If you look for «Android vs. iPad tablet» in Google you will find many articles and discussions on what is best. In this article we want to talk about what to choose if you are looking for touch tablet for business needs because choose criteria are different for business.

AlfaRichi works in electronic point of sale industry and touch tablets are an attractive alternative to traditional touch terminals. Now we provide a professional and complete point of sale solution for Android tablets. But before starting the development process for touch tablets we were also about thinking what is better — Android or iPad. We thought about what will be better for our clients — shops, concessions, franchises, retail merchandising units also known as RMU, mobile sale, wholesale and others.

There are several reasons why Android point of sale solutions are better for sales than iPad:

• iPAd and Android functionality is very similar — it depends on software solutions and not so much on hardware.
• Stability is also the same.
• Many more variations of touch tablet design exists with Android touch tablet because there are many producers for Android touch tablets (like Samsung, Advent, Motorola, Sony, HTC…) but only one producer of iPad which is Apple. You can choose a design which corresponds more to your interior design and taste.
• A wide range of choice of hardware characteristics (you can choose size, screen size, resolution, processor, memory,…)
• Android Touch-screen interface is as user friendly and intuitive as iPad interface
• Android is open source system and software development companies don’t need to pay for using it — this makes solution cheaper.
• There are many more software companies and single software developers who develop for Android and it is fast growing operating system.
• And the main reason — Android is CHEAPER. Different hardware producers lead to active price competitive. The price is very important for business because usually you will need to buy more than one device. And prices for Android devices are continuing to go down, which is not the case with Apple iPad.

If you looking for point of sale solution for touch tablets we provide 10″ Android touch tablets as an elegant and future proof solution in any shop. We also provide our software for running on any Android device and software is provided as a service with only monthly costs and no upfront purchase. Contact us for more information

“Thanks to AlfaRichi and J2 EPoS, we now know exactly how each shop is performing. Our ordering and stock management have improved, and food wastage and till shrinkage have reduced.”

Robert McIlroy, Marketing & Retail Estates Director, Cooplands Bakers

View PDF (1,3 Mb)

www.cooplands.co.uk

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The Client

Cooplands Bakers is a long-established retail bakery business with a strong regional following and 85 stores across Yorkshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire. The business has 550 retail employees, a further 200 in head office and production, and a yearly turnover of £18million – all the hallmarks of a business that knows what its retail and wholesale customers want, and that has evolved to meet the needs of successive generations.

The business is split into retail sales – through stores and mobile sandwich deliveries; bakery and despatch – with inhouse baking facilities in Doncaster; and wholesale operations – production of savouries, bread and sandwiches for the industry.

By 2008, Cooplands was running its business using two EPoS systems. Unable to communicate, neither was reliable nor could produce the mission-critical data needed to manage the business efficiently and plan growth. Specialist EPoS solutions company, AlfaRichi, then came on the scene. AlfaRichi was already supplying its software to bakeries and was in the process of designing a bakery-specific EPoS solution.

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The Challenge for Retail Bakeries

Explains Trevor Claybrough, AlfaRichi’s Managing Director: “Retail bakers were making do with EPoS developed for non-food retail or hospitality. No one was taking account of their needs. We were well advanced with our development and, in Cooplands, found the perfect partner, willing to collaborate on fine-tuning a specialist solution and be the first to benefit from it.”

Large shop estates and sales of daily-ordered and carry-over goods make stock management complex for retail bakeries. Cooplands, for example, has 200 lines. Given the bread and fresh cream cakes disposed of each day, wastage is a major drain on their finances. More so than in other retail sectors, bakeries need instant and reliable daily data from each shop to drive stock control and supply.

Says Claybrough: “Retail bakers need to know what has sold well or sold out, and how much waste has been generated. Although both sales and wastage figures should be recorded and communicated to head office at each day-end, many in the industry still make do with cumbersome systems that transmit data overnight by modem.”

The Benefits

• Reliable recording of sales data has significantly reduced wastage
• Good data capture has improved stock management, ensuring shops do not run out of popular items
• Shop managers use their tills to place daily orders that can be fine-tuned to meet changing demand
• Head Office admin staffing has reduced from five to two, as the new system automates sales recording and order placing
• Touchscreen tills and reporting functions have combined to radically reduce shrinkage
• The business feels completely in control and is able to plan expansion confidently.

The Results

AlfaRichi software, running on J2 PC-based touchscreen tills, has addressed the operational issues a retail bakery faces and has raised the bar on efficiency and profitability. At Cooplands, the software is installed in all the shops and at Head Office, where it helps to perform shop-related operations and is used by Accounting, Sales and Ordering teams.

AlfaRichi has rolled out its solution on J2 615s to shops without PC-based tills; each has between 1 – 4 tills. As remaining non-J2 tills come to the end of their useful life, they are being replaced with J2s. Says Trevor Claybrough: “Within 2-3 years, Cooplands expect to have moved entirely to J2s.”

He continues: “Our software is well designed and not particularly resource-hungry so doesn’t need a powerful processor. We recommended the J2 615 because it’s robust. It’s fanless too, which is ideal for dusty retail bakeries, and staff find its 15” screens comfortable. Cooplands uses the J2 615’s different mounting options, and has a combination of pole- and counter-mounting.”

The J2 tills are true PCs and go beyond point-of-sale transactions. They are used in the shops for sales, ordering, stock-related operations such as declaring delivery ‘overs’ and ‘shorts’, ‘shop use’ and ‘damages’, transfer of goods between shops, and wastage.

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Improved stock control and ordering

Stock control and ordering have improved. The business – both at a shop manager level and at head office – knows in real-time if stock is running out. When it comes to ordering, the till suggests a quantity for each product, based on past sales. This results in more accurate stock control, fewer empty shelves during the afternoon and less waste to dispose of. “Stock is optimised so we don’t waste as many cakes and pastries,” says McIlroy.

As for the order process itself, shop managers do this from the till rather than use a back-office telephone to call in sales each evening. The result is fewer errors, plus more time to spend front-of-shop serving customers.

Automating order processing benefits head office

In the past, five Head Office admin’ staff recorded and processed telephone orders from 85 store managers across up to 200 lines. Now orders are now placed via the tills – a virtually error-free and instant process, and only two admin’ staff are needed to extract order data and enter it into the production system. This saving alone meant that Cooplands gained a very fast return on its investment.

Reducing till shrinkage

In all retail businesses, shrinkage erodes profit margins. Using J2’s touchscreen tills, where all products are defined to buttons, makes easy work of data entry and prevents items being sold inadvertently at the wrong price.

Other till-based issues include staff ‘selling’ goods to friends and then cancelling the sale to reconcile till cash. The AlfaRichi system eliminates this with ‘void’ reporting. Suspicious instances can be investigated and anything other than a genuine error flagged as dishonesty.

‘Shop Reconciliation’

Another plus of the AlfaRichi software is ‘shop reconciliation’. With order placement automated, delivered stock can be easily compared against its order and any ‘over’ or ‘short’ items flagged for Head Office to organise additional deliveries.

Ingredient tracking for made-up items

Margins are slim in retail bakery, so it is important to track everything, down to the last gram of butter. A valuable function, unique to AlfaRichi, is the ability to record the weight and composition of made-up items such as sandwiches. The system highlights if precise weight/quantity or ingredient guidelines are not adhered to, say, too much butter being put in a roll, or ham disappearing from stock. Cooplands now has complete visibility and can focus its attention on any shop that departs from the norm; yet another way of eliminating shrinkage through staff theft.

Accurate trading data for complete business management

Comments Trevor Claybrough: “Before acquiring the AlfaRichi and J2 solution, Cooplands expended energy on trying to obtain accurate trading data. Now its focus is on shop-specific and consolidated data, and on managing the business. It has complete visibility of profitable and less profitable shops, knows which shops and which products generate most wastage, and can easily pinpoint best- and worst-performing lines.”

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True picture of promotional success

Bakeries operate quite complex promotions. With the new solution, it is possible to analyse the true value of each offer and understand how effective it is in terms of margin and increased spend. “Staff don’t have to remember complex promotions – the till does this for us,” says McIlroy.

In numerous ways, AlfaRichi and J2 have helped Cooplands increase the efficiency and profitability of its shop estate, at the same time making managers more autonomous and reducing the need for head office resource.

Robert McIlroy concludes: “Cooplands now has better control of the overall business, not least because we receive up-to-the-minute accurate information via our reporting system.”

www.cooplands.co.uk

Sector: Retail Bakery

www.j2retailsystems.com

Don’t hesitate to get on touch – we’ll be happy
to demonstrate that we have the perfect solution for your needs.
+44 1302 638621

So you are thinking of getting a point of sales system and one of the most important questions is «How long will it take to get a return on my investment?»
For clients who use AlfaRichi EPOS solution return on investment is taking from 3 months to one year. You can influence on the speed of returns and we want to draw your attention to 3 important steps.

1. Put in the EPOS system.
   The first returns come from simply implementing the EPOS system. There are no more errors from staff entering the incorrect prices and you will see immediately a small increase in takings for the same amount of products.
   You also get returns from the reduced admin and support costs because you have your VAT figures directly from the system for all shops together and can see sales figures immediately without having to get sheets back from shops and add things manually.
2. Shop staff meeting.
   You will explain to your staff that you can now see everything they are selling and all other operations like cancels and voids and stock levels. If there are staff stealing then it is likely they will stop because they know they can be found out, and if there are staff not really trying hard to sell they may start selling more because they know that you can see how much each staff member is selling.
3. Using the sales data to optimize your business.

This step requires taking the necessary management time to study reports produced by the EPOS software and implementing changes based on what you see.

• Staff operation report and sales by half hour will give you information about staff work and enable you to have staff on duty only when needed, and to deal with those staff that are not selling very much.
• Waste and sell out times report and stock reports can help you understand how much products you should produce or order each day. You will be able to increase sales and reduce waste.
• Promotion features and reports help you to make a decision about future actions. Before implementing a promotion you can look at linked sales such as hot drinks sold with cakes and decide if you will make or loose money by starting a promotion on these items when bought together
• Gross margin reports that include waste in the calculations will show which products are generate the most profit and you can remove unprofitable product lines

An additional step is if you do ordering to head office/production from the tills and have overs/shorts, shop damage, waste, stock etc declared on the tills. If you do this you will save a lot of administrative time and potential for errors.

How long will it really take?

3 to 12 months is realistic and we can provide you examples of this and also give you a free indication of what you can expect for your specific business.
Click on this link to request more information.

Let us help you to make real changes in your business so you see your profit grow and your administrative headaches removed.

EPoS-sibilities

Of course, EPoS is about so much more than customer transactions. It can enable a business to better control stock, speed up tills and tighten fraud controls.
“Every night it’s important that you get the information that you need to reassess your business going forward, so you can take decisions on tomorrow’s trading. It’s all about the immediacy of decisions. In bakery it’s about getting the right balance between availability and waste,” says Roy McDougal, head of IT at Greggs.

Is the cloth cut to fit?
The difference between a good and a bad EPoS system is whether it’s designed for your needs. For example, options are available for retail such as clothing and others for restaurants. Aim for one that is designed for tracking bakery goods, controlling stock and waste. “Some bakeries use hospitality software with additional pieces of software stuck on,” says Trevor Claybrough of AlfaRichi, which has developed EPoS solutions specifically for bakers. “It can be complex and can go wrong. We advise that bakeries take a package that has everything they need the EPoS part and the ordering part.”

Meal deals and promotions
Are promotions increasing overall sales and profits? It’s important to have a report that shows whether you’re losing or gaining money, compared to if you were running no promotion.
“The AlfaRichi system we use has a lot to offer the retail baker, particularly in the way of sales and promotion evaluation, improved ordering, stock control, cash management and theft prevention,” says Robert McIlroy, retail estates director at 89-shop Cooplands of Doncaster.
Also, if you’re promoting heavily, make sure your processor speeds can cope. “We’ve moved to the J2 615 model the big change we’ve gone for is processor speed, because we’re doing more and more at the till point such as meal deals,” says Greggs’ McDougal.

If you can’t stand the heat…
“Bakeries are relatively harsh environments to host technology, especially if baking takes place on site. A fanless EPoS terminal is essential in a hot and humid bakery where moving parts would attract and circulate machine-clogging flour and grease.”
Another easy win in the shop is having bigger screens, says McDougal at Greggs, which traded up from 15-inch to 17-inch screens in recent years. “The shop staff love that because it’s easier to use. Having enough space on your screen to get all of the products in is the most efficient and effective way to serve the customer.”
Space is also at a premium in a shop. J2 came up with a space-saving solution for 52-shop Birds of Derby: a new bracket which could be pushed back 45 degrees, to allow the J2 615 tills to be recessed into a more

EPoS checklist

When choosing EPoS for a bakery or coffee shop, a system that only gives takings and sales information is not enough. Ask your supplier if it:

• allows orders, waste declaration, overs/shorts and stock to be entered on the tills and then immediately available at head office
• has reports that will highlight any loss by automatically reconciling everything that goes into the shop (products, ingredients) and everything that goes out (sales, ingredients used for sales, damage, waste, samples)
• shows you at any time what is the current stock in all shops
• has pertinent management reports including promotions, gross margins and comparative sales.

New in EPoS

l AlfaRichi now offers functions for mobile sales, such as sandwich vans, using touch tablets with mobile broadband. The firm also just added solutions for processing wholesale orders and deliveries; customers place orders directly online, which can be seen and adjusted at head office before being integrated into the overall production figures.

l J2 Retail Systems’ new J2 630 is tipped to dramatically extend till life beyond the normal 5-7 years. A new motherboard can be slotted into the tens of thousands of J2 580s in use worldwide, to maximise end-user investment.

Cloud computing can mean different things and here we clarify what it means within AlfaRichi. It means that all the data and processing resources for managing the EPOS are accessible anywhere via a secure Internet Link.

AlfaRichi rent their own DEDICATED servers through companies that specialize in providing high performance servers with very fast internet links. Banks, insurance companies and airlines use such companies and systems.

These dedicated servers ONLY run AlfaRichi software and are fully managed by AlfaRichi technical team with our own system administrator, database administrator and software development team.

All data is stored simultaneously on at least 3 different hard drives and there are regular backups throughout each day to separate dedicated servers.

Between the servers and the internet there are dedicated firewalls that provide more security than that in a typical small or medium company.

On the web there are comparisons between «Cloud Computing» and «Dedicated Servers». AlfaRichi give all the advantages of dedicated servers but accessible via internet and fully managed.

There are many advantages in using AlfaRichi system as opposed to an in-house server:

• In house servers are costly and need to be maintained. If they fail it is not fast to get a replacement and to reinstall everything again can take a long time and lead to extensive downtime. AlfaRichi dedicated servers have 24 hour on site hardware support and continuous hardware monitoring. Typically an AlfaRichi server has 2 redundant power supplies (one can fail and the server will continue to operate whilst the failed one is changed) and at least 6 redundant hard drives (up to 2 can fail and the system keeps running), and they run in secure temperature and humidity controlled rooms.
• In house server needs on site IT staff available or on call. AlfaRichi have IT staff available as needed for both routine maintenance and critical situation maintenance.

A reliable backup and restore policy needs to be defined and implemented. This is rarely the case when the server is on customer site as there are always other priorities, and when a problem really occurs it can be found that there is no real backup. AlfaRichi have a reliable backup/restore policy in place AND test periodically that this procedure is working and can be done in a short time.

At AlfaRichi, each customer data is kept strictly apart from other customers data and one customer can only access of course their data — in the same way that banks keep customer data on their servers but each customer can only see their own data.

Call us today 01302 638621
or try a DEMO version

Make sure that the EPOS software is recent and you can get regular updates, and if you need some additional functionality that the EPOS producer is able to add it in the software.
Make sure that supplier is easy to get hold of and that he is really able to help you to solve problems

Make sure that EPOS system will work for your business needs.

Choose a system which was designed for your type of business rather than just adapted by a reseller.
Keep in mind the list of what you want to achieve with your EPOS system (such as reduce stock holding, speed up customer transactions, manage returns efficiently) and make sure that system can do it.
Explain your needs and features to different supplier and ask them to demonstrate how their EPOS system will work for your business.

Keep this in mind when choosing software:

1) Choose Web-based «cloud» software as an opposed to in-house back office as it has many advantages:

• you do not need to spend time, effort and resources to maintain server
• your data will be automatically backed-up on a daily bases
• you have access to your sales and inventory data 24/7 regardless of if you are at home, at work, or on vacation.
• sale information is available for you to analyse on secure online website. 
• epos company in most cases are providing automatic software upgrades and new versions to that you always have up-to-date software.

Before taking software on the board though, make sure that software on the tills in the shop is working (and working fast) even if internet goes down in the shop.
This means that if the internet connection goes down in the shop, you can continue to serve your customers. The sales will be saved locally on the till and automatically sent to the server when connection is restored.

2) Check how quickly you feel comfortable with the software. If you need a manual to understand it, better leave it. Software for tills should be even more intuitive then online software and staff members should be familiar with it 20 minutes after starting to use.

About EPOS Hardware

• Make sure that your supplier can provide all needed EPOS hardware including
• Touch tills, staff tag readers, printers, bar code scanners, links to credit card readers
• Make sure the supplier guarantees software compatibility with everything
• Make sure the supplier can support everything you have

Contact AlfaRichi to see if they have the solutions for your particular business.

British Baker Magazine about AlfaRichi solution

Doncaster-based firm AlfaRichi has launched a new EPOS system for bakeries, which it believes it is the first to use ’cloud computing’ for the back office. This avoids the risk of losing service or data, as the new system replicates this information on multiple secure servers.

Tills are connected via broadband to AlfaRichi servers and all sales and stock data is available in real time anywhere there is an internet connection and browser. The data is stored in ’Oracle’ databases, with detailed sales and management reports available in seconds.

The firm said its solutions have been designed specifically for bakeries and feature shop ordering, stock and waste management from the tills, ingredients management, and complex promotions.

AlfaRichi caters for all businesses, accounting for size and bespoke needs, as well as being able to install systems anywhere in the UK and Ireland. Equipped with the experience and knowledge in this field, AlfaRichi will be able to assist in choosing the best solution for your needs, to technical support once up and running.

Standard EPOS solutions do not make use of real time internet connections and it is necessary to both purchase the original software and later pay for software updates and upgrades when new functionality and features becomes available which can be inconvenient, not to mention costly. Add to this any fees incurred for an engineer to come out and fix problems when they occur plus monthly fees covering support and it becomes apparent that this is not a cost-effective idea.

AlfaRichi provides a web-based solution that offers the peace of mind that all your data is secure, and you can see reports 24 hours a day with an internet connection. Any new features and functionality that are available are simply sent to tills via the web, as soon as the upgrades become available.

AlfaRichi’s solution goes one step further and stores data on a secure server, safeguarding key business information. The latest web-based solution that is supplied won’t fail, even if internet connection is lost. Innovative software allows tills to continue to work offline and store information while internet connection is absent. Once connection is restored, you’ll be able to see real time reports The monthly fee with a web based software cover much more than the support that comes with a standard EPOS solution and your EPOS can also be accessed anywhere there is an internet connection, so there are no confines to using just one PC

There’s no forking out for new software versions when they come out because these are included in the all inclusive monthly fees. A Web based system is scalable and additional terminals, shops and users can be added depending on the changing landscape of your business. Almost all technical problems can be sorted out remotely. Like any EPOS solution, the hardware has to be purchased, rented or leased but the software can either be purchased or rented. AlfaRichi can install all of this for you, so you can focus on what matters most; managing your workforce, serving customers and maintaining the efficient running of your business.

By purchasing AlfaRichi’s innovative web-based solution, you no longer need to run the risk of losing access or data, should your web connection go offline. AlfaRichi software is web based and has all the advantages described here as well as included a very rich set of features for sales, stock control, ordering and reconciliation.

Contact us, where you will find details of services and products that AlfaRichi provides.