Mega Dollar - a Dollar Store Story
Mega Dollar is located in Burbank, CA near the famous Bob Hope Airport. It opened in 2007 as a Dollar Store Franchise.
Crime statistics show the location is in need of a high security system including surveillance and inventory control with Point of Sale. Our reseller was hired to survey the location and design and install and complete Surveillance & POS System. The consultation stretches as far as our reseller advising on display locations and product placement. Our reseller staff includes high level consultants that are experts at all aspects of security & inventory control.
The 3000 square foot store is comprised of one register counter station, 5 lanes of merchandise and additional displays for specialty and small products. Mega Dollar is filled with items ranging from jewelry & home goods to toys and auto parts. Store inventory ranges anywhere from $0.25 to $20 with the majority between $1 and $2. 95% of the products coming from multiple vendors include barcodes printed on the packaging.
The store owner had the following concerns expressed to our reseller:
- Theft Prevention
- Customer Theft: Security monitor was placed at entrance with 16 high resolution cameras placed strategically in order to cover all locations including lane ends. Visible sings where placed around store to inform possible criminals of location coverage.
- Employee Theft: CCS Retail Point of Sale from Café Cartel System, INC. is utilized as the overall point of sale and inventory control system. Employees are given security codes which they use to clock in and out, process terminal transactions, & processes returns. There are over 50 different types of duties that can be enabled or disabled depending on employee status. Some employees can be given unique authority in order to make proper changes without manager’s approval. Each transaction records data such as time and data and employee as cashier.
i. A very high resolution camera is placed above the check-out counter. Video stored on the professional digital video recorder is time and date stamped. Transactions tickets are also time and date stamped. Store owners can pull up video image and transaction data and compare to catch employee theft.
ii. Each cashier is responsible for their own till and the cash that is in it. This prevents mix-ups between employees. Losses can be determined and with the help of video surveillance recovered.
2. Employee Payroll Time: Store owner requested a complete package that included a time clock management. All employees using CCS must clock in before they are able to process transactions. Breaks including lunch can be either set to deduct or be including in payroll. Reports are easily created showing each employee’s hours including breaks and totals. Managers are able to make proper adjustments in spreadsheet format with easy access.
DATA ENTRY: How to enter 1500 unique items without spending 30 days to do it?
Once the Software and Hardware where chosen the major work was just about to start. With over 1500 unique items, the owner’s was concerned that it would take far too much time to enter each item including all the descriptions. We had two options:
- Our reseller conducts Data Entry: A team of specialists occupy the store over one night. All inventory is recorded and imported as the database. We finish by conducting a final reconciliation and deliver the store back to the owner with inventory in system including correct inventory count.
- Customer enters data: CCS creates a special template with all the desired product information fields including barcode, description, price, etc… The customer at that point is asked to fill out the spread sheet with the product information. The data entry portion time then strictly depends on customer time and effort.
- CCS offers the following solutions:
i. Vendor Product Data can be converted and transferred into the database. Since Mega Dollar was able to produce digital invoices and packing slips in excel format, a majority of the products data was entered by importing.
ii. The barcode scanner is used to collect product barcodes, and then other information is collected on a spread sheet and imported without having to fill out individual product information cards. CCS Retail Point of Sale features a barcode label maker. All products without barcodes had barcodes made and printed ready to place on products.
iii. On-Demand Product Entry: If a product is scanned but does not exist in the database, the system will supply a quick data entry window where the product information can be entered and saved without having to enter administrator territories.
iv. On-Demand Product Data Modifications: If at point of sale the product’s permanent price differs, the system allow for quick permanent modifications. CRV and other taxes are also able to be modified.
Once the inventory is loaded and the software configurations are completed, the system is ready to be used to process transactions. Mega Dollar currently has all but a handful of products accounted for each month. Nightly reports show the store owner products sold, revenue created, and employee information, including sales. A weekly product reorder list is created and items are ordered from the proper vendor.
New items arrive everyday. All products placed on shelves must first go through the system in order to be accounted for. The inventory is processes, and placed on store shelves ready for sale.
Every two weeks the owner prints a payroll report of his employee hours and sends it off to his payroll company to create and send payroll checks.
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
