Marketing Tools Part 2: Using Coupons on Your Point of Sale Receipts to Increase Sales

People are always looking for ways to cut costs and save money. Adding coupons to your point of sale receipt paper rolls is a great way to help customers save while increasing sales at the same time. Coupon incentives encourage customers to buy something that they may not have tried otherwise. You can experiment with using a coupon to promote a new product or offer a BOGO or % off promotion. Here is a side by side comparison of two coupons that illustrates how you can use a coupon to drive sales and awareness.

Recently pcAmerica wrote a great article that outlined several tips for creating effective coupons that we found very informative, and we hope you will as well: 

1. Make your coupon specific. If your coupon is good on Tuesday, June 19, 2012, then it is only good on that day. If your offer is too good, you can reduce your discount or change your offer the following week.

2. Offering a deal for your customers gets your customers used to reading and redeeming your coupons. It not only keeps your old customers coming back, it gets you new customers.

3. Think of it this way. If you offer your customers 90% off on their next purchase or meal, you're going to get a really high coupon redemption rate. On the other hand, if you offer your customers 5% off on any Tuesday between 4:50 PM and 5:00 PM, you are likely not to see anyone redeem your coupon.

4. If you really need to, you can use unique coupon codes just by stamping or printing a unique number on every coupon that you issue.

5. Likewise, you can track email coupons by asking recipients to submit their email address when redeeming a coupon and comparing it to your list of issued coupons.

Did you find these tips useful? Do you currently have a couponing program in place? Do you find it effective? Are there any stumbling blocks that you are looking to overcome?

3 Secrets of Successful Multi-Channel Companies

Guest post from nChannel.com

Let's start out by defining multi-channel sales.  The term multi-channel is used to describe environments in which you are selling products through different avenues, or channels such as a store, web store, a marketplace like eBay or Amazon, or even an event such as a flea market or trade show. You could also consider dropship suppliers as a channel too.

You need software or systems to execute a multi-channel strategy and herein lies the problem.

Your systems aren’t connected and when these systems aren't connected you spend lots of time keying items into multiple systems, updating items and prices, gathering orders, updating order status...you get the idea. Managing inventory can also be a problem because you need to constantly update many systems with the inventory you have on hand or you'll end up selling products you don't have.

The issue of manual effort required to keep everything running smoothly is so widespread that most companies can't move forward with taking products to new channels because it's simply too much work. However, getting your products into many channels could help you increase sales - quickly.

Here are three secrets that successful multi-channel companies have made sure their channel strategies include. Anyone can throw up a bunch of web sites and hope for the best, but to truly make it work (i.e. make money) your strategy has to include the following:

1.  Successful multi-channel companies deploy item syndication.  To do this effectively they've connected the system that acts as the Item Master to the channel system. For example, the Point of Sale system (the item master) is connected to the web store system and automatically pushes new products and updates to pricing to the web store. These companies are easily able to manage items pricing, price lists and updates electronically to their web store with very little manual effort.

2.  Successful multi-channel strategies automate order management.  Orders from a web store or marketplace get pushed to the item master system creating centralized management of orders to be fulfilled and customer data. Once orders are filled, the system pushes an order status to the web channel so it can notify the customer shipment is on its way.

3.  Successful multi-channel companies automate inventory management. Each time a web order is placed it is pushed into the master system to await fulfillment. Upon receiving the order, the inventory for the item is "committed" and once order is filled the total inventory is decremented.  Items in which no inventory is available are automatically hidden in the web site or an "out of stock" is automatically published to the web for that item.

If this were easy - everyone would've figured it out right?  Many companies put together detailed import/export processes, which require time and effort - but considerably less than manual entry.  Custom Integration can be costly and hard to support, but if you have your own resources (or super-technically inclined) you could do it yourself.

There are a constellation of POS, ecommerce, and accounting systems that have integration built-in to another, but these systems require the use of both systems (which you may or may not have). If you want to add another channel to the mix, you're back to square one.

A promising new breed of cloud-based management platforms may make multi-channel strategies easier and cheaper for companies because they offer a variety of connectors for a variety of systems (POS, ecommerce, accounting, marketplaces) - so you can connect and leverage the systems you've already invested in.   

Author Bio: nChannel provides an easy-to-use, cloud-based platform that enables retailers to cost effectively synchronize and exchange sales, customer, and product data from transactions that occur at the register, in the warehouse, or via a web-store.

Marketing Tools Part 1: Adding Logos to your POS Sales Receipts

Over the next few months, we will be discussing marketing tools for your point of sale receipt paper rolls. These tools are a follow up to our original post in January. 


Marketing Tool #1: Logos
A receipt is the perfect place for you to further promote your company. At a minimum, your website (if you have one) and logo should be included on every receipt. From there, the next step is to add a call to action. This is simply a reason for the customer to shop at your establishment again or visit your website. Receipt marketing is a simple way for you to stand out from the competition and build company recognition.


Most point of sale printers have the capability to upload logos and images for printing on the paper roll receipt. These printers include credit card terminals like VeriFone, Ingenico or Hypercom; cash registers like Casio, Sharp or Royal and standalone printers like Epson, Star Micronics, CognitiveTPG, Bixolon or Citizen. 


There are two areas of the receipt that you can print your custom message: the header and the footer. Just printing the bare minimum is a missed opportunity to do some inexpensive and highly effective marketing. The example below illustrates how:

1. A logo at the top of a receipt draws more attention to the company name and helps build brand brand identity.
2. A return policy at the bottom can help avoid any potential issues with your customers.

Now that you have your first pointer on how you can market to your customers, you want to be sure that the customer sees the message. It is vital that you train your staff to point out the message by circling or highlighting it with a marker in order to increase read rates. 

Do you do any receipt marketing? If you do, how did it help your business? We'd love to hear about your real life examples!

Big News in the Point of Sale Industry

If you haven't heard the news already, Toshiba TEC recently announced its upcoming acquisition of IBM's Retail Store Solutions business. The $850 million deal, which is scheduled to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter will help to support Toshiba TEC's expansion in North America and Europe. Greg Busak's article for the IHL Group says that this is arguably the most significant announcement in the last 10 years for the point of sale industry.


A ZDnet blog post reports that the deal is part of Toshiba’s efforts to secure clients such as Walmart and Toys ‘R’ Us, amongst others, which IBM already holds as part of its customer base. IBM’s retail store services’ revenue in 2011 was approximately $1.15 billion, with over 1,000 employees worldwide.


According to the Toshiba TEC release, Toshiba will acquire IBM’s Retail Store Solutions overall business operation functions globally, including development, sales, and related in-store maintenance. "The opportunities in retail store solutions are expected to grow by increasing demand in POS systems,” stated Mamoru Suzuki, president and CEO, Toshiba TEC, in a release. “In addition, demand for multi-channel integration and enhancement of store back office management accelerates further expansion of sales.”


We thought this was news worthy and of interest to you, our readers. Please let us know your thoughts on the acquisition.  

Direct Thermal Technology and the Benefits of Thermal Printing

What is Thermal Printing?

In the thermal printing process, the image or words on the paper are produced by direct heat transmission. Thermal paper rolls are essentially a self contained printing system. The paper is manufactured by applying surface coatings to paper with a chemical formula that include colorless dyes and developers. When the paper goes through a thermal printer, heat (thermal energy) from the thermal printhead causes the dye and developer to activate and form a high definition image. The thermal printhead consists of miniature heating elements distributed along its printing width. The heating elements are electronically controlled and produce thermal energy which activates a color reaction on the functional thermocoating. The numerous little dots this produces then go to make up letters, barcodes, and images.

What are the Benefits of Thermal Printing?

Thermal printing technology offers advantages including clear legible imaging, fast printing and low cost of ownership. In addition, Thermal printing offers:

1. Noise-free operation
2. 600 dpi capability
3. No ribbons or cartridges
4. Maintenance-free
5. Small printer footprint
6. Full graphics capability

In addition to thermal paper, thermal printing technology can also be used to print labels, tickets and tags. High printing speed, excellent bar code contrast, resistance and portability have contributed to the undeniable success of direct thermal technology for most variable data label applications.

What is Light Weight Thermal Paper or 48 gram Thermal Paper?

Light weight thermal paper or 48 gram thermal paper refers to a direct thermal paper stock that has a 48 gram basis weight. This paper grade is sometimes referred to as economy thermal, hi-yield thermal, 2.1 caliper thermal or simplicity 48 thermal. 48 gram thermal paper was introduced back in the early to mid 2000’s. The industry started to shift from 55 gram (2.3 mil) thermal to the 48 gram (2.1 mil) thermal paper when the major thermal printer OEM’s including IBM and Epson found there was no down side to the printers output or speed.

What are the benefits of the 48 gram thermal roll paper?

Because of its thinner caliper, 48 gram thermal paper offers several benefits:

• 10% more paper per master roll or small converted roll: For example, a 3.0” OD roll could now hold 273’ vs. the max of 230’ of the 53-55 gram base weight.

• Fewer roll changes: The higher yield of paper means you have to change the roll less often.

• More paper per case

• More paper per skid for large volume users

The common 48 gram thermal paper grades sold and converted in the United States are:

• Appleton Alpha 400-2.1 (BPA Free)

• Koehler KT 48 F20

• Koehler BPA Free KT 48 FA

• Kanzaki P30021 / BPA Free P300521

The most common converted 48 gram small thermal paper rolls are:

• 2 ¼” x 85’ thermal roll paper

• 3 1/8” x 230’ thermal roll paper

• 3 1/8” x 273’ thermal roll paper

What applications are a good fit for the 48 gram thermal paper?

48 gram thermal paper is best used in general point of sale receipt applications where the paper grade has been approved by the printer OEM and the paper will fit the application requirements. These applications generally don’t require any special image life, sensitivity, heat resistance, premium feel, image protection, paper thickness (caliper) or other specific requirements.

Are Digital Receipts the Wave of the Future?

If you have visited an Apple® store in the last few years, you've noticed that they offer the option to receive a digital (paperless) receipt instead of a traditional paper receipt at the time of purchase. Other large retailers including WalMart, Nordstrom, Whole Foods, Gap, Sears and KMart are implementing paperless receipts as well. But are receipt paper rolls in jeopardy of becoming a thing of the past? Let's review what digital options retailers and consumers currently have to choose from:

Retailer Software

Companies like My Receipts, AllEtronic and Seamless Receipts now offer a platform that allows any retailer to offer eReceipts. With this new software, retailers now have the ability to track customer purchases and target their marketing more than ever before. There may still be stumbling blocks to consider however. While the e-receipt presents new marketing opportunities for retailers, many consumers worry about possible privacy issues as well as the automatic addition to mailing lists.

Newcomer Proximiant has a slightly different approach that may alleviate customer apprehension. Proximiant enables customers to have receipts beamed directly to their smartphone without having to share personal information with the store. The Customer simply installs a digital receipts app on their smart phone and then taps the phone on a small device at the checkout counter.

Consumer Hardware

If you aren't quite ready to make the transition from paper receipt, to digital receipt, there are other options available. A scanner with digital filing software from companies like The Neat Company, Fujitsu and Brother will scan, organize and store receipts and other important documents on your computer. In addition, a company named Lemon utilizes a smartphone application that allows you to snap a photo of a receipt which can be tagged for future reference.

For most consumers, the biggest benefits come during tax season. With digital receipts, all the purchases made earlier in the year are easily accessible. Digital receipts also ensure customers can make returns if need be, thereby enhancing the customer's experience. What is your take on digital receipts? Do you see it as the wave of the future? Do you see any other stumbling blocks that would prevent widespread implementation? We'd love to hear your feedback!