Congratulations to Colin Bates – Director of Professional Services – for 17 Years with CRS!

The CRS Team Extends a Warm Welcome to the Newest Professional Services Team Member – Simon Cuison

It is a great pleasure to welcome our newest member of the Professional Services team – Simon Cuison! 

Simon comes to us with YEARS of knowledge and experience in the retail technology world, making us extremely lucky to have him join our team! Simon also has a background in direct customer support, and his sense of customer priority and satisfaction align with the Canadian Retail Solutions values perfectly. 

We look forward to introducing Simon to our support customers over the coming weeks and are confident that Simon will be a great asset to us all! 

Welcome, Simon! 

Epson TM-T88V Receipt Printer Goes End of Life

As tech hardware often eventually does, the Epson receipt printer model TM-T88V has been officially discontinued by the manufacturer and is no longer available to order. Many merchants we speak to and deal with on a daily basis utilize this model of receipt printer – but that doesn’t affect your current set up. The TM-T88V will continue to be supported by our team! 

The direct replacement model for this is the TM-T88VII – a FASTER model with all the same features and specifications of the TM-T88V for a FRACTION of the price! 

Give us a shout to learn more details about this replacement model and order yours TODAY!

Congratulations to Ivan Moreta on 1 Year of Service!

It is a HUGE honor for everyone here at Canadian Retail Solutions to congratulate our Corporate Sales Manager – Ivan Moreta – on celebrating his 1 year anniversary with the CRS team! Ivan’s upbeat personality and customer-focused drive have been an amazing asset to our business, our customers’ businesses, and our working partnerships! 

Throughout the past year, Ivan has managed to overcome countless obstacles for independent retailers across Canada and the United States in their search for their perfect point of sale and peripheral solutions! He has travelled all over the continent, attending major retail events such as the NRF Big Show in New York, and the Whizbang! Retail Training Success Summit in Michigan, as well as some of our smaller tradeshows in our own backyard – like the Trends Apparel Show! The incredible dedication Ivan has towards our business growth and our customers success makes him an imperative member of the CRS family! We are very lucky to have Ivan on our team!

Congratulations on 1 year of service, Ivan! We look forward to the many years yet to come!

Nayax Enters Definitive Agreement to Acquire Retail Pro International

An Article by Retail Pro, October 30, 2023

The acquisition extends Nayax’s global reach in attended retail while tripling our distribution network and adding 150K point of sale lanes

HERZLIYA, Israel, Oct. 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Nayax Ltd. (Nasdaq: NYAX; TASE: NYAX), a global commerce enablement payments and loyalty platform designed to help merchants scale their business, today announced that it will acquire 100% of Retail Pro International (“Retail Pro”), a global leader in retail Point of Sale (“POS”) software with Tier 1 global brand names across the world. Once closed, the acquisition will meaningfully expand the scope of Nayax’s retail business and solutions to over 9,000 retailers with approximately 150,000 POS lanes in more than 100 countries, including access to an extensive, worldwide partner ecosystem of over 80 distributors.

The purchase price for the transaction represents a high implied enterprise value on a cash-free debt-free basis, to be paid partially in cash and the remainder in cash or equity, subject to certain earnout targets being met. Management expects that following the closing, the acquisition will be immediately accretive to net income. The closing is expected to be in Q4 2023, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions.

“Throughout their 30 year brand history, Retail Pro has built a full featured, flexible product, capable of handling the complex, global retail environment. This has resulted in their powerful brand recognition as a premier retail management solution for Tier 1 global retailers,” said Yair Nechmad, Nayax Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board. “We are pleased to be joining forces with Retail Pro’s talented expert team. Our combined businesses, together with Retail Pro’s 80 distributors, will triple our access to the global attended retail market and create a powerful and complete solution with Nayax’s payment and loyalty platform. We believe this combined offering will result in an unrivalled value of innovative retail solutions.”

[PRESS RELEASE] Priority Software Partners with Canadian Retail Solutions Inc. to Offer Cutting-Edge Retail Management Solutions Through Strategic Reseller Agreement

Priority Software Ltd., a leading global cloud-based business management solutions provider, has announced a strategic partnership with CRS, a prominent North American retail services provider. This reseller agreement is set to provide retailers with an innovative retail management platform that incorporates comprehensive ERP capabilities with retail management and Point-of-Sale (POS) functionalities to redefine customer experience by enhancing operational efficiency and control across omnichannel retail platforms.

The collaboration introduces a unified, all-encompassing omnichannel commerce management platform, engineered to meet the evolving demands of modern consumers and retailers. This platform provides CRS’s clients with access to various tools that optimize efficiency across multiple stores and sales channels.

Priority Software’s platform revolutionizes retail management, enabling retailers to optimize their operations and maintain superior customer interactions consistently across all shopping channels.

“Through our partnership with Priority Software, we can supply a retail management solution that is in step with the shifting demands of the retail sector. We are dedicated to delivering solutions that drive innovation, operational efficiency, and a consistent retail experience for our clients, aiding them in navigating the competitive retail environment,” said Canadian Retail Solutions CEO, Dan Holman.

Update Your Hardware BEFORE The Holiday Rush!

Don’t Get Stuck with Broken Equipment Last Minute During the Year’s Busiest Shopping Season

Picture this: it’s a Saturday near the end of November and you’ve got a store full of customers getting their holiday shopping done. You or your sales clerk has been ringing up sales through your POS all day, but suddenly your barcode scanner is no longer scanning and there’s at least 5 customers in line waiting to check out their purchases. Now you or your sales clerk has to manually look up products within the POS, which takes a few extra minutes that you don’t have to spare. Customers in line are getting irritated and suddenly your day got extremely stressful.

Hardware will inevitably crap out on us – there’s no denying that – and it USUALLY happens at the least opportune moments (like in the middle of a busy shopping day in November). 

Become PROACTIVE, rather than REACTIVE, and get those outdated scanners, receipt printers, label printers, or even electronic cash drawers replaced BEFORE you find yourself in a stressful scenario! Our team of experts can help guide you towards the right hardware for your particular retail business! Not only that, but we’ll also source it, provision it, remotely set it up, warranty it AND support it, giving you complete peace of mind that your hardware will be covered! 

Get in touch with us today to learn more and get a quote started for your store’s new hardware solutions!

Black Friday is JUST Around the Corner…

Check Out This Great Article by Storyly on the Top 50 Black Fridays Statistics You Should Know for 2023

“Black Friday is not just another day for eCommerce store owners and marketers; it’s a game-changer that marks the beginning of the holiday shopping season.

Once primarily associated with brick-and-mortar retailers, it has now become a significant eCommerce holiday. Each year, Black Friday and Cyber Monday (BFCM) bring new trends and challenges, and 2023 promises to be no different.

This year, more than ever, understanding the evolving Black Friday trends is crucial for eCommerce businesses to prepare for the holiday season and capitalize on it.

To better appreciate the significance of Black Friday, let’s take a closer look at some recent statistics:

Quickbooks POS End of Life Deadline Approaching FAST

October 3rd is Coming Up Quick – Have You Made the Switch to a New POS?

Quickbooks POS has an end of life deadline of October 3, 2023, and that deadline is approaching FAST! For those who are currently using this program, there will be some BIG changes after this deadline if you choose not to change to a new POS. 

For instance, after October 3, technical support will no longer be available. This includes the development of security patches, which will then put your system at risk of malicious cyber attacks and data theft. Since this is a big problem in today’s digital world, now is not the time to be vulnerable. If you wish to stay on your Quickbooks POS licensing, it is imperative that you adopt a third-party data protection strategy. It’s also important to note that even with a third-party data protection strategy, an attack can still slip through unpatched software when a patch is not available. This means that even with a data protection strategy, your POS system will still be at a level of risk that could have costly consequences.

Another important change to note is additional seat licenses will no longer be available for purchase. This means that if you add on an additional selling station, or want to expand to an additional location, you will not be able to add on licensing for these instances. In this scenario, you will have to get a completely different POS provider to add licensing to these locations, which will then cause you to have two separate point of sales systems. This is a less than ideal situation for retailers…

Learn more about the different changes you can expect to see after October 3! 

The good news is that our team of experts can help get you switched over from Quickbooks POS to a different system seamlessly. We’ve partnered with some of the top POS providers in the industry, giving us the ability to guide you towards the RIGHT system for YOUR retail business. 

Book a complimentary consultation with one of our professionals today to learn more about the different options available, and let us take care of the nitty gritty details of getting you switched over!

Single-Use Plastic Bylaws in Canada and the Effect on Retail

The Next Steps in the Single-Use Plastic Bylaws Directly Effect Retail Stores

Over the course of the past couple of years, provinces across Canada have been gradually adapting to the single-use plastic bylaws. We’ve seen the plastic bags in grocery stores disappear with reusable and paper bag options taking its place, we’ve watched plastic straws and cutlery from restaurants switch to biodegradable paper products, and now we’re starting to see take out containers and other commonly used single-use plastics becoming phased out. All of this is to contribute towards the Canadian Government’s goal of zero plastic waste by 2030. 

As part of this single-use plastic bylaw, each province has begun to introduce additional fees for paper bags, reusable bags, and even utensils from restaurants. In most cases where these fees have been implemented, you’re seeing an average of $0.15 per paper bag and $1 per reusable bag. By January 2024, these fees may rise to $0.25 per paper bag and $2 per reusable. 

As retailers, we will all have to adhere to these bylaws and charge our own customers for reusable or paper bags, if we haven’t started to already. Make sure you read up on your province’s current and upcoming single-use plastic bylaws so you’re well informed of the date you need to begin charging your customers! A great resource for this is directly through the Government of Canada website, where you can find a complete overview of the entire program and what to expect in the coming months.  

Now, with all of that being said, we wanted to reach out to our customers to let you know that we’re here if you need any assistance with getting this set up on your point of sale! Get in touch with us today and we’ll gladly walk you through the process!  

We’ve Changed Email Platforms!

And With That, We’ve Also Made Some Changes to Our Weekly Newsletter….

Earlier this year, we made a drastic shift to a new ticketing system to better support our customers…and now, we’ve made a similar shift in our email marketing platform! In order to provide the best and most effective email delivery system to our customers and subscribers, we’ve changed from Constant Contact to Klaviyo!

The team here at CRS has also taken this as an opportunity to make some changes to our weekly newsletter! Here’s what you need to know:

– Our newsletter will change from a weekly newsletter to a monthly newsletter

– You can now expect your monthly newsletter on the first Friday of each month

– Our Industry News section will now also contain Tech Talk and Marketing Tips & Tricks under the ONE content umbrella (were previously 3 separate sections)

– Our landing pages have been completely overhauled and have a much easier navigation to the different pages on our website

In Memory of Tim Parker

It is with extreme sadness and a heavy heart that we announce the untimely passing of our Professional Services team member Tim Parker. Tim was more than just a member of a team – he was a member of our CRS family – and he will be profoundly missed by each and every one of us. 

Tim was with our company for roughly a year and a half, and was our first point of contact in support. If you’ve been one to call in for support in the past, you’ve likely been greeted by Tim’s friendly voice and customer-first attitude. Around the office, Tim would always greet us with a smile, offer a helping hand whenever needed, and was generally an absolute pleasure to work with.

Rest in peace, Tim Parker. You will always be remembered.