Well, in some stores, especially in chains with IT and merchandising departments, they’re completely interwoven, so that the content you see on the monitors and displays around a store is triggered by real time data from the point of sale system.

At CAP Software, we deal mostly with small customers, so we rarely see that level of integration, but it’s still important for retailers to target their customers and the behavior they want to encourage with their digital signage, whether it’s a display in the store or the rear facing display at the point of sale.

Out in the store, try to clue shoppers in to promos, new items, special product, or any other news you have. You can’t assume they’ve all been to your website or read your latest ad, so leverage your vendors and get nice looking images and other content to put up there to try to generate some sales uplift.

At the point of sale, it’s probably a little late to spur additional purchases unless you have lots of impulse items in the register area. Instead, tell them about sales, promos, and new items that are coming soon. You want this to be timely, attractive, and hard hitting information that is going to entice that customer to come back to your store sooner than they would have otherwise. The ads don’t have to be super flashy, just make sure the info is clear, concise, and packs a punch so the customer will notice.

Also, mix it up at different terminals and encourage your staff to have a friendly dialogue with the customers to keep them entertained and feeling valuable.

Digital signage can be daunting for SMBs, but there are lots of great content generation services out there, or try to get content from your vendors and then get cracking!

No, and we should never stop marketing either. It needs to be a part of your daily routine.

But, that doesn’t mean you need to be buying ad space and spending lots of money marketing all the time.

It means that you need to leverage your point of sale system to capture customer data and slice it and dice it to understand their retail shopping behavior. Even a little customization goes a long way when targeting marketing to your customers.

Send them birthday e-mails, notices about new items from their favorite brands, or put together special events for your best customers and keep them coming back and spending more.

Do you see any benefit in linking your payment accounts to your phone so you can use your credit card to pay for items at the point of sale, without carrying your credit card around?

We tried RFID keyfobs at gas stations, and we tried miniature keychain sized credit cards, both to supposedly speed transactions and improve the customer experience, but neither caught on.

I was recently invited to test a mobile wallet in beta from my bank. It was easy to download and install on my Android phone and linking my payment accounts was simple enough, but then I was stuck. What do I do with it? Who accepts payment this way? That was a couple of weeks ago and I still don’t know.

Now we have Paypal in-store at Home Depot (and presumably more stores soon) which seems interesting, but we’ll have to see if it catches on.

Give us a shout at CAP if you are interested in mobile wallets as a retailer or a consumer, I want to know what you think.

A credit card data breach has known and expensive consequences as laid out by the PCI Security Standards Council, but breaches of all types have serious impacts on your business, your credibility, and your customers’ loyalty to you. If you can’t be bothered to safeguard their data, then why should they shop with you?

Here’s a great article on some of the internal impacts of a data breach:

http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/new-study-by-experian-data-breach-resolution-and-ponemon-institute-examines-the-aftermath-of-data-breaches-138029118.html

In the past, mobile devices were expensive ruggedized warehouse style units that were out of reach of most SMB retailers, especially considering the use case. Why use a $2500 mobile computer to count inventory or handle the occasional mobile POS interaction when you can use a $500 handheld to do inventory?
How many small retailers were really looking for line busting applications, and how many small retail businesses can realistically use such technology anyway?

Can you check out a customer in a liquor store with an iPhone when the customer has a cart full of wine and beer and wants to pay with a check? Not likely.

But, with the advent of new Windows 7 tablets from Dell, HP, and others, we’re expecting to deliver a rich and complete POS experience with minimal new infrastructure and training, that will allow clerks or managers to process complete transactions over the WIFI network using the tablet with onboard card swipe and BlueTooth printer and scanner. These devices can be used as full POS lanes, as inventory counting stations, receiving devices, and as full mobile POS to take to trade shows, sidewalk sales, fairs, you name it. AND, they’re not that expensive. We’re expecting them to fall in the same range as an entry level all-in-one point of sale station, and that’s great news.

Stay tuned for more on mobility, it ain’t going away!