Category: Uncategorized

Jan
16
2011
January 16th, 2011 by ssadmin
Have you ordered gift cards?


Typically the holiday season is the busiest time for gift card sales to your customer.  How is your stock?  Are you prepared?

Every year we have customers that order gift cards at the last minute, hoping that they will be printed by Christmas.

Don’t let this happen to you!  Most of the gift card companies that are out there have a couple week turnaround time from receipt of artwork to shipping of the cards. 

Here are some of the other blogs on gift cards for more information! 

http://selbysoft.blogspot.com/2010/07/gift-card-questions-and-information.html

http://selbysoft.blogspot.com/2010/09/holiday-customer-rewards.html

http://selbysoft.blogspot.com/2010/01/pre-load-gift-cards.html

http://selbysoft.blogspot.com/2009/10/gift-card-promotion-and-marketing.html


Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Gift Cards, Marketing, Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: ,

Jan
13
2011
January 13th, 2011 by ssadmin


Curious about gift card usage?





We all know that gift cards are a great way of increasing revenue and customer retention.  One of the questions that comes up is how to track what happened with a gift card.   Usually this comes up because a customer thinks they should have more money on their card than they actually do. 


SelbySoft has a great report that will show you a complete history of the gift card when you are using our free internal gift card system. 


In Reports | Customer | Internal Gift Card System you will find an option that provides a couple different types of information.


For example, to see all the transaction history for a specific card, you would simply select the Individual button and then enter the gift card number and dates to see.    The example below shows what type of information is being displayed – notice that all voids, loads, sales etc are shown along with the date and the employee that performed the transaction!


This is a great way to check if someone has used a card incorrectly and to help verify transactions. 







Another report that can be run here is the list of outstanding cards.  With this report you will see a total list of all gift cards that have not had any use since a certain date.  This is a great liability report!











Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Gift Cards, Marketing, Order Entry, Reporting, Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,

Jan
11
2011
January 11th, 2011 by ssadmin
Going to Chicago for Coffee Fest?

We have FREE passes!
 
Give me a call or shoot me an email if you are interested.



Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Shows, Uncategorized Tagged with:

Jan
06
2011
January 6th, 2011 by ssadmin
See us in print!  

Click the links below to visit some of the latest press SelbySoft has received.   
 

 Tea And Coffee Trade Journal
Specialty Coffee Retailer


Fresh Cup Magazine


Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with: ,

Jan
04
2011
January 4th, 2011 by ssadmin
QR Codes


Do you know what a QR code is?  It’s that funny little black and white square barcode that you see on some products.  Manufacturers and retailers have started using them over the last few years as a way to look up product information.  It is designed as an advanced barcode that stores more information than the traditional UPC style barcodes that you see.  The beauty of the QR code is that it can store actual information like web addresses.
 
One of the great things about a QR code is that you can place it on products and quickly direct customers to a website about that product.  These codes become very effective with smartphone users.   If you have a smartphone, you can scan them and be directed to a website automatically.  Instant information.
 
At the bottom of this Blog are three examples for you to try – If you have an app on your phone that does QR codes, scanning these barcodes will automatically take you to http://www.selbysoft.com/, my Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/SelbySoft) or the SelbySoft Facebook page (www.Facebook.com/SelbySoftinc) where you can also become a fan!

So, what does this mean for you?  Powerful marketing and tracking capabilities as well as the ability to direct your techno-savvy customers.

Some of you already know that we have the ability to print a custom coupon or offer at the bottom of the receipt.  Want to send people to your web store or online ordering site?  Add a QR code! 





This is a great way to both communicate with and market to your customers.  Utilizing this, you can drive trafffic to a web site or Facebook page quickly.  If you setup  a unique pagelink, you can even then judge traffic to the site by seeing how many visits came to that page directly. 

Really want to get creative? Once a customer scans a QR code, they are taken to a sign-up or registration page.  Once the customer provides their information, email them a coupon!

Creating a QR code?  There are a number of online sites that allow you to create this.  I used http://createqrcode.appspot.com/ to create the ones in this email.  I then simply pasted the image here.






Scan here to go to Mike Spence Facebook Page

Scan here to go to www.SelbySoft.com

Scan here to go to SelbySoft, Inc Facebook Page.






















Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Marketing, Order Entry, Uncategorized Tagged with: , , ,

Dec
29
2010
December 29th, 2010 by ssadmin
Tax Rates!

I know, not the most exciting topic!  However, we are asked on a regular basis about how tax rates can be calculated in SP-1.
We have multiple ways to accommodate the taxing of items in SP-1.  Every menu group can be assigned one of five different tax levels and this can also be determined by the order type!  Some examples:
  • Charge 9.3% tax on pizza for delivery and 8.3% on pizza for dine in.
  • Charge 9.3% tax on coffee for here and no tax when it is carry out.
  • Charge 7.3% on beverages and 6.3% on food and 5.5% on retail.
Don’t forget that if you deal with non-taxable customers (church or non-profit), then you can set that up as well by creating a customer profile for the situation. 
For those of you out of country, we support the VAT (Value Added Tax) as well as the Canadian GST, PST and HST.
For those of you in states that require the tax be based on the tax code the customer lives in, we have you covered as well.  Our Use Customer Delivery switch allows you to specify the location zone and tax rate that is appropriate.  This is great when you are charging a different tax based on the location.
Finally, for those of you in states that have instituted a “fee” or tax that is then taxable, we can even cover this. We have a few customers that are in cities / states that charge a unique tax.  For example, drinks incur an additional 2.5% tax and then the ticket is sub-totaled and tax is applied on the whole thing!  I know it seems weird but there are areas that are doing it!
Of course we report all the details here as well!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized Tagged with:

Dec
23
2010
December 23rd, 2010 by ssadmin
We hope everyone has a great Holiday and Christmas!

Thanks once again for being great customers and helping to make 2010 another successful year!


Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Uncategorized

Dec
21
2010
December 21st, 2010 by ssadmin


Where are your POS stations located? 

I suppose a better question would be where SHOULD your POS stations be located?   This blog came about as a comment from one of our Customer Service technicians.  They each talk to hundreds of different stores a year and have a different perspective on what goes on in a store.

They brought this up in our last meeting because they run into a lot of people that give no through as to placement.  I’m not talking ergonomics here – I’m talking safety and longevity!

Places to avoid putting the POS:

  • Right next to the hand washing sink.
  • Right next to the dish washing sink.
  • Any sink! 
  • Ovens – Please don’t back the computer right up against your super hot conveyor oven!
  • Under the counter, behind the stack of paper napkins with zero airflow.
  • On the floor that is mopped once a day.
  • Anyplace where the computer looks like it is balancing on edge.

These may seem a bit silly but we run into them!  The thing you want to look for is some kind of airflow around the machine – It does not need to be on a shelf by itself but don’t cram it in there either!


So call us before you put the POS in place and we will help you understand what will make your life easier!

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Technology, Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,

Dec
16
2010
December 16th, 2010 by ssadmin
Problems with staff and the internet? 

You are not the only one!  We have many customers that would like to lock out internet usage on their POS terminals.  There are a number of reasons to want to lock out employess on the POS.

No matter what else you may want to do with your POS computers, remember that you purchased them to operate first and foremost as point of sale stations.

Employee access to the internet on POS systems can result in many issues in your store including some of the below: 

  • PCI and Credit Card security can be comprimised.
  • Potential for virus, spyware or malware is increased.
  • Software corruption due to issues with above.
  • Potenial illegal downloads of movies, music etc.

Ok, so we have some reasons why we don’t want employees to have unfettered access to the internet.   How do we accomplish this?

Well, it’s not completly something to be covered in a short blog but there are some suggestions that we can help you with. 
Start by looking at your Internet Explorer options.  Under the Tools, Internet Options, and then Content tab, you can set many different ways to control content access.
Another great way to stop unauthorized access is to secure your station with different user access through Windows.   
When we setup our SP-1 Touch Screen systems, we utilize the different user accounts under Windows to lock down the Internet Explorer access. 
So there you have it – a couple ways to help make sure you have things locked down and secured!
Contact us at:
SelbySoft

Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Technology, Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,

Dec
14
2010
December 14th, 2010 by ssadmin
How to cut costs?

In today’s world we are seeing costs on items continue to rise. Our coffee and specialty beverage customers have been hit with costs of coffee increasing  to it’s highest levels in 13 years. 
http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/food/2010-09-08-coffee-prices_N.htm?csp=obinsite
Our pizza and restaurant customers don’t have it any better as we have seen cheese prices up as much as 25% over the last year (http://www.pizzamarketplace.com/article/177010/Commodities-Cheese-up-25-percent-this-year) 
So, what does this have to do with POS?  A LOT.  When costs skyrocket, mistakes and control become even more important.
Take the first step by implementing controls over mistakes of pricing and product.  A Zero Training POS system allows you to make sure your employees are doing their best to get correct prices out to your customers.  This eliminates the shortages that occur when employees are quoting wrong prices.  Even a few cents off can make the differences when costs are involved!  
Tracking your inventory?  If not, then you are probably not tracking your waste either.  Even just tracking waste on a couple of your key items will help you save money and help you cut your costs. 
 Implementing a full inventory control system takes it a step further by showing you your cost of goods sold (COGS) on the fly.  Portion control can be managed by having precise portions printed in the kitchen.  This allows your employees to stop the overages of food that cause a waste and inventory issue. 
So give it a shot – call us and ask how we can help you at least trim your costs and get better control over your location.

Contact us at:
SelbySoft
Mike Spence
800-454-4434
Sales@SelbySoft.com
WWW.SelbySoft.com
8326 Woodland Ave. E
Puyallup Wa 98371

Posted in Order Entry, POS Features, theft, Uncategorized Tagged with: , ,

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