Controlled and profitable

The benefits of switching to electronics at point of sale (EPOS) can be summed up simply as greater control. An electronic system is more than a means of charging and and ticketing. It increases efficiency and opens up extra profit opportunities.

At EPOS specialist DryStream, Jonathan Beach expands the point. He explains that electronic systems increase a business owner’s control in three areas: cash, stock and marketing. This should convert immediately to improved profits both through accurate charging now and by adding value in the future.

“Our system controls every penny”, says Mr Beach, “garments cannot flow into or out of the operation without being priced correctly and charged for.”

At SPOT Systems, Mark Reynolds calculates that “more accurate and consistent pricing raises turnover between 5% and 12% on average.” The more a shop relies on hired staff, the greater the potential for improvement. Owners usually know the price list. Staff may be less familiar, and make more errors, in particular missing add-on charges and chances to sell up.

Jeff Markman at the States-based Dry Cleaning Computer Systems (DCCS) takes up the argument saying that an EPOS system forces the staff to record garments more precisely so the drycleaner is able to enforce the fine detail of the price list accurately and consistently. For example, businesses may charge more for garments in special fabrics. In DCCS’s experience the price per piece rises between 6% and 15% without any charge increase.

Electronic systems can also improve stock control. “A good system will forewarn staff of any stock problems such as garments that are lost or not ready on time,” says Jonathan Beach.

Upon installing EPOS, most cleaners will, says Mark Reynolds, notice a reduction in stock levels with a corresponding increase in profits. When a customer collects one item, staff will be alerted to any others awaiting collection.

Increased accuracy

Keeping the inventory electronically, not only increases the accuracy of stock control it also saves time, a point made by DCCS. With EPOS, every ticket scanned is added to the inventory, every ticket picked up is deducted, in both cases automatically. Without EPOS, most drycleaners will take an inventory by totalling the tickets written and deducting the value of the clothes on the rack.They then keep a running account of what is on the rack, a time consuming and inaccurate process.

Jeff Markman reckons that together the improvements in inventory and cash control, resulting from the installation of EPOS, can benefit the business by around 0.5% to 1.5% of sales.

Lost tickets are no longer a problem points out Mark Reynolds. Enter some kind of customer ID and the SPOT system will locate the garment. If it has already been collected, the system gives full details of the transaction.

Opportunities

Perhaps one of the biggest opportunities that electronic systems open up is that of marketing. Drycleaning businesses may not realise what a wealth of data passes through the shop daily. “During normal operations,” says DryStream’s Jonathan Beach, “a drycleaner with a good EPOS system will be collecting a mass of valuable information including customer’s names and addresses and their cleaning trends. The tools built into the system can analyse this data and help them to use it to win more business, with little effort.”

He also points out that most big chains will run loyalty card schemes. Now smaller businesses can compete at the same level by running their own scheme, at little cost.

Databases make direct mailings easy, and used intelligently (not just junk mailings) these can be a powerful way of promoting the business; one that takes up little time, says Mark Reynolds.

Mailings can be targeted, for example, at the top 100 customers, at those spending more than £150 per month, or those who haven’t been in for six weeks.

Jeff Markman says that EPOS gives the ability to track customers, to identify the services they use and those they don’t, to find out how much customers spend, and to see gaps in visiting the shop.With this information shops can:

• cross sell services

• program the system to produce rewards at point of sale for reaching preset spending levels

• focus on the 20% of customers that represent 70% of the volume

• set up marketing campaigns

Suppliers agree that marketing remains the most underused area, even in businesses where EPOS is well established.

Mark Reynolds suggests some areas that businesses should think about: direct mail introducing a loyalty card (rather than giving on the spot discounts) and awarding referral bonuses to customers who recommend the business to others.

EPOS systems may also make taking on some types of work more feasible. Route delivery and collection is one example. An EPOS system is essential to manage the route, and the public increasingly values this kind of service – look at the growth of home shopping.

Jeff Markman points out that while some benefits such as accurate pricing are automatic, others require careful planning and thought. This applies particularly to marketing. In the States, DCCS has formed user groups for its customers to allow them to share ideas.

How are suppliers developing their systems? At DryStream development is ongoing. Software and hardware are both produced in the UK, so customer needs can be met. Software upgrades are free to warranty customers. Recent developments include flat-screen technology, shown at Clean UK.

SPOT constantly improves and develops its range, releasing upgrades every two to three months via the web. SPOT believes clients should know where technology is heading and all products are compliant with leading industry standards, such as Microsoft Windows, and SQL relational database. It already provides internet and website access and interfaces with popular packages.

DCCS spends more than 10% yearly in research. Recent introductions include a gift certificate program, a hand-held device for home delivery routes and a system for tracking customer service. The facility to store credit card signatures on file has also been added.