[Home][On-Line Brochure][Support][Downloads]
© Copyright 2012 Niche Software Limited - All rights reserved
RETAIL DIRECTORTM  BACK OFFICE SOFTWARE
Great care has been taken in designing our software to make setting up and managing your stock items fast and easy-to-use. In setting up your stock items, you need only enter the main details such as product description, price, barcode and stock grouping in order to build your database and get the till up and running. Later you can add more detail to each item record such as costs, additional barcodes, pack sizes, minimum and maximum stock levels, warnings, etc for greater control and reporting.

The The Retail Director
TM Stock Control Module has all the functionality you need to create stock items, view a complete stock movement audit, make management stock adjustments, record goods-in, print item barcodes or shelf edge labels, setup multi-buy sale promotions, carry out stock takes, hand held terminal downloading and fashion stock ordering.
Back Office Stock Control - Product Details Screen
The Retail DirectorTM Back Office software has at its heart a powerful stock control module specifically designed to cater for the numerous ways in which retail stock items need to be managed in a variety of market sectors. The Back Office software has additional modules covering Stock Purchasing, Customer Database, Sale Order Processing, Till Management, Multi-Store Control, Reporting and System Management to give a total retail management solution.

Retail Director
TM is modular in design allowing you to choose which modules you need to use initially and then adding additional modules, Tills or more stores as your business or requirements grow. You can add additional users to the Back Office software and control which areas of the software they are permitted to use.
STOCK CONTROL
Retail DirectorTM is not just an excellent stock control package; it boasts an impressive range of functionality to help you manage every aspect of your retail operation. Its simple-to-navigate menu system gives you instant access to user friendly, intuitive screens to control your business efficiently.

The image below shows the functionality for each of the Retail DirectorTM Modules. Each Function button opens individual screens to manage your workload. You can have many screens open at the same time for a truly productive environment.
Back Office Stock Control - Product Details Screen
These few simple steps create a product record in your Retail DirectorTM database for each item you sell. Later, you can add additional information as required to complete all the details you need to know and report on for your products.

When you have finished entering your products you can then view your entire stock file either on
-screen or printed to check each item has been entered correctly and make any adjustments before sending the product information to your Till system.
Wh
‘Quick Setup and Easy to Use’ is one of the hallmarks of the Retail DirectorTM EPoS package.When first installed you need to enter your stock groups for reporting (Departments, Sub-Departments, Brands etc.), then add your supplier names. Once the basic structure is setup you then enter your product details. To get selling through your tills as soon as possible you create each product with just the basic information required as follows:
1. Click the ‘New Product’ button. (A MiniPOS barcode number is automatically assigned to the item)
2. Select the reporting groups and supplier for the product.
3. Enter the product description. (Up to 2 lines of 40 characters)
4. Enter the products Cost Price if known.
5. Enter the products Retail Price.
6. Enter the products manufacturer barcode.
7. Click the ‘Save’ button
As an alternative to entering each product directly into Retail DirectorTM we provide a Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet where you can enter your product information externally to Retail DirectorTM. You can cut-&-paste details from any existing spreadsheets you may have or from suppliers product data sheets if available. You could also have severalpeople working on different Retail DirectorTM product spreadsheets. When your product spreadsheets are complete, it is a simple matter of getting Retail DirectorTM to import the information directly from the spreadsheet, automatically creating each item record for you with all the required details. Retail DirectorTM even pre-scans every line on the spreadsheet to make sure all the required information is correct and reports any errors back to you before importing.
Microsoft Excel Data Import Spreadsheet
Now you have your basis product file ready, you transfer the information from the Back Office to your Retail DirectorTM touch-screen till system and you’re ready to start selling! To get stock control underway immediately you will need to carry out an initial stock take and enter your product quantities into the Back Office. With your stock take complete, the Retail DirectorTM Till system will now automatically manage your stock levels accurately for every sale you make.
Adding Your Product Details to Retail DirectorTM
© Copyright 2012 Niche Software Limited - All rights reserved
RETAIL DIRECTORTM TOUCH SCREEN TILL SOFTWARE
Touchscreen Till Software
 
Whilst a comprehensive Back Office package is important, it is the point-of-sale software that is the key to a successful EPoS installation. The very term ‘Electronic-Point-of-Sale’ refers primarily to the Till software and systems. The EPoS software you choose must not only manage the products you sell, effortlessly, it must also have all the functionality required to provide a complete and efficient service to your customers via fast and easy-to-use screens that you cashiers will understand and become confident in using quickly.

We believe the Retail Director
TM Till software is ‘second to none’ on the market. It presents the sales information in a clear and easy to read format and provides access to extensive point-of-sale functionality via a simple-to-use main control panel. The control panel can be tailored to suit your particular requirements, intuitively presenting only the functionality your cashiers need to see and use.
•  Secure cashier logon (PIN, Card, or Fingerprint)
•  Cashier functionality limitation security control
•  Barcode scanning (unit and case barcodes)
•  Pre-Weighed & Pre-Priced barcode scanning
•  Product code entry
•  Select from a list of Quantity and Prices for an item
•  Product search by description or stock groups
•  Stock level enquiry and stock at other stores
•  Touch screen product buttons
•  Product warnings for cashier (Over 18, etc)
•  Linked products alert for cashier up-selling
•  Item discount and sale total discount entry
•  Multi-Buy, Special Offers and Quantity discounting
•  Product returns with return reason recording
•  Credit Note printing with barcode for security
•  Non sale product enquiry (secure view of costs etc.)
•  Sale Layaways, X-Z Read, Float, Cashing Up input.
•  Customer identification and loyalty scheme
•  Customer purchasing history
•  Automatic specific customer discounting
•  Account customers with Invoice and sales Ledger
•  Trade counter mode with VAT exclusive price display
•  Integrated electronic signature pad and recording
•  Automatic product and customer image display
•  Gift receipt printing
•  Gift Voucher printing with barcode for security
•  Integrated Chip n PIN key pad option
•  Integrated Electronic Signature Pad
TILL SOFTWARE FUNCTIONALITY
SPECIALIST RETAILING & VERTICAL MARKETS
 
Standard Retail

Retail Director
TM is first and foremost a ‘Standard Retail’ system, that is to say it was specifically designed to manage normal retail outlets where the owner purchases products from suppliers, stocks the items in the store and then sells the items to customers. For this, Retail DirectorTM has all the functionality required to control product purchasing, deliveries, stock takes and point-of-sale transactions to provide an effective stock control solution. You may also want to offer multi-buy sale promotions, run a customer database or customer loyalty scheme or provide pay-on-account services, all this is standard retail functionality perfectly implemented in the Retail DirectorTM package.

Fashion Retailing

Retailing clothes and footwear requires a slightly different approach to purchasing and managing your stock. Fashion retailers regard each garment or shoe as having a specific style which may come in various sizes and colours. A particular style may have for example, 8 sizes and be available in 3 colours, in order to provide stock control for each individual size and colour you would need to create 24 item records in Retail Director
TM. Managing hundreds of garment or shoe styles would be an enormous task when creatingyour stock file. To assist Fashion retailers Retail DirectorTM has simple-to-use Fashion Stock Ordering system where you can pre-define garment or shoe sizes in a list and then via a single screen, enter each style description, a colour if required and then select the size range you want to use. Retail DirectorTM then creates a grid into which you enter the quantity of each size you are ordering from your supplier. You repeat the process for all colours and other styles and when finished, with the click of a button,Retail DirectorTM automatically creates every stock item record for each style, size and colour combination and also creates purchase orders to send off to the suppliers. When your garments are delivered, you check off the delivery against the purchase order and Retail DirectorTM updates your stock levels and automatically prints barcode labels for each item received…
Cafes, Bars, Fast Food and Canteens

When retailing food and drink, much of the Retail DirectorTM Back Office stock control functionality is the same as for standard retailing with perhaps the exception of buying in bulk and selling in a smaller quantity. The real difference for food and drink retailing is at the point-of-sale where few if any products are barcoded. This is where the Retail DirectorTM touch-screen button designer really helps. The Retail DirectorTM Menu Designer is an extremely versatile facility that allows you to enter your products into a list (Menu) which automatically creates the touch buttons for your touch-screen Till. The product buttons can be individually coloured, font controlled and even have pictures assigned to make using the Retail DirectorTM Till super fast and simple-to-operate. Buttons can be defined as ‘Sub-Menus’ giving access to an unlimited range of products and functions.
Back Office Menu Layout Designer
Schools and Colleges - Cashless Catering

Retail Director
TM has been installed in anumber of schools and colleges managing such things as course enrolments, finance department payments and cashless control. In collaboration with an on-line payment provider, Retail DirectorTM is able to interrogate an on-line ‘e-purse’ and take payments in real time, live over the internet. The ‘e-purse’ is a secure electronic account that belongs to individual students and staff. The ‘e-purse’ value can be added to on-line by logging into the account and students, staff or parents can add funds, view purchases and makepayments as required. The Retail DirectorTM Till software can be configured to automatically show the e-purse balance available and take an ‘e-purse’ payment directly from the on-line account, recording the items sold both in Retail DirectorTM and in the on-line account.

If you want to run a pre
-payment account service without using an on-line ‘e-purse’ then Retail DirectorTM has all the functionality to set up individual student or staff accounts. Funds can be added to these accounts via the Back Office or at the Till. Customers at the Till are then identified using an ID card or Fingerprint Recognition and the account balance is displayed to the cashier.
Retail DirectorTM has some unique functionality designed specifically for schools and colleges to limit
student spend amounts on specific product typessuch as confectionery and drinks. Parents agree a
daily or weekly amount that is permitted on items such as sweets and chocolate and these limits are
entered against the students Retail DirectorTM account. The Retail DirectorTM Till system
automatically displays the available amount on their ‘Spend Control’ and prevents sales if this limit is
reached. Retail DirectorTM also has functionality for individual student or staff food allergy warnings
and ‘Pocket Money Issue’ and monitoring.
Mail Order, Tele-Sales and Commercial Sales

If you operate a mail order or tele
-sales service or you run a commercial business where you to enter customer orders and produce quotations, invoices delivery notes etc, thenthe MiniPOS Sales Order Processing (SOP) module is your perfect partner. The MiniPOS SOP facility is fully integrated to the customer database and stock control modules and allows you enter customer orders via the Back Office software. SOP supports automatic individual customer discounting, multi-buy and special offer promotions and ‘live’ stock availability.

SOP orders can be printed as quotations, picking lists, dispatch notes,packing labels and full invoice printing. Invoices are fully integrated to the MiniPOS customer sales ledger to automatically monitor credit control and available balances. The SOP tracker records every order and its current ‘Status’ with powerful order search fields. Invoiced or paid SOP orders automatically update stock levels for a fully integrated solution.
Job Costing - MiniPOS JCO
A Job Costed Order (JCO) is used by businesses that manufacture, build or project manage what they sell, such as trade window or conservatory suppliers, electricians, builders, plumbers etc. A customers order is placed on the system, often with a deposit having been paid or payment in full. The order is made up of a number of costs which could include materials, labour, delivery charges, rentals etc. The Retail DirectorTM JCO facility allows you to enter the cost of each item as they occur until the entire job has been fully costed and then closed.The Retail DirectorTM JCO supports split invoicing and post sales cost updating of the sales history data.
JCO’s can be created from either at the Retail DirectorTM Till, Retail DirectorTM Sales Order Processing module or directly in the JCO screen. If you create a JCO at the Till or via SOP you will have all of the customer default discounting and product sale promotion facilities with the final job price being transferred to the JCO after all discounting as been applied.