This business has some products to clean your surroundings while helping save the earth. The chain sells liquid detergents and refills your containers rather than adding them to the land fill. They also stock aluminum can crushers to encourage recycling.
Each store, staffed by two clerks, has a single sales station (modular sales station, scanner, computer with internal modem, tape backup and an 80 column report printer).
Bar coded products arrive and are received and put on display by the store employees.
The owner configured his automated system to require a customer selection for each sale. (The name and address can be added "on the fly".) The managers at the hub want to record every customer in order to mail them sale pieces and catalogs. Each store manager reconciles the drawer and makes a deposit each day. The store system is left on at night so the system begins night time communications activity (polling) after the stores and management offices are closed. By dialing each store in the prescribed sequence, sales, charges, payments and new customer information are received at the hub. Inventory changes (price, cost and new items) are sent to each store.
Email (electronic mail) is left on the store's printer. It is fun to watch and it wipes out a ton of paper, manual posting, fax and postage charges. The hub can see sales, customer traffic, and employee clock in/out at each store.
Shipments are audited behind the scenes. The hub ships to each store. The store prints a receiving report which must agree with the shipment or a variance warning is posted.
The hub can put certain items on sale during promotions. Sales start and end dates and sale prices are sent to each store automatically during polling... imagine the time saved when multiplied by the number of stores!