Beverage Dynamics is the largest national business magazine devoted exclusively to the needs of off-premise beverage alcohol retailers, from single liquor stores to big box chains, through coverage of the latest trends in wine, beer and spirits.
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/41523
wine-tasting classes, runs wine clubs and attends wine fes- tivals, has his POS system in his pocket wherever he goes. Cashier Live, a web-based system for small retailers, has recently introduced a free application that works with iPads and iPhones, called Retail Inventory, which allows a retailer to use those devices, rather than much more expensive dedicated wireless scanners, to take inventories in their stores. "The devices use their cam- eras to 'scan' the barcodes and then the app syncs up with the store's inventory," said Cashier Live's Tom Greenhaw. "Though it works best with the Cashier Live system, it works with others as well." More Mobile POS that the earliest mobile solutions allowed retailers to process a credit-card transaction – that then had to be re-entered into the store's actual POS system. "But more retailers are migrating to a system of integrated POS, where they can access everything, can manage inventory, can do secure credit-card processing, and have it in their POS system in real time, can access customer files, can do all their POS work on their mobile device," he said. R adiant Systems has also recently entered the mobile POS arena. Jack O'Malley, product marketing manager at Radiant, pointed out But mobile devices do have certain advantages when used for POS. "CP Mobile can make cashiers more than cashiers," said O'Malley. "It gets them out from behind the counter, so they can be sales associates, out on the floor, with customers as they make their decisions." Making It Your Own L IPhone set up to be a mobile register for Radiant's CounterPoint POS system, equipped with a jacket that allows credit-card swiping. ike Prieur at Perrine's Wine Shop, Jason Scalise, partner at Broadway Wines & Spirits, in Colchester, CT, also had a bad experience with his first retail computer system. "A lot of POS systems don't include accounts payable and accounts receivable, so you have to use a third-party accounting system," he explained. "But when we had that, there were always a lot of errors when exporting the data. I spent hours, a day every week, sitting with coffee at my desk, fixing errors and hitting OK. It would take two hours every week to get a balance sheet. It was the biggest waste of time I ever had." When he decided to replace the system, he shopped by googling "POS and 'accounts payable,'" and came across Windward Software, whose system includes both. He liked that it also included fully integrated credit-card process- ing. "Before, we were using a third-party credit-card The Radiant POS system, called Counterpoint, launched its mobile-POS add-on this month. CP Mobile can run on iPod Touches (Generation 4) and the iPhone 4. As with the other companies, the devices are fitted with a case that includes a scanner and a credit- card swipe, which costs about $600. They can also be fit- ted with a tiny printer, worn on a belt, for receipts, which is priced at about $300. As is also the case with the other companies, when an iPod is used as the mobile device, it depends on a wireless-internet connection to access the store's POS system, while an iPhone can be used where there is no wi-fi because it is accessing the system via its cell-phone reception. A CounterPoint user pays a monthly fee of $75- $125 per device per month to use the mobile devices. The difference in price depends on the length of the contract. The higher price represents what retailers pay to use the mobile devices if they only sign on for a season. "Often, for retailers, business spikes at certain times, like the holiday season," said O'Malley. "Some retailers want to use the mobile devices as 'line busters' during those times but not for the whole year." processor, which would often double-charge," he said. "We looked terrible but it was not our fault." But while those things were handled automatically, what Scalise found he really liked about his Windward system was his ability to set up a system for inventory control that made sense for his business. "I think there is too much product in this industry," he said. "There are all these big suppliers and every- body's trying to influence what you carry in your store. I used to get 15 to 20 sales calls a week at the store, which can be very annoying." Yet, Scalise knew how important it is to have the right inventory. "People walk out, without buying," he said. "It's not a good feeling." What he needed, he decided, was a system that allowed him to know what his customers were buying and what they preferred. "A $50 riesling might be sell- ing great in Manhattan, but it's not going to sell in Colchester," he said. Windward's inventory system has a feature called "look-up words." These words or tags can be linked to any product. "I love it," Scalise said. "I use terms like 'laydown' and 'red' and 'dry,' any words I want that I can look up later and run reports. I can also exclude some look-up words while searching for others." By using these look-up words to analyze his sales, he 50 • Beverage Dynamics • www.beveragedynamics.com • September/October 2011