Hobby Trade Secrets from Microsoft Small Business
The Top Trade Secret articles allow you to see what a fellow retailer in your retail vertical is doing to succeed. It offers a retailer's insights and "secrets" of success, along with details about how Microsoft Retail Management System helped a business to thrive. So read on!
Business Name: Ye Olde Curiosity Shop, a gift store and "curiosity museum" in Seattle since 1899.
Andy and Tammy James, owners of.
Ye Olde Curiosity Shop in Seattle, posing.
with a two-headed sheep.
How does a gift shop stay in business for a century plus? We asked Andy James, the fourth generation of his family to run the business, to share any tips — or top trade secrets — that have kept Ye Olde Curiosity Shop going strong throughout the decades. He offered the following four hobby trade secrets:
1. | Appeal to all ages. Variety is the spice of life, and a successful gift shop owner should take the saying to heart, James says. "We have toys, tricks, and jokes for kids, young and old," says James, who runs the shop with wife, Tammy. Few people can deny the store's allure. Hanging from the ceiling and tucked behind glass are a host of "curiosities" — from 'real American mummies,' to a two-headed cow. The store's aisles are also jammed with one-of-a-kind gifts. | ||||||
2. | Make customers a top priority. "That sets us apart from other people," James says. "We try to be outgoing and helpful, and try not to be a high pressure place." | ||||||
3. | Keep your store "fresh" with new items. James says he and Tammy are always on the lookout for new and trendy items. "We came across a few 'retro' items that we now carry," he says. | ||||||
4. | Switch to a reliable POS system. Despite its successful 100-year track record, Ye Olde Curiosity Shop was struggling with an outdated, DOS-based point-of-sale (POS) system. Sluggish and error prone, it was threatening to drag down sales. James implemented Microsoft Retail Management System, a point-of-sale and business processes system. Here's how it helped improve business, Andy and Tammy James say: On This Page
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Better inventory control and buying decisions
With Microsoft Retail Management System, Ye Old Curiosity manages its entire inventory — apparel, jewelry, art, magnets, books, collectibles, toys, and more — with accuracy. Having this ability means they are better equipped to make buying decisions.
With the shop's old system, Tammy James says she never had full command of what was in stock. To add to the difficulties, the family owns a second gift store, Waterfront Landmark, located a block from Ye Olde Curiosity Shop. Both stores host an impressive 60,000 items. Microsoft Retail Management System fixed that problem.
Today, employees easily track pricing information and other details, even on small items that are hard to barcode, such as key chains and pepperoni sticks. They can simplify inventory tracking with serialized items and multiple serial numbers.
Setting up Departments and Categories allows detailed reporting..
So even tiny items, such as a key chain or a pepperoni stick, can be easily tracked.
James can also support multiple suppliers of gift items because he knows — with accuracy — what's selling and what's not. Replenishing the shelves is easier, because he bases reordering on the new system's sophisticated reports.
The inventory reports "let me keep 14 percent less inventory, figuring that our stock rises and falls with the seasons," says Tammy. "I used to order extras to ensure we didn't run out. Now I have confidence in the numbers, and the system tells me delivery times. We cut it a lot closer and save money."
Faster lines during peak times
The system's easy-to-read touch screens make the cashiers' work easier so lines go faster. The result: happier customers.
Employees love the ease of working with a touch screen to do transactions, Tammy says. The new RMS system is "at least twice as fast as the old one. Touch screens were new to us," but training went "exceptionally smoothly," she says.
With Microsoft Retail Management System, gift store employees.
can choose from a variety of tasks with the easy-to-understand, customizable touch screen.
The store's old POS system could hardly keep pace with demand. It was forever crashing, too, "especially on Friday and Saturday nights. And it had more patches than the mummy!" jokes James.
Credit card processing was also painfully slow, which was resolved when Microsoft Retail Management System came online. Learn more.
Today, processing credit and debit cards takes seconds.
Reliable sales reports
Both James and Tammy like the ability to see real-time data away from the office. "I can work from home," says Tammy. "I can be on a trip. I can look at historical sales data when I'm out buying. I can see detailed sales reports of the days we're away. If there was a problem with a register, I could see that, too."
Andy adds: "Before our Microsoft Retail Management System, each part of our IT chain — printers, scanners, tills, registers, financial solutions — had such unique user interfaces, databases, and programming languages that they couldn't communicate. If one [element] broke, there was no way to find a replacement . . . It was a Frankenstein system!"