“Point-of-sale information available quickly throughout a retail operation is of immense management value,” says Bernard Ford, Sales Manager at Softline Lorge, the national and international ACCPAC accounting software reseller and solutions provider.
“Web-enabling technology allows remote access by management, staff and customers to a spread of information and functions within the retail sales environment. Two new Web-enabled modules from ACCPAC, known as eCRM and ePOS, along with ACCPAC`s embedded `i-connect` technology have resulted in a truly mobile portal that benefits the chain store and customers.”
Ford explains that in a national retail chain, for example, remote branches can now have access via a standard ePOS workstation to customer information, inventory levels, sales history and other pertinent detail, whereas before access to information was limited to rudimentary POS functions such as sale, credit limit and stock price lists.
“Now, with the interaction offered by the ePOS and eCRM modules, customer details can be viewed and edited, orders placed at other locations can be tracked, stock levels at other locations can be viewed, purchase orders placed, the human resources self-service facility accessed and important follow-up information can also be logged directly into the eCRM module. With some chains, customers can also place their weekly shopping orders online from their home PC.
“The Web-enabled central storage of this data allows instantaneous access to sales information by management. The value of this information cannot be overestimated. It indicates stock movement for timely re-stocking, helps to control shrinkage and allows for trends analysis to be carried out on all sales information to identify fast and slow-moving lines, peak sales periods and changes in consumer habits or preferences.”
Ford adds that the `connect anywhere` technology of the Internet has allowed accounting and ERP software system developers to release Web-deployable suites of products covering most line-of-business applications such as inventory, purchasing, sales orders, debtors, creditors and general ledger.
Issued by: Thomas Molete Communications
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Colleen Bellas
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colleen@lorge.co.za
Thomas Molete Communications
Dave McDermott
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