Retail TNT

With temperatures already soaring in the UK, many shops and retailers will be wondering whether we are in store for another summer of 06. This renowned year saw recorded temperatures as high as 97.7oF in Wisley, Surrey and the two month period during June and July has gone down on record as the hottest summer since records began over 200 years ago.

If New York is anything of an example to the rest of the world, then retailers can benefit from periods of excessive heat, as consumers seek creative ways to escape the temperatures and resort to some retail therapy on their local high street and out of town retail parks.

And therein lies the issue. Consumers now expect to enjoy their shopping experiences in cool environments and in particular, the air curtain was designed to keep cool air in the stores and dowse the shopper in a refreshing wave as they enter a store.

However, it is estimated that the UKs high street stores waste 300million a year in energy costs to keep shoppers cool in summer and warm in winter, so how can retail bosses align this excessive waste with the demands of their consumers? Perhaps we can learn from our counterparts over the pond, given that they deal with a heat wave on an annual basis?

1. Have your existing, in-built air conditioning serviced well ahead of summer to make sure it is running efficiently. And if you are concerned about any mini-heat waves during downtime, then consider hiring portable air conditioning to cover the intervening period.

2. Have an emergency back-up plan in place if your air conditioning breaks down. Portable air conditioning companies can supply units that replicate the existing system and they will be able to act most efficiently if you put a contingency plan in place before an emergency strikes.

3. Plan ahead for busy periods within the retail outlet: if you are planning a sale, a new range or something similar you may choose to hire in portable air conditioning as extra capacity for key areas of the store, such as the changing rooms and till areas etc.

4. It is also common sense to have a contingency plan in place if temperatures spiral so high that your shop or retail outlet requires additional air conditioning.

5. When your air conditioning is in use – make sure you use it effectively by keeping doors and windows closed. It is a retail myth that propping the doors open may entice more consumers in to a shop. In fact New York has passed legislation actually banning many stores from leaving their doors open during the summer months. This not only helps reduce your carbon footprint and greenhouse emissions but will also reduce your energy bill. It has been estimated that stores that leave doors open waste around 20-25% of the air conditioning they produce.

6. Set the thermostat to a reasonable temperature. The Carbon Trust recommends that buildings do not need to dip below a temperature of 24 degrees Celsius but in the summer of 2010, some outlets were found to set their indoor temperature as much as 8 degrees less than outside, which is unnecessary.

7. Talk to employees about the most suitable temperature in your shop or retail outlet. If they are forced in to wearing their winter woollies to work during the summer months, then the air conditioning settings need a rethink.

When a heat wave hits, it can be tempting to hire the largest available air conditioning unit. However, it is always worth seeking guidance on the type and size of system for individual circumstances to both maximise the effective removal of hot air and avoid unnecessary operating costs. In particular, within a retail setting, it is necessary to consider the health and safety aspects of hiring portable air conditioning to ensure there is a suitable location away from the main areas of highest footfall.

Whilst some shoppers may momentarily appear to enjoy being engulfed in cool air, increasing numbers of consumers are becoming more environmentally conscious and appreciate the need for shops to exercise restraint when temperatures start to rise.

Display your expertise and professionalism by showing the customer that you care about them and the pets and supplies that you sell.

Customer Service:

All employees are the face of a business and are key to molding a customers initial impression.

Keep an eye out for customers who look confused or are in need of help. Being proactive will show customers you are ready and willing to serve them.
Make your customers feel welcome. Smile and greet them when they come in. Ask them questions and make them feel included in other conversations you may be having with fellow staff or other customers.
Listen to your customers. Ask them questions and listen to what they have to say. Hone in on their needs and wants and convey your desire to help them make the best decision possible when picking out a product or pet.
Customer service doesnt stop when a customer has left the store. Follow up with a customer by sending them a thank you note after a purchase, calling to see if the new product or bird they purchased is working out, or remembering their last purchase when they make a repeat visit.

Bird Education:

All employees should be properly educated on the different products you carry and the birds that the products benefit. They should also be knowledgeable on the birds that are at your store. Customers see you as an expert. Make sure you are one to keep their business.

Employees should know the following key information about birds: origin, growth rate, eventual size, age, gender, environmental needs, diet, and behavior.
Be as informative as possible when answering a customers questions. Direct them to other resources (books, tip sheets, websites, etc.) to help aid them in their education.
It is alright to let a customer know you dont know the answer to a question, but still provide them with assistance by following up with a co-worker or another reliable resource.
Layout:

Make sure your store is well organized and easy to navigate.

Signage:

oProper aisle signage will help keep customers in the store longer and will help them navigate through your aisles.
oProper shelf and product signs will catch your customers eyes and will keep them informed on your products.
oMake sure your signage is neat and easy to read as well as fresh and bold.

Displays:

oDisplay related products by each other to remind customers of items they may have missed and suggest variations amongst a product family.
oPut the items that are in high-demand and are fast-moving in your best display areas. This suggests to customers that you have the products that they are looking for.
oBe sure to take advantage of the display space at the checkout by placing last minute purchase products like toys, treats, and gift items there.
oChange out your displays every week or two to give your store a fresh look and let your customers know you are on top of your game.

Cleanliness:

A customer may not remember a clean store, but they will most certainly remember a dirty one! Keep your store clean and organized to ensure return customers.

Make sure your aisles are clear of clutter, your products are in the proper places on the shelves, and your pricing stickers and signage is up-to-date.
Pay special attention to floors, countertops, and other areas that are most frequently seen by customers.
Remove damaged items and return misplaced items to their proper place.
Dusty products indicate that product is old and unwanted. Keep your products and shelves dust free.
Keep your displays and shelves fully stocked and well organized. Have employs monitor this throughout the day depending on your stores busyness.
If you have birds (as well as other animals) in your store, their cleanliness and health will tell a lot about your store to your customers. Be sure to keep your animals healthy and well groomed and their cages and toys disinfected and clean.
A customer does not want to see or purchase an unhealthy bird. Observe each bird daily and record its state of health and any changes in behavior. Changes may be the first (and sometimes only) clue that a bird is sick or unhealthy.
Trash cans, whether containing a soda can or animal excrement should be out of site and smelling distance to your customers and should be emptied often to maintain a cleanly, healthy store.
Keep an eye on animals that are out of their cages (especially if you allow the public to bring in their pets) and be sure to clean and sanitize as needed.

As a retailer you are a problem-solver for your customers. You know about new products, new discoveries in the world of avian health, food and equipment. You are the expert! Exhibit it.

A successful commercial remodeling project should make the retail location look more attractive and welcoming, while also increasing efficiency and comfort for employees. If you are giving your retail space a facelift, consider the following tips to help you give your location a leg up on the competition.

Find a Reliable Contractor
Remodeling takes away from the time your store is open to customers, so it’s crucial to hire a contractor who meets deadlines. Additionally, look for commercial construction contractors that are licensed, bonded, and insured. Do not be afraid to ask a contractor to meet with you before you make a final hiring decision. If a contractor does not arrive to a preliminary meeting on time, you may have good clue about what working with him will be like.

Make a Great First Impression
First impressions are important, especially for retail stores. Aim for a look that intrigues and welcomes customers. To make your customers feel safe, create a layout that allows a visual scan of the entire store upon entrance. Further enhance the customer experience with shelving units that are not too tall, aisle spaces that are comfortably wide and merchandise that is beautifully arranged in a logical manner.

Use Light to Your Advantage
Lighting can create a certain mood and spotlight products you want to accentuate. Consider using low ambient light with track lights to point customers to featured merchandise. To create a relaxed mood while complementing products, build lights into shelves and custom cabinets.

Paint According to Your Goals
Different colors trigger different emotions. For example, the color orange makes most people feel cheerful. Paint your retail space in a color that will help you achieve your commercial goals.

If you own a bakery, it would be wise to choose the color red, which is known to make individuals feel hungry. Green is a color that can trigger emotions such as growth, health and hope–great for a location that promotes wellness or sells plants. The color blue promotes the feeling of love, tranquility, acceptance and understanding–perfect for a retail store that sells spa products or gifts. Yellow is known to boost a customer’s memory and can help them feel joyful, smart and organized–ideal for a store that sells stationery products or organization solutions. Use colors to produce emotions that complement your product line.

Remodel to Enhance Your Brand
Northwestern University professor of marketing Philip Kotler has written, “In some cases, the place, more specifically the atmosphere of the place, is more influential than the product itself in the purchasing decision.” In this way, retail remodeling can enhance your brand.

Retail space remodeling can be an intimidating process. However, as providers of Portland remodeling services, we here at Sitka Projects can say that retail owners who plan carefully achieve excellent remodeling results. Knowing your target audience and having a firm grasp on your goals for the customer experience are the first steps in making a mediocre retail space explode with life.

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If you are looking for your new Corporate ERP application, and you are in Retail business: Deli, Asian food, Small to mid-size retail outlets, we would like to give you initial highlights on how Microsoft Dynamics GP could be implemented. We will describe three options: Microsoft RMS, POS Add-on for Dynamics GP and Counterpoint. Each one has pluses and each Retail customer has specific requirements, where one route might be better versus another one. Lets begin with the most advanced approach in our list Microsoft Retail Management System with Integration to Dynamics GP. As small remark, sometimes Microsoft Dynamics GP is also referred as Great Plains Dynamics, which is its ERP application historical name, prior to the time, when Great Plains Software was acquired by Microsoft and later on Microsoft Business Solutions announced its own Dynamics project, where Microsoft Great Plains got its new name Dynamics GP:

1.Microsoft RMS and Dynamics GP tandem. MS RMS completely automates POS cash registers and it supports the majority of POS devises, such as Barcode scanners, Signature Capture touch screens, POS customer info screen, credit card processing machines (Cherry Keyboard, and various small CC processing devices) to name a few. But, besides POS support, MS RMS also have Store Operations module (where Cash Registers user interfaces are located), where you can do such retail store routines as merchandise replenishment, stock count, sales promotions and sales days special pricing. Plus RMS has Headquarters module, where you can manage all your stores (doing such routines, as centralized Purchasing and distribution, moving merchandize from one store to another, consolidated retail management reporting). What happens in Headquarters module about POS transactions from the stores they are integrated on scheduled base (if you have reliable internet connection within the chain stores, or reliable dial-up modem connection) or on demand (typically when the number of POS transactions is relatively low). We support MS RMS to Dynamics GP bidirectional integration, which handles POS (translated into GP Sales Order Processing Invoice with Customer Payment, Return or Order, or if you do not want to track inventory quantities in Great Plains to GP Receivable Management Invoice, Return or Credit memo); also Purchases in RMS Headquarters are integrated into Dynamics GP POP module transactions; inventory transfers and cycle counts are bi-directionally propagated to Dynamics GP and RMS. This tandem gives you the power of Dynamics GP as Corporate ERP system, where you have such advantages as possible integrated Warehouse Management System, ecommerce with such popular shopping carts as Magento
(Linux/PHP/MySQL), or if you are Microsoft shop ASP.Net Storefront. Plus Dynamics GP is full featured ERP and MRP system (if you do assembly on Sales Order) with advanced Corporate Financial Reporting (FRx or its successor Microsoft Management Reporter). This solution might be not the cheapest one among the considered ones, so if you are on the really tight budget and feel the influence of slowdown in your industry, lets move on to the next option

2.Dynamics GP POS Add-ons. Through Dynamics GP ISV channel you can also find various POS extensions to Great Plains, typically extending Sales Order Processing module. In Dynamics GP SOP module you have Sales Transaction entry, where you can do Sales Order, Invoice (both with customer deposit in the form of Credit Card, Check or Cash payment), Return, plus few other types. These transactions are so powerful and fit to what you typically do at the cash register, that numerous Dynamics GP ISV modules were programmed (in Great Plans Dexterity) to enable such POS features as Barcode scanning, Signature Capturing. To name you a name of the one of the most popular SOP POS extensions Compass Technologies, VAR from the Michigan. In their POS module you can also create sales campaigns, offer special price to named customers, when you sell on account. The advantage of Dynamics GP POS add-on way in our opinion is the fact that POS works out of existing GP database and doesnt require POS transactions integration (opposed to Microsoft RMS, as RMS is in essence external application). Well, there are also drawbacks, for example, if you have seasoned business (flowers, gardening, landscaping, farm stands, farmer markets) Dynamics GP POS extensions usually require reliable internet connection to the Dynamics GP Server. Microsoft RMS, however could be made mobile and when farmer market day is over, then you can connect to the internet from your hotel room with your laptop, where Microsoft RMS Store Operations module is hosted with all the Cash Registers and daily POS transactions ready to be integrated on demand to RMS Headquarters. With Compass or similar POS extensions you may expect to save on Dynamics GP POS implementation

3.Counterpoint from Radiant Software integration to Dynamics GP. Counterpoint has its own General Ledger module, plus POS (with Cash Registers), Purchasing, Stock Count, plus such routines as items on sale campaigns, inventory counts. If you are growing from small store to several retail outlets, and now you are at the stage, where you feel that you need more powerful accounting back office (Counterpoint GL is nice, but in larger company you may need something more upscale with rich Corporate ERP business logic). Counterpoint has an option to send AP and GL (daily POS sales transactions) to external Accounting system, such as Dynamics GP, Solomon/SL and some other popular platforms. Counterpoint integrations are distributed as Microsoft SQL Server DTS packages (very popular for Microsoft SQL Server 2000), and with DTS deemphasizing in SQL Server 2005, we would like to see Counterpoint roadmap on the future integration technologies. Having said that we have to admit that you should be OK with Counterpoint upgrade to version 8.0

4.If you are serving your franchisees from your Headquarters. Here we would like to recommend to your attention such popular features, associated with Dynamics GP as Warehouse Management System and eCommerce. WMS is part of your Supply Chain Management (SCM) network. WMS typically handles such features and business processes as Sales Order Fulfillment (on the warehouse floor by barcode scanning), inventory restocking and inventory management transactions (moves between the locations and physical counts). Ecommerce for Dynamics GP works directly out of SOP tables, opening SOP Sales Order, Invoice or Return for online ordering. Our extensions for WMS and Ecommerce work in concert with each other and you could benefit on managing both systems, plus POS/Retail directly from your Dynamics GP user interface

5.To request further support, please call us 1-866-528-0577, We need to discuss your cards in order to recommend you the best solutions, which is not contingent to our preferences. We serve you USA/Canada nationwide via remote support (web sessions and phone/skype conferences). Local service is available in Western Michigan, Chicagoland, Southern California (LA, Orange County, San Diego), Houston area of the state of Texas