While the Retail application is used in a store/showroom selling products/services to customers on a cash & carry basis, the Distributor application is used by warehouses/stockists to sell and dispatch goods to retailers on a wholesale basis either for cash or on credit. Both have common features and differ only in the target customers they service.

Retail businesses may include a single store or a chain of stores selling different items. In such scenarios, it is possible to use Shoper 9 POS. The application supports major operations of Purchase, Stock, Sales, and Barcoding. Master data for items to be transacted, can be entered or imported from other sources. Similarly, sales promotional schemes and discounts can be created.

In a large retail network of stores, the individual POS applications at the stores are controlled by the Shoper 9 HO application. The main strength of the Shoper 9 POS application is its user-friendly billing system. This function ensures that the waiting time at the counters is reduced and customers are serviced quickly. The POS application reduces the amount of data entry work by the use of text files that can be imported into it.

The application’s extensive reporting system is useful to the store manager and the retail HO management. The application enables a comprehensive interface with Tally.ERP 9 to post inventory information for the purpose of generating accounting, inventory and statutory reports.

See Also:

PAYMENT PROCEEDS TO HO

The cash proceeds of sales of items at your stores (both owned & franchisee) are to be remitted periodically to your head office (HO). Shoper 9 provides you with the Franchisee A/c options in the POS application to manage the payment collection and allied processes of your stores. Using this option your stores could make regular payments to HO. You can record franchisee, bank, and general details and also generate reports on outstanding amounts to HO. The option allows you to print pay-in-slips which are the proof of remittances to HO.

What can you manage centrally? Since reporting and control are best managed when the same SKU (stock keeping unit/item code) and categories are used uniformly, you can define these at the HO and have them flow to the POS locations. Other masters are also supported, including price lists, promotions, discounts, customer & supplier lists and taxes.

Keeping in mind that connectivity can never be 100%, the data architecture is de-centralized. This means that each store has its own local database, and these databases are replicated at the HO. One additional advantage this design brings is that you have two copies of the database – this will come in use in case of a disaster and no backups are available at the stores!

Data transfer between POS & HO is via the Internet and several methods are supported depending on the local connectivity conditions – each store can employ the connectivity that suits it the best. This data synchronisation can be scheduled to happen at regular intervals – even this can be controlled by the HO.

All decision support is available centrally at the HO and you get access to over 100 reports that you can take across stores & groups of stores (grouped any way you need to). When you need to add another store, Shoper 9 HO supports rapid deployment – you can bring up a store to full operation in about half a day. Specific store settings and configurations can be copied into a template and deployed at the new store. All master information can be automatically pulled in from the HO.

HO supports centralised management of indents from the store, generation of consolidated Purchase Orders and integration with warehouses for dispatches.

See Also:

BUDGETING

Shoper 9 HO supports you with basic retail sales planning. You can set the plan based on Quantity/Value or both for a store location for all the months of the year. For the same store, you can fine-tune the plan based on the product mix the store has. You can track the sales plan vs actual based on the level of planning you have set.

HOUSEKEEPING

Shoper 9 HO offers you utilities from diagnosing issues, correcting issues and re configuring system setting as per business changes.

Though Shoper 9 HO stores data on a sql server database, you could manage many of the sql operations like database tuning, data backups within the product. You could also manage clearing old log files within the product.

If a store data goes down for whatever reason, you can still send the store data from your head office to your store to contine operation. You can still continue without a store data backup. On the contrary there is flexibility for you to allow store backup to be restored at the store location and resynchronize the information.

If you are a single store, options to backup, restore, compact databases , database tuning are available to you within the product and you do not need to install third party software to manage your store database.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Configuring alerts for:
• Price revision import/Sales promotion import – sends alert when a new price revision/sales promotion details are imported.
• Price revision effected date – sends alert when a new price revision is applied (effected)
• Login password – sends alert when the user chooses to retrieve password
• Choosing the required mode of communication for sending alerts. The available modes of communication are:
• E-mail
• SMS (based on http configuration)
• Balloon Tip
• Message Box
• Categorizing alerts into any one type of the following, as per requirement:
• Fatal Alerts – requires immediate attention by the user
• Warning Alerts – warns the user on performing an action
• Information Alerts – informs the user about events/activities

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Allows reliable tracking of events/activities
• Ensures better control over events/activities
• Provides timely alerts to inform of high impact system updates

GS1 STANDARD IDENTIFICATION NUMBER

The GS1 system of standards-that are designed to improve the efficiency and visibility of supply chains-are the most widely-used supply chain standards system in the world.

Shoper 9 allows you to generate the GS1 Standard Numbers for the stock items based on the Global Trade Identification Numbers (GTIN) assigned to your business. Introduction of GTIN system is of great advantage especially in the case of businesses dealing with international brands or having outlets across the globe.

BENEFITS OF USING GTIN IN YOUR BUSINESS:

• Standardised numbering for items
• Unique identification of items
• Compatible for global trade
• Tracking & tracing of items anywhere in the world
• Accurate stock visibility
• Accurate reorder system
• Better stock management

TILL MANAGEMENT

The introduction of Till management in Shoper 9 for the retail environment guarantees improved cash/ collection handling at Tills/ POS counters in stores.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Till-wise cash details at any point of time
• Appropriate alerts to hand over the cash, when the cash in a counter exceeds the pre-defined amount
• Record any cash transfers/ withdrawals across counters
• Range of other useful reports

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Provides complete control over cash management at Tills/ counters
• Ensures secure and efficient management of cash
• Allows reliable tracking of Till activities
• Improves productivity at Tills
• Improves efficiency
• Ensures easy reconciliation of receipts and payments

INVENTORY MANAGEMENT

Shoper 9 as a product is designed to handle a high volume of SKUs (items) and transactions. You can use Shoper 9’s effective and flexible inventory options to ensure the smooth functioning of your retail business.

PURCHASE

Stock ordering and receiving processes are handled effectively by Shoper 9. The options cater to the needs of a retail chain of stores as well as a single store location. Reports can be generated to display the current status of your purchase orders or indents released.

STOCK

You can efficiently handle stock management operations using Shoper 9. These include inwards/outwards, transfers and even tracking of goods in transit.

SALES

You can use Shoper 9 to handle cash and credit sales of goods as well as sales of services. You can also easily define complex sales promotion schemes.

STOCK TAKING

New, user-friendly stock taking in Shoper 9 increases efficiency so managers can quickly find the information they are looking for, and export it in the format they need. Now get to know why a Rejection showed up in Least Saleable Quantity or even set the set the stock taking period along with a reason. Or, Print directly from the Report without having to copy and paste the data into another document.

Simplified processes include:

• The History and Progress Summary forms can be exported to Excel or printed; the code and description of the attributes can also be selected
• By default, you can select all the classification as the Recording Scope while recording the stocks
• The stock numbers and the difference in stock can now be viewed in the option, Discrepancy Update. The discrepancy details will contain Negative Stocks and Non-Recorded stocks along with the Difference Stock
• On importing the stock details, stock quantities which are not as per the Least Saleable Quantity (LSQ) settings can be viewed in a log file.

CATALOGUE MANAGEMENT

Shoper 9 Retail Solutions is designed to manage large volumes of your retail business data. To achieve this, Shoper 9 uses different types of data which comprise of masters/catalogues and appropriate business regulations. Catalogues are defined to store all your relevant referential data. The catalogues are composed of all types of master information your business handles, which are details of products, supply chain network, stores, configurations and data communication schedules. For example, in Shoper 9 POS, you can create master information on item discounts/schemes that you offer, tax details applicable in billing, currencies acceptable at your stores, your vendor related details, your customer details, sales persons working in your stores, etc.

In the case of Shoper 9 HO, you can create and store master information on your retail stores; vendors, showrooms, distributors, etc. and their geographical classifications in the catalogues. As in POS, you can catalogue in HO, the various sales promotion schemes and discounting rules that your stores will apply uniformly across your business. Similarly, you can catalogue the tax details to be applied and the currencies/legal tenders that are acceptable in the stores. Your HO can then transfer the catalogued information to be applied across the chain of stores. You can define the nature of transaction that each store should carry out with respect to other units (Vendor/Warehouse/Factory/Distributor) of your business. All configurations that your stores adopt are defined by the HO. Other data that you can catalogue and send to your stores include import of data from other applications, the modes of data communication between HO and stores, defining schedules for data synchronisation and defining the parameters for mapping, so as to post transactions to Tally.ERP 9.

SALES PROMOTIONS

In Shoper 9, Sales Promotion definition allows you to structure promos or offers based on factors like conditional purchasing of specified set of items, volume, specific group of items, etc. If you were ever limited by simple offers, here’s your opportunity to stimulate your sales by attaching freebies to a promo. The ‘AND’ clause now available in Shoper 9 lets you build exciting promos even with multiple, non-related items…all definable and controllable from within Shoper 9.

USE CREATIVE PROMOS, BOOST BUSINESS!

Using the Sales Promotions feature effectively, retail stores can increase the footfalls and sales. It can also be used to increase the stock turn-outs and clear out non-moving stock. Schemes can be defined to offer free items or discounts based on a pre-defined conditions being met in the bill. E.g. buy a trouser and a shirt, get a tie or belt free.

Simply define the promotion under Catalogues and then it’s easy Billing via manual or automatic scheme selection.

Configurability

The requirements of a retail business vary depending on various factors. Therefore a retail solution suiting your business needs is important. Shoper 9 supports an out-of-the box capability for you to configure and run it as per your business requirements/needs.

You can configure Shoper 9 and set it up in different ways to support your varying business needs and scenarios. The product is suitable if you operate in different retail verticals like textiles, apparels, accessories, electronic goods, etc. If properly configured, Shoper 9 can ensure that your various workflows are managed in an effective and efficient manner with reduced errors and increased customer satisfaction levels. For example, the workflows to be followed for transactions like Sales Invoicing, Purchase Orders, Goods Inwards/Outwards, etc. can be easily configured using Shoper 9.

Some common capabilities that you can configure in Shoper 9 include defining or setting up:

• Item Classifications
• Security
• Barcodes and Labels
• Printing Formats
• Database Management
• Backup/Restore
• Migration
• Stock number generation methodology
• Document prefixes to be used by various transactions

Based on the requirements of your retail business, you can configure the basic data needed for recording of transactions. These configurations enable you to prepare catalogue information for components like customer, item master, etc., quickly and easily. You can set flexible rules for data exchange between different retail constituents which include defining activities and schedules through use of relevant components.

Shoper 9 supports a high level of flexibility and configurability for you to interface with Tally.ERP 9. It can also be configured to interface with other third party applications used in your business.

SINGLE REPLICATION DATABASE

In the current scenario, IT managers of retail businesses needed to create one database for every new showroom their business launched. This large number of databases to manage invariably lead to issues like multiple backups to take, data corruption and more.

Presenting an exciting new feature in Shoper 9 which now means that only a limited number of databases have to be created, each of which contain ‘n’ schemas. For businesses with multiple showrooms, and a corresponding number of databases, the new architecture of Shoper 9 delivers:

• One database, regardless of the number of showrooms to easily maintain transactions
• Multiple categories depending on business structure (Buy & Sell, Company showroom, franchisee, warehouses etc.)

This Single Replication Database in Shoper 9 allows the creation of 1 database for 100 company showrooms , another for 50 franchisee showrooms and so on, improving the startup time of the server and making database management/housekeeping easy.

ADVANTAGES OF SINGLE REPLICATION DATABASE INCLUDE:

• Easy to manage due to small number of databases
• Simplified administration
• Easy backup
• Reduced database corruption
• Saving in IT administration time

PRINT ENGINE

In the current architecture, the printing related logic is built and executed within the document. Generic changes related to printing logic / printing to output device would get applied for all documents.

INTRODUCING THE SHOPER 9 PRINT ENGINE

Using Print Engine, the printing related logic and business logic are separated and are now based on the configuration and can be used to execute an output. Print engine gives the flexibility to customise business logic according to ones’ need, and also allows users to configure printing instructions through print engine.

FEATURES

• Transaction-wise and/or document wise configuration settings
• Option to override default settings
• Calling multiple printing jobs using different settings
• On-the-fly printer selection / print to default printer / print to a specific printer
• Customise printing using TDL (Tally Developer Language)
• Support different types of printer modes (USB port, parallel, com…)
• Multiple printing type options can be configured like wins pool, dos printing, print document, convert DOS/Text Printing to GUI Printing, etc

ADVANTAGES OF TALLY PRINT TECHNOLOGY

• Enable partners to customise/create print formats of their own
• Customise using VB, TDL
• Get precisely what you need customised…and NOT a generalized solution

SALES RETURN IN SHOPER 9

The enhanced Sales Return option in Shoper 9 allows you to return multiple invoices in a single sales return document. Ideal for Distributor/Warehouse environments, the enhanced functionality allows the handling of complete or even partial returns of multiple invoices in a single return document. This enhanced function even serves the needs of Retailers that face large volumes of returns.

When it’s required to accept returns of multiple items from multiple Invoices, it’s only necessary for the staff to scan the stock numbers. In case an item has been billed in more than one selected invoice/bill, the appropriate bill reference can be selected.

HIGHLIGHTS:

• Multiple invoices/ bills can be returned in a single return transaction
• Individual items from different invoices/ bills can be returned together
• Items with or without bill references can be returned in a single return transaction

In addition, there is provision to load/import item details from an EDT file like PDT file for returning items, which saves time and effort in keying in data.

BENEFITS INCLUDE:

• Easy, fast, convenient and user friendly
• Reduces labour hence increasing productivity
• Reduces documentation and clerical errors
• Better visibility on the add-ons/deductions/discounts given on the original bill

PREDICTIVE BILL VALUE WHILE PLACING ORDER OR SELECTING ITEMS

Advice slips/Sales Orders/Service orders are expected transactions. Presently, though the Expected Transaction and Billing module are separate, their business process is still interlinked, making features available in Billing appear on the Expected Transaction module.

ISSUE INCLUDED:

• Clerks not able to tell customer final Bill value
• No visibility to promotions and discounts
• The calculation to be done manually

BENEFITS OF NEW CHANGES IN SLIPS:

• All Expected Transactions can be edited or cancelled quickly
• Item Level Sales Promos can be applied at the time of generating the Expected Transaction at the click of a button
• Saves time for counter staff as well as customers
• Helps customer’s ‘buy’ decision
• Faster Billing due to reduced corrections in Billing

TALLY.ERP 9 INTERFACE

With Shoper 9, you can interface with Tally.ERP 9 to meet the accounting, statutory and financial needs of your business. You can interface your Shoper data with Tally.ERP 9 by mapping, where you specify the rules for data transfer. Using this interface, you can ensure that the inventory and financial aspects are managed separately in the respective applications.

You can configure the entire process and schedule the data transfer as a part of routine data synchronisation. The configuration in Tally.ERP 9 is simple – you need to make minor changes in the “.ini” file and the company features. While you can post data from Shoper 9 to Tally.ERP 9 automatically at scheduled intervals, you can also post it using a manual option. Through the interface you can automatically create the requisite master records in Tally.ERP 9.

You can create a mapping from one Shoper 9 company to one or more companies in Tally.ERP 9 or map multiple companies in Shoper 9 to a single Tally.ERP 9 company.

Any changes to the master records in your Tally.ERP 9 do not affect the mapping that is already set and the interface continues to work. The interface supports your statutory requirements like transferring purchase data to Tally.ERP 9 with their tax breakup details. You also have the advantage of creating HSN codes for items required for statutory compliance. Utilities are prvided in Shoper 9 to modify company and mapping related information.

• Shoper 9 Silver

The Shoper 9 Silver Edition allows you to install and run Shoper 9 POS. If you are a retail store, you can use it as a POS component or else as a Distributor component, if you function as a Distributor. The silver edition runs on a single machine.

• Shoper 9 Gold

The Shoper 9 Gold Edition allows you to install and run Shoper 9 POS on an unlimited number of terminals in a LAN (but within the same sub-network). You can use it as a POS component or Distributor configuration on multiple terminals in a sub-network.

• Shoper 9 Diamond

The Shoper 9 Diamond Edition allows you to install and run Shoper 9 POS as well as Shoper 9 HO on as many computers in a LAN (but within the same sub-network). You can use it as a HO or POS component in as many terminals of the sub-network.

We provide you some examples of the combination of Shoper 9 editions that you can deploy for your business, in multiple ways:

• Shoper 9 Silver at a single POS terminal in a POS location
  Shoper 9 Silver at a single terminal in Distributor location
• Shoper 9 Diamond comprising of many POS terminals, Distributor and HO at the Business HQ
  Shoper 9 Silver at a single POS terminal in a retail store
  Shoper 9 Silver at a single terminal in Distributor location
• Shoper 9 Diamond comprising of many POS terminals, Distributor and HO at the Business HQ
  Shoper 9 Gold at several POS terminals
  Shoper 9 Gold at several terminals in Distributor location

The deployment can be summarised as;

• If you are a large store with multiple POS terminals – Shoper 9 Gold
• If you are a small store with single POS terminal – Shoper 9 Silver

If you want to control the operations of the stores, distributors spread over a wide geography, then you need to install Shoper 9 Diamond.