Category: Gift Cards

Sep
19
2013
September 19th, 2013 by Mike Spence

With all the talk of the cloud in today’s POS market, you might wonder if anything isn’t in the cloud today!  At SelbySoft, we try to offer the best of both worlds when it comes to the cloud.

SelbySoft prefers to have your data held locally in your store(s) location.  Not on a rented Amazon server like most cloud based POS systems.  This leaves you in control of your POS data and eliminates the possibility of being held hostage by a bad internet connection.  Your SP-1 system will continue to work without any internet connectivity at all.

Cloud Based Features

  • FREE cloud based backup.  That’s right – we supply a cloud based backup for all of our customers that are on a support system.  This means that your data is backed up to a secure server in the case of a catastrophic event.
  • Gift & Loyalty.  Traditionally we recommend keeping the gift card data on the POS system.  This can be moved to the cloud where we will keep the gift and loyalty amounts securly.
  • MobileDash Reporting.  Reporting from the cloud right to your smartphone!
  • Corporate Offerings.  Full corporate reporting and menu management from a central location.

Posted in Gift Cards, Order Entry Tagged with: ,

Jul
25
2013
July 25th, 2013 by Mike Spence

When did you last check your gift card stock?

I know it is not the holiday season right now but gift cards are a great option all year round.  Remember SelbySoft can print full custom cards for you.  Check out these samples of gift cards from other customers.

Are you promoting those cards?  Don’t forget that they can be used as a gift card, prepaid card, rewards card and a customer profile card!  Check out some of our past blogs to see ways you can use gift cards to increase revenue.

 

Posted in Gift Cards

Feb
21
2013
February 21st, 2013 by Mike Spence

Do you have multiple locations?  We all know that moving from store one to store 2 or 20 can be tough.  You simply cannot be two places at once!

Maybe you only have one location but have quite a bit of distance to travel.

If either of these situations seem familiar, then our Corporate Reporting option is what you are looking for.

Our Corporate Reporting option is a great way to stay on top of multiple locations.  The Corporate Reporting software will allow you to review reporting from any of the locations that are active right from your home, laptop or office. Once this is setup, the store locations will automatically transmit the sales information from the store to the corporate software.  On the corporate side you can see any reporting information from the previous day back to the first day you used SP-1.    This gives you the ability to manage the reporting for your business without having to interrupt the location.

This software package also allows you to handle multi-location gift and loyalty for free.  With this option, you can seamlessly share, in real time, gift and loyalty cards between locations.

Finally our MobileDash and MobileAlerts systems are included with the purchase of the Corporate Reporting software.  MobileDash allows you to receive hourly email updates from your store locations.  MobileAlerts will send real-time alerts from the store when tickets are voided, audit triggers are met, employees clock in and more.

Need more?  Call and ask us about our Full Corporate package and Enterprise options.

Posted in Gift Cards, Reporting Tagged with: , , ,

Jan
03
2013
January 3rd, 2013 by Mike Spence

Do you ever have to offer a refund on a gift card?  In some states it is required if the customer asks.   For example, here in Washington State, the gift card laws state that you are required to cash out the gift card if the customer asks and if the balance is less than $5.00.

Fortunately,  SP-1 has a simple and safe way to handle this!

First we head to System Setup Operations: 2 and turn on the ability to offer a gift card / account refund.  We can also set an upper limit here so your employees are not refunding more than you want.    To issue a refund, you use the Paid Out button and select gift card in Order Entry.

 

 

 

 

Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: ,

Nov
29
2012
November 29th, 2012 by Mike Spence

Gift cards are a big part of the Coffee and Restaurant industry.  The marketing and promotional ideas are virtually endless.  Here are seven different and sometimes unusual gift card promotions:

1)  Buy a gift card and get a retail product.  This works best for those of you that are providing bulk coffee or tea.   Instead of discounting a beverage, give them enough beans or bulk tea to take home and make their own.  Encourage those retail sales so they drink your product at home and in the store!

2)  Buy a card or trade in points to be a VIP.  Buy a $100 or $200 card?  10% off pastry sales for the next month.  Save 200 points?  Trade that in for 10% off drinks in the next month.

3) Enter a contest.   Allow customers to trade their reward points in for an entry to win an iPad or something similar.  This is a great way to eat up those large point balances you might have out there!

Have an 4th?  Comment and let us know!

 

Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with:

Oct
19
2012
October 19th, 2012 by Mike Spence

It’s that time again . . . Gift card season is just around the corner!   Just a reminder that all gift card orders start taking longer to complete as we get closer to Thanksgiving and Christmas.   Why gift cards?

  • They are a proven money maker.
  • Customers spend more dollars per transaction.
  • ‘Billboard in the wallet’ scenario.  The customer sees your logo on a regular basis.
  • They can only spend that money in your store!
Try something new with your gift cards this season. . .
  • Sell a big gift card for a big discount – $250 for $225,  $500 for $450, $1,000 for $900.   If nothing else it sparks a conversation.
  • Start your customer loyalty or rewards program.
  • Setup a VIP card for people to receive a percentage off.
Check your supply today and give us a call if you need to re-stock!

Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with:

Sep
12
2012
September 12th, 2012 by Mike Spence

Just a quick blog today about our gift card system.  Apparently, we have not done a great job of letting people know that gift cards can be pre-loaded with a value.

Why pre-load? Well, it makes a great business card for one thing!  Pre-load 50 -100 cards with $5 each and use them for business cards and a tool to promote the business.

Call our support department for more information on how to pre-load.

 

Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: ,

Jul
05
2012
July 5th, 2012 by Mike Spence

SP-1 has a ton of features.  I thought it would be fun to list a few that many of you might not be aware of!

 

1)  Cash In:  Cash in a special transaction type that is found under Misc. Charge in SP-1.  Essentially, it is the opposite of a paid out.  When you select this option, you are telling SP-1 that you have put money from an outside source into the cash drawer.  It can be used in a number of situations including:  Recording money earned from a gumball machine or arcade game, putting extra change in the cash drawer and so on.

2) Gift Card Refund:  Have you ever wanted to give someone cash back for their gift card?  Hopefully not but if you have to, there is an easy way to do it.  When you select Paid Out, there is a Gift Card Refund button.  That button allows you to swipe a gift card and issue a cash (or credit card) refund for the amount.  You can setup a maximum amount to refund in the system setup portion of SP-1.   This allows you to issue refunds but only of a certain amount.

3) Use Foreign Exchange:  Are you near the Canadian or Mexican border?  Do you accept their currency?   If you do, this is something you should be using.  When this is selected, you can push a button and see what the balance due is in that foreign currency!

4) License Expiration:  If you have delivery, then this is for you.   In the Employee File, you can enter the date that the employees drivers license expires.  When that employee clocks in, you can setup a custom notification if their licence  is expired.    That will help ensure that the driver is not out representing you with an expired license!  As a bonus, those of you without delivery can use this as well for other items.  Some people use it to ensure they have a health permit that is up to date for example.

5) Print An Employee Hours Summary: This feature allows your employees to print a slip with the hours that they worked since their last clock in.

There you go. . . five features that you might not have been aware of.  Hope they help!

 

 

Posted in Employees, Gift Cards, Order Entry, POS Features

Apr
10
2012
April 10th, 2012 by Mike Spence

I recently found another reason to ditch those old paper gift certificates and move to a plastic gift card.

My wife and I recently wanted to buy a gift card for a relatives birthday.  They live out of town but we know where they like to eat.  I called the restaurant and asked if I could buy a gift card to be presented to them when they showed up.   The person that answered informed me that they had recently been robbed!

The night before someone had kicked  in the front door, grabbed a bunch of stuff and ran.  Included in the items stolen?   You guessed it, all their paper gift certificates.  The real downside is that they own a couple of locations so now it’s going to be very difficult to determine, at each location, if the signatures etc are valid.

With plastic this won’t happen.  Because the cards are not loaded until the customer pays, the worst thing that can happen is that you are out the cost of the plastic!

 

Posted in Gift Cards Tagged with: ,

Mar
13
2012
March 13th, 2012 by Mike Spence

Did you know that the SelbySoft has three ways of handling your  gift card systems?

The first and most popular method is our internal gift card system.  This is built into every SP-1 system and gives you the ability to use gift, prepaid and rewards (or loyalty cards)  completely free of charge in your store.  This method is designed for  either single locations or locations that don’t need to share a gift card between stores.

The second option is primarily for people with multiple locations.  In this scenario, our Corporate Reporting software handles all of the gift, prepaid and rewards (or loyalty)cards.  The cards then will work across all the locations.

The third option is to handle the gift cards through a third party credit card processor.  In this case we primarily recommend Mercury Payment Systems as they have a no fee gift & reward system.   Mercury is a great choice if the store needs to provide balances online or if the stores involved are part of a franchise system.  Mercury has the ability to handle Corporate Pooling between the stores.

Posted in Gift Cards, Order Entry Tagged with:

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