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What is Margin Master?
Margin Master is a computer program designed to help retailers achieve
incremental gains to their bottom line by enabling them to quickly analyze their
current retails. Their retail can be quickly changed to provide unlimited
"What-If" scenarios. Also, an analysis can be performed against known
Competitor Pricing Information. The value of Margin Master really shines when
the retailer is able to quickly perform these "what-if" scenarios, and see very
quickly the impact a proposed retail change has to their bottom line - both on
an annual basis and a month by month basis.
With the introduction of the Pricing Strategy Manager, Margin Master has the
ability to help users develop, maintain, and implement any number of pricing
rules. These rules can be applied at any level - Store, Department, Class,
Commodity Group, and more. These rules together form a stores pricing
strategy. Individual rules can be arranged, made activate or inactive,
modified, or deleted. As the Pricing Strategy takes shape, users can instantly
apply their pricing strategy to their current pricing. This will quickly ensure
that each of the pricing rules is being followed, and identify any Skus not in
agreement with the pricing strategy. The Pricing Strategy Manager effectively
allows users to accurately manage their pricing in a few minutes.
Lets face it, we are all in business to make a buck. If you are not in business
to make a profit, you can stop reading now. For the rest of us, we fight the
endless battle to make more profit. The concept of Margin Management is
certainly not new. What is new is the Margin Master Program that can harness
the power of your Personal Computer and show you how to put some serious dollars
to the bottom line.
Over the last several years, expenses like health care have grown at a
staggering pace. Almost certainly, business growth has been outpaced by expense
growth. So the obvious question is, "How can I make more money on the same or
similar sales dollars? The answer - Margin Management.
When you sell a product, you typically price those items at some predetermined
margin -- say, 35%. Well - as competition has increased, employee costs have
skyrocketed -- and you're still trying to make a living and pay competitive
wages from that same profit margin.
The Challenge of Margin Management is understanding the relationship between
your current price, and what the consumer will pay. It is no longer acceptable
to price your merchandise at a single price level. Big Box retailers are
masters of this - they price selected items low - to attract the customer -- and
charge significantly higher margin for other blind and non-competitive items.
Well, if they can do it why can't you? Margin Master is a software program to
help you work your margins by allowing unlimited "what-if" scenarios based on
factual details from your POS computer system. By quickly comparing your
current retails to vendor list pricing, you can quickly identify items that need
attention. Quickly make changes, and see immediately the annual impact the
price change would have on your bottom line.
How does Margin Master work?
Margin Master works by processing large amounts of information to generate some
basic numbers. By importing information from your current POS computer, and
combining it with vendor data, Margin Master is very quickly able to compare
your current pricing structure to a vendors pricing structure.
Margin Master quickly helps the retailer identify items that they may be missing
a margin opportunity on. This is simple enough, but the question is always
asked, "What if I changed those prices to Vendor List?" Well now the question
can be answered. Margin Master is the only tool of its kind to allow retailers
the ability to see the impact of every price change.
After identifying obvious pricing opportunities, Margin Master is just getting
warmed up. Perhaps the retailer is interested in a different rounding scheme.
"What would the impact be if I rounded all my items to 99 instead of 95?"
Margin Master makes it very easy to know the answer to this question.
How about this - "What if I raise my overall pricing for items from a particular
vendor, by 5%?" or "What items do I have that are "A" items, priced below
$3.00? - And what would happen if I raised the price of those items 10%?"
These questions and many more are very quickly answered with Margin Master.
Why Margin Master?
The State of Technology
When Margin Master was created for use within my own stores over four years ago,
the purpose for the software was purely centered on finding and fixing pricing
inconsistencies that existed throughout my organization. Quickly many other
dealers jumped on the Margin Master bandwagon and we all saw significant
improvements on our bottom lines. While the additional income was great, it
became obvious after personally working with hundreds of retailers, and their
specific pricing concerns Margin Master had only partially hit the target. The
real target turned out to be more complicated than I originally thought.
Margin Master has grown not only in complexity, but also in sophistication. The
newest components have a far greater impact to dealers than I had ever dreamed.
In an unofficial survey, I have determined that the typical Ace dealer spends
between 4 and 8 hours per week managing their pricing. Many stores have one or
more employees dedicated to pricing. All of this time managing Hotsheets, and
making pricing decisions certainly should have a payback! The reality is there
has been no payback. In fact, poor pricing decisions continue to be made
without complete or accurate information. Inconsistency is typically the rule
not the exception. This has to change and Margin Master is here to help.
Over the last 25 years, technology has changed many things in our lives. Think
of some basic tools of today, like computers, cell phones, and the internet.
Most of the technology commonly accepted today didnt exist 25 years ago. Funny
thing though when my Dad first got his PACE Computer system (I think in 1981) it
used this high tech device called a modem to dial up weekly, and download these
things called Hotsheets. These Hotsheets would effectively maintain our costs
and retails it was a big deal. The scary part of this is that we still depend
on the same technology today. Where has the advancement in pricing technology
been? Now Margin Master and the revolutionary implementation of Pricing
Strategies promises to give back all those hours being spent in every store
across the country and put a nice bump to the bottom line as well.
Owners and managers spend far too much time working their current pricing
system. With Margin Master, one of the goals is to develop an sound Pricing
Strategy, that can be effectively monitored and maintained. Pricing Strategies
put logic back into pricing making it much easier to deliver the desired Pricing
Image. Every store has a Pricing Image. Many stores are perceived by their
customers as having pricing that is out of line - or too high! These stores
have an urgent need to address their Pricing Image. Image however, should not
be achieved by blindly lowering prices. Many stores are creating favorable
Pricing Images - despite being very high priced. How do they do that? Pricing
Image is affected not only by pricing, but too by the level of service offered
in the store. The stores that maintain higher prices, but offer better service,
are perceived as having a better Pricing Image. What is your stores Pricing
Image?
How can MM Help?
Margin Master is simply a tool designed to provide owners and managers with the
required information to make intelligent pricing decisions. Next, Margin Master
does what technology does best - it help organize the pricing logic into a
formal Pricing Strategy. A Pricing Strategy is a list of rules, conditions, and
criteria, that determine the what, how, and why to pricing for every Sku in the
organization. After creating the desired Pricing Strategy Rules, Margin Master
can easily help enforce the rules. The best part, Margin Master can help to
accomplish this in only a few minutes per month. Effective, accurate pricing,
in minutes per month! What will we all do with our newly discovered free time?
Frequently Asked Questions
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This page contains answers to common questions handled by our support staff,
along with some tips and tricks that we have found useful and presented here as
questions.
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In order to take Margin Master for a test drive, you simply need to download and
install the program. It will automatically run in Demo mode. In Demo mode, you
have the full ability to import your stores data, and perform unlimited
"What-If" scenarios. Best of all, you can see the annual impact making price
changes will have on your bottom line.
The Demo version is a fully functional version of the program, with a few
exceptions. The demo version is limited only in that you can't export or print
reports. Also, you can only view about 10% of the item detail for items with
price changes. The most powerful feature of the demo is that you will be
accurately how any potential changes will impact your bottom line. The forecast
annual impact number is always show, even in the demo version. In fact, after
you see the number for your store, this number hopefully will provide you the
motivation to use Margin Master to achieve the full potential profit of your
store.
While trying the demo is a good start, Margin Master is all about making more
money. After trying the Demo, you simply need to complete a simple registration
process, submit an Purchase Order to us, and we can give you an activation code
for your software. Your information will still be there - no need to
reinstall. Within a few short hours, you should be able to start making more
money.
Margin Master will install and run on most any version of Microsoft Windows,
including Windows 98, Windows Me, Windows NT, Windows 2000, Windows XP and
Windows Vista. It is recommended that your system have a minimum of 1GB of
memory - more is preferred, particularly for multi-store users. 500MB of Hard
Drive Space per store. Because Margin Master performs large numbers of
calculations, processor speed is important. The faster the better. Look for a
Machine with a 1.5 GHz or Faster Processor. Preferably not an Intel Celeron.
High speed internet access is required to download and Install the program, as
well as program and pricing updates.
The PC must also be on the same network as your PACE or Activant server.
Preferably, capable of connecting and running your POS system.
The bottom line here - computers have gotten so cheap - if you do not have a
newer computer - this is a great reason to make the purchase. Spend a few extra
dollars to get more memory - you will thank me later!
Margin Master is a program designed to completely change the way you approach
pricing. With the creation of the Pricing Strategy Manager, Margin Master will
revolutionize the entire pricing process. Eliminate the 1-3 hours per week
maintaining pricing using outdated technology like hotsheets - and achieve far
better results in minutes per month.
Margin Master can help you analyze your current pricing versus up to three
vendor price levels. You can quickly do "What-If" scenarios to see the annual
impact making changes will have on your bottom line. Want to explore changing
rounding schemes? Not problem. A few clicks, all price changes are identified,
and the resulting annual impact is shown.
Margin Master does not require vendor pricing to work. Maybe you are simply
wondering what would happen if you raised prices in one Shelf Sequence or
Location by 3% - A few clicks and you know - and prices will be rounded per your
rounding scheme.
Items can be changed one at a time, or across multiple stores - in a few clicks.
A common use of Margin Master is to quickly identify all items that are priced
below a manufacturer's list price - and set those items to the list price.
Click - Click - Done!
How about simply finding all Blind Items, from a particular vendor, that are "A"
items in your store? What about those that have a retail less than $5.00?
Click - Click - Done. Want to raise the price of those items 7%? Click - Click
- Done!
Margin Master is quite simply the fastest, easiest way to quickly manipulate
your pricing, and see how any changes will affect your bottom line.
Margin Master does not establish any pricing. It simply allows you to set your
pricing based on criteria provided by your vendor, and your own instincts.
Margin Master does not directly interface with your existing system. The
information Margin Master uses all comes from your existing system, but changes
made in Margin Master do not directly affect your system. Exporting from Margin
Master back into your system is not supported by Margin Master. However, Margin
Master is capable of exporting information to a text file that could be used by
other programs.
Margin Master currently works with the following systems:
Eagle Vision
Classic PACE
Linux PACE
Activant Eagle
Activant Eagle for Windows
J3
Enterprise
Advantage
General Store
Keystroke
Paladin
Falcon
Spruce
Automated Business System
TransAct POS
Rock Solid
Computakey
Other systems are certainly capable of working with Margin Master, they simply have not
yet been tested. If you have a different system, please contact customer
support to discuss the options available to you.
Besides getting the best tool to quickly analyze your pricing, you get one year
of technical support. This includes any and all program updates as well as data
updates.
Periodic vendor pricing updates will be made available. We have an agreement
with Ace Hardware to receive a monthly price update. This is scheduled to
happen by the 15th of each month. Margin Master can quickly import the revised
prices, and using some advanced tools in Margin Master, can quickly show you the
items that have changed since your last update.
RetailerSoft prides itself on offering premium customer support. Any time you
have a question, we have a support solution designed to assist you. One of the
first places to look for support is in the Online Help documentation available
on this website by clicking the "Web Help" link in the menu on the left side of
the screen.
Next, we offer live user support during normal business hours. (GMT-5: Eastern
Standard Time). To find live support, click the "Live Support" option on the left
of the screen and select a representative to help you.
User Selectable support is a special support option innovated by RetailerSoft.
User Selectable support allows you to choose from a listing of available
training times in the next few weeks. At the scheduled time, the selected
support representative will call you and offer any desired training or technical
support. This system allows us to eliminate phone tag, and offer support at your
convenience. To select an appointment for training, click the link for "User
Selectable Support" on the left.
Of course, we are always here to help in any way needed. We can always be
reached via e-mail, or over the phone. Our contact information is available by
clicking here.
When development of Margin Master first started, nobody really understood
pricing strategies, and how to automate them. Now, by utilizing Margin Master,
users can create a Clearly Defined Set of Rules that define the
where, what and why of every single item's price. Some stores have very simple
pricing strategies, and other's very complex. Whatever the needs are, Margin
Master has evolved into a tool to help you effectively manage your pricing
strategy rules, and ensure that every item's price continues to follow the
established rules. If an item's price is no longer in compliance with the rule -
margin Master will quickly point it out. At that point, the user can either
correct the problem, or perhaps create an additional rule to better define the
pricing exception that is required for the Skus. For more information -
check out the section in Web-Help about Pricing Strategies.
RivalWatch is a third party company that provides a subscription service to Ace
Dealers. Included in this subscription is pricing information about some of the
stores direct competition. This information is basically a list of Sku's and
the pricing information for the competition. To facilitate an easy way to
utilize this information, Margin Master has an optional feature available that
allows the RivalWatch Data to be directly imported and analyzed using the power
of Margin Master. The decision to utilize the RivalWatch Data is up to each
user. RivalWatch users are not required to purchase Margin Master. Likewise,
Margin Master users are not required to purchase a RivalWatch subscription.
That said, Margin Master users wishing to utilize their Margin Master Program to
analyze the RivalWatch Data are required to purchase the RivalWatch Integration
and Support Plan.
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