1.      Top 10 Retailer Tips in a Difficult Economy

      Article by http://en-us.nielsen.com/

1. Take higher margins in less price-sensitive categories
   A full-blown price elasticity study is most accurate, but ranking categories based on purchase frequency is a fast and inexpensive method to identify categories that are least sensitive to higher pricing. Shoppers are less likely to remember pricing on products purchased only once or twice per year. For higher-priced products, however, shoppers are more likely to shop around for the best deal.

2. Lower the thermostat or air conditioner in store
   This will save on heating and AC costs while promoting a “green” image. Retailers can post a sign on the front door, letting shoppers know how lowering the heat and AC helps the environment.

3. Publish your own $100/week family menu
   Supermarkets can create a weekly meal plan for a family of four to eat nutritious meals from easy recipes tied to key items. Look to your vendors for meal ideas or consider ways to promote your own store brands. Consider showing price comparisons to fast food restaurants.

4. Tie discounts to large or frequent trips
   Why offer red-hot door-buster deals that do nothing to generate additional purchases? Instead, consider offering hot prices for shoppers with a $100 purchase. Maybe a $10 new-release DVD tied to a full shopping cart. Supermarkets may consider a special deal for shoppers with $500 in receipts over the course of a month.

5. Expand beyond your channel’s traditional product mix
   What’s stopping grocers from selling video games or electronics stores from selling snacks? Today, 23% of supermarkets still don’t carry DVDs. Convenience and liquor stores have a huge opportunity to sell products appealing to men like tools, gadgets, and video games. Grocers can take higher margins on “non-grocery” items, since shoppers buying electronics or clothes in supermarkets are looking for convenience and fewer trips—not always the lowest price.

6. Maintain competitive pricing in most frequently-shopped categories
   Shoppers can recognize a high price on the products they buy weekly, whether it’s milk, bread, soda or diapers. To give the appearance of low prices, retailers need to keep high-velocity items priced competitively, even if prices are subsidized by less price-sensitive items.

7. Disguise store brands
   Consumers can usually spot store brands positioned as a low-cost alternative to a national brand. This has been the traditional role of most private label products. In the past few years, however, more savvy retailers are developing premium, multi-tiered store brands that could be serve to guests. Some retailers, such as Walmart, downplay their store brands with different brand names for each department or category.

8. Support organic, natural and green products regardless of sales
   The growth of organic products may slow during this economic downturn, but featuring healthy and environmentally sustainable products will help to boost a retailer’s banner equity. Organic, natural, and green products project a positive image for the retailer. When the economy recovers, retailers will want to be known for more than just low prices.

9. Get shoppers to try premium private label products
   No one will know if your private label salad dressing is as good as the national brands if they don’t try it. Shoppers are creatures of habit, and changing habits will take some effort. Consider trial sizes, $1-size or 100-calorie packs. Consider featuring one private label product each week with a free unit to shoppers spending $100. Consider shopper taste comparison demonstrations in the store.

10. Make a good impression on new shoppers
    The U.S. retailing environment is changing faster than ever. The struggling economy has a significant effect on how and where people shop, with consumers switching between both brands and retailers. Now is not the time to cut corners on factors that will negatively impact the shopping experience. Don’t let the checkout lines get too long. Remove the used tissues and flyers from the bottom of the carts. Keep the conveyor belt clean. Treat every shopper like it’s their first time in your stores.

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Imagine this: A customer—we'll call her Mary—purchases a toy in your store with a credit card. Mary's credit card information is temporarily stored in your computer systems. Fred, your clerk, is a little short on rent money this month. Fred accesses your computer systems and steals Mary's card information. Fred sells that information to a willing buyer, and through a complex series of transactions, that cardholder information is eventually obtained by John. John uses Mary's credit card information to go on a weekend vacation to the mountains. Did you know that your bank will make you pay for John's vacation plus hefty fines ($50,000, $100,000 and more)?

And this is just one card—and one vacation. How much could this cost you if Fred takes information from many customers because he's always short on rent money?

If your systems are not PCI-compliant, your business is at extreme financial risk. Get, and keep, your CounterPoint system PCI-compliant with the CounterPoint Subscription Service.

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Attend an upcoming Training Class

Get the most out of your CounterPoint System by attending an upcoming class.  

Course 110 - CounterPoint V7 Training Pack A 8-day course for resellers and end-users that starts with CounterPoint V7 Fundamentals and is followed by Managing Inventory in CounterPoint V7. Course 111 - CounterPoint V7 Fundamentals An introductory course that explains how to use the global functions in CounterPoint, how to set up basic system information, and how to use Point of Sale ticket entry. Course 112 - Managing Inventory in CounterPoint V7 This 4-day course is intended for individuals who are responsible for managing inventory, and incorporates three separate classes: Setting Up Items, Inventory Transactions, and Purchasing. Course 113 - Configuring and Administering CounterPoint V7 This is a technical course intended for accountants and administrators, and incorporates four separate classes: Accounting in CounterPoint; Configuring the Selling Environment; Configuring Startup and Using File Utilities; and Customizing Forms, and Labels and Using Data Interchange. Course 202 - Directed Training: Multi-Site for CounterPoint V7 A 2-day course on how to set up, use, and troubleshoot Multi-Site. Course 203 - CPOnline: Maximizing Your Profits A 1-day course focused on optimizing your existing CPOnline store to get better search engine rankings and on using CPOnline to its fullest potential. Course 205 - Using Crystal Reports with CounterPoint V7 This class covers how to utilize Crystal Reports, along with the SQL Connection Option, to build your own reports from data in CounterPoint V7. Course 206 - Basic Accounting for CounterPoint V7 A two-day course intended for the person responsible for Basic Accounting activities. Course 305 - CounterPoint SQL Fundamentals A 4 1/2-day* class that covers the basics of entering sales, purchase orders, and managing inventory when using the Enterprise version of CounterPoint SQL. *Class starts Monday at 1pm. Course 306 - Configuring CounterPoint SQL A 4 day class that shows how to configure menus, filters, lookups, zooms, setting up the initial data for a company, and how to use the Data Dictionary editor when using the Enterprise version of CounterPoint SQL. Course 307 - Customizing CounterPoint SQL A 3-day class that shows how to add and maintain custom fields and tables to a CounterPoint SQL database and how to customize toolbars, zoom windows, form groups and menus to run custom programs and reports in CounterPoint SQL. Course 308 - Advanced Customizing CounterPoint SQL A 2-day class that further explores customizing CounterPoint SQL by covering needs analysis, design and implementation of custom tables, triggers, stored procedures, and stored procedure-driven Crystal reports Course 309 - Multi-Site for CounterPoint SQL A two-day class that covers use of Command Line Deployment and PeerDirect DataXtend Replication Engine (DXRE), which are used to deliver and maintain your CounterPoint SQL software and database in a Multi-Site environment. Course 310 - Offline Ticket Entry V2 A one-day class that covers how to install, set up and use Offline Ticket Entry Version 2.

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Tutorials for CounterPoint SQL

Radiant's Tutorials allow you to participate in CounterPoint SQL training courses without having to leave your office. Tutorials are based on Radiant instructor-led classes, and help you learn CounterPoint SQL through an interactive, self-paced method. There are self-check questions at the end of each topic. Download the courses you wish and install them on your Windows computer.

Tutorials are listed in the recommended viewing order.

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