ETD: 936 New POS Software; The Hidden Costs of Credit Card
Processing; Late Chanukah May Extend Retail Season
E-Tailer's Digest
etd_post at gapent.com
Thu Dec 1 11:34:55 GMT 2005
E-Tailer's Digest --- Everything for the Retailer
Issue #0936 December 1, 2005
George Matyjewicz, Moderator mailto:georgem at gapent.com
Published by: GAP Enterprises, Ltd. http://www.etailersdigest.com
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CONTENTS
[1] Greetings
[2] New POS Software
[3] The Hidden Costs of Credit Card Processing
[4] Late Chanukah May Extend Retail Season
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[1] Greetings.
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Hi All:
Today we have some feedback on that new POS app that somebody is
trying to develop - three posts from list members. Interesting take
on this venture.
We also got a follow up note from Josh Dill, who wrote that
excellent special report on "The Hidden Costs of Credit Card
Processing." A couple of list members contacted him, and he was able
to save one of them 30% on credit card fees. It's nice to bring
resources like that to our community.
This holiday season is expected to be a good one because Chanukah
lines up with Christmas, which will extend the season. I hope it
works for you.
How's the season going for you so far?
Now, let's get to everything for the retailer.
Sincerely
George Matyjewicz, PhD
Chief Global Strategist, GAP Enterprises, LLC
mailto:georgem at gapent.com
http://www.etailersdigest.com
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[2] New POS Software
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Steven J. Owens wrote...
> I have a friend who has developed a new POS app that links to a certain
> business accounting package and he is wondering if their is a market for it.
> It's still very much worth investigating and seeing if
retailers/e-tailers are
> unhappy with the current products, and if so, why. What do you think?
I think unless someone has the funding and a solid business plan this
is a crowded space to get into where people want a lot for a
little. Everyone underestimates the amount of work, time and money
something like this takes. And they overestimate the potential
returns. I think the basics of starting any business apply. There
is always room for someone good in any business but this is a tough
one without real funding and a strong plan.
CAM Commerce Solutions is the largest supplier of microcomputer-based
inventory management and point of sale software solutions for small-
to medium-size retailers. Our stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock
exchange (ticker symbol "CADA").
Regards,
Geoff Knapp,
CEO
CAM Commerce Solutions
http://www.camcommerce.com/
+++ Next +++
I noticed the posting and had the same impressions that you did
George; this seems to be addressed to techies who are working with
etailers, rather than retailers.(I assume this is a hardgoods system
rather than a softgoods one). If one is a potential etailer, and is
setting up a website, what does he use now as a checkout routine for
his POS? We can obviously assume that anyone starting an e-tail
business need the POS function from the get-go.
Do the current apps offer this interface to Quickbooks that this
proposed app is offering? How is the reporting ???? or Is it relying
on Quickbooks for the reporting? The financial reporting from
Quickbooks we all know, but the inventory/sales reporting that is
necessary from a POS system would be required. By the way, Quickbooks
has a POS system, however I am completely unfamiliar with it.
Joe Dweck
+++ Next +++
We have an industry-specific POS software program that exports data
into Quickbooks. It was too complicated to use that feature. We
couldn't personalize it for what we needed from the POS sales. There
was specific places it exported to and that is not the categories we
use to track our sales. We use the Journal Entry function for daily
sales to track gift certificates, PayPal sales, CC sales, etc. We
love the POS software for the reports we can generate with it. We
just print a daily report and key in the sales info we need into Quickbooks.
The cost was $2500, which we thought was a reasonable price. $450
sounds cheap and my first impression would be that it doesn't do very much.
Dacia Bolton Bates
www.lacylovelies.com
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[3] The Hidden Costs of Credit Card Processing
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After reading the Special Report published in E-Tailers Digest (issue
934), several list members inquired about the Charge Card Systems
program. One particular member reviewed his current program with us
as the monthly processing bills had been steadily climbing upwards
over the years. After careful analysis, it became clear that with
some rate adjustments and procedural changes this member could save
over 30% on his monthly costs and receive his funds the next day
instead of 2-3 days later.
His application was approved within 3 hours, and he has already made
the change to Charge Card Systems.
In another case, a speciality retail organization is interested in
Charge Card Systems for their members who also seem to be getting hit
with hefty fees and not having access to funds for 2-3 days. Let's
face it, retailers needs funds to replenish goods and to grow their
business. Cash flow helps retailers become successful.
Thank you for giving us the opportunity to share "The Hidden Costs of
Credit Card Processing" with your members.
Josh Dill
Senior Account Executive
Charge Card Systems Inc.
(201) 568-6813
www.chargecardsystems.com
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[4] Late Chanukah May Extend Retail Season
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Christmas and the first night of Chanukah, the eight-day Jewish
festival of lights, coincide perfectly this year, for the first time
since 1959. The start date of Chanukah, determined by the lunar
calendar, falls near Christmas about once every three years. But it
hasn't come this late in the season since 1997, when the first night
of Chanukah was Dec. 23. In 1986, the first night of Chanukah was
Dec. 26, and in 1978, it was Christmas Eve.
The upshot for retailers is that this year's holiday shopping season,
which got off to a frenzied start on the day after Thanksgiving, will
probably end in the same manner.
"The Friday and Saturday before Christmas will be the biggest seen in
years ... and then there will be this huge ka-boom, after the fact,"
predicts Michael Brown, principal at Kurt Salmon Associates, a
retail-consulting firm. He is referring to shoppers' annual rush to
spend Christmas gift cards and to take advantage of post-Christmas
sales, which will coincide this year with Chanukah-gift shopping.
Some families give gifts each of the eight nights, particularly to kids.
Retail experts say the net effect this year will be to accentuate the
recent pattern in which more holiday spending takes place during the
Thanksgiving weekend and the final few days before Christmas, with a
dwindling portion in between. Adding yet another twist is that Dec.
25 is a Sunday, giving retailers an extra selling Saturday on Dec. 24
and a post-Christmas bonus day on Monday, Dec. 26, when most offices
will be closed and most stores will be wide open.
How much of holiday sales are attributable to Chanukah? Nobody really
knows. Jews make up less than 2% of the U.S. population, but their
incomes, and as a result their spending power, tend to be well above
average -- suggesting a greater-than-2% slice of the annual holiday
shopping bonanza, expected this year to total about $439.5 billion.
But there are other factors to consider, including that many Jews
eschew lavish gift-giving in their Chanukah celebrations.
Retailers, though, are preparing for a late-December deluge. Taubman
Centers Inc., which operates 23 malls in the U.S., says that at its
malls situated near large Jewish populations -- Short Hills, N.J.;
Tampa, Fla.; and Los Angeles -- some stores have hired 15% more
holiday workers this year and are planning to keep them on until
later in the season because of the timing of the holidays.
Bloomingdale's, a unit of Federated Department Stores Inc., says it
has hired 20% more holiday store workers this year, in part to cope
with the anticipated late-season rush.
Sharper Image Corp., San Francisco, says it waited an extra week to
begin holiday hiring. And Tiffany & Co. says this year it is keeping
its flagship Fifth Avenue store in New York City open until 9 p.m. on
Thursday and Friday before Christmas Eve, one hour later than usual,
to handle last-minute shoppers. (The store still plans to close at 4
p.m. on Christmas Eve.) "Will it make a difference [to overall
sales]?" says Mark Aaron, Tiffany's vice president of investor
relations. "Who knows? We just thought it would add a layer of
convenience for our customers."
Many retailers expect the "ka-boom" effect to last into January:
Taubman says holiday decorations, including 20-foot snow globes
decorated with characters from the Walt Disney Co. movie "The
Chronicles of Narnia," will stay up until Jan. 8. (In last year's
holiday season, the lights went out on most decorations after
Christmas Day.) Mills Corp., which operates 39 U.S. shopping malls,
says on Dec. 26 it will open its properties two hours earlier than
usual, at 8 a.m., and at 9 a.m. through the rest of that week. "We
are expecting it to be a very big shopping week," says Rebecca
Sullivan, the company's director of public relations.
Small, local retailers are also expecting the late Chanukah to be a
boon. In Manhattan, Zitomer, a fancy "small department store" with a
pharmacy, expects a holiday sales boost of at 10% because of the
timing of Chanukah. "When it falls earlier, the Chanukah shopping
ends early. So [having Chanukah later] gives more time for people to
shop," says Frank Vella, general manager and vice president at the store.
Fortunoff, a retailer of jewelry, furniture and home products in New
York and New Jersey, anticipates a "marked" sales increase this
season. The company's acting chief executive, Joel Kier, didn't want
to speculate on how the timing of Chanukah would affect sales other
than to say, "It's going to be super-duper."
Patagonia Inc., of Ventura, Calif., an outdoor-wear retailer, says it
has already felt an effect of the late Chanukah at its store on
Manhattan's Upper West Side. Rich Hill, vice president of sales, says
November sales were soft in New York because of a combination of warm
weather and the delayed Chanukah. "Weather trumps anything, but
Chanukah has a regional effect," says Mr. Hill, who ordered more
products this year for the company's stores nationwide because he
expects a strong, extended holiday shopping season.
At Inspiration Gallery, a Judaica store and art gallery in New
Rochelle, N.Y., sales are better in years when Chanukah and Christmas
are close together, says Edna Krausz, the store's owner. Shlomo
Perelman, owner of Judaism.com, an online seller of Jewish-themed
items based in Pittsburgh, says he stocks about 15% fewer
holiday-themed goods when Chanukah falls weeks before Christmas.
Having the holidays close together, he adds, "puts people in the
buying spirit -- not that this is something I advocate."
Many Jews have long expressed ambivalence about the blizzard of
Christmas-related marketing messages that swirl through the December
season. But having the two holidays in close proximity is welcome for
many Jews, scholars say.
Many retailers have taken steps to reflect both holidays in their
stores and catalogs. Fortunoff's 2005 holiday catalog reflects both
traditional red and green Christmas colors as well as shades of blue.
And instead of offering free photos only with Santa Claus, Fortunoff
this year also offers the option of having the kids' pictures snapped
with a nondenominational Frosty the Snowman.
URL for this article:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB113331644277709790.html
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