T UCH j2 RETAIL systems newsletter
IT STYLE BUSINESS
New POS terminals in fashion at Forever New Catering to the needs of Qantas
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LED backlighting is the way forward for J2 terminals
Introduction As we enter 2013 it’s a good time to reflect on the year that has just passed... For some retailers, it was all about expansion and increased sales. For others, times have been challenging, with tough financial markets, online shopping and cautious consumers all having an impact.
As always, we’re here to help with advice on any technical or product enquiries you may have. Feel free to contact J2 Retail Systems on (02) 9584 5222 or info@j2retailsystems.com.au
Online shopping has driven many retailers to re-think how they do business. Savvy operators such as Forever New, for example, have adapted their business models to suit, with improved customer service and better in-store experiences that help differentiate from their online presence.
All the best for 2013 and we look forward to being of assistance!
While there is no miracle formula for ensuring your retail business prospers in today’s changing marketplace, there are a few certainties you can count on: a good customer experience and good service are keys to building customer loyalty and repeat business. And that’s where a reliable POS system can help. Serve your customers well and they’ll thank you by spreading the word and driving more customers your way, and that’s a great thing for any business – whether you’re in fashion, food or hospitality. It was a busy year at J2 Retail Systems: we released some exciting new products, including the impressive J2 225 and the J2 101 printer, both of which are featured in this newsletter, and reached some key milestones. In fact, I’m very pleased to announce that we broke a number of sales records in 2012 and had our best year to date.
Sincerely, Phillip Wild Managing Director, J2 Retail Systems
news & InformatioN POS POWER DRIVES FUNDRAISING FOR THE 2012 SA VARIETY BASH. It’s dusty, hot and miles to the nearest shower, but Variety Bash veterans Burt Admiraal and John Hardy from our long-standing customer H&L wouldn’t have it any other way. “We all get a thrill out of driving along the tracks and seeing
Victoria. The circuit snaked its way up and over the border to Birdsville and then back down through NSW and Victoria, passing through some of Australia’s finest countryside along the way.
beautiful parts of the country – it’s great fun and a real adventure. But the true highlight comes when you meet the children and you see what a wonderful job Variety is doing to help these young kids.” Said John from H&L.
J2 was a major sponsor of car number 351: Burt and John’s 1970 Ford Fairlane – a trusty vehicle that has taken the dynamic duo through many miles of dusty back roads and open roads.
This year’s bash – coined ‘Back of Beyond’ (for obvious reasons) – was an eight day drive that traversed four states, kicking off in Tanunda in the Barossa Valley and finishing in Mildura,
Variety bashes all up, but this one was extra special as we were able to introduce the next generation to this wonderful charity event.” John added with a smile.
The event was a huge success, raising over $1.8 million for the children’s charity. It also gave Burt and John a chance to pass on their passion to the next generation – both men brought their young sons along for the ride: “We’ve completed eight
J2 680 CATERS TO THE NEEDS OF QANTAS. Busy in-flight catering company Q Catering makes and delivers meals to over 270,000 domestic and international flights a year for Qantas and other carriers. Committed to rigorous business improvement, Q Catering was hungry for a solution to streamline operations across their entire production floor. They found the answer in the J2 680. A number of J2 680s have now replaced desktop PCs at Q Catering’s Sydney and Brisbane locations. As such, production staff now benefit from using the J2 680 – in conjunction with their web-based solution – to schedule work, track time, tasks and attendance as well as provide notification of when work is completed. So why did Q Catering go with the J2 680? While reliability and performance were key factors, the J2 680’s ability to operate effectively in harsh conditions such as locations near fridges, ovens and food preparation areas, made it the ideal choice; as were its WiFi capabilities, compact size, spill-resistance and built in UPS. On the back of implementing the J2 680 into their Sydney and Brisbane catering centres, Q Catering plans to roll out more J2 terminals across their catering centres in Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. j2retailsystems.com.au
SUMMER 2012
product showcasE
The J2 225. It’s got the looks... and the moves. With its sleek, modern design, impressive manoeuvrability and competitive price point, the J2 225 is perfectly suited to customers wanting a reliable, high performance integrated touch terminal that’s economically priced. Unlike any other J2 terminal before it, the J2 225’s screen can be adjusted and used upright, folded or even flat. And thanks to the ‘all in head’ design, in which all components are mounted within the screen, the 225 can also be pole or wall mounted. The striking compactness of the terminal is in part due to the 14 inch, 16:9 wide aspect ratio screen that not only runs touch screen applications written for 4:3 screens, thanks to in built scaling options, it can also run new applications written to take advantage of the wider screen orientation.
Powered by the latest Intel Atom 32nm Cedarview processor, the J2 225 delivers a higher speed performance with lower power consumption. Furthermore, the processor will be available for seven years from its release date ensuring ongoing parts support throughout the life of your installation. Options include MSR and secondary displays as well as interchangeable bezel colours options for the ultimate in customised look. Its laptop-like compactness, high performance and unique features make the J2 225 a
great choice for those who value the look of their POS installations yet enjoy the power to effectively drive their software solutions. A standard three year return to base warranty provides further peace of mind that you will be making the right choice in the J2 225 for your POS needs. To find out more about the J2 225, watch the product video: Click Here.
technical
J2 products working with Windows 8. A
fter years of design and development and more than 1.2 billion hours in testing, Microsoft launched Windows 8 in late October to an expectant audience around the world. Billed as their biggest operating system overhaul in years, Microsoft 8 presents the user with quite a different experience. The company has replaced familiar features – such as the almost iconic ‘start’ button – with an opening screen, resembling a mosaic, built of colourful tiles displaying software applications. While Windows 8 does present a markedly different user experience, those familiar with tablet and smart phone operating systems – not to mention touch screen interface design – will be able to get up to speed with Windows 8 fairly quickly. So if you’re keen to upgrade your POS operating system to Windows 8, we’re pleased to announce the following J2 models fully support it:
j2680
›› J2 680 ›› J2 680L ›› J2 480 ›› J2 485
Please note: to support the built-in gesturing features of Windows 8, a PCT touch screen is required.
j2480
The J2 225 and J2 625 do not, at this point in time, support Windows 8. Windows 7 is therefore recommended.
j2retailsystems.com.au
SUMMER 2012
FeaturE
New POS Terminals for fashion-- forward brand... Forever New. In today’s competitive retail landscape, consumers have the luxury of many choices, both online and offline. And now, more than ever before, retailers have to work harder to get noticed, attract new customers and retain existing ones – all while keeping an eye on product, operations, stores and staff. But while there’s a lot to do to keep the business and brand on track, clothing and accessories brand Forever New must be doing something right. Since starting operations in Melbourne in 2006, as a boutique start-up retailer, the business has evolved into one of the fastest-growing Australian fashion brands with just under 200 retail stores across eight countries, including Turkey, South Africa, Malaysia, Singapore, China and Indonesia, as well as Australia and New Zealand. Today, the Forever New brand extends beyond women’s fashion to bags, shoes and a wide range of accessories.
report: david brand
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SUMMER 2012
“Forever New were looking for international support for their overseas expansion in the USA... we’re ideally placed to support Forever New in markets abroad.”
Being a business that strives to keep their finger on the pulse, Forever New adopts this forward-thinking approach to every aspect of their operations, and that includes IT. As such, the General Manager of IT at Forever New, Matthew Keays, and his team went shopping for a smarter solution to their in-store POS needs and found it in J2. “It was time to upgrade our ageing fleet of POS hardware across a number of our stores, but we didn’t want to rush into anything. The POS system we went with had to meet a number of criteria, namely performance, reliability, ease of maintenance and design. J2 hit the mark on all fronts.” Performance, reliability and easy configuration across multiple stores were amongst several key factors that led Forever New to go with J2.
“We needed a solution that was easy to install and configure across multiple sites. Again, J2 Retail Systems met this requirement.”
“After doing some extensive research, we discovered that J2 Retail Systems were the first to market with a terminal that provided a Sandy Bridge chipset within an all-in-one terminal. And that’s exactly the level of performance we were looking for.” Easy configuration and installation of POS terminals across multiple stores were also critical factors for Forever New, and Matthew confirmed that: “Because we’ve got close to 80 stores across Australia, we needed a solution that was easy to install and configure across multiple sites. Again, J2 Retail Systems met this requirement.” Another reason Forever New went with J2 came down to looks and aesthetics, two important factors in the fashion industry. “Because we’re in the women’s fashion and accessories business, we couldn’t have messy-looking POS
terminlas with cables protruding with our store experience. J2 terminals have powered USB ports and comms ports, and that reduces the number of cables and external power cords needed.” As the Forever New brand continues to expand overseas, Matthew and his team were reassured by J2’s capabilities to offer international support. Phil Wild, Managing Director of J2, said: “Forever New were looking for international support for their overseas expansion in the USA and Canada. Our head office is based in the UK and we have wholly-owned subsidiaries in those areas, so we are ideally placed to support Forever New in markets abroad.” Phil added: “We’re proud to be working with such a dynamic and pro-active brand in the fashion retail space and look forward to supporting their retail operations both in Australia and abroad.”
j2retailsystems.com.au
SUMMER 2012
Education
LED backlighting is for J2 terminals. A
touch screen is arguably one of the most important parts of a POS touch terminal. It not only needs to withstand considerable wear and tear – and a great number of ‘taps’ every day – it must also clearly display information such as prices, stock and customer information and promotions. While light emitting diodes (LEDs) are small items, they sure do pack a punch and provide the light, picture and performance needs demanded by today’s busy retail environments. As such, the design and development team at J2 set about searching for ways to update J2 terminal screens with LED backlighting, as opposed to more traditional and somewhat problematic tube lighting. LED screens have been commonplace in the consumer landscape for some time – in TVs, laptops, mobile
phones and tablet devices. And for good reason. An LED screen offers more vivid colours and life-like images and better gradation, and these are certainly factors that can provide added value and better useability for POS touch terminals.
Reliability
As a result of mixed marketing messages, there exists a general perception in the marketplace that LCD and LED screens are vastly different pieces of technology. In reality, both screens are quite similar and, in fact, use the same basic technology for image display. The key point of difference lies in the kind of backlighting used: one screen uses tube lighting – such as a CCFL (cold cathode filament lamp) – whereas another uses LED panels. When you compare the two, LED technology delivers many advantages for back lighting screens, and here are some of the benefits:
A CCFL tends to be more problematic than an LED as it has many more failure modes such as gas leaks (not able to hold a vacuum) and filament burn out.
LEDs are very reliable and normally do not have a hard failure mode; they just become less bright over time. A CCFL, on the other hand, is much more likely to have a hard failure once it reaches its rated life.
In cold weather, a CCFL takes time to warm up to provide full brightness whereas LEDs do not. If the climate drops below a certain temperature, the CCFL screen may not work at all. LEDs, on the other hand, function in all kinds of temperatures.
the way forward LED technology delivers many advantages over tubes for lighting screens.
Less power consumption LEDs are not power-hungry and use about 20-50% less power than lamp lighting to achieve the same brightness.
Better for the environment LEDs contain no mercury, whereas CCFL contains a small amount, which makes them hazardous to dispose of.
j2 680
Superior picture quality As LEDs offer a truer colour quality, images are more vivid and lifelike, with better gradation. LEDs also have the ability to display true black hues and provide better contrast. With these advantages in mind, it’s not hard to see why LED is the way forward for all J2 touch terminals.
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Reliability Less power consumption Better for the environment Superior picture quality Compact size Fast switching Create less heat Durable No hazardous metals
j2 225
j2 225
j2retailsystems.com.au
SUMMER 2012
Phone: (02) 9584 5222 Email: info@j2retailsystems.com.au
j2retailsystems.com.au
Every care has been taken in compiling the contects of this newsletter, but we assume no responsibility for the effects arising therefrom. J2 Retail Systems do not accept any responsibility arising in any way (including negligence) for errors in, or omissions from, the information provided in TOUCH newsletter. All information was correct at the time of print.