Month: July 2019

Retail Barcode Packages

Do I need to buy a Barcode Package? This is a common question, so we thought we would provide some simple answers.

Most people asking this question are wanting to obtain a barcode number for a retail product they have created. They are usually being asked by a retailer to put a retail barcode number on to their product, and theyre not sure where to start.

Most independent barcode companies, such as Barcode Limited in New Zealand, offer retail barcode numbers in a variety of forms, including as a barcode package. A barcode package usually contains a unique retail barcode number, a guarantee certificate and barcode images in a variety of formats. Thanks to the wonders of the internet, you can order a barcode package like this online, and it will be emailed to you, usually within a few hours.

The barcode images you receive are the actual barcode picture, consisting of vertical black lines and spaces, with the barcode number written underneath. These barcode images are usually emailed to you in several different formats, such as .eps, .bmp, .pdf, .jpg or .tiff. Of these formats, the most accurate, and hence the best to use, are .eps and .pdf. When printing your barcode, it is important to have the edges of the lines as clean and sharp as possible. Hence, it is advisable to use a very accurate image format, such as .eps which is vector based. However, some graphics packages, which you might be using to produce your packaging artwork incorporating this barcode image, have specific image format requirements or limitations. Hence you will need to choose the format that works best for you, when you are inserting the barcode picture into the artwork for your packaging. If your packaging has already been printed, you can print the barcode picture onto sticky labels instead.

Companies like Barcodes Limited NZ will send the images to you in the standard size of 25mm x 37mm. Officially you can safely reduce them to 80% of this size (ie to 20mm x 30mm) when putting them onto your packaging. If you make them smaller than this, it makes them difficult for barcode scanners to read. If you like large barcodes, you can officially increase them to 200% of the standard size.

If you buy a barcode from a reputed Barcode Reseller, you will receive a unique number that will not expire, and that only you have the legal right to use. You can use your barcode worldwide. It is a one-off purchase & there are no future fees.

Can I just get a Barcode number without images? is another common question. Some people do not need barcode images, they only need a unique barcode number. If you are selling on Amazon, a barcode number is all you need. If you purchase your barcode from Barcodes Limited, then yes, you can just purchase the number without any images, saving yourself some unnecessary expense. And, if you buy just a barcode number and then later find out that you need images, it is easy to go back to the barcode company and order images.

Retail Sales Jobs – What Not to Do in Retail Sales Jobs

you always get to hear tips on how to succeed in a particular job. However, some of us have mental blocks regarding a particular job. If you feel you have mental blocks about a particular job, it is best not to take it up. Here are some things that you should not do in retail sales jobs.

The tips:

Understanding of the self: before you take up this type of job, you must understand yourself. Retail sales, marketing are tough jobs, especially nowadays when the competition in this field is so high. Do you think you can survive in this field with the competition around you? Can you manage to sell something when people are not ready to buy it or when they think they can buy better products than what you are selling? If you want to have an honest opinion, then the market is like this. Do you think you will be able to achieve your target? A lot of rejection will come your way. Will you bee able to handle all of it without taking things personally? You must be able to handle business communication very well. If you want to succeed in sales, you must do all this. However, you can ignore these points if you are not serious about the profession!

Do not ignore the customer: your customers are the most important people to deal with. You cannot afford to ignore them. The customers are not a hindrance to your business but they are the purpose of it. Try to talk to them as politely as possible. Try to provide them with maximum facilities. If they are dissatisfied with your service, try to find out the cause of the dissatisfaction and promptly make amends for it. Remember that customers satisfaction plays a vital role in business. If you provide bad service to your customers, you will lose them and your business will not survive.

Do not be low on confidence: whether you are a bad sales person or you are a good sales person, is determined by your confidence level. Retail sales recruiters will check your confidence level while recruiting you. If you want to do well in this profession, you must be high in spirits and in confidence level all the time, no matter how many rejections come your way. You must be able to convince the customer with your confidence level. Understanding the customers psychology and winning over it is the name of the game.

Do not harbor malice towards your company and towards the product that you are trying to sell: it is very difficult to fool the customers. You must be genuine with your actions. If you yourself do not believe in your company and in the product that you are trying to sell, you cannot expect the customers to buy it.

Retail sales employment is growing with the days. Retail sales management jobs are the most sought after profession these days.

Leasing Retail Space – Know Your Neighbors

Are Nearby Stores Complementary?
Next review whether the retail space you are considering is complementary to nearby retail establishments. For example, it would not be appropriate to put a liquor store adjacent to a school for troubled children. However, a dry cleaners, nail salon, office supply store and dollar store might all fit well in their neighborhood shopping center anchored by a major grocery chain.

Complementary Stores

Grocery stores, drugstores and gas stations tend to be complementary. In some cases, they are all provided by one retailer. For example, many of the Sam’s Club or super Wal-Mart’s have groceries, a drugstore and sell gasoline. In addition, there has been a growing trend for grocery stores to sell gasoline as a loss leader. Their objective is not to make money selling gasoline. Their objective is to increase the number of trips customers make to the store to buy groceries.
Category Killers

In some cases, “category killers” cluster in a power center. (A category killer is a retailer who stocks every conceivable item relative to a category. Office Depot is a category killer for office supplies. Petco is a category killer for pet supplies.) Having four to six category killers in one cluster is referred to as a power center.
More on Category Killers

The stores are not linked in a physical sense, other than being part of the same planned development. In other words, they were likely developed at the same time on one large tract of land, but there is no enclosed pathway between the stores. Other examples of category killers are Home Depot, Circuit City, Best Buy, Linens N Things and Bed Bath and Beyond.
Example of Complementary Uses

Another example of complementary use retail uses would be to put a beauty products store, hair salon, tanning salon, nail salon and spa contiguous with each other in the same retail center. Customers interested in one of these businesses may well be interested in at least one of the others.
Avoid a Deal Killer

Complementary uses can be a meaningful enhancement of a location. However, uses which are clearly inconsistent with your proposed location may be a deal killer.
Construction

When retail space meets the minimally acceptable standard for the previously discussed criteria, it is time to review the costs to prepare the retail space for your business. In broad terms, the costs include signage and the cost of renovating or redoing the improvements within your space.
Tenant Improvements

At this point, you need to know the landlord’s policy regarding tenant improvements. (Tenant improvements are worked performed to make space suitable for a business. It can include adding restrooms, demolishing and adding walls, floor coverings, window coverings, signage and virtually anything else related to physically preparing the retail space for your business.
Will the Landlord Pay?

The landlord is usually willing to fund tenant improvement expenditures provided he is confident the tenant has the financial capacity to pay rent for the term of the lease. If you’re representing a national retailer with a strong balance sheet, landlords will practically spend as much money as you request on tenant improvements. Of course, the cost of the tenant improvements will be built into the rental rate.
It’s Up to You

If you’re a start-up business with no track record and little capital, landlords will be cautious about expenditures for tenant improvements. They will likely want you to fund tenant improvements for your space. The benefit is your rental rate will be lower. However, you’ll have to include the cost of preparing your space for occupancy in your initial capitalization.
TI Details

Other issues related to tenant improvements include defining the work to be done, and who has financial responsibility for performing the work. If you’re a national retailer, you might provide a landlord with a detailed set of plans for your space. It is then up to him to cost effectively provide the buildout you are requiring. If you’re a smaller retailer, the landlord may provide a tenant improvement allowance, and require you to interface with contractors to have the work performed.
How Much TI?

The cost of tenant improvements occasionally exceeds $100 per square foot for second-generation retail. It is generally much lower. Even if the landlord is willing to provide substantial funds for tenant improvements, be cautious about the scope of work for tenant improvements. The landlord’s expenditure for tenant improvements is essentially a loan which will be repaid with your rent during the term of the lease.
Who pays for ADA?

If the space requires tenant improvements which require obtaining a building permit from the city, review whether you’ll have to replace the restroom because of ADA. (ADA is the Americans with Disabilities Act). In most cases, changes to provide ADA compliance are not necessary if you not require a building permit. However, a consequence of obtaining a building permit is typically that the space must be revised to completely comply with ADA. Replacing the bathroom so it is ADA compliant can be expensive.

The Market Research and Consulting division of OConnor & Associates provides information necessary to make decision to commercial real estate professionals. Occupancy and Rental Data, ownership and management information are routinely gathered for four major land uses multifamily, office, retail and industrial. This information allows investors to compare competitive properties, facilitate business decisions and track market and submarket performance. In addition the data is useful to brokers who for example continually monitor Houston retail space leasing, Houston office space leasing, Houston industrial space leasing, Houston apartments, Dallas apartments, Ft. Worth apartments, Austin apartments, and San Antonio apartments.

Your Part-Time Retail Job

As a high school student, you are probably very excited to begin your first part-time job. And maybe the job is at your favorite clothing store at a local mall. After a certain period of time, you might become eligible for employee discounts. As an employee, you will be the first to see new arrivals of the latest fashions. Therefore, you will be the first among your friends wearing the hottest new clothes. After all, the thought of a great wardrobe is a big party of why you chose to work, right? Actually another reason you might have wanted a job was also to save for a car if you are anticipating getting your driver’s license. Maybe you were forced by your parents to get a job because you do not do much after school. Regardless of why you are working, there are some things you should know about working in retail.

First, if you are a cashier, it is likely that you will be required to count the cash in the drawer before you begin ringing up customers. Even though the employee who was using the cash register before you counted the money when his or her shift ended, you need to double check if the money adds up correctly. If money is short, the cashier for the shift before you would probably be responsible to pay the difference. However, if you do not count the drawer before you start ringing up customers, and at the end of your shift you find out the drawer is short, you will not know who was responsible — you or the other cashier. But because it was short at the end of your shift, you will most likely be responsible for paying the difference, even if it was the fault of the other cashier. There is no way of knowing who is responsible unless you count before you begin working.

No matter what your position is, you will most probably have to wear a lanyard with a badge holder that will hold a tag with your name, position, and possibly a photo of you. This way, customers know your name without having to ask. They will easily be able to identify you should they need to. Lanyards and badge holders are usually required to be worn throughout entire shifts. The name tag in the badge holder has to always face the customers and be easily seen by them. Lanyards and badge holders are usually always provided by the employer because most stores require you to have a name tag on during your shift.

You must greet all customers within the time they enter the store, usually within a few seconds of them walking in. Many store managers are strict about this requirement. By addressing customers as they enter the store, you greatly reduce the risk of items being stolen. During staff meetings, this is usually drilled into all of the employees because maintaining inventory is extremely important in retail sales.

For more details about lanyards and badge holders and Badge holder, please visit us online.

Why Retail Software is a Must for Online Business Owners

If there is only one way to describe what technology and the internet has done for our lives, it would be the fact that it has made our lives easier. Be it for communication purposes, research, work related needs, and even leisure, the internet has positively affected our lives one way or the other. Information is readily available at a single click of the mouse, and a lot of the things we do – paying bills, keeping in touch with friends and family, and even making purchases can easily be completed online.

With the busy lives we lead on a daily basis, a lot of people do not have that much time to go to actual stores to browse products and make purchases. Most people, who only have a few hours of rest after work, prefer to go online shopping and just have the items shipped to their home rather than spend hours walking and window shopping before finally deciding to buy. As such, a lot of business owners now have online versions of their stores available to cater to these customers.

Since the sale transaction will be completed over the internet, how exactly do you process payments, given that you and the customer will not be physically there to collect payment and hand over the goods? This is exactly where retail software comes in.

What is Retail Software?

Having retail EPoS (or electronic point of sale system) is a must for any online business owner. This software is actually built in or integrated into your website, and it allows customers to “checkout” of your website, the virtual equivalent of falling in line in the cashier in an actual store to pay for the items they ordered. This software allows you to accept different forms of payment, and your customers to pay you with their choice of credit card, debit card, and PayPal.

Some retail software also helps business owners in more ways aside from accepting payments. Some keep an accurate count of the inventory of items being sold, send out invoices automatically after every transaction, allows business owners to process refunds, and also allows business owners to send out email updates to the customers they have on their database for future promotions and announcements.

What Retail Software Can Do for your Business

Since your business website is available any time, with the EPoS software built into it, you are literally never closed. Customers can drop by any time they want to purchase items and have these shipped to their home. This flexibility allows you to cater to customers in different time zones, as you are now available longer than regular business hours. Plus, you will also be able to accept international orders as they can literally visit your website to order your products without having to call and speak with a live person to complete their order.

Retail EPoS not only benefits businesses, but their customers as well. Let’s face it – there will be times when we as human beings make mistakes in computing prices and order totals, and the software eliminates that error for us. Retail EPoS can compute for sales taxes, shipping fees, and keep track of all the prices of different products (in case you are selling several items), not to mention compute for the total price of the order accurately. Customers are assured that they are paying no more and no less than what they should be.