payments - Retail Systems

A breathe of fresh air
Casio’s new EPoS and business portal helps two London businesses
breath new life into their local High Street.
Shane’s Restaurant and Venetia’s
Coffee Shop have both installed a Casio
VX-100 AndroidTM platform electronic
point-of-sale system using the cloud-based
Casio business portal. The solution is designed
to speed up business processes, assist in
business planning and forecasting, as well as
help control business costs, stock and wastage.
The high cost of implementing a full-function
EPoS system has often been seen as a barrier
to adoption amongst independent businesses,
leading them to rely on basic cash register
technology instead. “EPoS systems are an
invaluable tool that really help you understand
what is happening with your business” explains
Shane Harrison, chef proprietor of Shane’s in
east London.
“By giving you detailed overview and analysis
of sales data, it gives you the power to forecast
required stock and staffing levels accurately.
I’ve calculated that this level of understanding
can add up to 12 per cent to the bottom line
of a business and in today’s tough trading conditions
it is these small savings that can make
the difference between success and failure.”
Based on Chatsworth Road, in Hackney, these
two businesses have helped to raise the profile
of an area that was previously home to a high
number of vacant units. Shane believes independent
businesses can be the driving force
behind reigniting High Streets.
Par for the course We have lift-off
Europe’s biggest golfing retailer, american
golf, has partnered with Esteem Managed
Services to remove the headache of dayto-day
EPoS system management, increasing
employee productivity, reducing downtime and
maximising revenue intake.
EPoS Systems are critical to american golf
trading. On average, american golf stores in the
UK process 2,800 transactions per day, worth
over £400,000. Slow or faulty EPoS equipment
can result in large queues, dissatisfied
consumers and ultimately, loss of business.
With an in-house IT support department
of only four employees, all based near
Warrington, dispatching staff to locations
across the UK to undertake maintenance
and installations of EPoS systems would be
costly and time consuming.
Head of IT for american golf, Phil Barker,
says: “Seventy-five out of our 91 stores in the
UK only have one EPoS System, if this goes
down the simple fact is we struggle to provide
a satisfactory service to our customers.”
Apollo Cinemas has turned to cinema
sector specialists for a new EPoS
solution. Their 14 cinemas are now
equipped with a point-of-sale solution
comprising PC-based touchscreen terminals
from J2 Retail Systems running software from
Vista Entertainment Solutions. Between them
the cinemas have 40 points-of-sale, each a J2
615 terminal running Vista POS and enterprise
management software, running ticketing and
sales of food, drinks and confectionery.
Imtiaz Ullah, head of IT at Apollo Cinemas,
says: “We pride ourselves on being innovative.
We were the first fully digital circuit in the UK
and use equipment such as Sony 4K Digital
Cinema projection, Real D screens and Dolby
Surround sound. We are equally demanding
when it comes to the systems that run our
commercial and customer-facing operations.
Efficiency at point-of-sale is critical to keep
queues down and customer service standards
high.” Apollo is also developing café-bars, lounge
areas, gaming and Wi-Fi for their cinemas.
EPoS news
IN BRIEF
Top TweeTs for June
Karen Moss brings you the Retail Systems’
tweets that got the twitterati talking this
month...
1. salon launches facebook
loyalTy scheme
This was the top tweet in June – our
followers were all atwitter at the news
that Andrew Collinge have brought
Facebook into their stores. With the help
of Excelerated Apps the hairdresser has
introduced a loyalty card that customers
can touch on a ‘LikeStation’ to share
their experience on Facebook and
access special offers. Pretty cool.
2. 64% of smarTphone users
shop via mobile
Mobile is certainly a hot topic at the
moment so this news may not have come
as a shock. It’s still a formidable statistic
for the rise of m-commerce though...
3. fashion reTailers Top The
hoT shops 100 lisT
Always a firm favourite with our followers,
the Hot Shops 100 came in at number
three. No surprises that e-commerce
fashion giants ASOS, Very and boohoo.
co.uk topped the charts. For the results
in full see our report on page 10.
4. 41% of uk shoppers will be
social by 2021
The next generation of ‘social shopper’
is expected to emerge as a force to be
reckoned with by 2021, according to
new research from Barclays. Whether
you agree or disagree with the idea of
social commerce, this one certainly got
our followers tweeting.
5. amazon will be second
largesT reTailer by 2017
This was according to Scott Wingo,
CEO of ChannelAdvisor, speaking at
their EU Catalyst event in June, and I
don’t think anyone would disagree with
him on this one. Amazon don’t show any
signs of slowing down in their quest for
world domination.
RS
June - July 2012 RS 15