Apr112019 by John Garvey2 Comments

Retailers and Restaurateurs Using Revel Can Actually Run Their Businesses Instead of Putting Out Fires

Clothing & Apparel, E-commerce, Garden Centers, Gift Stores, Museums Attractions, Restaurant, Retail, Specialty Retail, Sporting Goods, Wine & Liquor

… But that’s only part of why Retail Control Systems has partnered with them. Here’s why you should care.

By John Garvey

Summary

Revel is an iPad point-of-sale (POS) solution that provides the simplicity of Square with the power of a much larger system. It includes mobile POS and e-commerce capabilities, employee scheduling, customer relationship management (CRM) and inventory management solutions. It takes minimal time to onboard.

It’s powerful. Revel provides you with business intelligence, operations and management tools that you didn’t previously have access to at a reasonable price.

It’s easy. Revel is user-friendly enough to allow you to devote your time to actually running your business. Business planning

Revel was founded in 2010 by Chris Ciabarra and Lisa Falzone—two people who were too stubborn to believe the pizza shops and restaurants they frequented couldn’t have POS systems with third-party integrations, mobile payment capabilities and business intelligence tools big players could afford. Convinced that it was technically possible to help small retailers and restaurateurs get more money in the door with less hassle, they developed what is now Revel.

Today, Revel’s technology has surpassed the abilities and reliability of many competitors. It’s novel but proven.

Is Revel right for you?

It depends.

One reason we at RCS have partnered with Revel is that they have a very similar culture to ours. We know a lot of their executive team from having done business in the retail space. When we first met to begin exploring a partnership, we already knew half the faces in the room.

We’re excited to be able to offer a comparatively inexpensive retail and restaurant support platform with great functionality. That’s hard to pull off.

If you’re contemplating using Revel, here are some questions you may be asking:

1.What kinds of businesses are most likely to benefit from using Revel?

Revel is perfect for both smaller retailers and restaurants. They’re restaurant experts. They have inventory management tools , built-in tip functionality and other features. These make onboarding easier and eliminate the need for customization.
Multi-location retailers can manage all their operations from a single account, transferring inventory between stores, scheduling employees, running reports and attending to other needs.
For those just getting started, Revel cuts back on hardware costs, allowing you to conduct all operations, from an iPad. You get the ease of use of the iPad with true Retail hardware including cash drawers, credit card readers, receipt printers and barcode scanners. Revel even has a scale integration if you sell items by weight. It also saves hours of time on employee onboarding because it’s so easy to use.
For retailers with an older version of Counterpoint or another POS system, Revel may provide a cost-effective solution that will get you the latest technology at a reasonable rate.

Interested in Revel? Schedule a personalized demo in minutes. We’ll collaboratively determine whether it’s a good match for you.

2. What are the top three or so concerns people might have when exploring Revel as an option?

Growth. Some retailers may be concerned that they’ll outgrow Revel. When deliberating between, say, Revel and NCR Counterpoint, this is worthy of consideration. If you are projecting rapid growth in the near future, Revel may not be the right choice for you.

Mobile and e-commerce. For those concerned with mobile and online ordering capabilities, Revel will delight. It is excellent in both regards. Customers can complete orders anywhere as long as an associate is there to assist them. This keeps things personable while cutting back on lines. Associates can also process credit cards from pop up shops, trade shows, food trucks and the like.

Flexibility. Finally, Revel has a flexible, customizable e-commerce platform for omnichannel retailers. You can keep your credit card processing system if that suits you. You don’t need to create a new account each time you open a new location. Etc. Revel won’t rope you into anything that doesn’t make sense for your business.

That said, Revel has less customization than Counterpoint. Do you need to build a custom integration that’s out of the ordinary for a retail system? If so, Counterpoint is probably a better solution.

3. How will Revel and RCS leverage one another’s unique capabilities to benefit retailers?

Revel has superb, proven technology, and ease of use is one of their main focuses. We at RCS have tons of experiences working with retailers through practically every challenge imaginable.

In spite of Revel’s focus on user-friendliness, nothing is 100 percent intuitive. This is the value of our overall approach to business partnerships, including our partnership with Revel. We’re here to provide you the training and ongoing assistance to make the best use of it.

Focus on managing your business, not your POS system

Retailers increasingly need to become experts in a wide range of topics. These include digital marketing, supply chain management and managing a workforce with different expectations that the retail workforce of decades prior. The right POS provider will ease those challenges, not just by providing you the right tools but by partnering with you.

With regard to employee management, Revel’s user-friendly platform and easy onboarding process provide small businesses a dual advantage: minimal training time and a less frustrating work environment. All things equal, that has a real potential to reduce turnover. When turnover does occur, it reduces the cost associated with training new employees.

CRM
Loyalty programs
Intelligent business reporting
Low inventory alerts
Employee scheduling

Take your business up a notch

About Revel:

Revel was founded in 2010 by —two people who were too stubborn to believe the pizza shops and restaurants they frequented couldn’t have POS systems with third-party integrations, mobile payment capabilities and business intelligence tools big players could afford. Convinced that it was technically possible to help small retailers and restauranteurs get more money in the door with less hassle, they developed what is now Revel.

Aug222018 by John Garvey1 Comment

10 Ways FoyerLive Digital Displays Improve Life for Retail Associates, Managers and Customers

E-commerce, Gift Stores, Museums Attractions, Retail, Specialty Retail, Sporting Goods

by John Garvey

Saving time, ease of locating products, greater product variety and selection, and avoiding checkout lines are among the reasons people turn to ecommerce rather than shopping in-store. FoyerLive offers solutions to each of those issues, providing a better customer experience and addressing major causes of lost sales.

FoyerLive isn’t just a solution for brick and mortar retailers. It also makes it easy to integrate ecommerce and brick and mortar operations. Their endless aisle digital kiosks bring many of the conveniences of ecommerce to brick and mortar shopping, empowering retailers to create a nearly seamless shopping experience as well as a more personalized one.

Here are a few examples of FoyerLive applications that solve everyday problems for retail associates, managers and customers.

1. Ease of exploring product features and reviews.

For technically complex products, the information on the box or print display isn’t enough to go by. If you’ve ever browsed product information on your phone from a store you’ve probably sensed that there’s a better way of doing things. Now there is.

FoyerLive’s interactive kiosks allow customers to view product descriptions, comparisons, demos and reviews on attractive touchscreen displays. If they’re just getting started they can search by category and add items to a cart.

One perceived advantage of ecommerce for shoppers is access to customer reviews. People can be hesitant to buy products without seeing how they’ve measured up to other consumers’ expectations. If your customers aren’t looking at these reviews in store, odds are they have in advance. Facilitating that can increase sales and reduce product returns.

FoyerLive displays at Hurley surf event. — Click to enlarge

2. Eliminate stress and guesswork.

With FoyerLive’s capabilities, retail associates don’t have to memorize as much product information as they otherwise would. If they can’t answer a question off hand they can easily access product information using digital kiosks. The employee and customer are viewing the same information on the same screen and the employee can fill in where he or she has specialized knowledge. This is especially valuable if your store has complex products or a large number of SKUs.

And it builds trust.

3. Reduce lost sales from out of stock items.

If you don’t have the right color or size in store, no problem! FoyerLive gives you ominchannel fulfilment options, allowing customers to order out-of-stock items for home delivery. Customers don’t have to make inconvenient return trips to get what they want. For retailers, that amounts to fewer sales lost to online competitors.

4. No more yelling over the changing room door.

Even if delegated to a retail associate, going back and forth between a dressing room and clothing racks is time-consuming. Some people dread this aspect of clothes shopping. Digital displays in changing rooms allow the customer to order additional sizes and colors without leaving the changing room or verbally communicating detailed information to a frazzled associate.

5. Queue Management: Reduce or eliminate lines.

With FoyerLive you can give customers a self-checkout option if that’s appropriate to your business. That means your associates are available to help customers with needs other than sales transactions. Ergo you can provide a more personalized experience as well as greater convenience.

Alternatively or additionally, customers can order products from anywhere in the store so they’ll be waiting when it’s time to go up front and pay.

6. No more scrounging for products on crowded shelves.

FoyerLive’s touchscreen navigators free customers from meandering through aisles in a long and potentially fruitless search. Guests can now request products or find them with digital item locators. Since they can order physical products from the back of the store with touch screens there’s less need to keep them all up front. The additional space creates a more pleasant all around experience.

Nike, for instance, uses FoyerLive digital displays to allow customers to pick shoe and clothing styles, colors and sizes. Employees collect the requested products and bring them to customers to try on at pop-up stores and in store.

FoyerLive Nike display. — Click to enlarge

7. Choose the right vintage.

Most dinner hosts don’t harbor sky-high expectations as far as their guests’ beer or wine contributions go, but it’s nice to make a good impression. What goes well with tri-tip steak? How about scallops, quesadillas, BBQ chicken, or samosas? I have no idea and there’s a good chance even a well-trained clerk at a liquor store doesn’t either.

Digital kiosks provide educational tools for both staff and customers for just this kind of situation. This functionality makes up-selling easier as well as educational. People are happy to pay more when they’re confident that they’ve chosen the right product.

8. Effectively multiply your sales associates.

Many of the above applications allow associates to get more done, better manage peak hours and provide more individualized service. Whether you’re a garden center, liquor store, boutique clothing retailer, a fireworks seller or the storefront for a major brand, these solutions free employees from busy work. They’ll be happier and so will your customers.

9. Make products tangible to customers.

Digital displays, by allowing customers to view how products actually work, make them more engaged and confident selecting products that suit their needs. Fireworks stores, for instance, use digital displays which allow customers to see what artillery shells, roman candles and other goodies look like in action.

This list of applications is by no means exhaustive. The sky’s the limit.

10. A final note: Cost, functionality and integration.

The cost and functionality of digital displays have improved a lot over the last five years. Historically setting up a video wall was exorbitantly expensive. Now you can get a decent-sized, touchscreen, commercial device and targeted, customizable digital display for less than a thousand dollars.

In-store digital displays used to be stand-alone products. They’re now integrated with websites, and because FoyerLive is in the cloud, managers can control kiosks and display screens from anywhere. Displays can also be automated by time of day and special promos offered in real time.

Integration.

FoyerLive is designed to integrate seamlessly with other enterprise-level retail solutions such as NCR Counterpiont, so if you like what you’re using there’s no need for a complete overhaul. Many of our clients use multiple systems which compliment one another.

In sum, FoyerLive is a diverse, customizable tool that different businesses can use in the ways that most benefit them. It brings many of the advantages of ecommerce to brick and mortar retail, while also facilitating ecommerce for those who do both. It provides convenience and assurance to customers who want to make the right choice and don’t have all day to do it.

Contact Retail Control Systems for more product information or a free FoyerLive demo. We’ll help you find the best solutions for your store.

Jul312018 by John GarveyNo Comments

Bennington Museum Draws Visitors from Around the World to a Small Town in Vermont

Museums Attractions

by John Garvey

Jasen Frederickson has been working at Bennington Museum for five of its 165 years, but you can tell by talking with him that he feels deeply connected to it. I hadn’t heard of the museum until a couple weeks ago, but reviewing the exhibits online and talking with Jasen—whose voice rings with enthusiasm when he talks about it—left me itching to visit the place.

“Growing up in this area, Bennington Museum has always been part of my life,” he tells me. Jasen, a Bennington native notes that he visited the museum on field trips as a kid and you can tell he liked it. His passion and initiative as the Visitor Center Coordinator has helped nearly double the store’s gross income in the last three years.

Quintessential New England Art

“We have 14 galleries in total and it ranges from the first settler all the way through midcentury modern, all connected to Bennington College,” Jasen tells me.

The largest collecting institution in the region, Bennington Museum “connects you with real objects, challenges you with intriguing ideas, and excites your imagination,” states the website. The museum has the largest collection of Grandma Moses paintings in the world as well as galleries devoted to Gilded Age art, pottery, Modernism and special exhibitions to boot.

“Our goal is to always tell a story through various forms.”

“Something that’s very distinct about our museum is that we put objects as well as art together,” Jasen explains. “So an object is actually a piece of art. It’s not like things are just two dimensional, which is how a lot of museums are when they’re just focused on art. We have historical objects in the same space—like a car with a Tiffany lamp as well as furniture and portraits and so forth.”

Pairing art with historical items as part of a storytelling focus is part of the secret sauce that makes a visit to Bennington Museum so memorable. The Early Vermont Gallery, for instance, transports you into another era using trunks with furnishings and household items that early settlers would have arrived with.

Visitors from near and far

Asked what lights him up about his work at Bennington Museum, Jasen tells me that every day is different and exciting. A lot of things account for that, but none more than the visitors.

“It’s being able to meet people from across the country as well as globally,” Jasen says. “And everybody in the museum is excited and happy to see us, you know, they’re always happy.”

Summer is especially exciting here. Bennington Museum hosts author talks, two summer camps and other events including a gallery opening just the other day. Here’s something especially impressive Jasen told me:

“Two years ago I got heavy into analyzing our zip code data. We had 15 countries (not including Canada because I consider them our neighbor) and every single state represented in our visitor numbers. In little Bennington, Vermont.”

“I have never worked a single day of retail outside of this job.”

Jasen spent 14 years in hotel management before joining Bennington Museum and eventually taking over most of its retail management.

“RCS has been instrumental in assisting me in understanding how retail management works,” he tells me. “Given that I have an unlimited support contract, I use it a lot for just silly questions and also desperate needs. Having that is a great help.

“Everybody within the RCS team is just so happy to be able to help and guide, you know, in the learning side of it and not just pressing issues.”

Jasen has brought the store online as well since taking over the gift shop three years ago. RCS helped him navigate that challenge.

“I did not want to manage two separate sets of inventory because that’s just craziness. … I have about 1600 SKUs and right now we have about 400 SKUs online. So we’re a good way there.

“Having an option that was a 100 percent integrated was a key factor. And so RCS helped me create that using Modern Retail as an integrator and Shopify as a platform. And so basically that’s what our web store runs on.”

Counterpoint also helps Bennington Museum manage its entire operating budget. Every dollar of income, including grant funding, memberships, donations and other revenue, goes through the system. Jasen describes Counterpoint as “a one-stop shop for a museum,” with the minor qualification that it doesn’t include CRM specific to membership and member services. However, RCS does partner with some great companies that can provide these types of services, check out all the awesome partners.

In the last three years, Bennington Museum has seen 45 percent year-over-year growth in visitor numbers. In the same time period the store’s gross income has increased from $68 thousand to $124 thousand. Not bad for someone with no retail experience, right?

“You don’t see those increases in a typical retail environment,” Jasen acknowledges. “So I’ve made all my decisions based upon historical things that worked and didn’t work. If I didn’t have RCS to walk me through that and help me with it, those numbers wouldn’t have been able to increase to what we have now.”

Mar92018 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

The Frick Customer Spotlight!

Museums Attractions

By Casey Albert
The Frick Plate
Retail Control Systems is delighted to announce The Frick Pittsburgh as our Customer Spotlight for the month of March! They have been in the RCS family since May of 2015.

Located on the Pittsburgh estate of late-19th -century industrialist Henry Clay Frick, The Frick Pittsburgh is the steward of collections left as a legacy to the people of Pittsburgh by Frick’s daughter, Helen Clay Frick. The permanent collections include fine and decorative arts, cars, carriages, historic objects, and buildings. The Frick experience includes The Frick Art Museum, the Car and Carriage Museum, Clayton, the Frick family Gilded Age mansion, and six acres of beautifully landscaped lawns and gardens. Also included are an Education Center, the Frick children’s playhouse (designed by renowned architects Alden & Harlow), a large working greenhouse (also designed by Alden & Harlow), The Café at the Frick, and the Grable Visitor Center, which houses the Frick Museum Store.

The Frick Pittsburgh is a unique space and RCS has helped to make the customer facing and internal user experience the best it can be. The intricacies of operation are greatly improved with help from the RCS support technicians, the Frick is confident they can contact Retail Control Systems with any inquiry and they will find a solution quickly.

The Frick utilizes NCR Counterpoint, Outbound and Raiser’s Edge, all integrated, in multiple areas of their facility – Museum, Educational Classes/Tours and more! The Counterpoint POS software is there for the day to day sales, Outbound handles all the reservations and Raiser’s Edge manages the museum memberships.

The museum also uses CP mobile to help to manage the operations many buildings across the campus. They utilize CP mobile mostly for events or to sell memberships on site. As Lynn rice states, “It’s great that RCS has so many options for us to expand and reach our retail and membership base.”

The company works with Ariel Leggett from RCS and says, “Ariel is the best, she is available to help at a moments notice and always has the right answer”. As their account manager, Ariel helps them with any new purchases, receipt paper, new integrations, upgrades and much more!

“RCS has helped our site advance in many ways and continues to work to help our business improve.” – Lynn Rice, Systems & Data Manager

RCS is thrilled to have The Frick Pittsburgh as part of the RCS family! We are excited that we can assist them with reaching their goals and we can’t wait to see where they go next!

About Retail Control Systems

Founded in 1987, Retail Control Systems specializes in retail and restaurant management software and hardware solutions. RCS has built a reputation for finding specialized business management solutions that help businesses gain complete control over their operations and finances. From inventory control to daily sales management, RCS has the experience and expertise across the full-range of retail and restaurant industries to meet the unique needs of any business. RCS has been providing superior customer service, exceptional quality, and innovation to the retail and restaurant community for nearly 30 years.

To learn more about RCS, visit retailcontrolsystems.com or call 1-800-417-3030.

For more information about The Frick, their products, and services, visit thefrickpittsburgh.org.

Feb62018 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

A Match Made in Heaven

Museums Attractions

by Casey Albert

RCS is pleased to announce Heaven Hill Brands as our Customer Spotlight for the month of February! They have been part of the RCS family for almost five years.

Evan Williams Bourbon Experience

Shortly after Prohibition ended in the United States, Heaven Hill, was founded in Bardstown, Kentucky by the Shapira family to produce and market Bourbon. At the time, it was as speculative a new business venture as the dot com startups of the 1990’s — a company founded with no brands, no available stocks of whiskey, and at the height of the Great Depression. Today, the company is the largest independent, family-owned and operated distilled spirits supplier in the country. According to industry analysts, Heaven Hill is now the sixth-largest spirits supplier in the United States and second largest holder of aging Bourbon whiskey in the world with an inventory in excess of 1,300,000 barrels.

Heaven Hill operates two visitor centers located on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail. Their visitor centers are The Bourbon Heritage Center located in Bardstown, KY and the Evan Williams Bourbon Experience in Downtown Louisville, KY. Both of Heaven Hill’s facilities offer tours, interactive exhibits, tastings and a retail store.

RCS has been able to offer an all-inclusive package pairing NCR Counterpoint together with Outbound, to manage Heaven Hill’s tour and event sales, as well as, their inventory for retail and operations. The systems also seamlessly interface with the company’s Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system.

“RCS has been with us every step of the way for 5 years. At first implementing and even now helping us fine-tune and evolve the system to meet our growing business needs.”
-Stacy Clements

RCS is thrilled to have Heaven Hill as part of the RCS family! We are excited that we can assist them with reaching their goals and we can’t wait to see where they go next!

Jan82018 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

RCS and Wadsworth Museum of Art together for 18 years!

Museums Attractions

Retail Control Systems is pleased to announce the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art as our first Customer Spotlight of 2018. The museum has been a part of the RCS family for over 18 years.

Wadsworth Museum

The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is the oldest continuously-operating public art museum in the United States, founded in 1842 by arts patron Daniel Wadsworth. Wadsworth was an amateur artist, architect, and one of the first major American art patrons. Daniel Wadsworth originally planned to establish a “Gallery of Fine Arts,” but was persuaded to create an atheneum, a term popular in the 19th century used to describe a cultural institution with a library, works of art and artifacts, devoted to learning history, literature, art, and science.

Wadsworth Museum The museum’s collections of nearly 50,000 works of art span 5,000 years and feature the Morgan collection of Greek and Roman antiquities and European decorative arts; world-renowned baroque and surrealist paintings; an unsurpassed collection of Hudson River School landscapes; European and American Impressionist paintings; modernist masterpieces; the Serge Lifar collection of Ballets Russes drawings and costumes; the George A. Gay collection of prints; the Wallace Nutting collection of American colonial furniture and decorative arts; the Samuel Colt firearms collection; costumes and textiles; African American art and artifacts; and contemporary art.

Wadsworth Museum utilizes NCR Counterpoint to help run their gift shop smoothly and effectively. They rely heavily on the built-in reporting to keep the gift shop well stocked for customers when they visit the museum. The Purchasing Advice Report is used to see what is selling best and when it needs to be re-ordered. The yearly physical inventory count is much easier with the built-in Physical Inventory Feature. This feature makes sure their inventory has been tracked correctly throughout the year.

We have been working with RCS and Counterpoint for at least 15 years…maybe even 20. They are so helpful from the most basic to the more complicated needs we have. The system itself is easy to use and provides great reports. Whenever I have a question, it is always answered in a timely manner. – Stacey Stachow

RCS is thrilled to have The Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art as part of the RCS family! We are excited that we could assist them with reaching their goals and we can’t wait to see where they go next!

Read more about RCS’ Solutions for Museums and Attractions.

Read more about Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art.

Nov32017 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

Cave of the winds and RCS, discover the unknown together

Museums Attractions

Cave of the Winds Mountain Park has been part of the RCS family since 2012, coming to RCS after working with a different NCR Counterpoint Partner. RCS is pleased to announce Cave of the Winds as November’s Customer Spotlight!

For more than a century, Cave of the Winds has been a must-see Colorado Springs attraction for travelers since 1881. They are one of the premiere show caves in the United States – and, at 7,000 feet above sea level, the cave is also one of the highest! Conveniently located near Pikes Peak and Manitou Springs and only one hour south of Denver, Colorado, brave explorers can choose from three cave tours and enjoy spectacular scenery, daring attractions and rides, family-friendly and kid-friendly activities atop breathtaking Williams Canyon. From mild to wild, exploring and soaring, Cave of the Winds is the perfect Colorado experience inside the mountain and out!

Cave of the Winds runs all of their operations with NCR Counterpoint, including gift shops, attractions, café and warehouse. This helps them have the most efficient and effective reporting possible because all the data is located in one system, NCR Counterpoint. NCR Counterpoint is seamlessly integrated with Outbound Software to allow the Cave to do onsite and online reservations for their attractions.

“The best thing is that NCR Counterpoint is a software that works with Outbound, our online ticketing software and it allows for time and group ticketing. We can easily manage inventory and setup discounts, all in a user friendly interface.” Terry Carter, Office Manager

RCS is thrilled to have Cave of the Winds as part of the RCS family! It was a pleasure assisting them with reaching their goals and we can’t wait to see where they go next!

Learn more on their website: caveofthewinds.com

Oct52017 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

The Center of Science and Industry (COSI) updates their POS System with RCS

Museums Attractions

The Center of Science and Industry (COSI) Updates Their POS System with RCS

by Casey Albert

The Center of Science and Industry (COSI) has been a member of the RCS family since 2014. COSI utilizes NCR Counterpoint, Outbound Software and Raiser’s Edge to manage their entire operation.

COSI is Ohio’s dynamic Center of Science and Industry. It inspires scientists, dreamers, and the innovators of tomorrow. COSI first opened its doors in 1964 in downtown Columbus. In 1999, after outgrowing their space, COSI moved to a new 320,000 square foot space, becoming one of the largest modern-built centers of science in the United States. COSI continues to represent a significant investment in the economic development and community revitalization of downtown Columbus.

Center of Science (COSI) As a center of science, rather than a standalone science center, COSI has established embedded partnerships that enrich our guests’ experiences, including Ohio State University (OSU) Labs in Life, working research laboratories created through a partnership with OSU and staffed by OSU researchers.

In 2008, COSI was named America’s number one center of science for families by Parent Magazine. Since 1964, COSI has engaged with over 33 million people from all 50 states and around the world, both on-site and through its award-winning outreach programs.

COSI, is a large nonprofit center of science, an industry which RCS specializes in. They welcome more than a half a million guests through their doors every year. In 2014, COSI switched it’s box office operations to NCR Counterpoint after using an outdated POS System for many years. COSI uses NCR Counterpoint in conjunction with two other key systems, Outbound and Raiser’s Edge. Outbound Software helps to manage their reservations and Raiser’s Edge helps them manage their member database.

Upgrading our box office POS system to NCR Counterpoint has greatly improved our reporting and touchscreen customization capabilities.
– Rachel McLane, Manager of Ticketing Systems

RCS is thrilled to have COSI as a part of the RCS family. We are excited that we can assist them with reaching their goals and we can’t wait to see where they go next. RCS staff also fights over who gets to do the next onsite visit to COSI to marvel at this great center of science.

Jun52017 by Ryan ParksNo Comments

Retail Control Systems & Biltmore Estate: Living Comfortably in America’s Largest Home

Museums Attractions

(ENFIELD, NH | FORT COLLINS, CO) – Retail Control Systems (RCS) is pleased to announce our customer spotlight for the month of June, Biltmore Company.

Biltmore is the largest, privately owned, home in America. The Estate was built in 1895 in Asheville, North Carolina and sits on an almost 8,000-acre self-sufficient estate, with roughly 1.5 million visitors annually. There are 2 hotels and 6 different restaurants on the property. Biltmore hosts concerts, weddings, clay shooting, river rafting, fly fishing, and many other activities.

RCS has had the pleasure of working with Biltmore for ten years, they joined the RCS family in 2007. Boyd Winchester, Computer Systems Analyst, at Biltmore Estate states, “RCS has helped me with a wide range of problems, they support us with everything from creating custom reports to troubleshooting issues within Counterpoint. I appreciate the fact that no matter the problem, RCS is ready with an answer or they find a solution quickly. And, if the answer isn’t exactly what I’m looking for, they are always able to provide alternatives.”

Working with Boyd at Biltmore is gratifying for RCS. As a power-user, Boyd loves to push Counterpoint to new limits and we enjoy the challenges he brings to the table. From discussions on the best way to slice-and-dice data for reporting, to consulting on the API design for his wine club integration, every day is an adventure and we truly enjoy being Biltmore’s trusted Counterpoint advisor.

With 13 distinct retail stores on the estate, Biltmore certainly keeps RCS on its toes. These retail shops sell a wide range of products including plants, apparel, jewelry, books, home furnishings, wine, and many other products. The Estate also boasts the most visited winery in America, with a wine club that currently ships wine to 37 states within the continental US.

NCR Counterpoint helps Biltmore keep their retail inventory on track. By utilizing Counterpoint’s inventory control tools, they have been able to reduce overall inventory holding costs and their risk of inventory shortages all while accounting for various sources of seasonality. This ensures that their customers are always able to find the perfect purchase to commemorate their visit to America’s largest home. After recently upgrading their Counterpoint Software to the newest version 8.5, they are able to utilize the new user interface. Read more about NCR’s newest Counterpoint Release. Biltmore also uses NCR’s CPMobile devices mostly for their specialty sale events. Recently, they had a local event off-site event where Biltmore wanted to sell their wine. The store utilized their CPmobile devices at the event to sell the wine.

“RCS doesn’t just provide hardware and software, they also create numerous enhancements and provide the training needed to run a point of sale system.”
– Boyd Winchester, Biltmore Company

About Retail Control Systems

To learn more about RCS, visit retailcontrolsystems.com or call 1-800-417-3030.

For more information about Biltmore Company, their products, and services, visit biltmore.com.

Nov142016 by Casey AlbertNo Comments

Leveraging an Omni-channel Point-of-Sale System to Engage the Modern Museum Visitor

Museums Attractions, Retail

More often than not, the success of a museum begins and ends with its ability to capture and continually engage its audience. With more types of entertainment available than ever before, museums must do more to meet the modern visitor’s demand for social interaction, instant gratification, customization, and interactive presentations. In order to do this, museums must re-examine and adjust how they operate to meet the expectations of their newest, and now most important customers.

Appeal to Your Audience

Whether you believe Millennials are self-entitled, or the next great generation for social justice and cultural reform, the fact remains that they will shape our future economy. Millennials are highly tech-savvy individuals who expect instant access to information and services. An omni-channel POS system lets your museum offer multiple buying solutions – from online ticket sales to gift shop purchases and more – so you can reach your tech-savvy audience and give them simple ways to buy from you, whether they are standing in line or shopping online from their phone, tablet, or laptop.

Your new visitors are also adventure-driven, social individuals who prefer shared experiences over solitary activity. Using the data collected through an omni-channel POS solution, like NCR Counterpoint, allows you to identify their main areas of interest – from special exhibits to souvenirs and more – and capitalize on that information to identify events and products that will appeal to them, such as a Pre-Show Cocktail Hour from 5pm – 6pm. Modern consumers are also highly price-conscious, seeking value – both real and perceived – at the lowest cost. Share promotions, discounts, and specials with new and repeat visitors to create the value they demand.

Optimize Your Operations

The modern museum-goer is used to the instant gratification of streamed video, mobile apps, and social media, so their experience with your museum should be no different. This means providing experiences that are intuitive, interactive, social, and personalized. An omni-channel point-of-sale system lets visitors buy from you in a variety of ways, online, in-store, and in the ticket line. Your omni-channel POS system also allows you to capture, analyze, and leverage your data so you can get to know your customers and tailor your specials, exhibits, and discounts to meet their ever-changing needs.

Advantages of an Omni-Channel POS

Optimize your operations and engage your modern visitors by upgrading to an omni-channel
point-of-sale solution for your museum or attractions business. The advantages of centralizing operations with a comprehensive point-of-sale system, like NCR Counterpoint, include:

1. Integrated Sales Channels – Analyzing information stored in silos provides only a partial view customer behavior. Omni-channel point-of-sale systems unify your data on a single platform, so you can gain key insight into your customers’ buyer journeys and streamline your services to meet their specific needs.

1. Customer Engagement Solutions – Connect with your guests with tools like loyalty programs and customer feedback surveys. Understanding when and how visitors are currently interacting with your museum allows you to send personalized messages and offers to keep customers engaged and returning for more.

1. Increased Speed of Service & Mobile Sales – New visitors demand the same-level of service and efficiency they are used to receiving online. With mobile and online ordering and payment capabilities, you’ll be able to increase your speed of service and handle peak periods with ease to keep your customers happy.

As a museum retailer, you need to be able to conform to the demands of the modern museum visitor, and that means having a point-of-sale system that can manage everything – from ticketing and sales to customer tracking and membership programs. Bringing your museum into the digital age doesn’t have to be complicated. RCS is available to help you understand how a customized, omni-channel point-of-sale system can help you to better manage your museum operations.

Want to learn more? Give us a call at 1-800-417-3030 x111 to talk to our museum Retail Solution Advisor, Molly Michalenoick, today!