9 Alice POS Features for Multi-Store Networks

Alice POS offers a variety of features that can help your store save time and increase revenue. Alice POS has developed features that are useful for multi-store owners to suit their specific needs. In most cases, franchises, buying groups, and corporate networks own many shops, and POS software can help managers have better control of their businesses. 

Alice POS is designed for multi-store networks such as franchises, buying groups, and corporate networks. Our software offers many functionalities that help you to manage and control your establishments to improve turnover.

Here are features that can help you manage your network of stores: 

1. Master & Sub-Master Accounts
2. Inventory Transfers Between Stores
3. Promotion Management 
4. Standardized Pricing 
5. Local Product & Price Management
6. Role Management
7. Standardized Information Across the Network
8. Advanced Reports
9. Cloud-based Database

By using all these features, you’ll find it much easier to manage your stores and have increased control over them.

1. Master & Sub-Master Accounts

One of the main features of Alice POS is the ability to create and manage a master account and sub-master accounts. 

In the same account, you can modify your product information so that it is automatically distributed in your network without your franchisees having to create new products themselves. This is where the term “Master Account” takes its meaning. 

The master account is at the top of your network and is managed by the Head Office. It contains all the necessary information about your company. It regulates your entire network and has full control of the stores that are connected to this account.  

The sub-master account has different attributes from the master account. It has its own stores while being part of the larger network. This is the case of a franchisee who owns several stores in the same network. They can modify the information transmitted from the master account to adapt it to their clientele. This may involve changing prices, having local products, etc. We will go into more detail in regards to managing local products and prices in this article. 

With this feature, you avoid wasting time making changes for each store. You only have to do it once, and all the shops in the network will receive the changes that the master account has made.

Here is a picture to better understand the store network principle:

2. Inventory Transfers Between Stores

With multiple stores to manage, some stores may be busier than others because of their location, region, population, etc. This probably means you should have higher inventory counts in your stores to meet the demand. 

On the other hand, these establishments may be short of stock for certain types of items. By being unable to meet demand, your customers will tend to leave your store potentially unsatisfied. Alice POS offers a feature that allows your stores to avoid stock shortages. This includes inter-store inventory transfers and the ability to consult the network’s inventory.

With this feature, you can transfer products from one store to another. Alice POS allows you to make your transfers quickly and easily. Our software can automate the process of transferring merchandise between stores by using the strength of your network. 

Alice POS can know if a product is available in a partner store by checking its inventory. Also, Alice POS calculates delivery charges when you make transfers. This reduces the task of cost calculations.

By using this function, you can avoid running out of stock and losing potential sales. 

3. Promotion Management

Creating network-wide promotions is an effective strategy to attract consumers. However, once the promotion is created at Head Office, each store must enter the promotion into their system. This can be extremely time-consuming. With Alice POS, managing multi-store promotions will make it easier to broadcast your promotions to each store.

Alice POS allows you to create your promotions in the master account and distribute them to your network of stores. This can save a franchise or other types of store networks a lot of time as each manager in each store does not need to enter the promotions in their software. The master account only has to create a promotion and distribute this promotion to its stores. The whole network receives the same information and the risk of errors is greatly reduced. 

Stores can create promotions to attract local customers. Also, the master account can ask franchisees to provide data from their stores to know their promotional activities. This allows the Head Office to control its stores to keep them running smoothly.

4. Standardized Pricing

Making network-wide price changes can be time-consuming, especially if you have several shops that have to adapt prices to their local customers and market. 

Alice POS can help simplify price changes with multi-store standard pricing. With your master account, you can set product prices and distribute them to the stores that are part of the network. You can always change your prices if you wish. Also, this function works very well to help manage multi-store promotions.

By centralizing product price changes, you can distribute the same prices to all your stores. This avoids errors since all the branches that are part of the network receive the same information and do not have to manually enter the changes made.

5. Local Product and Price Management

It is important to consider and respond to the demands of your customers to satisfy them and build loyalty. Each store may receive specific requests for products and services. This is why some establishments will want to offer products and services that are exclusive to their store. 

With Alice POS, managing local products and prices will be easy. Once the master account has made its list of products and prices, sub-master accounts and stores can modify them to adapt them to their clientele. 

On the product side, the sub-master account can add, delete, and modify items. These modifications may be necessary to respond to local demands as well as possible. 

As for prices, the sub-master account can only add and modify prices. When adding new products, the manager has to set a price for each item added. When changing prices, the manager may need to adjust prices to attract customers to their store.

With this function, you will save time to better manage your store’s local products and prices and optimize your sales.

6. Role Management

By having a network of stores, it is important to assign roles (limited access to data) to your staff to keep your business running smoothly. Each individual is crucial to the success of your company and data protection is key. 

With Alice POS, it will be easy to assign roles to your employees. Role management allows you to assign specific responsibilities to employees and give them access according to their status. For example, inventory manager, accountant, clerk, etc. This functionality allows you to have better control of your employees’ access and those who can consult the company’s data. 

Role management provides more secure access to your company data by limiting access among staff.

7. Standardized Information Across the Network

With multiple POS locations, it is essential to have one site that is the backbone of operations. Alice POS ensures that the Head Office receives all the information about your business activities through centralized network management.

The Head office is in control of the master account, to have control over the entire network. It gives and receives information from stores within the network. It is an excellent tool so that all stores have the same information that the Head Office would like to distribute. 

8. Advanced Reports

Alice POS offers many reports to keep track of your company’s activities. The reports can cover a wide range of topics. They can be about sales, orders, purchases, stocks, etc. By tracking your multi-store network data and activities, you can better follow the global evolution of your company over a given period of time to make better business decisions.

You can also have reports of the activities of all your stores that are part of your network. Indeed, by knowing the operational data of each store, you will have more information on the performance of your stores and be able to make changes if necessary. 

9. Cloud-based Database

If your network has multiple points of sale, it can be difficult for the parent company to consult the data for each shop. Some stores may still have terminals physically installed on-site with a local server. In the majority of these cases, it is required to travel to the site to consult the data for each establishment. 

Alice POS offers cloud-based technology to facilitate consulting your stores’ data. This allows you to view your network and each store’s data anywhere and anytime with an internet connection. There are many advantages to using a cloud-based POS system. Here are the main advantages:

Security and Data Accessibility

Your data is protected from natural disasters because all your documents are stored in the cloud. Also, you can limit access to your staff data by assigning roles to your users. This helps to control access to data. 

Easy Remote Network Management

With cloud-based technology, you can manage your business activities at all times from anywhere. All you have to do is log in to your account and have an internet connection to manage your business. 

Elasticity

If your business grows, the cloud has no problem supporting the addition of shops in the software.

Easy Access

You are not limited to one device to view your data. You can use a terminal, computer, a compatible tablet, and other compatible devices to view your data. 

Related Questions

How much does it cost to get multi-locations features with Alice POS?

The majority of these features are included in our premium plan at $225/month. With this plan, you get all features of our software. We also offer bulk discount pricing for larger chains. To learn more about multi-locations pricing, get in touch with our experts.

Is it complex to implement these features in my stores?

No, our team makes sure to understand your business needs and assists you in the onboarding process. Our Migration Team accompanies you throughout the implementation, training, and data transfer processes to meet all your needs. To learn more, visit the Getting Started page.