Checking out the cash

...	SCOTT DUNLOP Melodie Joy, international trade manager of Master Merchant Systems in Dartmouth with some of the point-of-sale inventory and product tracking systems and software with which the company is leading the way in the world market.

Point-of-sale software from N.S. firm a hit with retailers

By ANNA QUON / Special

A Nova Scotia firm is ringing in sales from across the continent for a product that has made the old-fashioned cash register obsolete.

Master Merchant Systems Software Ltd., located in Burnside Park, specializes in point-of-sale software and retail management solutions.

In the 1980s, Master Merchant founder Russ Brannon was looking to create software to track sales and inventory for his retail music stores, Music Stop. He hired a team of programmers from what was then DalTech and launched the business in 1988. Since then, chief operating officer Jeff Marshall says the firm has focused on serving four "vertical markets" - cellular/wireless, pharmacy, musical instrument and furniture retail.

But what does the company's product have that a cash register doesn't? The main thing is that it provides "fast, relevant information to make timely strategic decisions," Mr. Marshall says.

The service ranges from finding information about customers, inventory, sales, commissions and bonuses, to determining which stores are selling what and which promotions are working. At the level of store clerk, management or company owner, from individual transactions to the global picture, the software systems manage information that will help save their customers time, energy and money.

The company's international trade manager, Melodie Joy, gives the example of a cellphone activation that once could require 30 minutes to an hour. A customer buying a new phone would fill out an application at a local outlet, which would have to be faxed to the central office, be entered into a computer and faxed back to the store with the activation information.

But point-of-sale software allows for integration and seamless flow of information, and the process can be completed in real time, making for a competitive advantage in the cutthroat world of cellular retail.

Master Merchant has been able to sell that edge to the largest wireless dealer in Canada and the United States, Rogers and the Mobile Solution.

Five years ago, Master Merchant made what Mr. Marshall calls a "fairly significant shift in its business model," starting to sell through a hosted service model. Like an Internet service provider, it began to host customer data online, for a lower monthly fee than in the past, allowing customers to buy a server and license the software. Now, even small retailers can use an integrated management system for point-of-sale inventory control, accounting and service and rental tracking.

Mr. Marshall describes the Master Merchant as a "well-kept secret" - but a model others would do well to emulate. Unlike the speculative boom-and-bust of many information technology companies, says Mr. Marshall, "it's grown slowly and organically," with a proven product rolled out slowly and with input from customers.

At first, Mr. Marshall says the challenge was to convince the Americans that a little Nova Scotia company could deliver. But now that the firm has proven itself and has a referral base, the challenge is to get on the radar screen of new potential customers. To this end, staff attend trade shows such as CTIA Wireless 2005, held in March in New Orleans, where the firm launched its latest product, SMART, a sales management activity reporting tool.

Master Merchant was recently nominated for a Nova Scotia Export Achievement Award for 2005 in the category of Export Growth in New Markets.

It has recently established a relationship with a reseller in Puerto Rico and is looking to do the same in South America, where, says Mr. Marshall, "we see a huge market opportunity."

But there are no plans to leave Nova Scotia. "People sometimes have the misconception that you have to leave" to find success, says Ms. Joy, adding that the talent and expertise Master Merchant needs can be found here.

"We're not going anywhere."