Release notes POS 4.00.21

Please refer to CAS 3.6.3 release notes for additional enhancements

Long awaited - this release is full of exciting enhancements

HIGHLIGHTS

Package Items - Bundle complimentary items at a discounted price - perfect way to move merchandise. Now the cashier is prompted to ask the customer if they purchase one item in the package if they are interested in adding "Item XXX" for $XX.XX". The customer may not have been aware of the packaged promotion - now they are happy (and so are you)!

Gift Receipts - When a customer is making a purchase as a gift and wants the recipient to be able to return the item if it does not suit them, a gift receipt can be created. It can be created from the Edit Item screen or after the sale from the sales screen "Search" button.

Building your customer data - It's so important to the retailer to know their customers - who are your top customers based on frequency of sales or most profitable. Often the challenge is to add the customer to the sales transaction. This has been simplified with the ability to add by swiping their drivers license.

Adding Customer data using a Driver’s License

Customers can now be added by swiping their driver’s license through the magnetic swipe. This will allow the cashier to quickly and accurately add the customer to the CRM and when go green is enabled; digital receipts can be emailed to the customer. Retailers who are looking to actively track their customer activity, should consider enabling CRM builder (v20), this will ultimately allow you to create customer groups and offer them “club or special” pricing as well as generating more specific recommended items and promotional programs (v23).

When collecting customer data, make sure that your network is secure. Once entered, the data will be encrypted in the database; however retailers are encouraged to follow the PCI recommendations to properly secure all customer data.

Bar Code Printing of Transaction Number On Receipts

The transaction number will now appear as a barcode on receipts. This will allow users to process returns by simply scanning the barcode when doing a search.

This easy method of retrieving transactions can be tied with the verified refunds feature to implement a return policy that is based on the prices and discounts on the original transaction automatically. If your return policy also requires that customer data be entered, you can generate customer history data that can provide you with all the customer sales activity, as well as some data on the transaction and profit margins generated.

Debit Card Acceptance

Pin based debit cards are now certified for processing on the Redfin and Zivo gateways. Debit cards provide retailers with a lower cost alternative and may provide you with additional protection against chargebacks. If considering this, you may also want to think about offering Dwolla as a payment option. It is another new low cost payment vehicle that opens the world of mobile payments to you.

Discount - Cost Plus

This allows for a discount to be structured at a percentage above cost. This feature allows merchants to offer either certain customers or groups of customers a favorable discount that is sure not to go below cost. Typically a discount like this is reserved for employees or “friends and family” or owners.

Since this discount is based on cost, it will be important to make sure that costs are correctly entered into the system. Retailers who utilize this type of discount will probably want to track overall costs using the purchase order and inventory receiving functions of the CAS. In addition to correctly reflecting costs, it will also provide you with reporting on any cost variances from your vendors as well as return on investment reporting on a classification, attribute or vendor level.

Emailed Receipts – Redesign

Emailed receipts on Go Green sales transactions have been redesigned to be more dynamic and user friendly. Customers will be able to see their purchased items and transaction data.

With the mail server set, merchants are able to send out email receipts to customers entered into the database. Combined with the CRM builder feature (v21), retailers will be able to build a database that will ultimately be able to accurately predict customer product preferences.

The digital receipts, in addition to having transactional information, can also include your promotional messages as well as your brand logo.

Note: Merchants will need to have their mail settings added to be able to send out emailed receipts. When using emailed receipts, merchants can save the cost of paper and be able to offer a “green” option. By collecting customer data through the CRM builder, merchants can better create and distribute promotions and sales.

Gift Card Receipt (For Recipient)

In v21, when gift cards are activated on the POS, a receipt with the gift card activation information will be generated. Users will be able to give the receipt to the customer so that they are able to verify the amount and provide it to the gift card recipient.

Gift Receipts – Revamp

Gift receipts can be printed for items that are being purchased for someone other than the customer. This allows the recipient to know where the item was purchased and to exchange the item for something else if necessary. The receipt will print a barcode on it that can be scanned by the cashier to retrieve the original transaction information in the event of a return.

A keyboard shortcut was added (Alt-F) for faster receipt printing. All Keyboard shortcuts can be generated from the Transaction Screen and a full listing can be viewed by using ALT_H.

Expired Coupons Still In Drop Down

Retailers can set coupon promotions for a date and time range on a recurring basis. When the coupons expire, it will no longer be visible on the POS, but users with appropriate rights will be able to view and modify them on the CAS.

Coupons are fixed amount discounts and can be applied at an item level for specific items, or using the mass modify feature, they can be applied to an entire classification or attribute of items across the enterprise or at a specific region or store.

This feature can be used in conjunction with the attribute analysis report and the sales tracking summary report to build automated promotions to drive traffic during specific dates and times to specific stores or for specific items.

Item Look Up Search CAS Not Displaying Results

Item look up for CAS will create a wider search and look at all items in the master tables database. Searching on the POS can be faster by limiting your search options and providing criteria. Users will be able to search using one or a combination of classifications and attributes.

The item listing report on the CAS can provide users with appropriate rights a listing of all items and classifications or attributes can be modified individually or in groups from the Master Item screen. Classifications and attributes can also be merged from their individual screens

When modifying classifications and groups consider the blog post “ABC of Classifications” as well as the data available on the Attribute Analysis report as a guide on how to gain optimum results in your category management.

Merging Of Classifications And Attributes

Merging a classification or attribute listings, will allow for classifications and attributes of the same type to become a single listing, while maintaining the items associated. Department, Category, and Sub-Category can be merged with like listings to become a single representation of the classification, the items associated will be moved to the new combined classification.

By using reports such as the attribute analysis and inventory listings, Merchants can gain better insight into how best to merge classifications and attributes. Using these reports, you can get a better understanding of redundancy within the classifications and attributes and make the necessary adjustments, creating better basic for analyzing your data and projections.

Package Item Revamped

Merchants are able to create logical packages or bundles for like items. An option to prompt the cashier when partial pre-set packages are rung up, allows for an opportunity to offer additional items to create the special priced “Package”. Items that are packaged and scanned together will be recognized as the package and will be sold as such.

Packages or bundles can be an easy upsell feature or promotion by pairing linked items or combinations of items. Using packages as an up sell feature is easy to setup and modify. Merchants can also create recommended items for set items to be offered.

Store Logo Printing

Store logos that are within 100 by 100 pixels, can be printed on to transaction receipt. The logo will print at the top of the transaction receipt above the header information. Logos can be saved under the POS and CAS. This provides an easy was to display your logo on each sale and add to the recognition of your logo to your customers. Logos entered here will also be displayed on emailed receipts.

USB Printers

Merchants will be able to set the USB printer settings under the hardware settings, to allow for it to print directly to that port. Depending on the hardware type, drivers will need to be installed for the printer. Tax Inclusive Transaction Calculations

Enhancements have been made to the tax inclusive to support features available in tax exclusive calculations such as multiple tax rates (with minimum amount requirements) within the same tax structure.

The tax inclusive is useful for retailers who wish to price their items in dollar increments and for those interested in running tax related promotions like “we pay the tax” sales. Applying the tax rate as tax inclusive for the weekend, allows the system to track sales tax while the customer see it as a price that includes tax.