Missguided EPOS Rollout in New Bluewater Store & Other News

It’s been an eventful month in the news, and also at Eurostop. We have lots happening here in the UK, so I wanted to share a few updates with you. EPOS Rollout at New Missguided store in Bluewater Images sourced from Dalziel & Pow Everyone in the office was looking forward to having a look inside the new Missguided store at Bluewater. This is the second bricks and mortar store for the retailer and we are certainly excited to be part of their journey onto the high street. A big congratulations to Nitin Passi and his team who opened their new store earlier this month. New Partnership between Eurostop and Global Blue Tax Free Shopping Global Blue is a market leading tax refund operator, helping retailers to sell more and grow their business. I have signed a new partnership agreement, so that we will be integrating our EPOS software, e-pos touch, with Global Blue. This will allow our retailers to have the option of offering their international customers an attractive price reduction by providing them with the documentation to reclaim the VAT after they export their goods. The EPOS integration will allow retailers to issue a Tax Free Form from their EPOS terminal quickly and efficiently. This feature is expected to be available in e-pos touch in September 2017. Diebold Nixdorf Partner Summit Europe 2017 Dinesh Peerez and Phillip Moylan represented us at the Partner Summit Europe 2017 in Madrid. Thanks to our hosts Diebold Nixdorf for a great event and to Nicolas Segons for inviting us. Diebold Nixdorf is our chosen EPOS hardware supplier. It was very interesting to hear about their vision for Connected commerce and the Future of Retail. Dinesh and Phillip briefed me on their key takeaways from the conference. I’m sure that these will feature in some of our future posts, so be sure to look out for them. AI is going to disrupt the retail environment A cashless society is here to stay Retail changes are being driven by customer experiences Go live of e-fulfilment with e-pos touch at JulesB JulesB were our first customer to receive our new Fulfilment module with out latest EPOS software. Thanks to Tom Jeffreys and his team for their input during the rollout. I wish them continued success with the business.

M&S International implements Eurostop Retail Systems in stores

32 Hong Kong stores to streamline their in store experience with Eurostop Retail Systems. Published in Design & Build UK, Volume 9, Issue 4. Eurostop’s POS software, e-pos touch, is already in use and available for M&S franchisees after the company was the first supplier to successfully deliver under the new M&S Data Contract. The international retail software vendor has now been selected to support Hong Kong’s ‘own store’ development and growth strategy across the region. Eurostop’s retail systems are to be installed in 32 M&S stores throughout the busy island metropolis, often described as the place where ‘East meets West’. Download & view Eurostop-MandSSupplement-1-1.pdf (2044 downloads)  

Eurostop retail systems chosen by luxury menswear retailer, Filati

The only way is Eurostop for new designer menswear boutique recently opened in Essex Eurostop has announced that Filati, an independent designer menswear boutique newly opened in Upminster by Threads of Essex, has chosen Eurostop’s retail solution, e-pos and e-rmis, to manage its retail business. The store sells a range of stylish menswear from leading designers including Louis Leeman, Jacob Cohen, Lanvin and Armani and already has a strong customer following since launching in November 2015. Threads of Essex trades as Filati, selling luxury menswear and accessories and chose Eurostop’s solution e-pos touch for its proven functionality in the fashion sector to manage sales at the till point. The company is also using e-rmis for stock management and sales reporting. Yussuf Mowlah, co-founder of Filati said; “Using the latest technology is core to our brand of providing high quality, stylish, designer menswear. We use Instagram and Facebook to reach our customer base and show the latest items in store. Eurostop’s retail solutions are the perfect match to support our business, providing us with the latest sales and stock data.” Deborah Loh, Marketing Manager at Eurostop said; “Our retail systems have been designed to support retail operations, like Filati, to monitor stock flows, promotions and customer loyalty programmes that also complement the brand style. They help all retail businesses, whatever size, manage the ebb and flow of customer demand and stock management while keeping an eye on profit margins.”

ANTA Sports, sponsor of the Winter Olympics, awards Eurostop with Certificate of Appreciation mid-way through rollout of 12,000 stores

Eurostop continues successful roll-out for largest customer to date                           Eurostop has been selected by Chinese sports retail giant ANTA to supply solutions for its chain of 12,000 stores. Implementation is already underway, with 5,500 stores now live with the Eurostop system in the last three months. So impressed is ANTA management that Eurostop Shanghai has been awarded a ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ midway through the project. Wu Yong Hua, Vice President at ANTA commented; “Eurostop has demonstrated clearly that they can meet the high standard of service that we at ANTA expect and demand. We are very encouraged with the way that the implementation is going so far and appreciate the efforts of the team at Eurostop.” Chen Dong Hai, IT Director at ANTA added; “This is the most outstanding implementation of an IT solution that we have experienced. Eurostop has taken the time to understand our requirements, set up a process to ensure that installations run smoothly. Their expertise shines through.” Mary Lin Xiao Fei, President Assistant at ANTA continued; “As a fast growing company and an official sponsor of the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics it is crucial that our systems are able to support our continued expansion. The Eurostop solution will provide us with a company-wide view of our operations which will support business decisions.” The implementation at ANTA, which is the largest to date for Eurostop, has been lead personally by Hew Poh Yin, Managing Director for Eurostop Shanghai. Ms Hew commented; “We are delighted to receive this ‘Certificate of Appreciation’ from ANTA. It is testament to the whole team’s hard work and dedication in delivering an excellent service to our customers.”

Queue busting technology is not just for Christmas

Mobile POS solutions do much more than just help retailers beat the queues and process more transactions – they improve the customer experience from start to finish. Marcus Ardeman, Sales Executive at Eurostop explains. At busy shopping times like Christmas, Black Friday, Easter, and sale times, many retailers consider what options they can employ to shorten queue times and process as many transactions as possible. Whether this means adding extra staff or opening rarely used till points, they know that reducing queue times and getting more transactions handled faster increases the number of customers served – and importantly the bottom line. Talking to our customers we recognised this need and we now provide more flexible, mobile payment solutions that work on tablet devices, enabling retailers to handle increased demand for transactions away from the fixed till point, to beat the queues. More than just queue-busting However, that is not the full story! The new interactive POS tablet technology offers so much more than just queue busting, it enables a retailer to support a better customer experience. With so much competition today for retailers the customer experience is key (including those that provide luxury and bespoke items). A more flexible payment solution that works in their store setting can give a retailer the edge on customer service – and one which we are able to offer thanks to the latest mobile and tablet technology. For these retailers, whether they have four stores or twenty four, the technology can be used by an assistant, who can act as a personal shopper with a customer. Such retailers have realised the benefits of having staff more mobile when serving – using mobile tablets, they can talk with customers, check stock and with bar code scanners and chip and PIN technology, they can also scan products and process transactions from the shop floor. As well as providing a great service, this approach also helps to ensure that queues don’t form in the first place. In some independent stores, the tablets can even be used to design and create a bespoke piece while with the customer, which can then be ordered and the transaction handled – all from the same device. To complete the seamless shopping experience the e-receipt functionality enables receipts to be sent directly to the customer’s phone or email. If a printed receipt is required, the use of wi-fi and remote printers ensure that the customer does not need to stand and wait at a till point. Receipts can also be configured to match a store’s style – for example, printed to a different size, (A5 or A4) and include the retailer’s branding. Improving the customer experience The ability to check stock from anywhere on the shop floor improves the whole customer experience, enabling staff to be more responsive. Not only can a member of staff use a tablet for a check of stock items in the warehouse, they can also conduct a search on the website. For many retailers with multiple locations that often do not hold all stock in every store – being able to quickly access stock levels at other stores enables sales personnel to handle customer queries efficiently. In busy times being able to apply such technology could be invaluable. An example might be shoe retailers who have many key peak times, including back to school at the end of the summer. When handling shoe sales, tablets can be used to measure customers’ shoe sizes, check stock against the size required and then process the transaction, all from the shop floor. This prevents queues at the till point as customers line up after the fittings – reducing stress levels for both staff and parents! A change of mindset This personalised service approach does require a change of mindset. It is about managing the whole customer experience from the start right through to transaction. Today the omni-channel retailer is not just focused on processing sales faster and getting more customers through the door. The new tablet technology offers retailers more flexibility to support their business and respond to customers. Rather than simply thinking of a mobile point of sale as queue busting, retailers should think about all the added benefits to their business, and for their customers.

e-pos touch now supports multimedia full colour customer displays

Eurostop is soon to offer a new dimension to your customers’ in store experience. e-pos touch will operate on till hardware which includes a full colour rear display screen. Capable of running marketing videos or animated slides, it will allow you to find new ways to engage your customers with products, offers and brand information. With 10.1-inch or 14-inch screen options promotions come alive. The two mode sets include a selling mode where the screen is split to show full till transaction details alongside the multimedia material or alternatively, display the information in glorious full screen. The Marketing team at Head Office can manage and control the content shown on the EPOS Customer Display company-wide, or send customised campaigns to individual branches. For example, a till in a clearance outlet may have a special loyalty campaign with discounts and a high street branch may have product driven promotion offers. The simple user interface allows you to upload media files in one location and to synchronise this material to all your tills with the touch of a button. The software will even convert static images into a presentation. The dual screen till will also empower sales staff to be able to communicate directly with international customers. ‘Multi culture assist’ may be activated mid transaction to set the rear view display to operate in a different language, making the transaction clearer for customers and the whole customer experience an effortless and smooth process. Watch the full colour display in action on YouTube.com

Feature Highlight – e-pos touch

As part of the Eurostop ethos of providing a first class offering, we constantly review features that will enhance the consumers’ experience as well as meeting retailers’ requirements. Not only does epos-touch run on standard EPOS hardware but we have started supplying it on tablet based machines. Click here for more details on mobile POS. Below are some of the key features of our EPOS software Customisable receipts for any size printer Email receipt Rear screen options include videos for marketing, including touch screen option Operator prompts on products Shared peripherals Product specific gift receipts Birthday promotions Fiscal printing Custom product filters

Classic men’s clothing retailer, Roderick Charles, measures up to customers’ demands with Eurostop retail systems

Quality bespoke gentleman’s outfitters relies on specialist merchandising systems across it’s retail chain and website. Founded in 1992, Roderick Charles is a retailer of classic men’s tailoring. Since the early days the independent retailer has expanded to nine standalone outlets located throughout the City of London, the West End and Battersea and also offers mail order via its website for customers around the UK. From its roots in bespoke tailoring, Roderick Charles offers a full ready to wear collection with an emphasis on traditional styling and the use of hard wearing British milled cloths. The retailer caters for the best traditions of English dress rather than following trend led fashion. Managing expansion The company’s clothing range has evolved to encompass the latest modern cloth and garment production, including high twist travel cloths. Managing such a wide range of stock is challenging for any retailer, but in particular one with a network of stores. From the early days, Roderick Charles invested in Eurostop retail systems to ensure stocks are monitored and replenished across its London outlets as well as meeting demand from its website. Anthony McIlroy, of Roderick Charles said; “We offer a choice of over a thousand cloths to customers, which is a significant capital investment and so it is important that we maximise the turnover of our stock. “Eurostop’s systems help us to keep track of and manage our stock efficiently. We originally selected Eurostop as we felt they were a proven supplier in the retail business and the software was right for a clothing retailer like ourselves. Over the years we have expanded the number of stores, with Eurostop systems providing the software for our retail store network.” Systems made to measure Roderick Charles’ business provides off the peg suits, jackets and shirts as well as a bespoke suit service, where customers can choose from the many samples of cloth. Roderick Charles has implemented both Eurostop’s e-pos for the shops and e-rmis at its head office. As well as capturing daily sales in store, the system is also used by the warehouse team to replenish and re-order stock across its stores. Although not tied to the highs and lows of seasons and fashions as many clothes retailers, it is still important for the company to monitor sales of different lines, whether particular shirt styles, suit colours or accessories. Seasonal changes and particular holiday periods often result in increased sales of lines – for example, wallets and scarves at Christmas and wash bags during the summer period. “Eurostop’s retail systems help us to keep our finger on the pulse of the business. Although we don’t have to react as swiftly as a fashion retailer to changes in demand, we do monitor our daily sales very closely with reports from e-rmis, our head office system. Both myself and my head buyer are able to check which particular styles, cloths and colours are more popular and use the information to predict our future sales and stock requirements,” said McIlroy. Cutting edge solution for bespoke suits The success of Roderick Charles’ business is reliant upon accurate forecasts that help to ensure the right orders are placed. The retailer does not rely upon wholesalers who have large pools of stock upon which to draw – instead each buying decision must be carefully made since stock is made to order. “We place orders with our British manufacturing suppliers, which means we have to be sure that we are ordering the right items and the right cloths that will sell. Our lead times are quite long as we don’t obtain stock from wholesalers, so it’s really important that we have accurate sales data upon which to base our decisions,” explained McIlroy. “Traditional, quality clothing continues to rise in popularity, as many people are turning away from the short wear fashion items in favour of well made, long lasting classics. With Eurostop systems in place our business has continued to thrive and service customers even in these difficult times for retail,” said McIlroy.

Expert Opinion: Phillip Moylan – Future Proofing Your Retail Systems

When looking at new retail, Epos or even e-commerce systems, it is important to make sure you select a future-proofed solution. However, it is sometimes easier said than done. You can’t know what the future holds, and with the best will in the world, our businesses don’t always move in the direction we expect.  But what all retailers can ensure is that the systems they use are sufficiently flexible and adaptable to cope with most eventualities. A system that will grow with you First of all, it is important to select a system that not only meets your requirements now, but that is scalable and will expand as your business grows. Look at what other retailers in your sector, particularly those that you aspire to be like, are using. Just because you only have one or two shops now, doesn’t mean that you won’t have 10 or 20 shops in five years’ time. Live sales and live stocks are crucial as your e-commerce business grows and larger retailers use Estate Manager software to monitor, investigate and diagnose branch and web sales performance issues. Many retailers purchase very expensive systems as the business grows and, as a consequence, their long-term costs rise as they expand their head office team. If you don’t derive direct business benefits including economies of scale, paying for bespoke development work on your current system could be a viable alternative. It is also important to check if the system provider develops and supports the software and hardware. Many retail systems resellers do not have access to the software source code and are restricted in developing and fixing bugs in the software. Another thing to think about is that hardware support may be outsourced to reduce costs. Easy integration will keep your options open Ensuring that all your business systems speak to each other is crucial. It enables the fast flow of information enabling better analysis, improving commercial decisions. Your product and stock file is the lifeblood of your business, so make sure that whatever product you select that the Epos, stock control and retail management can easily interface with any other systems you use, for example your ERP manufacturing or wholesale system, e-commerce platform, planning, financials and warehouse logistics. Taking this approach means that diversification or changes are much smoother because you already have one core system. This also enables retailers to reap the benefits of best of breed solutions for e-commerce, mail order, Epos, wholesale, manufacturing and finance because the development time is shorter and as a consequence costs are cheaper and software is both more up-to-date and feature rich. Franchises and multi-lingual Epos Selecting a system that is multi-lingual is a must if you plan to open stores abroad. Being able to use the same system across all your operations at home and overseas saves both time and expense and ensures that stock can be managed centrally and that information is available to support company wide strategic decision-making. If you are considering having franchises, it is important to decide on the level of control. If you treat the franchise as a “wholesale customer” the franchise will buy products from you but you would have no visibility on how successful the products are as you could be reliant on piecemeal information coming back from the franchise. Waiting for them to rebuy each season is re-active rather than pro-active. Retailers can be pro-active and have clear visibility on sales within that market by purchasing Epos tills on the franchises’ behalf with connectivity to your head-office solution. It may be possible to offset the cost by renting them to the franchise. If the franchise already has a retail system, it would be advisable to generate company specific EAN codes and have an overnight product interface. E-commerce and m-commerce Having an online presence that has all the latest features is very important.  Not only does it help to provide all the facilities to your customer that they expect, keeping up with technology also gives your brand credibility, and will reassure the first time visitor. As the whole, retail experience is now a combination of your store and your website, shoppers expect to be able to flip between the two almost seamlessly. This goes for the device that they access your website from as well. It could be a desktop in their lunch hour, a smartphone while they are on the train and a tablet in the evening on the sofa. It is important your website is optimised to look good and work well on any device. Choosing an e-commerce platform that automatically adjusts to the device it is being viewed from will ensure that your customers continue to experience your brand as you intended. Many retailers typically look to upgrade or refresh their e-commerce platform every couple of years to keep up with the latest look and feel. If you have your product information in an easily accessible format, changing your website doesn’t need to be a long drawn out and painful affair. Once you have agreed the design elements, it should be fairly quick to change. So in summary, to future-proof your retail systems and get the most from your investment in technology, choose a system that does more than you think you will need. Keep your product information in a standard file format that is easily shared with other business systems. Select systems that are flexible, multi-lingual and multi-currency, and that can run on different types of device. Phillip Moylan is sales and marketing manager for stock control and e-commerce specialist at Eurostop. http://www.wwb-online.co.uk/Editors-Picks/Articles/Expert-opinion-Phillip-Moylan.aspx

Ann Summers sees 4% increase in sales from using Eurostop’s Customer Counting solution

Ann Summers is one of the most successful privately held companies in the UK. It has over 7500 party plan sales people and over 135 stores in the UK and Europe. As a long term IT partner of Ann Summers, Eurostop has provided the company with retail solutions that provide a good return on investment. Eurostop’s e-pos solution is installed throughout the stores, with e-rmis Retail management solution at its head office. Successful investment in IT Following the success of the automated stock systems, the company has also invested in stock scanning and auditing as well a wireless warehouse picking system. The new system has increased efficiencies and reduced picking discrepancies considerably. Staff use scanners to pick stock which is recorded centrally and integrated with the head office systems. More recently Ann Summers has implemented Customer Counting Solutions from Eurostop. The footfall counter is located by the door of the stores and is linked to software in the tills. The results collected are fed directly into the head office system e-rmis, where the business intelligence data mining software interrogates the databases to provide management reports. The business intelligence module, specifically designed for merchandisers and senior management enables the sales data to be analysed in a number of ways. Every step counts “For us footfall is a key driver – we can monitor whether store traffic is up or down and work out what our sales conversions are from the transactions made,” explained the Corporate Projects and EPOS Executive at Ann Summers. The company has also installed a time and attendance system that enables it to monitor sales against members of staff, hours of the day, days of the week and compare branch performances across different regions. Being able to analyse the data down to this level of detail at store level enables the management to identify why store sales are up or down from average. Using the information from the reports that Eurostop’s solution supplies means that they can identify sales variations which may occur as a result of other factors rather than stock supply or weather. In the stores on the South Coast, for example, the company identified from footfall data that most customers shop earlier in the day and that the stores were quieter later than in other regions. By moving the opening hours for those stores earlier, sales were increased by over 4%. Maximising staffing instore Data from Eurostop’s solution also enables the team to look at the management of staffing in the stores. The company can work out staff cost ratio to sales and calculate true trading costs. Hourly sales data can be compared against the number of customers visiting the shop to ascertain whether by approaching customers more proactively this may increase sales. This may involve introducing more training on products or customer service skills both at the recruitment stage and with ongoing staff development. Introducing seasonal promotions Ann Summers has also implemented the Promotions and Gifts Accounts Module within Eurostop’s e-rmis and e-pos. The company is introducing promotions like ‘buy one get one free’, where the lowest priced item is free. Promotions can set up to be live for specific time periods on single or multiple items, or pick and mix promotions. The system automatically processes and applies discounts displaying the customer savings on the receipt, saving valuable time at the till and maximising trading margins as well as promoting “add on” sales. “Despite operating in a cut throat promotional market, where margins are very tight, having the right data at our fingertips and being able to process options at the till point means that we are still able to react quickly to customer demand and bring promotions to the customer,” said Patel. The company is also introducing serialised gift vouchers to customers in the run up to Christmas. Previously Ann Summers used printed vouchers, which were costly to print, track and redeem. If the vouchers were used for refunds, then there were restrictions on the values of the vouchers, such that cash amounts were often also included in refunds, which the customer does not always choose to spend in store and is potentially lost revenue. The vouchers enable the company to provide any cash denomination that may be used in store. The store manager scans the voucher and can immediately see the amount available for the customer to redeem. It is now easy for customers to redeem the value to any amount, which is much more flexible. Increased sales opportunities Overall Ann Summers is delighted with the benefits that Eurostop’s systems have brought to the business to date. The Corporate Projects and EPOS Executive at Ann Summers commented, “By targeting stores the company has increased sales by over 4%. However, for us it is not just about sales but operating a cost efficient business.” “It is about achieving the right balance of having the right stock and staff in place to match the customer needs – that is where Eurostop’s solutions really work for us.”