Point of Sale News Features One Step Article on Mobile POS

We are honored to have one of our recent articles features in retail technology hub Point of Sale News.

The concept of retailers transitioning to mobile is a hot topic but will take some time to see implemented broadly. Check out the article for more information.

Read here: Mobile Up - Retail Cowboy

[White Paper] Six Biggest Challenges Retailers Face Today

The Six Biggest Challenges Retailers Face Today is One Step Retail Solutions most popular white paper made available as a free download.

This comprehensive white paper covers hot topics (including but not limited to) the current retail environment, overcoming challenges related to achieving growth and where to start... strategy, execution and resources.

We are hoping that you will avail yourself of the key information found in this popular white paper.

Free Download

Happy Memorial Day

We wanted to take a moment to wish you a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend! Retailers, do you have any activities, fun outings or promotions running this weekend?

Get Your POS in the Cloud

Many retailers are planning for a future upgrade of their retail point of sale. For many, this will mean a hardware upgrade and for others a full system upgrade will take place.


Exciting resources now available to retailers are mobile and cloud based point of sale. While this is an increasingly popular and an exciting advance, what does this make possible for the average retailer?

Mobile POS offers several benefits to retailers: Free up your staff to move about and interact freely with customers, eco-friendly and cost effective paperless receipts, expedite checkout, swift look-up of available stock and much more.

Cloud POS brings in a whole new level of remote management, centralizing and increasing the security of your system. No more worrying about scheduled backups!

We are proud to offer this one of a kind system, Teamwork Retail, a state of the art cloud based COMPLETE point of sale system.

Request a Demo

Teamwork Retail Screen Shot

One Step Brings Mobile POS To Your Fingertips

With technology and functionality improving in all areas of life, retail technology is following suit and will be advancing wildly over the coming few years. Hardware is moving in the direction of mobile and true to form, OneStep Retail Solutions offers 4 top of the line options for those retailers looking to go mobile.

Each retailer is different and it is important that they have a technology solution that fits their unique needs and vision. We take a consultative approach to retail technology and help retailers find the best system for now and into the future.

CounterPointMobile

Teamwork Retail
Retail Pro
Lightspeed

If you would like to set up a free retail technology consultation, let me know: Email or call 818.543.4777 ext 4116

Some Etsy Success Points Retailers Should Know About

Etsy has created an impressively productive eCommerce site, I would like to take a few moments to highlight some of the things they are doing tremendously right. Hopefully retailers (both brick and mortar and online) can learn from what Etsy is doing right.

Founded in 2005 Etsy has expanded from nothing to 12 million+ buyer accounts. Think Amazon meets your Grandma’s keepsakes +  your friends awesome homemade projects. Etsy’s rise has relied upon word of mouth and smart marketing.

Things they do right:

1)      They have product features on their home page, following a theme of the day (colors, textures, patterns, styles).

2)      They have weekly Etsy Marketing tips that go out to assist their sellers and create a value add to their website.

3)      Features - Etsy runs features on shop owners. They tell their story and highlight how they make their products. This could translate to featuring a brand of clothing, designer or current trend.

4)      Their whole site is picture heavy, each product has multiple pictures representing them from different angles. When you first open the page you see picture after picture all organized in a systematic way. They have daily emails that go out to subscribers featuring new hot products.

5)      Their system for organizing their items goes wide. They have a category for “geekery” and “toys”. One could literally spend hours pursuing their site and all the possibilities.

6)      They have had a blog that gets consistently updated by guest writers since 2005. In the beginning the posts were less frequent, now they commonly have 2 or 3 posts a day. All interesting to and useful to their followers.

7)      Each member’s information is automatically stored and used for Etsy’s own continued marketing. Made possible by a hefty CRM on their end.

Take aways:

1)      Create a value add wherever possible. Make it so that your services go beyond the obvious.

2)      Be inspiring.

3)      Make it possible for your shoppers to see your merchandise from anywhere. Or at least get a taste for your aesthetic and want to find out more. (If you do not have an ecommerce site, create a blog, apps, etc)

4)      Update your clients and interact with them in more ways than just in store (email, social media, events, blogs, etc).

5)      Have fun and don’t shy away from being creative or pushing the envelope.

6)      Retain your client’s information and likes, ensure you have a proper system to go about doing this. Think of creative ways to get them to follow/like you on your social sites.

This information was made available by the marketing team at One Step Retail Solutions, leading retail technology consultancy company. If you need help finding a system with customer relationship management capabilities, mobile POS, full inventory tracking and more contact Amy to set up a free consultation or call 818-543-4777 ext 4116

Home Page

Etsy Blog

Featured Sellers

Sample Treasury List

Proof That Pinterest Drives Sales by FastCompany.com

Please read the full review for more information - Proof That Pinterest Drives Sales

Very interesting news to me is "Pinterest pins with pricing get 36% more likes than those without", make sense. Look through these informative graphics and check out the full article from Fast Company (link above).

Happy Pinning!
Check Out: Our Pinterest Account
One Step Retail Solutions

Feature: Dan Jablons of Retail Smart Guys

We are proud to introduce you to Dan Jablons, President of Retail Smart Guys. Retail Smart Guys focuses on Open To Buy and Retail Consulting and recently won first place in the Management One sales category.  Dan is based out of California and working with retailers nationwide. www.retailsmartguys.com

What is your favorite thing about working with retailers? Helping them generate more cash flow by showing them how to properly buy inventory.

What would you say is the most helpful thing about your product or services for a retailer?  It helps them to understand the exact relationship between their inventory investment and what ends up in their checking account.

If you could offer any advice to retailers out there, what would you say?  The best marketing for a retail store is having the right merchandise.  Ensure that you have planned out what you are receiving, and make sure that matches your sales forecast.  You also need to revisit your vendor mix and assortment plan at the start of every season.

If you were a retailer, what do you think your favorite part of your day would be?  Opening the store.

If you were a retailer, what do you think your least favorite part of the day would be?  Physical inventory

Do you have any hobbies?  I am an actor as well as a consultant

How did you get into the industry and the focus on retail?  My dad got me my first job in retail when I was 17.  Have either serviced or participated in retail ever since.

In you could live anywhere in the world, where would you and why?  I already live in Southern California, which I think is paradise.  Really, I do!

Do you have any retail design favorites?  Too many to mention

What do you think are retailers worst habits?  Not analyzing the statistics in their business

What do you think are retailers best habits?  Working on strengthening customer relationships

Retail Smart Guys is part of One Step Retail Solution's Retail Professional Association. For more information on our association resources go to http://onestepretail.com/retail/recommended/ 

Mobile App Features and Capabilites for Retailers

One Step Retail Solutions associate Pocket Your Shop creates custom
apps for retailers and non-profits. The most recent app to go live was for
Jax Bicycles of Orange County.

We wanted to take a moment to feature the possibilities made available
by creating an app for your retail store.

- Apps are perfect for customer that are on the go (isn't that everyone
now a 'days?)
- Ability to create how-to sections, tips and other features to keep
customer coming back. An example of that is Jax created a local bike
trail map app.
- You can instantly increase your traffic and interaction with your shoppers.
- You can tie together your different store locations through a GPS map
and contacts capability (as opposed to just a static map and text on the website).
- This could create a unique way to offer specials and coupons to customers.

Retailers on Pinterest

More retailers are getting Pinterest accounts up and running every day. Many of them are incorporating Pinterest directly into their websites.

Here is a list of the big guys I know of thus far and how many followers they have. Please feel free to comment with others you have found.

Nordstrom / 16,289
Coach / 2,366
Kate Spade / 49,919
Nike / 491 (may not be a company operated account)
Etsy (one of the first retail sites to hop on this) / 85,803
West Elm / 29,975
Williams Sonoma / 10,987
Gap / 5,643
Piperlime / 2,519
Old Navy / 1,951
(surprisingly Banana Republic's doesn't appear to have a set up account, yet)
ModCloth (were quick to capitalize on Facebook ads as well) / 22,903
Neiman Marcus / 8,579
Bergdorf / 19,086
Anthropologie / 47,787
Urban Outfitters / 502
Barneys NY / 9,269
Target / 2,723
ShopBop / 10,398
Sephora / 15,223
Martha Stewart Living / 31,616
Home Depot / 2,440
Rent the Runway / 3,779



1) In searching for large chain retail stores, I came across a surprisingly large amount of independent retailers capitalizing on this resource (hurrah!).
2) If your name may be more common, consider adding "boutique" or "shop" to the end, there are hundreds of Aldo's (for example) and if the shoe store has an account, I wouldn't know it.
3) Beware of knock off sites, note that you are the "official" site. A tip off to fake sites is a blurry (low quality) logo image.


http://pinterest.com/onestepretail/

The Future of Retailing with Retail Pro - Webinar

Join us for a Webinar on June 5th at 11:00am - 12:00am PDT
The Future of Retailing with Retail Pro

Space is limited. Reserve your Webinar seat now at: https://www3.gotomeeting.com/register/541760974

Join our meeting of some of the top Retail Technology developers, discussing: The Future of Retailing with Retail Pro Polishing up our crystal ball, we are excited to present the electrifying future of Retail Pro for your retail management technology needs and desires….bringing you everything you ever wanted in a POS/Inventory/Retail Management system! Find out what’s in the immediate future! Join us for this comprehensive meeting with our guests: Ket Venethongkham, from Retail Pro International presenting Prism, the newest development that will revolutionize how you set up your store(s).  Scott Anderson, from Foundry Logic, introducing Mobile POS for Retail Pro, taking your retail sales out from behind the cash wrap out onto the sales floor, putting your POS in the hands of your staff to better service your customers from anywhere; also for line-busting or inventory counting. Jeff Whiteside, from Flexquery, showing the enhanced depth of reporting available for Retail Pro users from Key Performance Indicators to the most specific custom reports that you always wanted to have. Manage your store in a way you never thought possible! Robyn Longmire, One Step Retail Solutions own expert on how to put it all together for your store. With multiple possibilities, figure out what would answer your needs as a retailer….now you can have it all! Presented by One Step Retail Solutions Title: The Future of Retailing with Retail Pro Date: Tuesday, June 5, 2012 Time: 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the Webinar. System Requirements PC-based attendees Required: Windows® 7, Vista, XP or 2003 Server Macintosh®-based attendees Required: Mac OS® X 10.5 or newer

A Themed Retail Store - Story in NYC

The story behind Story

Talk about thinking outside of the box!

Need Help With Your Retail Store?

6 Biggest Challenges Retailers Face Today - White Paper

 

Fantastic Boutique Blog - A Pinners Paradise

I have been looking for samples and just happened across a blog that
nailed the "Pinterest-worthy" concept. Pictures, pictures and MORE
pictures. Note the Instagram feed running along the right hand side.

Pinterest Friendly Retail Blog that is is even attached to their online
store - hurrah!

Retailers - if you are on a budget and don't have an online store,
consider a blog like this.

Written for you, by Amy Hanson, Social Media and Business Alliance
Specialist at One Step Retail Solutions. Normally covering topics related
to retail technology but occasionally dabbling in more general retail
related topics.

Happy Cinco de Mayo!

We had a very fun office party with a potluck and Loteria (bingo).

Thought we should share just a few of the pictures with you. Ole!

Have a fantastic and safe Cinco de Mayo!

Your Friends at One Step Retail Solutions

www.onestepretail.com

Welcome to May!

Now that we are in the 5th month of 2012 (already!?) the weather will start
warming up, the flowers will start blooming and we are entering a good long
stretch of sales, sales, sales.

We kick off the month with Cinco De Mayo on the 5th. Do any of you have
some fun activities, decor or sales going on to celebrate this holiday?

Then onto Mother's day on the 13th. With a nice little breather until
Memorial Day, one of the most noteworth sales days of the year.
What do you have planned for the weekend of May 26 - 28th?
Will your store be hosting a BBQ themed event and offering some hot sales?
We have an exciting month ahead, what are you most looking forward to?