Gentles brings considerable experience to this role, having worked with large and complex customers and retail epos systems in his former capacity. Gentles has expertise managing retail suppliers, managing retail customers and managing retail staff at an executive level and his participation on the management team will provide useful perspective and insight to help grow TRC’s business.

“I am extremely delighted that Rob has joined our team as Managing Director in the UK, and in particular that I will now be working with him directly,” said Gavin Peacock, CEO, TRC Group. “In his new role, I have no doubt that Rob will infuse our UK operation with a sense of momentum and opportunity so that more UK retailers can benefit from our myriad of products and services.”

Prior to his work at TRC, Gentles served as Sales Director at G7 Computer Services Ltd., and before that, as Prestige Dealer Account Manager at Tracker, UK.

“I am pleased to be representing the needs and interests of TRC clients in the UK and working in this new position for a company that boasts a reputation for excellence in retail solutions and point of sale software,” said Rob Gentles. “As TRC continues to expand and grow, I have full confidence that we will maintain the high standards for which we are already known.”

About Total Retail Control (TRC)

EPOS solutions empowered by a TRC EPOS system delivers the best retail intelligence to grow your retail operation. TRC retail insights help managing retail staff, managing retail suppliers, controlling retail cash, managing retail customers and managing your retail stock to boost your bottom line.

Does that seem like a funny question? How could the best member of your staff not be honest?

We constantly come across incidences of dishonesty from our clients’ staff. Staff dishonesty can range from cash theft to stock theft to sweet deals for friends like only ringing through one item when two were taken, etc.

Recently, in an ever more competitive and margin-reducing world, our customers/retailers posed this question to us:

Is there a retail system out there that will help me in only recruiting honest staff members?

Retailers said: Our EPOS system is effective at identifying that we have an issue with managing retail staff bevaviour; through cash and stock discrepancies and eroding margins. Also, through point of sale software, we can narrow it down and sometimes identify the specific dishonest staff member. But then, we have to manage them out using our human resources skills. The amount of time, money and effort it takes to dismiss a dishonest staff member makes it one of the most emotional and financially costly and painful tasks associated with running a retail business. Is there a retail system out there that will help me in only recruiting honest staff members?

Staff Theft Results in More than Monetary Loss

Retailers tend to only measure the damage of dishonesty in employees in terms of monetary loss (cash or stock). There are actually equally damaging repercussions on other aspects of the retail business:
1) the impact on your other (honest) staff members and
2) the impact on your business’customer service levels.

Employee Theft: Impact on Other Staff Members

First, retailers must consider the impact on their team – the honest members of your staff. Working with a dishonest person is a negative experience.Not only is a dishonest person not a team player, but he can cause untold damage to the team spirit and often causing dissention among the ranks.

Employee Theft: Impact on Other Customer Service

Perhaps the most damaging consequence of retail theft on the retail business is the quality of customer service that they give to your customers. If your dishonest employee is more focused on stuffing their own pockets than filling your till, how much customer service do you think they will offer?

The ability to turn a loyal customer into a distant memory can rest on how a return or stock enquiry is handled, or in attitude: a lack of a smile or the absence of good manners like saying “please” and “thank you”. In talking to retailers after they had found out they had an employee theft problem, we found that they often discover that they already had performance concerns with that employee in a number of other areas.

Hiring Honest Employees with Integrity Testing

Well, we scoured the globe looking for a retail human resources tool that can solve this problem for retailers and discovered an Israeli company that has pioneered the art of integrity testing.

A simple 20-minute test in front of a PC measures the integrity of a prospective staff member so retailers can be armed with this crucial information before hiring. Anyone reading this might be cynical. I certainly was. But after spending months looking at hard empirical evidence and case studies of retailers globally, the bottom line is that this tool dramatically reduces the chances of letting a fox into your hen house.

To find out more about this revolutionary product, check out Integrity Testing – Stop Employee Theft with Savvy Integrity. Or, contact us and ask us about integrity testing.

HRVision Ltd., an innovative next generation employee assessment solutions provider is pleased to announce the appointment of Total Retail Control Ltd. as their distributor for the Ireland and UK retail market. A leader in retail epos solutions, TRC will be offering HRVision’s highly accurate and cost effective integrity testing software, SavvyIntegrity to complement the TRC ltd. current retail solutions product suite.

“In the retail segment where employee theft is an especially crucial issue, TRC recognizes the need to offer our clients innovative, forward looking technologies that can effectively aid retailers in identifying dishonest candidates before they become employees,” says Gavin Peacock, CEO, TRC.

SavvyIntegrity is HRVision’s revolutionary SaaS tool for the recruiting or loss-prevention division of an organization. It has high sensitivity to theft and fraud and lets recruiters identify potentially dishonest candidates before they become employees. Utilizing proven and patented technology, the SavvyIntegrity system extends recruiters’ ability to immediately identify the level of integrity of candidates.

“Having established a reputation for providing excellence in retail and hospitality solutions to a wide variety of clients across Ireland and the UK, TRC is keen on delivering the most advanced retail intelligence solutions to solve real-world retail challenges,” says Gavin Peacock, CEO, TRC. “As a comprehensive retail solutions provider, we are pleased to partner with a company known around the globe for their highly predictive tools in the field of employee assessment”.

Sandy Erez, Director of Business Development, HRVision adds, “TRC customers can now accurately screen potential candidates without the cost and complexity associated with lengthy intensive screening. The 20-minute web-based test can be a game changer for TRC’s wide base of client retailers, who are unaware that such technologies exist. Retailers would be surprised to know that these technologies are user friendly and affordable.”

About Total Retail Control (TRC)

Retail solutions empowered by TRC deliver the best retail intelligence to grow your retail operation. TRC retail insights help managing retail staff, managing retail suppliers, controlling retail cash, managing retail customers and managing your retail stock to boost your bottom line.
Total Retail Control (TRC) was launched in 1991 and over the past 21 years, the company has established a reputation for providing excellence in retail and hospitality solutions to a wide variety of clients across Ireland and the UK.
For more information about Total Retail Control, please visit: www.trcepos.ie or email sales@trcepos.ie.

About HRVision

Established in 1997, HRVision, is a leading provider of highly sophisticated employee assessment solutions software for organizations seeking a highly accurate and cost effective recruitment solutions suitable to the workplace environment and its diversity demands.
Seeking to address key challenges faced by organizations to perform cost effective but highly qualified mass recruitment, HRVision has created a suite of empiric employee assessment software solutions (Savvy Recruiter, SavvyIntegrity, SavvyExpert, SavvyCompetencies) that revolutionizes the way recruitment is done. Empowered by this breakthrough technology that hit the market in 2005, the HRVision solution has since proven its ability to significantly improve performance and reduce turnover for organizations worldwide.
Headquartered in Israel, HRVision has sold over 500,000 SavvyRecruiter Assessment and Integrity software tests worldwide, with sales channels in Brazil, UK, Holland, South Africa Israel, and Mexico. Available in 9 languages, HRVision’s fully integrated, internet-based system utilizes sophisticated technology on a user friendly, multimedia testing and reporting platform making it the most advanced employee assessment system in the world
For more information please visit: www.hrvision.com.

The TRC team just returned from the recent National Retail Federation show in New York City. Needless to say, it was jam-packed with retail industry thought leadership and best practices, emerging technology and exciting networking opportunities.

TRC partner, Retail Pro, showcased their new Prism platform, which is sure to have impact in the retail sector. Torex unveiled a new HP small tablet and a select few participants were given a sneak preview of their new cloud-based point-of-sale initiative. Very cool!

More than any other message, the NRF show drove home the notion that emerging technology is going to drive business in the retail sector, particularly in 2012.

With this theme in mind, TRC met with industry leaders about:

• A new mobile POS application for the iPhone or Android device that facilitates self-checkout. While this technology is in its infancy, it is a sexy, cutting-edge approach to retail transactions.
• Workforce management tools for the 1-100 store retailer, with technology that is not too overhead rich. Our discussions were very promising and we expect to announce a new partner in this field very shortly.
• The emergence of affordable and accessible E-labels to the retail market. Any retailer selling technology or high-end product will want to learn about the flexibility and agility of E-labels.
• People counting and video analytics. While TRC is already invested in these tools, there are very exciting new developments taking place in this space. We observed a video tool that can gage an individual’s mood, age and gender!

Arguably, one of the greatest highlights was a keynote address by President Bill Clinton who spoke about Embracing Our Common Humanity.

The NRF show was a great opportunity to survey the retail landscape so that we can plan strategically for the coming year.

Don’t forget to check out our latest downloads to show you how today’s cutting-edge retail technologies can help your business: Managing Your Retail Staff Download, Controlling Your Retail Stock Download, Managing Your Retail Customers Download, Controlling Your Retail Cash Download, Managing Your Retail Suppliers Download, and Retail Intelligence Download.

It is important that retailers make modifications to their EPOS retail systems and EPOS software in order to ensure that retailers are charging appropriate VAT rates. To assist you in this process, Total Retail Control has created detailed instructions on how to change the VAT rate for several EPOS retail and hospitality systems which are supplied and/or supported by Total Retail Control:

• PixelPoint
• Torex BE
• Retail Pro
• Uniwell
• Figure Gemini (Torex)
• Microsoft RMS
• TRC 42

We hope the provided instructions assist you with making the appropriate changes to accommodate the VAT rise in your EPOS retail system.

At Total Retail Control, we understand that your entire retail operation can depend on your retail management and EPOS system and changes like the VAT rise can mean those EPOS retail systems require support. As EPOS retail systems experts, TRC professionals are trained thoroughly so that our customers have access to the best possible support of these systems.

Frustrating, isn’t it?

By contrast, a bright, clear day with an unmistakable, 360-degree view of the road ahead, and a vehicle that is well tuned and humming, is a pleasure. You can anticipate potholes and take corrective action; you can chart your course preemptively and strategically; you don’t have to waste time and resources on unnecessary mishaps.

Which car do you prefer?

The retail world is not much different. In times of prosperity, retailers thrive and the need for actionable metrics is often ignored. People hum along; not paying much attention to their important key performance indicators money is flowing.

But times have changed. The financial climate is daunting. And retailers have been left without any windscreen washer bottle fluid.

The typical retailer cannot see the road ahead; without a more sophisticated picture of what is going on, he will likely crash.

All retailers use a retail EPOS system of some sort. Most stores are equipped with some standard retail reporting tools. And most of these retail solutions manage the transaction process adequately. Scanning, receipts, cash balances, etc. are tallied and tracked to the extent required.

But this process is flat, and the data it gleans is one-dimensional.

Retailers need rich and varied retail intelligence in a useable, actionable format, available in real-time to the right people, for corrective action to be taken.

TRC and Swift Retail Intelligence can provide this information.

Swift Retail Intelligence offers:

• A 360-degree retail insights perspective to all retailers.
• Seamless integration with retail EPOS software and other data sources (spreadsheets, CRM, accounting, etc.) systems.
• Succinct, consolidated, informative retail reporting, on-demand or at a scheduled time, via email, web page or to any mobile device.

This is a revolutionary development in the retail industry. To this point, there has been a dramatic absence of capability relative to analytics, forecasting and visibility. Most existing front-end retail EPOS solutions provide flat, limited data that simply doesn’t arm retailers with the retail insights they need to drive strategic decision-making.

Most retail EPOS systems do not generate data that helps retailers to:

Make a decision as to the allocated shelf space to various departments
Match staff ROTA’s with the EPOS data to provide optimum staffing
Adjust pricing of a product based on performance

These limitations hold retailers back and stifle future growth. A retail intelligence product like Swift is an easy add-on that helps to drive business and fill the gaps above.

By plugging into a retail intelligence solution, retailers ultimately prolong the useable life of their retail EPOS system and save thousands in capital spend.

Don’t drive blindly. Download your free Retail Intelligence Report to get a taste of the power that your clear retail intelligence windscreen can unleash to drive your strategic decision-making.

December 15, 2011 (Dublin, Ireland) – Total Retail Control (TRC), a leader in retail epos solutions and services, is pleased to announce the availability of the Swift Retail Intelligence solution. Swift Retail Intelligence provides a cost-effective way for companies to enhance their existing EPOS system with enhanced analytics, retail insights and back end sophistication.

“Retail leaders are always looking for ways to improve and analyze team efficiency and performance,” said Gavin Peacock, CEO, TRC. “Traditional reporting solutions have been limited and focused exclusively on the point of sale, but SWIFT Retail Intelligence provides refined analytics, retail reporting, benchmarking and forecasting capabilities that can take any retail enterprise to the next level of operation.”

SWIFT Retail Intelligence is able to:

• Arm retailers with definitive retail reporting and KPI’s that provide actionable retail insights for their business.
• Integrate seamlessly with any EPOS system as well as payroll, CRM, accounting and other such retail solutions.
• Consolidate information from multiple sources into one single report.
• Provide multi dimensional, insightful and strategic data from transactions that is accessible in real-time.

TRC’s Swift Retail Intelligence solution allows a retailer to realize the full ROI potential of their EPOS system.

“We are proud to partner with TRC and to offer our Swift Retail Intelligence solution to their customers,” said Graham Brown, QBI Managing Director, Swift. “Swift is a powerful tool that provides a 360 degree view of any retail business and allows managers to manipulate the information generated to make smart and strategic decisions to grow their operations.”

For more information about TRC’s Swift Retail Intelligence solution, contact sales@trcepos.ie.

About Total Retail Control

EPOS solutions empowered by a TRC EPOS system delivers the best retail intelligence to grow your retail operation. TRC retail insights help managing retail staff, managing retail suppliers, controlling retail cash, managing retail customers and managing your retail stock to boost your bottom line.

About Swift QB International

Originally founded as a financial systems house in 1982, Swift Computing has grown steadily during its 26 years in the business, diversifying into the ERP and Supply Chain sectors with its own comprehensive software suite. Working with clients across the spectrum from major high street names to smaller, highly specialised companies has shown us how giving users control over their query and reporting needs can lead to process improvement. With access to flexible enquiry and reporting, every business unit becomes better informed, more involved in decision making, more accountable.

• How much inventory to hold?
• How much to purchase?
• Which products fly off the shelves, and which are likely to sit?
• Should your inventory be marked down? 

Over and over again, right?  And if you make the wrong move, you end up losing money, wasting time and undermining your business.

STOP!  There are better strategies than guesswork!

Today’s user-centric point-of-sale solutions offer actionable strategies to ensure best practices to control your stock more effectively.

But before you can benefit from these cutting edge solutions, you need to analyze your current practices to make sure you aren’t making any of these 4 business-killing retail mistakes when you manage you stock: 

1. You rely on boring and meaningless data

Are you sick and tired of reviewing meaningless (and boring) data that doesn’t help you to manage your stock strategically.

You need reports that provide meaningful information so that you can make smart and informed decisions about your stock.
The information in today’s EPOS reports is usable, timely and easy-to-read.
A Stock Outage Report, for instance, can be automatically emailed to the person responsible for keeping the shelves properly stocked.  The report is succinct, organised in a meaningful way, and includes timely data for actionable follow up.

2. You don’t anticipate change

Do you make ad hoc decisions about your stock?  Are you more likely to react to catastrophe than to take preemptive and proactive measures?

Today’s EPOS Solutions can actually forecast stock levels and anticipate next steps before you find yourself in trouble.  With this information, you can replenish your stock levels more strategically as needed and at the right price.

3. Your data is old and static

To make smart and informed decisions, you need information in real time about what is going on at the point of sale.  And this information has to be accessible, round the clock, when you need it.

TRC provides Immediate Action Indicators on-demand via a web page, login, triggered or scheduled.  These Indicators detail the common sense behaviours of retailers, across industries, around the globe, every single day.

With these solutions, you can determine:

• What is out of stock?
• What must you purchase?
• Why is a particular product not moving?
• What is missing from your inventory?

Having this information at our disposal will help you to drive business, increase turnover and grow profits.

4. Your merchandise mix is random and uninspired

Do you merchandise your stock based on what sells, at what price and in what volumes?

If you are not using those insights to build your merchandise mix, you are leaving money on the table.  Period.

By closely monitoring what sells, when, at what price and what volumes, retailers can better understand how to optimise the merchandise mix.

Today’s EPOS solutions include these monitoring and reporting features and track point of sale behaviors so that inventory combinations can be optimised strategically.

Do you want to stick with the status quo or would you rather position yourself in the retail sector with cutting-edge tools to address your stock related challenges strategically and smartly?  If you choose the latter, in time, you will find that your stock is working for you, to facilitate growth, drive cost savings and save resources across the board.

We stand on the cusp of a new decade. Retailers have access to unprecedented technology to drive their businesses forward. The age of the Techno-Retailer has begun…

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So what should you be looking for from your hardware company?

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