Aralco is developing a new user definable tax. This tax will be used for cases where POS sales are made for shipments to out of Province/State and the correct destination taxes need to be charged and reported in the back office for tax remittance purposes.

For further information please contact

email: info@aralco.com

Today, there are many stores that have established their businesses in different parts of the country. The system they follow is, each and every customer are free to pick whatever they are interested in and at the end they have to get their goods checked, priced and packed. The system of checking, pricing and packing at the end of purchase is called POS (Point Of Sale).

Point Of Sale has been adopted in stores recently to bill the goods. This system comprises of many gadgets to facilitate the point of sale program. Gadgets like a bar code reader, POS software, and a POS machine. It is advisable that a business which incurs large transactions should make use of a POS system to help with the function of billing and tracking of their goods. Before purchasing a POS system, one has to go through the "Guide to buying POS software".

It is tough to shift from the cash register to electronic cash register i.e. a POS system.

Anyone who wants to buy a POS system should ask the the following questions.

• Does the POS software have a user definable screen?
• Does it have any Customer Relationship Management options?
• Does it have any Excel/word interface?
• How easy is it to update retail prices and taxes.
• Does the feature of credit card processing work with your current business account?
• What kind of reports is the POS system capable of creating?
• Does this POS software support the feature of transacting a gift card?
• What inventory management features does this POS software have?

So by asking these questions one can be sure that this product will be a perfect match for your business.

Gift Registries are an excellent way to expand a client base. Gift registries, once reserved for weddings, are now used for several occasions. People are selecting gift registries for anniversaries, baby showers, graduations, birthdays and housewarmings.

Businesses of all sizes are using handheld scanners and POS systems to set up and deliver gift registries. With more and more people asking for registries to answer gift giving dilemmas, it makes sense for retailers to offer this service. Stores are nearly guaranteed to receive repeat business from both the event hosts and guests.

Gift registries introduce a variety of clients to your store. People who would not normally shop at your store may find themselves browsing merchandise and making unexpected purchases. On their way to picking up a gift registry item they may purchase another gift for someone else or something for themselves. Retailers receive an added bonus if the gift giver spreads the word about the registry and decides to use a gift registry for an event in the future.

For gift recipients, selecting items for their registry can be a thoughtful process. They may spend much time shopping around before selecting which items to place on their registry. After the event, gift recipients may choose to complete their registry on their own, purchasing the items they most desired.

Handheld scanners simplify the gift registry process. Gift recipients can walk around a store with the wireless scanner and scan the desired gift items. When they are done, a sales associate can download the item list to a POS terminal. In Aralco, gift registries are saved under the customer file, which is accessible from any POS terminal at any location.

You can also use handheld scanners in everyday sales. You can scan large items such as furniture which are displayed on the showroom floor. The scanned items are then imported to a POS terminal.

To learn more about Aralco's gift registry feature, take a look at the demo video.

If a sofa is available in different colours, and fabric grades, this product only needs one product number. Set up each model in the Back Office only once and simply assign different values. This saves you a lot of time.

All you have to do is use the fabric configurator to set up various dimensions. For example, you can setup different fabric colours, grades, leathers. You can also setup various leg options. A sofa could have titanium or chrome legs or a dresser could be available in oak, cherry or pine. Certain options will have price or cost jumps, which you can assign and change as needed.

In the product setup you select the applicable options. As new options become available you can assign new values or take away options that are discontinued.

At the POS, as you enter the product number the grid selection window pops up showing you the options available. When you select the desired options, the price, including the price jump, is automatically calculated. You can quickly provide different price quotes for customers considering more than one option.

Using another Aralco feature, when you complete a customer order you can automatically send a purchase order to the back office staff for them to review and send the order to the supplier.

In the Back Office you can run reports to review the chosen options. Over a long-range you can determine the most popular options and review customer trends.

To view how to setup and use the fabric configurator, please take a look at our furniture POS specific demo videos.

With the Aralco POS you can communicate company policies to your customers by printing custom receipt messages. Different messages would appear at the bottom of the receipt depending on what options were selected during the course of a transaction.

You can modify receipt messages at any time from the receipt printer setup in the POS. The printer setup is designed so you can quickly modify all of your messages.

You can write custom receipt messages for different transaction types, such as: layaways, orders, sales, quotes etc.

You can also have custom receipt messages for different transaction options, such as: returns, tax cancellations, discounts etc.

Finally, you can have custom receipt messages for various methods of payment, such as: cash, cheque, credit card, debit, etc.

For example, if a transaction involves a Layaway, the receipt printer will automatically print a specific message that applies to the transaction type. This message could be "A minimum deposit of 50% is required on all layaway items."

Given the following scenario, the transaction type is a sale, a discount was applied and the method of payment selected is a cheque, then all three messages will be printed on the receipt.

The Aralco POS also has several printing options. At the end of a transaction you can choose to print an invoice, a receipt or other pre-determined formats. You can choose the number of copies to be printed and also choose to print from any printer connected to the system. Emailing the document is another option. When you select this option the customer look-up screen appears right away so you can search and select the customer. Once selected the customer's email address will be entered automatically.

Once the document is printed you have the option of printing another receipt or invoice.

The custom receipt message feature is available in Aralco Version 400.

When customers request products you don't have in stock you can show them a picture of the item before ordering the product from another store.

In Aralco you can display product and customer or member photographs in the POS transaction screen. Product pictures are uploaded when you set up products in the Back Office System. Member or customer photographs are attached to their profiles. When you turn on this option you can display product pictures and member photographs from any POS.

For example, imagine your store sells a popular line of handbags. A customer would like to purchase a handbag but would prefer the item in beige, but that color is sold out. She is hesitant about ordering the handbag, and would like to know what shade of beige it is. While inquiring about the availability of the beige handbag at other stores a picture of the beige handbag appears on your POS transaction screen. This gives the customer a chance to confirm that the bag in stock at the other store is exactly what she is looking for.

Customer or member photographs can also be displayed in the POS transaction screen. A health & fitness club may decide to use this to verify the identity of their members when they swipe membership cards to access facilities.

This is one of several new features available in Aralco Version 400. Please take a look at our demo videos to view how to activate this option.

A new time saving feature in Aralco automatically converts customer orders into purchase orders.

This is a new feature Aralco users can turn on and off. When activated, the system will prompt the POS operator to create a purchase order once the customer order is completed.

If the operator selects yes, they then can decide to send the PO to the head office right away or send it at the end of day.

Once the purchase order is sent to the head office, staff at the head office can review the PO. After reviewing the order, the purchase order can be sent to the supplier via email, fax or mail.

POS staff can track when purchase orders have been reviewed and when goods are received.

This feature saves time since staff no longer need to enter the same information twice. Reducing the number of steps involved in creating a purchase order increases accuracy.

This feature is ideal for furniture showrooms where customers would not typically purchase showroom items, but order the piece to be shipped from the supplier.

For videos demonstrating many other furniture POS features please take a look at our demo videos.

Printing barcodes on receipts is an excellent way to ensure accurate returns are made. Using barcoded receipts in returns improves security, because it makes it very difficult for thieves to forge receipts. It ensures the correct amount is refunded and eliminates duplicate returns.

You can set up your POS software to print a barcode at the bottom of receipts and invoices. When a customer presents the receipt upon returning an item, you simply scan it to bring up the transaction. Select the items which are being returned and proceed to the payment screen.

You'll notice that the amount and the method of payment are automatically entered. The amount will correspond to the sale amount not the current value of the item in stock. The taxes will be refunded according to the tax rate when the item was purchased.

Once the return is completed, the item is removed from the list of returnable items, preventing anyone from returning the item again.

This feature is available on Aralco Version 400.

The Aralco POS software is equipped with a fully integrated high speed method of processing credit card and debit payments. With the Moneris Payment Processing system, point of sale transactions are instantly communicated to the pin pad.

There's no need to re-enter the transaction amount. You save paper, as it becomes the only printer you need. There's no need to staple two receipts together, and having only one printer also reduces clutter, leaving you more room to present your products.

The Moneris Payment Processing system is a single point of contact for VISA, MasterCard, American Express, INTERAC Direct Payment processing from in-store to mobile wireless and e-commerce.

The Moneris Payment Processing system is offered at a low cost to Aralco users. For more information on this and many more feature please call Aralco at 1-877-ARALCO1 (272-5261).

The user designable data capture feature lets you customize product, customer and special transaction screens. With customized screens you get more powerful reports tailored to your unique operation.

In the product screen you can add fields to help you describe your products. For example, if you sell carpets, you can add fields such as, width, length, area, origin, pattern, colours, quality, fabric and designer. Using a new Aralco feature, you can search for products in the POS using any of these user-definable product categories. If a customer walks in looking for a carpet from a specific designer you can quickly look up carpets in your inventory to match their request.

If you would like to gain more knowledge about your customers, you can add fields to the customer screens. For example, if you operate a paint and decorating store you could keep a history of the paint tints your customers purchased. If they return to buy more paint in the same tint, the information you need is at your fingertips.

You can also use customer preferences to target customers in future ad campaigns. Keep checking the Aralco News page for more information about more user-designable capture screens under development.

For more information about user-designable data capture screens and to add this feature to your system please contact Aralco at info@aralco.com or 1-877-ARALCO1.