Fresh is a lifestyle boutique that sells apparel, jewelry, home, baby, and gift items for all occasions. The store, which opened in June 2007, is located in the Wedgwood neighborhood of Seattle. Fresh is currently a brick and mortar operation only, but in time the store’s owners, Wendy Schwartz and Julia Marconi, plan to branch into e-commerce.
The Challenge
Schwartz and Marconi knew that investing up front in their systems would position the store for long-term success. While researching point-of-sale (POS) and inventory management systems, they had one primary requirement: the POS system had to be compatible with the Authorize.Net Payment Gateway. “Authorize.Net is practically synonymous with reliable and scalable credit card processing and I didn’t want to compromise when it came to implementing the best possible solution,” says Schwartz. “I also knew we could save money by leveraging our existing Internet connection for our credit card processing instead of adding the expense of a second phone line.”
The Solution
Schwartz and Marconi visited the Authorize.Net Web site and found the Authorize.Net Certified Solutions Directory. Organized by application type (POS, kiosk, mobile, e-commerce, etc), the Certified Solutions Directory is composed of third-party solutions that meet Authorize.Net’s strict integration criteria. “Within a matter of minutes we had our short list of POS solutions,” stated Marconi. “The next step was checking out each solution to see which would best meet our needs.” Ultimately Schwartz and Marconi chose POS·IM by Ensign Systems. “We really liked how POS·IM combines all the elements we need to run our business into a single program,” said Schwartz. “And while implementing a full POS and inventory management system is no small task, it was truly pain-free to activate the credit card processing. POS·IM’s credit card module seamlessly integrates to Authorize.Net, so we could accept credit card purchases as soon as we opened our doors.”
The Results
“Processing credit card transactions through POS·IM and Authorize.Net has been everything that we expected it to be,” said Marconi. “The Authorize.Net platform is exceptionally reliable, and the time it takes to receive an authorization response is fantastic—usually only a second or two. This is particularly useful during our busy times such as Holiday, Mother’s Day or when we have special “Mom’s Night Out” events. We also take advantage of several payment gateway features, like the Virtual Terminal for processing phone orders as well as Authorize.Net’s extensive online reporting tools.” Added Schwartz, “Ultimately the best thing about using POS·IM with Authorize.Net is our capability to manage inventory, sales, and credit card processing with very little effort, which frees up time to provide our customers with those special extra touches like personal shopping, gift wrapping, and gift registries. It’s also great to know that as our business grows, POS·IM and Authorize.Net will continue to support and meet our needs.”
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