Card Shack - Greeting Card Retailer Case Study

Connect is a Windows based EPoS software that requires no expensive servers to operate. Using ‘Smart Client’ architecture the software is installed on the local machine and uses the internet to back up securely, apply updates and talk to any online sales channels such as eBay, Amazon, or your website. Connect is not reliant on the internet to operate making this the most resilient solution for retail.

Sales information and stock visibility is available in real-time as the Connect EPoS solution covers all your inventory requirements within a simple to use stock control system.

As well as being quick and easy to use, Connect is also easy to learn and helps to improve staff members speed and efficiency at the till. Each user can have their own login with their own tailored set permissions. Simply scan a barcode or use the search box lookup to find a product or add products to a transaction. Staff can pend transactions, perform discounts, deposits, returns, gift receipts, add customers and much more.

Maintain tighter control of your margins and increase profitability with well thought out promotions. Ensure slow moving stock is moved on quickly and replaced with better performing lines. Targeted promotions can also help to increase customer spend and reduce human error by applying discounts automatically.

Connect’s advanced discount engine offers a rich suite of options. Discounts can be applied both instore and online with an Intelligent Retail website. You can control which item, or group of items are discounted, select the site or location, and even set a start and finish date.

Connect can help independent retailers increase profit margins and reduce money tied up in stock by ensuring you have the right stock at the right time. The typical saving is a 2% increase in gross profit. Many customers say that the EPoS system pays for itself in the first year, some within 6 months.

Connect has a powerful and flexible stock management structure which is based around a familiar and easy to use folder structure. Your products can be grouped in category folders making stock visible and easily reportable. Powerful filters and tags can enable you to drill into the detail of products, or groups of products, to report on. Connect supports data import for easy transfer of products, customers, and suppliers if changing from another system. You can also set replenishment levels or use ‘suggested’ reordering when creating purchase orders.

This fantiastic feature allows customers to add items to their basket from the product listing page, reducing the number of clicks for customers to find and add a product to basket.

The gift wrap and gift tag option is handy for those customers that are on the search for a last minute gift and don't have enough time to wrap the present. No matter what the occasion this a great feature to have all year round.

Customers even have the choice of having their gift delivered to the recipients address, taking away the stress of ordering a gift, wrapping it up and delivering it.

Refine by is a super-powerful and intuitive menu system that helps replicate the shopping experience in a store. Customers shopping online will usually have an idea of what they are looking for and if this were to be replicated in a shop, they would simply head to the aisle in question or ask member of staff to help then locate the right products.