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| EPOS Group Launches Quantum Version 1.1 Till Solution for Bakery Retailers |
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| Electronic point-of-sale specialist EPOS Group today launches a new version of its Quantum till solution specifically for British bakery shops and chains.
The new 1.1 version of Quantum offers bakery retailers a quick, low-cost system to finally take chip-and-pin card payments, a foolproof method for managing in-store price promotions, and full integration with CyBake Touch software to improve day-to-day shop management.
Although over half of all retail transactions will be by debit/credit card within five years*, most bakery shops in the UK still take cash only due to the cost of processing low-value transactions. But without the facility to take payments via card from increasing numbers of habitually cashless customers, bakers loose out to their competitors.
Quantum includes chip-and-pin software for tills with external pin pads for fast card payments. Quick installation includes card machines that authorise and transfer funds via broadband internet connection far less expensively than bank merchant services.
Stephen Boyes, managing director of EPOS Group, says: "From our experience, I am sure that taking credit and debit cards even for low average sales values will help increase sales and will prevent customers choosing a supermarket rather than a quality baker due to convenience. The total cost of the card transactions can be managed to around the 2% mark but taken over all sales, it is less than 1%."
Boyes cites a customer with 25 outlets with an average sales value of £4.75 that up until 18 months ago took cash only. Now, 40% of the customer's transactions are by card and the customer estimates that this has contributed to a 10% growth in sales.
Another reason busy bakery shops with heavy peak-time demand have so far resisted card payments is processing times. With Quantum version 1.1 software, bakers can now add a contactless reader to the pin pad to work with the new "wave-and-pay" credit and debit cards that are currently being issued by banks and building societies. EPOS Group has already applied the technology to a number of clients and says that wave-and-pay cuts transaction times from 12 seconds for broadband chip-and-pin to 6 seconds, nearly always quicker than cash.
Because bakery outlets tend to run fairly complicated price-promotions ranging from lunchtime meal-deal combinations to end-of-day stock clearances, Quantum version 1.1 also has a new bakery promotions module. The module allows complex discounts involving combinations of products (or even combinations of products, special vouchers and specific customer-types) to be set up and automated on till screens. There is no staff discretion, allowing for totally accurate margin control and detailed reporting on the success or otherwise of promotions.
Quantum version 1.1 also features a new interface to RedBlack Software's CyBake Touch EPOS solution that customers can also buy as part of their Quantum package. The combination means staff can enter waste, orders and deliveries directly onto the till and run all the daily processes of a bakery shop via their EPOS system.
Ramsgate, Kent-headquartered EPOS Group launched Quantum last year and the PC-based till system's popularity with the hospitality trade (pubs, restaurants, hotels) led to detailed in-depth software development for the bakery industry. As a result, Quantum version 1.1 has been created to cater for bakery customers' specific needs both for now and the future.
* Payments Council report, ‘The Way We Pay 2010 ‘, published April 14, 2010
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