a world-class Point of Sale software provider who understands your needs.

If you have any questions about HST and point of sale systems, or to book a free demo and consultation to see if AmberPOS is right for your business, please contact us today.

Click Here to Book a Free Demo