MVP Retail

Congratulations Mustafa Skokic for Celebrating 7 Years with Canadian Retail Solutions

We are THRILLED to celebrate Mustafa Skokic of our Professional Services team on his 7 year anniversary with Retail by CRS!

Mustafa wears several hats day-to-day, from tier 3 support to software development and everything in-between! As our key program developer, Mustafa’s work has been an essential asset to not only our company, but to many of our merchants as well. Not only does his programming provide an invaluable skillset to our team, but his experience in retail technology also offers extensive knowledge to help support our clients and mentor the team. We are extremely lucky to have Mustafa as part of the CRS family!

Congratulations, Mustafa, on celebrating 7 years of service! We look forward to the many more years to come! 

Learn more about Mustafa in our employee spotlight campaign!

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The holiday season remains the most critical period for retail revenue, and 2025 is projected to set new records in consumer spending. For merchants, this represents both a significant opportunity and a potential challenge. Preparation, planning, and execution will determine whether retailers simply weather the rush or maximize growth.

Below are ten strategic recommendations to help merchants prepare for a successful holiday shopping season.

1. Secure Inventory and Strengthen Supply Chains

Leverage sales data and forecasting tools to identify high-demand products and ensure adequate stock levels well ahead of peak season. Establish backup suppliers where possible to reduce risk from potential disruptions.

2. Optimize Digital Storefronts

A retailer’s website is often the first point of contact with customers. Confirm that pages load quickly, designs reflect brand standards, and mobile responsiveness is seamless. Conduct thorough testing of checkout processes to minimize cart abandonment.

3. Expand Payment Flexibility

Shoppers expect multiple payment options, including digital wallets, contactless payments, and “buy now, pay later” services. Offering flexibility can reduce friction at checkout and increase conversion rates.

Congratulations Ashfaq Ashraf for Celebrating 3 Years with Canadian Retail Solutions

This month, we have the pleasure of celebrating Ashfaq Ashraf of our Professional Services team on his 3 years of service with Canadian Retail Solutions! 

As one of our key technicians specializing in Retail Pro, Ashfaq keeps busy each and every day as he assists our merchants with all kinds of support tasks, from troubleshooting software issues to finding solutions that improve a merchants workflow. Not only does Ashfaq have extensive expertise in Retail Pro software and retail technology in general, he also has an overall desire to help a customer work through their issues and reach a positive resolution, making him a great asset to both our professional services team and our merchants.

Congratulations to Ashfaq for celebrating his 3 year work-a-versary!! We look forward to the years yet to come! 

Learn more about Ashfaq in this month’s employee spotlight campaign!

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No – that’s not an exaggeration. This IS mission critical! If you don’t have a data back-up strategy in place, then you and your retail business are at serious risk! One wrong move could cost you thousands of dollars in downtime and recovery costs…and recovery of the most important business data is likely impossible if you haven’t been actively backing it up.

We are all guilty of thinking that something like that wouldn’t happen to us. We all think that if we’re careful enough, we won’t lose anything. But the reality is, that is simply untrue. Data loss can happen to ANY of us for a number of different reasons often outside of our own control, and it’s time we become proactive with our precious business data rather than reactive if something does go wrong!

CYBER ATTACKS

Cyber attacks are among the top reasons why a data back-up strategy is so important for retailers. With the drastic rise in cyber attacks across the world in the past few years, our data is more valuable than ever! It’s important for us to know and understand the different kinds of cyber attacks out there and the different steps we can take to prevent them from happening. 

You may be thinking, “Who would want to access MY business data?” Maybe you’re a small retailer and think that a hacker wouldn’t bother with a smaller entity when there are much larger fish to fry. Maybe you’re a retailer that specializes in something very particular and think that because of that, nobody would have any interest in your business. 

It isn’t necessarily the content of the data that a hacker is interested in when they perform a cyber attack – it’s more so the data itself. Your business data is important to YOU and losing it could cost you time, money, or even your business itself. Therefore, hackers know that by holding it hostage, like in the form of a ransomware attack as an example, you will likely be willing to pay them money to get that data back in order to protect your business.

Struggling to turn your retail inventory into real cash? Most independent footwear retailers don’t realize their point-of-sale system is holding them back. In this value-packed conversation, Pete Mohr and Dan Holman dig into the metrics that matter, how to fix broken reporting, and how to get data to work for you—not against you. Whether you’re running one store or ten, this episode shows you how to make smarter buying, selling, and staffing decisions without needing a business degree.

→ Learn how to pick the right POS system
→ Understand why data—not gut feel—should drive buying decisions
→ Discover Dan’s system for weekly reporting and forecasting
→ Shift your mindset around inventory from “asset” to “liability”
→ Start making high-impact decisions that actually move the needle

The team here at Retail by CRS is very proud to congratulate Ahmad Mehroz from our Professional Services team on celebrating 3 years of service! Ahmad’s extensive technical knowledge and expertise in Retail Pro has been a vital asset to the CRS family! 

As one of our front line support staff, Ahmad deals directly with our merchants on a daily basis, helping them through support calls, upgrade or integration set ups, or even developing custom tools to help get our customers to where they want to be in their daily operations and procedures. 

Thank you, Ahmad, for everything you do for both our merchants and team alike! We look forward to see what the next 3 years brings!

Look more about Ahmad in this month’s employee spotlight campaign!

It is a huge honor to congratulate and celebrate Colin Bates – Director of Professional Services – on his 18 years with Canadian Retail Solutions! This is an incredible testament to Colin’s dedication, and is quite an accomplishment we are all very proud of. I think it goes without saying that we are extremely lucky to have Colin on our team!

As our leader in professional services, Colin’s extensive knowledge and expertise in not only Retail Pro and POS software, but the tech world in general, has been a critical asset to our team and merchants alike. When faced with the tough questions, difficult technical issues, or brand new projects, we can all count on Colin to help guide us through with ease! 

Thank you so much for nearly TWO decades of your endless commitment to the success of our merchants and everything you do for the entire CRS team!

Cheers to 18 years – and we look forward to many more!

In honor of this work-iversary, Colin is featured in this month’s employee spotlight! Check it out to learn more about Colin!

Our very own CEO and Director of Planning – Dan Holman – will be speaking in this years VIRTUAL Retail Success Summit by Whizbang! Retail Training!

Retail success is about more than just numbers; it’s about understanding the story behind those numbers. Dan dives into key metrics and insights every retailer should be tracking to drive sustainable growth and customer loyalty. This session will cover how to:

• Effectively measure performance across sales, customer engagement, and inventory management,
• Develop actionable strategies to optimize each of these critical areas. 
• Create a weekly scorecard that shines a spotlight on areas of success and reveals opportunities for improvement.

PLUS take advantage of a FREE 1-hour consultation on creating your very own scorecard for YOUR retail business!

Dan is a 30+ year retail veteran, award-winning business coach, and the CEO of Canadian Retail Solutions, a Retail Operations Partner guiding independent retailers across North America to grow sales, boost profitability, and build cash-positive businesses through smart strategy and The Wealthy Retailer® framework.

We want to extend the warmest welcome to all of our new merchants who recently went LIVE on their new POS systems! We look forward to continuing to work with each and every one of you!

The Retail Success Summit is a dynamic event designed to equip retailers with the tools and strategies necessary to thrive in today’s ever-evolving marketplace. Every year, the co-founders of Whizbang! Retail Training – Bob and Susan Negan – host a multi-day event where independent retailers from across North America come together to learn, strategize and create actionable plans to boost their business operations. 

This year, the event looks a little different as we explore a VIRTUAL world designed to mimic the event experience while opening it up to even MORE participants, sponsors and speakers alike! With the key theme of this year’s summit being adapting to the digital shift, this virtual experience aligns perfectly!

As usual, Retail by CRS is proudly sponsoring this game-changing event and hope to see YOU there to take in everything this incredible experience has to offer! PLUS, you can catch Dan Holman – CEO and Director of Planning – in his must-see breakout session on the Retail Scorecard: Understanding Your Numbers. Dive into the importance of keeping track of measurable and actionable data points and build-your-own retail scorecard to help properly measure and take action in your own business operations!

Here are two fun facts you might not know:

1. Retail by CRS is primarily a retail point-of-sale provider, but we also can handle restaurant business as well

2. Just like us, Heartland has both a retail point-of-sale product AND a restaurant point-of-sale product

This isn’t something new – we’ve always been able to source and support Heartland Restaurant POS and Heartland Restaurant POS is Heartland’s flagship product. However, our Restaurant POS website we just launched is definitely something new and we are SO excited to finally share it!

Navigate through our freshly designed restaurant POS site to learn all about Heartland Restaurant and the incredible functionality it has to offer! There are THOUSANDS of cafe owners, fast food restaurants, dine-in restaurants and food trucks across the continent that are utilizing this point of sale in their own businesses! 

Check out our new site and learn more about Heartland Restaurant!

We are thrilled to congratulate Simon Cuison of Professional Services on reaching his 1 year anniversary with the CRS team! This milestone is a huge testament to Simon’s hard work, dedication, and the positive impact he has on both our team and our merchants. Simon’s positive approach to every task, his pleasant and professional manner, and his willingness to go above and beyond for our clients have not gone unnoticed. His contributions make a real difference, and we truly appreciate the effort and enthusiasm Simon brings to his role each and every day! 

Coming to us a year ago with a background in not only tech, but in point-of-sale specifically, we knew that Simon was going to bring a wealth of knowledge and experience that our team strives for. Since then, Simon has done nothing but prove just how valuable a team member he is and it’s been an absolute pleasure to work alongside him.

Cheers to 1 year, Simon – we look forward to many more successful years ahead!

Learn more about Simon in this month’s employee spotlight campaign:

Join us at Evolve 2025 on April 4-5 at the Gaylord Rockies Resort in Denver, CO for this amazing opportunity to grow your retail business!

3 Things You NEED TO KNOW About Evolve:

1. This is a MUST-ATTEND educational conference for like-minded retailers just like yourself who want to boost their profits and fuel the success of their business
   
2. We’ll have a booth set up at the event AND our very own CEO and Director of Planning – Dan Holman – will be hosting a game-changing speaker session on “The Retail Scorecard: Understanding Your Numbers”

3. This will be the LAST Evolve conference EVER, so they are pulling out ALL of the stops to make this the best, most memorable event they’ve ever had!
   

We want YOU to be among the hundreds of retailers that will benefit from attending this business-boosting conference, so we’re doing an EXCLUSIVE draw for a FREE VIP ticket to the event (with the added bonus of a plus one in case you want to bring a friend)!!!

Enter to win TODAY – the draw will close on March 12!!

The team here at Canadian Retail Solutions is excited to announce a new partnership with Best Worlds – a leader in ecommerce integration solutions – to bring seamless digital marketing capabilities to retailers through the Heartland + Klaviyo Integration.

As a Certified Klaviyo Systems Integrator, Best Worlds specializes in connecting in-store experiences with online marketing tools, enabling businesses to transform customer relationships into digital engagement. This integration allows Heartland Retail users to effortlessly sync customer data, sales transactions, and marketing insights into Klaviyo, unlocking advanced email automation, personalized campaigns, and data-driven customer retention strategies.

With this integration, retailers harness the power of automated marketing, tailored promotions, and customer segmentation, driving increased engagement and sales. Whether you’re a boutique retailer or a multi-location brand, this integration ensures a frictionless omnichannel marketing experience that keeps customers connected beyond the store.

Best Worlds has a proven track record of optimizing ecommerce platforms and integrating Klaviyo with major retail and POS systems, ensuring a seamless flow of data and powerful marketing capabilities. This collaboration marks another step forward in helping businesses grow through digital transformation.

Learn more about this amazing opportunity for your retail business or get started today by getting in touch with our team!

Congratulations to Ivan Moreta for celebrating 2 years with the CRS team! Ivan is our Account Manager – POS Applications Specialist situated in Western Canada and is one of our front line guys when it comes to meeting new retailers and getting them going on the solutions that are right for their particular business. 

Since joining the team 2 years ago, Ivan has always been a pleasure to work with for both customers and coworkers alike, with his welcoming, always-positive attitude that is always ready to help wherever he can! Ivan’s incredible dedication to our retailers’ success, the success of the CRS team, and the success of the solutions we wholeheartedly believe in is an inspiration to us all. We truly appreciate everything he does – whether it’s tackling challenges, bringing fresh ideas, or just being a great team player. 

Thank you Ivan! Here’s to another successful year ahead! 

To learn more about Ivan, check out his feature article in this month’s Employee Spotlight campaign!

The Evolve Conference by Crystal Media is a business event designed to help independent retailers stay competitive by providing the latest digital marketing strategies, industry innovations, and technology insights. It equips attendees with actionable tactics to boost their online presence, drive foot traffic, and increase sales.

On April 4-5, 2025 our very own CEO and Director of Planning – Dan Holman – will be in Denver, CO to host a MUST-ATTEND speaker session at the event! 

In today’s fast-paced retail world, businesses need seamless integrations, real-time automation, and scalable solutions to stay ahead. That’s where Hyperspace comes in. As a leader in cloud-based integration technology, Hyperspace empowers retailers by connecting their POS, e-commerce, and marketplace platforms into a unified, efficient ecosystem.

What Sets Hyperspace Apart?

Hyperspace simplifies complex retail operations by offering:

– Real-Time Synchronization – Keep inventory, orders, and customer data updated across all platforms.
– Seamless POS & E-Commerce Integration – Connect Heartland Retail, Shopify, BigCommerce, and other leading systems.
– Automated Order & Inventory Management – Reduce manual work and eliminate costly errors.
– Omnichannel Selling & Marketplace Expansion – Sell effortlessly across Amazon, Walmart, and other marketplaces.
– Custom API Development & Scalable Solutions – Tailored integrations that grow with your business.

Trusted by Retailers Nationwide

From independent boutiques to multi-store enterprises, Hyperspace helps retailers streamline operations, reduce inefficiencies, and maximize sales—all while providing an intuitive, user-friendly experience.

Ready to supercharge your retail operations? Discover how Hyperspace can transform your business today!

We are THRILLED to celebrate our CFO – Candice Holman – in her SIXTH year anniversary with Canadian Retail Solutions! 

As part of our leadership team, Candice makes a huge impact in the way our day-to-day operations run, ensuring both our team and our customers are well taken care of and on track! Wearing several different hats within her role, Candice oversees so many different things on a daily basis from accounts payables and receivables, to internal sales and marketing team support, and everything in between! Without Candice’s hard work and dedication, we wouldn’t be able to run as smoothly as we do today. 

6 years of service is a great accomplishment and we are so excited to see what the next year has in store! Thank you Candice for everything you do! 

Learn more about Candice in this month’s Employee Spotlight campaign!

article written by Canadian Retail Solutions

You’re at a point where you think you’ve narrowed down the point of sale solution you want to use for your retail business. You’ve combed through the features and the price looks right for your budget…the hard part is almost over! BEFORE you commit and sign on the dotted line, there are 5 key areas you need to pay attention to in order to make sure it’s the right solution for your retail business.

1. Functionality Within the Price You THINK You’re Getting

Always keep in mind that software providers, or service providers of any kind, typically promote their lowest, or mid, price point in their most customer facing marketing channels. While these low prices may seem highly attractive to a retailer, you are often giving up some critical business functions and it may not always seem so obvious as to what exactly you’re giving up. 

Always make sure to ask the questions and find out EXACTLY what comes included in the price point you’re looking at. Get a breakdown of the included features AND a breakdown of the features you won’t be getting but would have to add-on for an additional fee if you want to use it. When you have a clear idea of what the features are that come with an additional cost, you can also make a decision on whether or not those features are important to the future of your business. Knowing this will help determine whether or not the solution ACTUALLY fits within your budget, and you aren’t faced with unexpected additional costs down the road.

2. Inventory Management Features That Will Ease Operations

Inventory management is arguably one of the most important functions of a GOOD point of sale system. A proper inventory management feature will help streamline your operations in a variety of different ways from auto-calculating stock levels based on a combination of purchase order receipts, transfers, adjustments, and sales activity to tracking and reporting on data that will help you better understand and manage your business. 

It’s important to really understand the inventory management capabilities of the POS solution you’re considering against the needs of your retail business. For instance, in a lot of cases, having the option to add in custom user defined fields to products in the system is something a retailer will both want and need to keep track of the information that matters most to their particular business. If a retailer is working with a financial planner, having the capability to add in a custom class field is typically essential for their services. 

Another good example of an important feature you’d want to keep in mind is the ability to automate your inventory management, even to a small degree. In some cases, having your system automatically detect and reorder inventory based on the criteria you set may be an important feature to your business model. In other cases, having the system simply alert you on low stock levels based on a minimum and maximum level that you set may be more in line with your operations. 

We are just a few weeks in to the Canadian GST holiday and if you’re struggling with the process in your store, you are NOT alone! Small businesses across Canada are having a hard time adapting to this 2-month tax break on the specific items that qualify and it’s creating a lot of pain for store owners trying to get through the holiday shopping season.

Now that the holiday rush is over, it is a great time to set up your point of sale software to help simplify the process for you and your team. Depending on your system, you should be able to specify exactly which items would receive a tax discount so that when the items are scanned in at check out, it will happen automatically. 

The GST/HST break applies to the following products (with limitations and restrictions):

• Food
• Beverages
• Restaurants, catering, and other food or drink establishments
• Children’s clothing and footwear
• Children’s diapers
• Children’s car seats
• Children’s toys
• Jigsaw puzzles
• Video game consoles, controllers and physical video games
• Physical books
• Printed newspapers
• Christmas and similar decorative trees

If you carry any of these products in your store, then you are responsible for applying the GST/HST discount at the time of sale until February 15, 2025. For Heartland Retail POS and Retail Pro users, our team can help you get this set up directly in your system if you require assistance.

From all of us at Canadian Retail Solutions, we wish all of our valued partners, retailers and subscribers a very Happy New Year and all the best for 2025! As we set our personal resolutions and goals for this coming year, why not add “increasing the selling potential and profitability of my retail business” to the list?

As a Retail Operations Partner, we can help you reach that goal in 2025 in a variety of different ways

• Getting You on the RIGHT POS for YOUR Specific Business Needs
• Expanding Your POS Capabilities Through Integrations, Add-Ons, and Plugins to Improve Business Operations
• Updating Your Tech Hardware to Work FOR You, Instead of Against You
• Offer Ongoing POS Support and Training for Our Heartland and Retail Pro Users
• Provide Game-Changing Reporting Capabilities for Shopify Users to Make Intelligent, Data-Driven Decisions 
• Streamline Your Omnichannel Operations with Seamless Integration Solutions
• Future-Proof Your Business Through the Use of the Modern-Day Tech, Aligning Your Business with Consumer Trends
• Provide Advanced Data Back-Up, Anti-Virus, and Monitoring to Protect Your Business
• Establishing a Partnership Together, Bringing More than 30 Years of Expertise to Your Toolbelt

Let’s grow together in 2025 – give our team a shout to book a FREE, no-obligation discovery call to learn about how we can help improve YOUR retail business!

Retailers – we survived the holiday shopping season! Let’s take a second to pat ourselves on the back and take a breath….but we can’t rest for too long, because year end physical inventory counts are coming up QUICK!

For some retailers, especially independent retailers, the technical side of the task may seem more daunting than the task of counting products itself. For other retailers, it might be a piece of cake. No matter what your technical ability or skill level is, our team can assist in several different ways, as you need it!

BEFORE Your Inventory Count
Gone are the days of manually counting and recording stock. Living in the digital age gives us the advantage of time saving technology – barcode scanners. If you don’t have the hardware you need, we can help you source the best product for your retail business. Our team will also provision, support and warranty any hardware purchased through CRS, giving you peace of mind that your tech investment is covered.

Our team can also provide RFID solutions for the simplest and quickest inventory management solution on the market!

While every retailer’s needs vary, prior to performing your counts, you can book some time with our team to do some pro-active maintenance, ensuring a smooth and efficient execution with minimal hiccups (if any at all). For instance:

1. We re-initialize scanners purchased through CRS to ensure they are in working order, and any previous memory has been cleared on the devices that store it
2. We ensure connections to wireless hardware are functioning correctly
3. We go through the count and upload process to verify everything is uploading correctly, and you’re clear on what to do

DURING Your Inventory Count
Our team is always on standby to help our retailers with their tech needs. This includes during your inventory count. While we can hope we’ve worked out all the bugs BEFORE you started your inventory count, if anything goes awry, our team has your back! A misconnection, an error code on the scanner, a data import fail – whatever may happen, you can call our support line for assistance.

AFTER Your Inventory Count
Reconciliation and discrepancy identification are crucial to the effectiveness of your personal inventory. After you’ve completed your count, you can reach out to our team to assist in a variety of ways, such as:

1. We review your discrepancies with you and discuss resolutions
2. We make copies of the count and apply them to your system
3. We verify that the new quantities in your system match the new count
4. We take data from all kinds of formats to shape it and match the importing map
5. We assist in importing data into your system

These are just some of the common ways our technical support team assist retailers during this busy time of year. No matter what assistance you may need, we can help! Give us a shout today to learn more!

Merchants must be on a CRS support plan or have pre-paid tech hours on file in order for our support team to assist with physical inventory needs.