Blog | iPad POS System | iPad Point of Sale System

30th May 2013

ShopKeep POS named in Red Herring Top 100 Private Companies in North America

I’m extremely happy to announce that ShopKeep POS has been named to the Red Herring Top 100 of leading private companies in the U.S. and Canada. Each year, Red Herring looks at thousands of aspiring businesses to select the 100 fastest growing and most innovative new enterprises. I’ve followed the list for a few years and I’ve been consistently impressed by the quality of the entrepreneurs and businesses chosen. Previous companies noted include Facebook, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, Skype, Salesforce.com, and YouTube, so it’s a real honor to be recognized as having the potential to join to that group.

The first part of this year has already provided some amazing milestones for ShopKeep POS: we’re now serving over 6,500 merchants across the US and Canada, our revenue has more than doubled since January, and we have succeeded in recruiting some incredible talent to help us build out the best possible iPad POS system for our merchants. Industry awards such as this one and our ETA Technology Innovator of the Year are a great validation of the incredible work that the team has been doing and we’re looking forward to pushing on to even bigger and better things!

- Posted by Jason

23rd May 2013

Tips and Tricks for Better Business from Sparky’s Balloons

Features ShopKeep Merchants

Once again it’s time to tear yourselves away from your iPad POS system and have a think about the decisions you are making for your business. As part of our ongoing involvement with the Small Business Breakthrough initiative, we’re throwing the spotlight on one of our favorite ShopKeep POS merchants and asking them for their perspective on all things small business.

Sparky’s Balloons brings cheer to the streets, parties, and street parties of San Francisco and the whole Bay Area. They offer a plentiful supply of balloons and party wares for birthdays, bachelorette parties and baby showers. What’s more, business is booming! They have two locations and a thriving delivery business. We picked the brains of co-founder, Sal to find out his tips and tricks for staying ahead of the game.

On Customer Service

Sal is clear about the importance of putting the customer first, “It sounds obvious, but providing quality products and customer service at a great price is the key to great word-of-mouth. Simply put, happy customers make great, free salespeople.” So don’t be shy about asking for that review – if customers are well-treated they are normally happy to return the favor with a good Yelp review.

On Online Marketing

Guest blogger Megan Webb-Morgan recently outlined some of the basic steps required to manage an online presence, including building social media profiles and managing online reviews. Sal and his business partner are, however, taking things to the next level, “We’re targeting online search traffic to build awareness and drive sales. I know Search Engine Marketing (SEM) doesn’t tend to be the first thing an average brick and mortar merchant thinks about when planning for growth, but it can be really beneficial.”

Sparky’s Balloons is using Google Adwords to ensure potential customers are finding about their service when they are ready to make a decision. Sal says, “By appearing prominently when users search for certain ‘keywords’, we are able to put our products in front of people at the exact time they are looking for them. That’s so important.”

Sal acknowledges that a lot of people don’t really know where to get started with keywords, “I actually trawled through our Yelp reviews to get an idea of how our customers perceived us. It’s only by doing stuff like this that you can learn whether ‘San Francisco Birthday Supplies’ might be a better bet than ‘San Francisco Party Supplies’. After that, it’s really a question of trial and error. Give lots of different keywords a try until you find the ones that are resulting in lots of click throughs to your website.”

Sal’s last bit of SEM advice: ”Be location specific: Use the settings to ensure your ad only appears to customers in your location and use location specific keywords, so, for example, if a user searches ‘San Francisco Party Supplies’, an ad for Sparky’s Balloons appears and if a user searches ‘Los Angeles Party Supplies’, it doesn’t. I get the feeling party supplies in Los Angeles probably means something completely different anyway…”

On Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

“You are not the first person to open a store in your neighborhood. In fact, you may not even be first person to open a balloon store in your neighborhood, so it’s crazy not to take advantage of the knowledge that’s out there. My partner and I have joined several merchants associations, things like the Golden Gate Business Association or Richmond’s Merchant Association. They are great places for learning and networking.”

On Using Your Time Well

Sal has a full time job alongside his store, working for Wells Fargo, and he is a big believer in making the most of whatever time he has. “My business partner and I opened the store when I was on a hiatus from work. Now that I am back full-time in a demanding job, I have had to get pretty good at multi-tasking. You’ve really got to take advantage of any tools that help you get more done on your terms. For example, I love how the ShopKeep iPhone app let’s me check in on things when I’m on the move.”

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If you’ve got any hints and tips you’d like to share, we have a dedicated space for merchants to exchange ideas, the ShopKeep POS Community Forum.

Balloon Bunny

- Posted by Paul

17th May 2013

Surging Spring Sales for ShopKeep POS Stores

Industry News

The latest numbers are in and stores using ShopKeep POS are continuing to see strong growth year over year. Same store sales for ShopKeep POS merchants in April 2013 were up 14.5% over April 2012. This growth dwarfs same store growth of just 2.2% for general retailers across the U.S.

April’s results for ShopKeep POS merchants are a continuation of the success we’ve seen throughout 2013 (see January, February, March) and the increase was seen across verticals. Quick service restaurants jumped 14% and bakeries were up a huge 19%!

As we’ve shared here previously, ShopKeep POS is taking part in the Small Business Breakthrough movement throughout the month of May because we are committed to making more meaningful connections within the small business community. With that in mind, we decided to reach out to one merchant in particular whose growth really stood out. EscoGelato‘s sales nearly doubled over the past year and we spoke to the owner, Suzanne, to get a sense of how she had achieved this incredible growth.

“The simplicity of the iPad point of sale is the real win for me,” she said. “After working with traditional POS systems in the past, I really found using ShopKeep POS to be a revelation. I literally don’t have to train my staff at all; the system is intuitive enough that they just get it, which I love. With ice cream, when you’re busy, you’re really busy – so on Friday nights I can have lines that stretch halfway down the street. I need a POS system that makes processing payments super quick. ShopKeep POS provides exactly that.”

Having worked in marketing previously, Suzanne found that her challenge wasn’t so much spreading the word as spreading the word about the right things, “I’m lucky to have an amazing community of friends and family around me that loved what I was doing and that really got the word out quickly. We get great reviews on Yelp, which helps a lot too. Pretty quickly the main challenge for the store became driving sales on items that were providing the best margins.”

EscoGelato sells a range of products, including ice cream, Italian sandwiches, and coffee and Suzanne used ShopKeep POS to help her make intelligent decisions about which products are really making a difference to her bottom line. “By studying sales reports I was able to discover that I was selling too many low-margin sandwiches, and shifted more of the store’s focus over to higher-margin ice cream. In the future, I’m really looking forward to seeing the new tools ShopKeep POS will be coming out with and digging deeper into my data. One day, I’d like to trade up to a bigger place and I want to make that decision based on solid data. ShopKeep POS is really helping me feel confident when making those plans.”

If you’re interested in looking at these numbers yourself, and seeing the same kind of success as Suzanne, you can easily analyze your year-over-year sales by logging into your BackOffice and going to the reporting tab. There, you can find a variety of charts and exports that you can run by date, allowing you to understand your own business better. Be sure to check it out and feel free to let us know how your business is doing!

And if you’re not using a ShopKeep POS system for your business already, what are you waiting for? Sign up for your 30-day free trial now.

Esco Gelato

- Posted by Rich

15th May 2013

The ShopKeep POS Hardware Commitment

From the Founder Why ShopKeep?

I was in a store recently that was still using a bulky, old-school point of sale system that looked to be about the size of a small minivan. As I peered over the top of this monstrosity at the cashier, I couldn’t help be reminded of how far this whole industry has come in such a short space of time. The store I was at is increasingly an anomaly. More and more businesses these days are switching to modern and attractive iPad point of sale systems for better performance at much lower prices.

As iPad point of sale options continue to grow, however, merchants are being confronted with daunting issue of choosing the right associated hardware, from stands to receipt printers and beyond.

It’s with that in mind that I have decided to outline our ShopKeep POS Hardware Commitment.

Reliable Quality

Over the years, ShopKeep POS has grown from our first 100 beta testers to serve over 6,000 merchants across the US. As we have grown, we have tried and tested numerous hardware partners with a focus on durability, quality and ease of use. In close consultation with our merchants we have collected extensive feedback on every product we offered and if it wasn’t up to scratch, we dropped it. As a former retailer myself, I have a first-hand knowledge of what does and doesn’t work and I use this knowledge to personally test the hardware products we offer. Through this process we have established a curated arrangement of the highest quality, most reliable hardware that offers you the best possible value. We’re committed to this process of continual learning.

Constant Support: From Installation Onwards

We have worked hard to understand the specific needs of each of our merchants and in doing so we have trained a team of experienced POS specialists that are able to offer the ‘just right’ recommendation for each and every new retailer looking to install an iPad Point of Sale. There are a lot of moving parts in an effective point of sale system and the required hardware often varies according the specific needs of the business in question. That second receipt printer in the kitchen can be vital for the running of a small quick serve restaurant but potentially redundant in a food truck. We’re committed to helping you choose the perfect set up for your business.

And once you’re set up, our award-winning Customer Care team is always there to make sure that your POS is performing as it should be. If you need help figuring out how to connect your printer to the wireless router, our team is there. If something breaks down from manufacturer error, we’ll get a replacement to you the very next day, on us. We’re committed to keeping your business running smoothly.

Simple and Seamless

We value your time as much you do. That’s why we’ve chosen products that are simple and quick to install and work seamlessly with each other. There’s nothing more frustrating than finding that the cable that comes with your printer doesn’t have the right end to fit into your router. All the hardware products that we sell work smoothly together to ensure that set up is as simple and painless as possible. Merchants are also offered video tutorials and phone support on how to make sure everything work as it should. We’re committed to making sure you are spending your time on the important things, like effectively running your business.

old fashioned cash register, isomorphic view

- Posted by Jason

10th May 2013

What a Difference a Mother’s Day Makes

Features

In the great juggling act of running a small business, marketing efforts all too often find themselves at the bottom of the to-do list, de-prioritized in the face of more pressing concerns like fixing a broken appliance, reordering inventory or simply dealing with customers. And yet, tearing yourself away from your iPad Point of Sale and ensuring positive word of mouth has never been more important or less time consuming.

Following up on our recent guest blog post by Resource Nation’s Megan Webb-Morgan, we thought we’d reach out to some of our favorite ShopKeep POS Merchants and see how they go about getting the word out.

It being nearly Mother’s Day we sought out a florist, a baker and a women’s clothing retailer to help get you in the mood. We’ve also asked our in-house marketing guru, Hadley, to share her thoughts on the techniques that these retailers employ.

The Clothing Retailer

Sadie Grace Inc is a boutique in Greenville, Ohio. Set up by Dennis and Kirsten Berghoff, Sadie Grace offers a wide range of women’s clothing for fashion forward locals. Kirsten shared the following marketing wisdom:

1. Connect with your local community. Kirsten places advertisements and discount coupons in her local newspaper.

2. Create Anticipation. Kirsten promotes upcoming new products on Facebook.

3. Showcase your Community. Kirsten shares pictures of her customers trying on her wares on social media.

Hadley: The concept of ‘social proof’ is really important. Ever wonder why they include a laugh track on TV shows? It’s because we feel more comfortable doing something if our ‘peers’ are already doing it. By sharing pictures of customers enjoying her clothes, Kirsten validates them as desirable.

The Florist

The Flower and The B. is a ‘farmer’s market of flowers’ in Oakland, California set up by Brian to showcase artistic, unique arrangements of locally sourced flowers. Brian suggested these marketing tactics:

1. Remind customers of upcoming events. Brian uses social media to remind his customers of important upcoming dates, from Mother’s Day to Valentine’s Day.

2. Build your customer database. Brian is collecting customer emails as much as possible.

Hadley: Brian is totally right to prioritize the collection of customer emails. By building out your customer database, you are able to connect with your customers more directly, more regularly and in a more personal way. Also, leveraging event based marketing is a really powerful idea. The natural deadline makes it easier to create a sense of urgency around the need to purchase.

The Baker

Tipsy Cupcakes in Billings, Montana was born out of owner Kari Jones’ love of baking and her desire to start an enterprise she could make work for her while raising her daughter. Kari suggests that you:

1. Make it personal. Kari shares photos of customers enjoying birthday cakes on her Facebook page.

2. Choose the right location and word of mouth will naturally follow.

3. Keep the customers up to date. Kari shares daily cupcake flavor updates on Facebook.

Hadley: Kari is definitely correct about the importance of choosing the best possible location. A high profile location, with lots of foot traffic, can really make the difference in how quickly people find out about you. Kari’s regular social media updates are also really important. There is an expression in marketing, ‘Top of mind is tip of tongue’. Keeping your product fresh in someone’s mind not only means that they more likely to frequent your store but they’re also more likely to encourage their friends to do so too!

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Tipsy Cupcakes

Sadie Grace

- Posted by Jason