A couple weeks ago, I spent four days at the IBM Retail Store Solutions Sales Summit (RS4) in Chicago. Thepurpose of RS4 is to meet with IBM sales, marketing, and technical professionals from across America. The event focused on current issues facing retailers and creative ways that sales teams can craft and install intelligent business solutions to meet our customers’ needs. Over the course of four days, our sales team attended many sales education seminars and technical training classes for the numerous IBM RSS POS systems that we sell. Like a professional golfer that continues to hone their skills

daily at the driving range, it is important for us as an IBM Premier Business Partner to continue to train and learn from the experts at IBM. There are many problems that retailers face on a daily basis. It is our job to find “intelligent business solutions” to help our customers become more successful and profitable. If you are looking for creative point of sale hardware solu-tions, maintenance, staging, integration, parts procurement, upgrades, installation, and e-cycling, Retail Tech has the sales and technical “Solution Providers” to assist you.

Mark Baskfield, VP Sales and Marketingmbaskfield@retailtechinc.com

Letter from the VP: Mark BaskfieldIBM RS4 Conference

Retail TechTimes

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April Editionwww.retailtechinc.com

Will you be there?IBM Retail User Group, May 15th-18th

As a sponsor of IRUG, Retail Tech is excited to travel to Orlando next month for an opportunity to meet with IBM customers and industry professionals. Retail Tech will be in booth 32, excited as ever to talk about our recent advancement as an IBM Premier Business Partner and what that means for you as our customer. For more information on IRUG, visit the website at: www.ibmretailug.org.

"The mission of the Retail User Group, a mutual benefit organization, is to provide retailers and solution providers a networking partnership for the sharing of information, experiences and best practices; enabling the advancement of retail solutions to solve common business problems."

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At Retail Tech, we understand that no two companies are alike. In order to satisfy a variety of budgets and requests, Retail Tech offers both Advanced Exchange Maintenance contracts as well as flat rate repair plans. What makes Retail Tech unique is our ability to custom-ize any of our depot repair plans to fit your needs. Retail

Tech has the capabilities to provide 1-5 day depot repair and return to save you even more money. With over 120,000 sq. ft. of warehouse space, Retail Tech provides virtual parts, components stocking, and customer owned hot swap spares. Retail Tech is proud to offer repair support for some of the top retailers.

RTI Provides More Value:Reduce Your Hardware Maintenance Costs

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-Main Boards-LCD's-Touch screens-Printers-Keyboards-Cash Drawers-Flat Panel Displays-Barcode Scanners-Base Units

Our Employees make us who we are!Pat Bogan, Account ManagerAfter Receiving a BA in Communication from Minnesota State Moorhead, Pat spent the majority of his career working in sales. Before starting at Retail Tech, Pat worked for other POS companies including Northstar Matrix Serve later becoming ExpressPoint in the 90’s. Pat’s career accomplishments include becoming the Director of Solution Sales at ExpressPoint and introducing Retail Tech to the maintenance and depot repair business. Before full time employment at Retail Tech, Bogan helped manage Retail Tech’s relationship with IBM. Aside from working for Retail Tech since 2006, Patrick also enjoys spending his free time running, skiing, snowmobiling, and boating.

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In a perfect world, point of sale hardware would never be problematic. The components would always work swimmingly, and mainte-nance would not result in a blow to your budget. Equipment would last well beyond its life span, and “system down” would not be a necessity in an operator’s vocabulary. Unfortunately, we live in a harsh reality. While most equipment is built durably for harsh retail and hospitality environ-ments, equipment still breaks. In fact, I am sure many of you are guilty of substituting “S” in the acronym POS for another choice word. I can imagine the frustration operators incur when peripherals such as printers, keyboards, and touch screens lose their sole capabilities in the middle of retail season. So, what is your plan when disas-ter strikes? Do you fork over the costs for on-site maintenance? Waiting in a long line is my biggest pet peeve when shopping. Regardless of whether the store has 3 or 20 registers, I find it hard to be-lieve the urgency of repairs when they are rarely operating 100% of the lanes at a time. I think it is safe to say most of you agree? So my question to operators when your systems are inactive, why are you paying outrageous costs for on-site main-tenance? While you may be extremely satisfied with your current on-site maintenance plan, great! However, if you could afford to wait 24 hours to receive a replacement part on your point of sale, an Advance Exchange program might be a lit-tle more enticing for your budget. Point of sale companies providing Advance Exchange POS repair leverage either a vast inventory, or low labor costs. Why does this matter, you ask? By leveraging inventory, the maintenance company does not have to purchase equipment to support your systems; most likely they already have the components in stock. Instead, finished goods are

stocked and waiting to be shipped to you upon notification that a system is down. Without a vast inventory, maintenance companies are forced to purchase equipment from other vendors and as you would imagine, this leads to increased costs for you as their customer. Vendor selection is important when choosing a POS maintenance contractor. Do you select a labor intensive company or an inventory rich company? It may seem like a horse a piece. Yet it is important to remember, as equipment ages, the value decreases. Therefore, when you choose any inventory rich company, the overall maintenance cost likely decreases over time. On the contrary, labor costs increase through the years resulting in less of a cost decrease to your established maintenance plan. At Retail Tech, the IBM POS Consign-ment Vendor Contract allows us to store over 120,000 square ft. of IBM systems and parts, with the resources to support almost any exchange re-quest. Upon receiving notification that one of our maintenance customers has a broken peripheral, we have other finished goods with your specifi-cations in our inventory to ship that same day. Retail Tech is even able to borrow equipment to customers for short periods of time! I would ar-gue very few companies have the resources to do that. Retail Tech also offers a Depot Repair and Return program for less urgent requests. Well, now you know the facts. On-site Maintenance is not your only option. If you liked anything you read about Advance Exchange maintenance, it may be worth a phone call at least? How much could you save? I am sure you have better things to spend your money on? I’m just saying…

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Tired of On-Site Point of Sale Maintenance Costs?

TechTOPICKS 4.15.11

Looking for the perfect solution for your harsh, hospitality enviroment? Straight out of the IBM Surepos 500 line, IBM's 4840-544 delivers the "style, serviceability and state-of-the-art technology retailers need to help optimize the customer experience in food service, hospitality, specialty, gas, and convenience."

Retail Tech has a number of these systems available, and ready to integrate, configure, and test to your software solution.

Additional Features:

•128 MB or 256 MB of memory standard on most models, with upgrades to 256 MB, 512 MB, 1 GB, and 2GB.•8 to 64 MB UMA video memory•A 40 GB, 7200 RPM hard disk drive (HDD) or greater, standard.•Wall-mount capability for drive through or kiosk applications•Port enhancements, including powered 12V and 24V USB ports, standard.•A wide range of optional features including receipt printers, independent video adapter to run multi-media on the second dis-play, and trays to keep the counter neat.

IBM SurePOS 500: 4840-544

Contact Us!

1501 Park RoadChanhassen, MN 55317

P: (877)-580-9687F: (952).380.0547

info@retailtechinc.comwww.retailtechinc.com

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Create Your Ideal Hardware Solution with Retail Tech.

As an industry leading point of sale reseller, Retail Tech, prides itself on the ability to provide any solution, for any budget. In fact, when it comes to point of sale hardware, Retail Tech does it all. By offering retailers, grocers, restaurants, and third party maintenance companies a low-cost alternative to new POS equipment, Retail Tech also buys and repairs parts and hardware. Retail Tech not only sells some of the top manufacturers such as IBM, Panasonic, Epson, Logitech, and Symbol/Motorola, Retail Tech's IBM POS Consignment Vendor Contract provides the company with unlimited access to off-lease, excess, and discounted IBM inventory. No matter what your hardware solution, Retail Tech has the resources!

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