International POS Ltd News

Contactless payments are on the rise in the convenience payment sector and companies like Commidea who supply companies like Eat and Pret A Manager are at the forefront of this technology.The announcement that Orange will partner with Barclaycard to further extend the concept to the mobile phone will make a major impact on how customers pay for small value transactions.

International POS Ltd(IPOS)have supplied the Commidea Ocius chip&pin solution for a number of years to the retail and hospitality industry and the benefits are well known when they invest in the necessary technology.

See hospitality example: http://www.iposltd.com/blog/?p=40

IPOS believes further analysys is necessary before retailers can justify extending the normal chip&pin solution to contactless for the transactions below £15.00. It is clear however that as its popularity increases the pressure for retailers to make the additional investment will also grow.

The renowned Battersea Dogs & Cats Home was established in 1860 and over the last 150 years has seen a lot of changes in its organisation.

Battersea Dogs & Cats Home is currently made up of three centres - the central London site at Battersea, at Old Windsor in Berkshire and at Brands Hatch in Kent.

All three operate in the same way - taking in and caring for lost and abandoned animals and re homing dogs and cats, as well as providing veterinary and behaviour care. They also have retail shops on each site offering a wide variety of pet care products.

Like many retailers Battersea were in a dilemma who having already invested in an EPOS system for there three retail sites, the existing EPOS software supplier had gone out of business. They also felt trapped with outdated, proprietary point-of-sale (POS) systems that bind them to yesterday’s technology.

International POS Ltd (IPOS) came up with an innovative, cost effective solution by upgrading the existing POS terminals with IPOS TM 150 Touch screens to provide the benefits of the very latest touch screen technology.

IPOS also recommended using the latest Tysso 7000 All-in-one touch screen POS terminals to provide a mobile EPOS system when Battersea visit exhibitions and events.

IPOS has added a new site in Scotland to the growing number of IPOS RS Software installations to the convenience store market.

Johnshaven Stores is a very successful convenience store business based near Montrose that provides a valuable service to the local community for a wide variety of services including grocery, post office, newsround and a DVD rental service.

Initially Johnshaven Stores visited the CTN retailing exhibition to evaluate companies who supplied EPOS systems to the convenience store market. IPOS along with other companies were asked to respond to a detailed list of features which identified the specific requirements of the business. The list was compiled by Ewan Mackenzie the owner of the business who had previously purchased an EPOS software product which did not live up to his expectations.

IPOS RS Softwareticked all the boxes to provide an off the shelf solution for not only EPOS and stock control but also included hand held wireless stock ordering, Newsround Management and DVD rental control.

The store needed compact pos terminals because of limited counter space and one of the terminals needed to also double as the back office computer.

This was achieved by utilising the IPOS Pole mounted Preh MCE 15 touch screen system with POS PC as the master terminal. The pole mount also included the Preh MCI84 programmable keyboard which is used for customer data entry.

The Tysso 5715intergrated POS terminal was also configured with a secondary customer screen to show customer promotions as well as details of the sale.

Using the wireless Picco Link hand scanner and IPOS RS Software provided the freedom to move around the store; making ordering, stock takes and price changes quick and easy to manage saving time and money.

International POS Ltd (IPOS) has supplied many UK major retail accounts including WH Smith, Blockbuster and Phones4U who use the HPrp5000 POS terminal.

IPOS now also offer the UK Convenience Store Market the HP rp5700 terminal combined with pole mounted touch screen and POS peripherals which makes an ideal solution as it does not take up valuable counter space.

Many retailers today are in a dilemma. They feel they are trapped with outdated, proprietary point-of-sale (POS) systems that bind them to yesterday’s technology.

Today’s open standards based systems address these very real concerns with powerful, easy to integrate, agile solutions. Open “point-of-service” systems are tools that have been designed with the future in mind. Not only will they help reduce direct labor and training costs in the present, but as a business grows, expands, and evolves they will adapt to future generations of technology.

HP rp5700 POS Terminal Specialized Design

A hardened, space-saving design provides a reliable, high-endurance PC which is also energy efficient and environmentally friendly.

· Space–saving design with oversized cooling means the unit is ideal for use in higher temperature environments such as kiosks or enclosed cabinetry.
· Energy efficient components like a standard 80 Plus power supply help save energy and cooling costs.
· The rp5700 uses post-consumer plastics and packaging as well as exceeds requirements for reduction of hazardous material to minimize environmental impact.

The HPrp5700 POS terminal is designed for customers who value the longest desktop lifecycle available. A five-year stable lifecycle, security and HP manageability features mean less time spent on IT and more focus on your business. Legacy OS support allows you to transition from your current OS and applications when you’re ready.

Lifecycle Management

The HP rp5700 has an extremely long (60 month) lifecycle; which means fewer product transitions and less hardware and software configurations to support which helps minimize disruption to your business. When change is unavoidable, HP Product Change Notification provides up to 60 days advanced notification before the change occurs.

Not ready to change your operating system? The rp5700 supports Windows 2000, XP Pro and Windows Business Vista 32-bit. So if you’re not ready to move from Windows 2000 or XP pro, you don’t have to.

Business Continuity and Security

Security and data protection technologies deliver true business continuity when they work together. HP takes the most effective industry standards for physical security, user authentication, and data backup then integrates them into powerful HP-only solutions. From user access security features such as TPM pre-boot to the data protection offered by factory configured RAID 1, HP helps protect your business privacy and your desktops.

Available Epos Software From International POS

IPOS RS - IPOS RS Software is designed for the Convenience Store, Newsagent and Petrol Forecourt market which links directly into Wholesale Cash & Carry Solutions. IPOS RS provides a fast, simple touch screen and scanning solution, which utilises a wireless terminal to effortlessly manage stock, prices and promotions. News round, Customer accounts and loyalty scheme options are also available helping retailers to manage their business more effectively.

Fashione - Fashione Software revolutionizes Fashion EPOS, Stock Control and e-commerce for independents.Fashione has been developed purely for boutique to medium sized retailers including apparel, footwear and many more fashion niches…

Poswyse Retail - Poswyse Retail Software is designed to operate in a single or multi store environment and provides an EPOS with chip pin, Stock control, Loyalty and e-commerce solution. Poswyse provides a fast, reliable system, which combines touch screen operation with bar code scanning to provide the most efficient general retail point of service solution.

Poswyse Hospitality -Poswyse Hospitality Software is designed to meet the requirements of restaurants, hotels, fast food, pubs and clubs -managing everything from payment at the POS for food and beverages to dynamic table management, down to stock and pricing control and profit centre management.

Samstock - Samstock Software is designed specifically to link with Easy2Touch terminals and provides a hospitality and retail stock control software solution.

The most successful IT implementations are built on a close working partnership between supplier and client and a pooling of ideas and knowledge to produce effective solutions.
The Japan Centre Group was established in the United Kingdom in 1976.

At its present day location in Central London at Piccadilly Circus, Japan Centre provides integral service and support for Japanese residents, students, and visitors in London, and also to non-Japanese people with an interest in Japan.
Since the Japan Centre opened it has played an active part in the growing interest in Japan by supplying the needs of teaching institutions, companies and the individual customer.
Business began with a suitcase full of Japanese books and gradually expanded and diversified to encompass today’s menu of services:

• Japan Centre Foodshop (Japanese foods, with a special interest in fresh and organic foods)
• Restaurant Toku (Japanese restaurant specialising in affordable, good quality Japanese food and freshly prepared takeaway food)
• Japan Centre Bookshop (Books, magazines & stationary)
• Japan Travel Centre (Travel agency specialising in Japanese markets, Package Holidays to Japan, Cheap Flights to Japan, and the Japan Rail Pass)
• Centre people (Multi-lingual recruitment agency, specialising in the Japanese Market)
• Japan Centre Online

The Japan Centre has developed a very successful business providing the very best of service for a wide range of customer needs in a very busy environment. Japan Centre chose International POS Ltd to project manage the POS system implementation. ECR Concepts’ Poswyse software was chosen with the latest Tysso 7000 touch screen terminal to accommodate this wide range of business styles, which would evolve into an effective solution.

Following an in depth analysis of the different departments it became clear that the system needed to provide a solution which would cope with high volumes of business by incorporating fast touch screen operation with bar code scanning. One of the issues identified was the ability to scan a wide variety of bar code formats including Japanese and variable weight bar codes. Poswyse software was able to identify all these different formats and also print bar code product and shelf edge labels so that the maximum benefit of scanning may be achieved at the point of sale.

The other critical area was to adapt the Poswyse stock control and supplier purchase order software to fit with the way the Japan Centre ordered products from its many suppliers. ECR Concepts was able to demonstrate its ability early in the project by showing examples of how Poswyse may be modified by the software development team.

When the system was ready to go live, the installation team was able to complete the successful installation of the 7 pos terminals in all the departments within one working day without disrupting the normal flow of business.

The next stage of the project is to further increase efficiency at the point of sale by integrating chip & pin terminals with the POS system. Poswyse software integrates with Commidea’s Ocius system to provide a solution, which is approved by all major UK bank acquirers.

Poswyse software also provides a solution for multiple sites, which will accommodate any future plans Japan Centre may have to grow the business.