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Shut down by Covid-19, RVC Increases Online Sales by 2000%

 

 

Real Vape Company (RVC) is a high-end vape shop in Kitchener, Waterloo and surrounding communities in Canada. They offer a large collection of e-liquid, vape kits, e-cigarettes, and more. If you’re looking for luxury vapes and e-juice crafted by professionals, look no further than the RVC. Learn more about how this business revolutionized online sales and dramatically increased their online presence with SalesVu’s online ordering solution.

David Steinbach has 2 brick and mortar locations and because of COVID-19 he was forced to close both stores to the public. He made some tough decisions and had to layoff 2 out of 8 employees. Business sales went down to 0 in both stores so he decided to adjust his business to meet the new reality by building his online presence, with the help of the SalesVu website builder platform, in order to be accessible for all customers.

 

‘Before COVID-19 we were selling about 10 orders per month (online). During the pandemic, we decided to implement the new website shopping page and in the first 5 days, we saw an increase of 2000% in online sales, we went from 10 orders per month to 40 orders per day, so we had a dramatic increase’ – David Steinbach

 

The Canadian government has allowed them to do curbside pick-up but customers are not allowed to interact with the staff. They can’t use the iPad POS app or the card reader to tap cards and pay for their items. The solution that they implemented and the new business flow is to place an order in advance from the website and then customers will transfer the money via Interac payments. When the customer is placing an order, they have two options to choose as their preferred delivery method, shipping or pick-up.

By selecting shipping, customers provide their address and a shipping fee is added to the order. This fee is previously set up in the back-end of SalesVu and it can be calculated by amount, weight, or by applying a simple flat-rate. If customers select pick-up, they are able to select their preferred pick-up date and time, according to the business operation hours.

 

‘We found this solution to be extremely effective and because of the advantage of having the shopping page with SalesVu, our dollar to dollar volume a month later only decreased 20% from what we were making when our stores were opened. We’ve been able to maintain 80% of our sales with the doors locked’ – David Steinbach.

 

David also shared with us that the online ordering system was quick to implement and that 90% of their customers find it very convenient and simple to use. After the stay at home order is lifted they plan to continue to use the shopping page on their website as the majority of their customers find online/mobile ordering to be a fast and convenient option, especially with multiple delivery options. This solution has been a game-changer for customers that live far from the store locations and who can place orders from different cities or states.

SalesVu reports have been essential for the RVC, they’ve helped to determine which products are selling the most, to track inventory of specific items, and to check the details of each individual order. David uses the weekly sales report that’s being sent to his email every Monday to compare sales by locations, categories, and products. He also uses the inventory management module on a daily basis to pull profitability reports which will tell him the total cost of inventory and the cost of goods sold. Lastly, he utilizes the view/adjust report to look at the items that are currently in stock and to set a threshold for low inventory email notifications. 

 

‘In the industry that we are in, we have looked at some competitors using Shopify and other POS software solutions… We are convinced SalesVu is the perfect solution for a retail business. It offers an awesome service with great quality. You don’t have to pay more to receive better features. SalesVu has it all and we are so happy we are able to manage two brick and mortar locations with this system’ – David Steinbach.

 

SalesVu’s advanced e-commerce platform is able to get your business up and running in just a couple of days. Get inspired by David’s success story during this pandemic and try out the website builder shopping page! To support a fellow business owner and get yourself (or a loved one) a treat, place your order from RVC here.

 

Posted in Retail, RSS, Uncategorized, Vape Shop

SalesVu online ordering system helps The Tea Trolley keep rolling during the pandemic

The Tea Trolley in Delta, Pennsylvania is a tearoom that is known for offering an authentic afternoon tea experience in the setting of a gorgeous restored Victorian house. Afternoon tea is a fun and elegant experience, and the Tea Trolley is a favorite spot for friends and family to celebrate special occasions or just enjoy a good cup of tea with scones, sandwiches, and homemade desserts. Inside the business, customers can also find a gift shop where they can buy fun merchandise and take a piece of the afternoon tea experience back home.

Like so many businesses across the country and the globe, COVID-19 and the social-distancing regulations that followed threatened to completely shutter The Tea Trolley tearoom. They had to completely close their dining room to all customers. The loss of income meant cutting staff, cutting hours, and having to completely rethink their model of service. But Rachael faced the challenge head-on and reinvented her business model to meet her customers’ where they were. 

Up to that point, Rachel had used SalesVu’s online ordering website primarily for selling digital gift cards, given the in-house nature of the business. But when the dine-in experience had to be put on hold, she discovered that she could quickly and easily flesh out her existing SalesVu website to start offering her unique tea experience online. Rachael expanded the online menu with new categories and products such as tea boxes to-go, desserts, sandwiches, scones, and a large variety of teas. Now 100% e-commerce, The Tea Trolley is able to provide customers with an afternoon tea experience in their own homes. 

 

‘Working with the SalesVu team made it easy and encouraged us to keep going during these difficult times. After the site went live and we started to get some orders, we realized that SalesVu’s online ordering website has been a lifesaver! It is the main reason why we were able to stay open for business’ – Rachael Cox.

 

In addition to the automated Sales report that she receives weekly to track sales and inventory, she also takes advantage of SalesVu’s Orders report to see the individual orders that were placed on the website. This allows her to corroborate the customer’s contact information, the products that were bought, and the pick-up time for each purchase, making online order fulfillment quick and easy for her team. 

 

‘After the stay at home restrictions are lifted we are curious to see how the e-commerce portion of our business will behave. We will definitely keep the website shopping page because we think it is a great addition to the current way we are operating.’ – Rachael Cox

 

SalesVu is thrilled to be a part of the Tea Trolley’s journey and to help business owners like Rachel adjust to these challenging times.  If you want to enjoy an afternoon tea from home, you can place your Tea Trolley order here.

 

Posted in Restaurants and Bars, Retail, RSS

4 Must-Have Software Features for Specialty Retail Stores

Specialty retail stores have many hoops to jump through in order to stay ahead of the competition—in-store cafés and restaurants, omnichannel operations, a great social media presences—all are important parts of an overall retail strategy to stay competitive and increase profits.

Pulling this strategy off successfully is easier in theory than in practice however. To achieve the results you want, you need to have the right tools to help you. Here are a few software features that can help specialty retail stores get ahead:

Seamless Inventory Management

Nowadays, it’s not enough for specialty retail stores to run an omnichannel operation—they have to do it better than the competition. This is why your inventory management software must be omnichannel-capable, offering full, real-time visibility into your inventory and order fulfillment. Not just with your retail inventory, but your café or lifestyle space as well.

You need to be able to easily transfer inventory from one location to another, and know the inventory count of your products at the source location and at the destination location. You also need to have an in-depth view of profitability, recipe tracking, and the capability to be alerted when thresholds have been reached.

Effective Labor Management

Beyond your inventory, labor is one of the biggest expenses for specialty retail stores. In order to effectively manage it, you need software that can help you optimize your scheduling and forecast your needs.

By identifying periods of heavy and light traffic, such as seasonal influxes around the holidays, and slow hours due to weather conditions or certain times of the day, you can plan the number of staff on-hand more accurately. This prevents you from losing money from overstaffing, while still ensuring you have the right amount of coverage.

Effortless Vendor Management

You likely get your inventory from a variety of vendors. Keeping track of vendor orders—open, closed, and partial—through unreliable manual processes can take up your valuable time and lead to errors. Your POS system should be able to easily track orders and alert you when thresholds reach critical levels. It should make it easy to know when you need to reorder stock, and effortless to send those orders. It can also help you plan effectively for vendor deliveries.

Comprehensive Customer Engagement Tools

Customer loyalty is more important than ever. It is absolutely essential that specialty retail stores offer a loyalty and rewards program that incentivizes shoppers to return time and time again. Not only is this critical for fostering better customer relationships, but it provides the data you need to run more effective promotions and tailor your marketing to your customers.

This data helps you understand what your customers are looking for, what types of communications are most effective, and what steps you should take to boost customer engagement.

As digital technology continues to evolve and the internet provides customers with more and more conveniences, it only becomes harder to meet shifting customer expectations and drive loyalty. Though technology advancements have been a burden to retailers, they have also been a blessing.

Retail technology has kept up with these growing demands, and specialty retail stores can leverage these innovative software solutions to not only keep up, but get ahead.

SalesVu offers a number of free and low-cost apps designed specifically to meet the needs of specialty retail stores and their customers. Interested in learning more? Contact SalesVu today!

 

Posted in Restaurants and Bars, Retail | Tagged , , ,

SalesVu Partners With Tessitura Network SalesVu introduces Tessitura CRM integration

 

Austin, Texas –April 3, 2019 – Continually striving to innovate and improve its software, iPad POS software provider SalesVu has recently announced its new integration capabilities with Tessitura Network. Tessitura is a unified enterprise system for arts, cultural, and attraction organizations that powers key business functions including ticketing and admissions, fundraising, memberships, education, marketing, analytics, and more. .

With this new integration, museums, attractions, and performing arts organizations using the Tessitura system can look up any customer in their database using the SalesVu POS System.

Customers can be searched using membership number, name, phone, email, or customer membership card. Customer discounts, coupons, and loyalty rewards points can then be directly applied to any purchases. All existing Tessitura gift certificates can be redeemed with the SalesVu POS app by scanning the card or manually entering the certificate. Purchase history from SalesVu is transmitted to the Tessitura CRM providing organizations with a full view of all purchases and interactions in keeping with their 360 degree approach. SalesVu offers a number of free iPad POS apps and auxiliary solutions, which can be utilized for bars, gift shops, and concessions stands in entertainment venues and arts and cultural organizations.

Apps include:

  • POS – primary point of sale system app
  • OrderUP – self-ordering kiosk solution
  • Regulars – loyalty program manager
  • VIPz – discount voucher manager
  • And more.

This integration achieves great strides in the ongoing quest for better overall customer experiences in arts and cultural organizations and enables them to have a unified system. By integrating the Tessitura system with free SalesVu POS apps, organizations can drastically reduce the time it takes to look up customer information, apply discounts, and process transactions.

“Our initial attraction to SalesVu was its mobility and scalability. As a major presenting arts organization, we have an ever-changing range of needs across our venues, events and festivals and we were searching for one system that would allow us to capture both concessions and merchandise sales with an easy to learn interface for part-time/seasonal employees,” said Kate Springer from the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust. “The Tessitura integration will give us the ability to see a more complete picture of patrons’ spending with us and more easily fulfill membership perks. Being able to process Tessitura gift certificates will allow a gift certificate to be used for anything in our venues, not just tickets.” 

About SalesVu

Founded in 2007 in Austin, TX, SalesVu is a leading provider of restaurant management solutions that include a robust portfolio of iPad apps, as well as cloud-based remote management features.

About Tessitura Network

Tessitura is an enterprise CRM system that powers all key business functions for museums, attractions, and performing arts organizations. From ticketing and admissions, fundraising, and memberships to marketing, education, analytics, and more, Tessitura’s unified platform enables a seamless, 360-degree view of all visitors, donors, members, subscribers and volunteers. In addition to its flagship software, Tessitura offers a range of complementary services that empower its users to achieve their goals. Those users form a community of industry leaders that enjoys an unprecedented level of knowledge sharing and collaboration. Tessitura also works with a wide range of ecosystem partners that provide products and services to extend the power of what its members can do.

Operating since 2001, Tessitura Network, Inc. is proud to be a member-owned and governed nonprofit. Tessitura serves over 600 organizations in ten countries including museums, theatres, performing arts centers, operas, orchestras, festivals, dance companies, zoos, aquariums, film centers, historical sites, and more. For more information about Tessitura, visit www.tessituranetwork.com or contact Laura Bowden, Vice President of Administration, at [email protected].  For partnership inquiries, contact Strategic Alliance Manager Kelly Degenhart at [email protected].

 

Melissa McGaughey

SkyRocket Group

[email protected]

814-833-5026 x106

 

Posted in Professional Services, Restaurants and Bars, Retail

SalesVu POS system and Employee management are the key features for Camp Bow Wow!


 

Are you traveling but can’t take your dogs with you? You don’t have anyone to babysit them? Are you worry about their safety, if they will be bored or even eat while your away? Camp Bow Wow in Katy, Texas, is the perfect solution! They are a premiere overnight boarding and day care facility for dogs. They offer services as indoor and outdoor play yards, medication administration, individual attention, grooming and they guarantee your best friend will have a great time socializing with other dogs and people, a great way to make friends! Learn more about how Jose Murillo is using SalesVu to manage this amazing business.
 

Jose started his journey with SalesVu in 2016, he was looking for a software that was easy to use, great interface and the fact that pricing is very flexible and you can build your own bundle according to your type of business was the main factor for him, because he knows exactly what he’s paying for. This POS System was a recommendation from his sales consultant and ever since they have been really pleased with the software.
 

‘There are two main things as why SalesVu is the perfect fit for us and how it has helped us grow. The first one is that I can keep track of the money that’s coming into the business with just touching a couple of buttons, the reports are very easy to get and you can obtain very detailed information. Second thing is that it also keeps track of the employees’ hours, they clock in/out from the iPad with their pin number and I can get the report on hours and use it for payroll, we find it very convenient that everything is integrated’ – Jose Murillo.
 

The employee scheduling feature is another favorite from Camp Bow Wow’s staff members. Jose is able to create shifts easily on the web portal, he can select individuals or groups of employees and have a recurrence pattern depending on which days they work. All of his employees receive the scheduler notifications by email and text, meaning they always have their availability on their phones. Employees are also able to notify back if they won’t be able to take the shift. Is a great tool to use and they are definitely taking advantage of it.
 


 

Jose was looking for a reliable Free POS system that can manage human resources and point of sale and he found it with SalesVu. If you ever need a place to leave your dog for a day or a weekend, you should definitely check out Camp Bow Wow. They are the winners of Living Magazine’s Best Pet Boarding Facility in Katy, TX for 2016 and 2017! You’ll know your dog will be completely safe and having a good time while you’re away. For more information, follow them on social media below!
 

  

Posted in Professional Services, Retail, RSS | Tagged , ,

Brookwood Georgetown uses SalesVu POS system to manage their Cafe and Shop easily!

Located in Georgetown, Texas, Brookwood in Georgetown is a non-profit organization that offers a program for adults with special needs, their mission is to provide an educational environment that creates meaningful jobs and builds a sense of belonging and validates dignity and respect for adults with disabilities. Diane Saphiro, buying manager, shared with us their purpose of using SalesVu and why they decided to start using a POS system.
 

Brookwood in Georgetown was created 6 years ago and is an expansion from a larger program by the same name which is located in Texas. In March of 2016 the decided to open a shop, cafe and greenhouse, they needed to have a better control of products that were selling and pulling specific data and reports to continue growing, a POS system is what they needed.
 

‘We started using a system from our parent program which was Windows based and it was not working properly based on our needs, that’s why we decided to improve and switch. SalesVu was one of the first programs that offered pictures on the menu. It was able to do both, cafe and gift shop and that was very important for us, using a Ipad POS system that was able to handle different industries under one account’. – Diane Saphiro
 

 

 

Brookwood in Texas uses three main modules in their business: POS, Inventory and Employe modules. With POS they are able to differentiate which categories they can arrange and sell, whether is the cafe or shop, they can distinguish between both of them and pull reports with very specific fields. Inventory is used for the most part for the retail products, they are able to adjust the items on stock in real time and they have a threshold, which is a notification alert when inventory is low, SalesVu sends an email to notify the business owner or any other staff members in order for them to create purchase orders from their vendors. Lastly, the employee module is used for adding more staff into their account and mainly for keeping track of their hours, clock in/out and generating a labor report for payroll.
 

‘SalesVu is really easy to use, our staff learn the system really fast, how to take orders, close the shift, apply discounts for our Christmas or eben birthday discounts. The sales reports and inventory reports are customizable and easy to obtain’. – Diane Saphiro
 

This non-profit organization is very inspirational, if you’re in town don’t hesitate to go there and grab some food and coffee and get some handmade beautiful products. For more information, follow them on social media below.
 

  

Posted in Restaurants and Bars, Retail, RSS | Tagged , , ,

Learn more about SalesVu Hookah POS system and their integrated modules!


 

Tasteful and relaxing, this retail-vapor-hookah lounge offers shisha, E-pens, E-juices, Dokha and an open vapor / hookah area. The Candy Bar Hookah Shoppe is perfect for a night out and having a great time in Los Angeles, California. Robbie James joined SalesVu last year, she was looking for a software that could handle POS, employee management and a reward program, SalesVu was the complete package for her with no installations / upfront fees at an affordable cost.
 

Quickbooks POS is what she was using to manage her business before and SalesVu integrates with QuickBooks online and desktop version for accounting. Because of these factors, switching was a smooth process since all the modules were going to be integrated into one system.
 

‘I decided to get SalesVu for the hookah bar because the system is able to handle tip splitting better, it has tip signature on the screen and the fact that sales can be monitored remotely in real time was a game changer, all I need to do is login online from any place’. – Robbie James
 

Robbie shared with us that SalesVu has helped in different aspects of her business, but specially for sales, the weekly reports that are provided show previous week in sales and trends. Another report that’s available with the system is ‘labor Report’, this is used for payroll and reconcile the hours worked, sales, overtime, compensations, bonuses and tips per employee.
 


 

Another module that The Candy Bar Hookah Shoppe is using is the loyalty program. This feature allows customers to earn loyalty points based on what they spent on purchases. The two settings that must be enabled are the percentage the customer will earn and the amount they need to unlock before using the loyalty points. This program works with the POS and with the customer’s display, when starting an order, the customer needs to provide their phone number and the activation is done by text.
 

Easy-to-use modules is what you get with SalesVu! Robbie James definitely upgraded to a better solution and now every module that she needs is integrated. If you’re in town and looking to have some fun definitely check this place! Don’t forget to follow them on social media below.
 

      

Posted in Retail, RSS, Vape Shop | Tagged ,

Learn more about how SalesVu POS system and TownVu are helping Wea Creek Orchard!

 
 
 

Located in the beautiful city of Lafayette, Indiana, Wea Creek Orchard is a wedding venue, event and party site, and they also specialize in their own local product such as honey, pumpkins, peaches and apples. They mainly use the POS system for collecting payments for events and on the farmer’s market to sell fresh fruit.
 

‘It is so easy to use the Point of Sale. We can just have a product up and build different categories and even somebody who is not used to using SalesVu just gets the picture because it is very intuitive’ – Perry
 

Perry Kirkham started his journey with SalesVu 4 years ago and was in complete drawn by the ease of use of the software. Before making the big switch, he was using Excel and spreadsheets to have control of the different areas of the business. What Perry and his team were looking in a POS was flexibility, affordability, cloud based, and user friendly. SalesVu met all of these requirements and offered more features to make their work life simpler.
 

‘Linking TownVu to our website has been absolutely tremendous for the business. It terms of measurement, it has increased our record keeping ability and it has greatly increased our efficiency’ – Wea Creek Orchard
 

About 3 months ago, Perry and his team needed a way for clients to pay directly online and keep track of it. They looked at the capabilities of the software and found that SalesVu was able to handle it. It was great news that they didn’t need to find any third-party software that provides that service.
SalesVu offers the ability to create your own website or link the shopping cart to an existing website through a widget code. The biggest advantage is that you will manage all sales, POS and online, in one place and you can even compare which source gives the best results. Another plus about this feature is the ease of taking payments, you can set up 3 different types: full payment upfront, payment in the business and upfront deposit, it will all depend on how your business operates. Selecting which products to offer for online ordering is very simple and will be done in seconds and the software will record the customer’s information into you own CRM.
 


 

Taking the big step and upgrading to an online ordering system was a one of the best decisions for Wea Creek Orchard. To find more information about their products and services, visit their website and don’t forget to follow them on social media below!
 

Posted in Retail | Tagged , , ,

6.0 has launched!

SalesVu 6.0 just launched and is now available in the Apple Store! In case you haven’t already updated your apps, we highly recommend you do because we came out with a lot of new features that will surely be beneficial to our valued merchants. Here is a complete list of the new additions we have just added in 6.0 – clicking on the feature will automatically redirect you to our Knowledge Base where you can find detailed answers and video guides to any question you may have.

  1. Customer Facing Display 
  2. Waitlist SMS Text Message System
    1. How to notify the customer their table is ready
    2. Assigning the customer a table
    3. Setting up the waitlist time on the web portal
  3. Removing a discount on the P.O.S
  4. Vantiv EMV Chip-Card Reader Integration
  5. Customer Based Discount
  6. Improved Tip Screen
  7. New Appointment Scheduling Improvements
  8. Improved Physical Location Map/Layout Screen
  9.  Improved Customer Screen
  10. Ability to Change Delivery Method and Date
Posted in Beauty and Wellness, Health Clubs, Professional Services, Restaurants and Bars, Retail, RSS, Uncategorized, Vape Shop, Wineries

SalesVu POS system: learn how Inventory and TownVu modules are helping EPO Computers!

 

Located in Webster, TX., Santos Macias is the proud owner of a computer parts and electronic business named EPO Computers. They offer a variety of custom builders and a service center where they repair electronics, PC’s, laptops and devices. This is the perfect place where people can do robotics and computing projects at a very affordable price.
At the beginning Santos tried different softwares to manage EPO, he used QuickBooks, Counterpoint POS and Square, but they weren’t good enough, they were out of date and required them to keep the server on-site. He wanted a cloud based system and SalesVu offered that, the main reason he decided to switch was because of the inventory capabilities and the ease of using the system.
‘We just did a trade show, we installed the app on the new iPad and within minutes the software was up and running, that’s why we like SalesVu, as long as we have internet we can complete transactions and keep track of our sales. The software has helped with the inventory control and the ease of access for me’. – Santos Macias
Santos is using TownVu to advertise EPO Computers for free. TownVu helps every business to get recognition, customers and online sales, this feature is great for online ordering, promotions, discounts, coupon codes and selling digital gift cards. This module is completely free with the software!
SalesVu has helped EPO with the ability of uploading new products and having them instantly go live. His Facebook page and Youtube channel are linked to TownVu and he has received a couple of customers that called and ordered directly on his webpage. Thanks to the ability of uploading products in real time and the automatic synching, he can decide what he wants to sell. This is a very convenient way for their customers to place orders on the go.
With the inventory module EPO computers is able to identify which products are selling the quickest in order for them to reorder. This report gives them an overall view of the sales and the deduction of the products on stock, he can do it on a general level or per categories or products if he wants to run the report more specific. EPO computers uses EVO Payments as their merchant processor. The service they have received from them has been very good and the Ingenico card reader works really well with the system.
Santos and his staff are impressed with SalesVu’s customer service and technical support! They stated that the reps are pretty responsive and every chat and phone call is answered instantly. The tech support team is always calling back to make sure customers are not experiencing any issues and if they do, they try their best to solve it right away.

 

Looking for economical computer parts and electronics? Go visit EPO Webster if you are in the area, you will be surprised by the products you can find and the excellent service from their staff! Don’t forget to follow the on social media below.

Posted in Retail | Tagged , , ,
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