StateWays is the only magazine exclusively covering the control state system within the beverage alcohol industry, with annual updates from liquor control commissions and alcohol control boards and yearly fiscal reporting from control jurisdictions
Issue link: http://read.dmtmag.com/i/42062
be quite a number, particularly for a product we've already paid for," said Stephen Mitchell, the ABCB's assistant director of infrastructure services. The ABCB has discussed offering gift cards in its stores but has held off because of how much it would cost to write the software for it using their current system. Their current system's software is proprietary, meaning that the ABCB cannot make changes to it without involving the vendor. The new system Latham has his eye on would be easi- er to customize and the ABCB could make changes to it on its own. Latham said the ABCB should be able to evaluate its bids and have a contract within the next month or so, though any implementation would not occur until after the busy holiday season. Developing the Plan M eanwhile, back in Vermont, the DLC has chosen a vendor and the contract process is underway. The first step after that, said Perricone, will be the vendor documenting all the DLC's current processes. "The vendor brings what it knows about retail best practices and about retail technology to the table, while we bring what we know, about how our business works," he explained. He said he thinks the whole process of implementing the new ERP and POS system will take a minimum of two years. "There's a saying, 'You can get it fast, cheap or right, but you can only have two of those things at the same time,'" he said. "My choice is not fast. These systems could last 10 years or more. We need to make sure it's right." Still, it's an exciting time, because the DLC has decided to take full advantage of the need to change systems, to look at all its busi- ness processes and see where they can be improved. "This isn't just about cutting-edge hardware and software," said Commissioner Hogan. "Many of our business practices are good, designed for our unique needs, but others only make sense because of how our old system works or because things made sense long ago. This is our chance to combine the best of our current practices with the best of the retail industry and the capabilities of modern technology, to improve everything we do." Change, in other words, can be good. SW StateWays s www.stateways.com s September/October 2011 ou try to make your stores as attractive and modern as you can. You try to provide great customer service, including product infor- mation, to the public. And in this age of budget cuts, you try to do all this with no increase in store staffing. Customer kiosks have been around for years, intended to help you do all this, and they continue to improve. A PROFIT CENTER Y ChoiceMaster, a long-term provider of kiosks focused on liquor, beer and wine, for example, has just launched its newest customer kiosk, the ChoiceMaster Digital Signage (CMDS). The CMDS is still a touchscreen kiosk, equipped with a scanner and a print- er, which customers and staff can use to look up information, such as tasting notes, on products. (And it is still linked to the store's POS system so that all the products that it gives information on are in that store.) But now it also is equipped with a 42-inch LCD screen. That screen can play advertisements, including supplier television commercials. In markets where legal, ChoiceMaster sells these advertising opportunities and, again in markets were legal, would split this ad revenue with the state's control agency or the private retailer. Even with these national, system-wide ads, the only ads that will play in a particular store are ones for products that the store carries. Control-state agencies could also run their own ads or public- service announcements. Custom content for the kiosks is easily made, using Power Point. Potentially, an agency could even sell ads to local businesses, keeping all the revenue. "The kiosk (which lease for $89 per month per kiosk) can pay for itself – and even make money," said Jim Greaves, president of ChoiceMaster. The large screen also attracts attention to the kiosk itself – and what it can do for the shopper. "Often, people prefer to 'ask' a computer a question," said Greaves. "Frankly, they can be embarrassed, that they might pronounce something like 'pinot noir' wrong. People like that it is a non-threatening place to get their product information." The kiosk can also, Greaves pointed out, be used by store staff to increase their own knowledge – and to find the answer to a customer question when they don't know. The new large screens themselves offer educational opportunities. They can even show live tastings, via a webinar, where the person on the screen can hear and respond to questions from people watching in differ- ent stores. (These tastings can also be recorded and reshown.) "All the store has to do [in markets where tastings are legal] is have someone there pouring the wine," said Greaves. The machine will do the rest. 45