Mr. Bill's Smokes the Competition with POS Express
Mr. Bill’s Pipe and Tobacco Company has been a Las Vegas staple since 1980, winning the local “Best of Las Vegas” contest year after year. The company takes pride in providing exemplary service to its customers while offering a vast inventory of pipes, pipe tobacco, imported cigarettes, hand rolled premium cigars, hookahs, tobacco and accessories, water pipes, vaporizers, detoxification products and unique gifts— all at great prices. While Mr. Bill's business model has proven effective, the company recognized a need for improved inventory management and overall efficiency. To satisfy this need, it recently implemented POS Express software, created by POS Prophet Systems.
The Problem
Mr. Bills is a multi-site business, operating out of three retail locations and a central warehouse location. Prior to POS Express implementation, managing inventory among all of these locations was a challenge. Stock levels for the individual retail locations, the warehouse and all locations. were difficult to obtain. Tracking item transfers from one location to another posed another problem. Since Mr. Bill's is a business that aims to be the best for their customers, the company also wanted to increase overall speed and efficiency of sales transactions.
The Solution
Motivated by these issues, Mr. Bill’s sought a solution. Using Software Advice, a 
service that matches retail operators with software vendors based on business needs, Mr. Bill's was connected with POS Prophet Systems. After working with Mr. Bill's to identify their specific needs, Bill at POS Prophet Systems proved that POS Express was the best solution through a series of web demonstrations.
The Benefits
To address the multi-site issue, POS Express has a Store Code feature designed for the needs of multi-site businesses. All data is placed in a centralized, secure location, enabling the administrative terminal at the warehouse, as well as the POS terminals at the retail locations to connect and access the database. This provides each location with the ability to run real time inventory reports for each individual location or the inventory totals for all locations. Sales associates can easily check stock levels at all four locations from any POS terminal. The warehouse manager can also transfer inventory and run reports to track all transfers.
Since implementing POS Express, Mr. Bill’s and its customers no longer suffer from inventory inefficiency. Armed with immediate access to accurate inventory data, sales associates are more helpful and efficient. If a customer cannot find an item at one location, the sales associate can easily locate that item at another one; this increases customer satisfaction and sales for Mr. Bill's.
Specifications
Mr. Bill’s is using Dell computers and Posligne Printers, provided by POS Prophet Systems, in conjunction with the POS Express Software. Suzanne, from Mr. Bill’s, says, “POS Prophet Systems seemed a good fit because it provides tremendous reporting without a huge initial outlay of dollars. I love that it is very user friendly – our staff loves the new system – and the back end is easy to use, as well. The support is tremendous – any issue we had at the beginning of our relationship was taken care of in a very timely manner. We have been using it for a couple of months and find that working with their tech support on any new reports we would like is really easy. I am very pleased with the software and the support.”
About POS Prophet Systems
POS Prophet Systems is a full-service software firm focusing on small to medium-sized retailers. POS Prophet Systems is different from other software providers because they design, develop, deliver and support state-of-the-art software and hardware solutions for their clients. They own their software code and are not a value added reseller (VAR). They give clients the technology tools necessary to compete with the “big box” retailers at a price they can afford.
The POS Express retail software solution includes point-of-sale, integrated payment processing, inventory management, customer loyalty and gift card programs, time and attendance, multi-site support, robust reporting, email marketing, fully-integrated e-commerce, full food and beverage solution and much more.
POS Express is a great solution for a large variety of business types. Their list of clients range from museums to independently owned book and music stores, and from air brush artists to smoke shops to family owned feed stores. They are also ideal for kiosk franchisors and operators. Their multi-site, store code features are very helpful with managing multiple locations.
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