Own Group is introducing Instore, a point of sale system optimized for small and medium-sized business owners. Instore enhances the functionality of Own’s existing platform while leveraging the ubiquity and elegance of the iPad. Instore has selectively been deployed at a number of established North American retail businesses. Commerce ecosystem leaders were given a sneak peek of Instore at last week’s Innovation Project 2013.

Instore provides business owners multiple features, including:

• Manage staff payroll and labor costs
• Access store sales information online from any device
• Competitive credit card processing with the sturdy iDynamo credit card reader
• Security, audit, and PIN-permissions for peace-of-mind at the store
• Tip functionality

“The gap has closed for small and medium-sized business owners to have powerful, affordable tools for their business,” says Matt Niehaus, CEO of Own, “Instore has been crafted with the help of two years of customer feedback on our initial product. The platform’s beautiful design, powerful management tools, and integrated services simplify the life of the busy business owner.”

Start Accepting Credit Cards and Gift Cards at Your Store

With a fast and clutter-free transaction experience, Instore gives businesses an easy way to accept credit cards and gift cards at the store. Credit card processing rates are simple and competitive, and gift card processing is free per swipe. Gift cards also double as a built-in loyalty program that helps merchants maintain a customer loyalty database. Tools for holding orders, emailed receipts, tips, and split payments help businesses give customers an excellent experience at the point of sale.

View Your Sales and Manage Your Business Anywhere

Instore comes equipped with built-in reports that update with the newest sale’s information from the store. “Relevant, real-time data enables better management decisions,” says Niehaus, “Instore puts this data at the owner’s fingertips to help manage sales, customers, and employees in a new, more profitable manner.” Instore offers reports at the store, too, including a register log and X and Z reports for settling shifts.

A Complete Way to Run Your Store and Reward Your Customers

Instore helps merchants expand their business beyond the transaction. “There is a missed opportunity for merchants to engage with customer before and after each sale,” says Niehaus. Instore provides integrated support for popular online service like Facebook so that merchants can promote products before customers arrive at the business and later track the effectiveness of promotions within Instore. After a customer leaves a store, emailed receipts as well as Facebook and Twitter integration can help merchants respond to customer feedback online.

An Open API Platform for Third Parties

Got a great idea for store applications? Or want to build apps that take advantage of the point of sale and its data? Instore has created the industry’s easiest API to allow third parties to access the point of sale and be present within the store.

Instore can be downloaded from the Apple iTunes App Store and a free account created at www.instoredoes.com. Instore is able to support wireless printers and cash drawers and is priced starting at $99 per location per month.

ABOUT INSTORE

Instore creates tools to run your business better. More powerful than a cash register, and simpler than traditional systems, Instore includes a full-featured point of sale and backend perfect for small to medium sized business owners. Instore is based in San Francisco, California, and is used across North America.

ABOUT THE INNOVATION PROJECT

Over 2 days, 100 speakers and 500 senior members of the payments industry changed the way that the payments and its broader commerce ecosystem thinks, talks, delivers and ignites innovation. On March 20^th and 21^st the greatest minds in commerce and payments assembled at Harvard University near Boston to kick the conversation about innovation up to an entirely different level at a program called The Innovation Project. Speakers and delegates were among the most senior executives and elite innovators from literally every established payments company worldwide, along with the CEOs of the most innovative start-ups in the space. The Innovation Project also hosted the industry’s 2013 PYMNTS.com Innovator Awards, given to 15 of the industry’s top innovators over dinner, which was emceed by B.J. Novak of The Office and introduced delegates to 40 of the hottest “next generation” payments innovators.

ABOUT PYMNTS.COM

PYMNTS.com is reinventing the way in which companies in payments share relevant information about the initiatives that shape the future of commerce and make news. This powerful B2B platform is the #1 site for the payments industry by traffic and the premier source of information about “what’s next” in payments. C-suite and VP level executives read it daily for these insights, making the PYMNTS.com audience the most valuable in the industry. It provides an interactive platform for companies to demonstrate thought leadership, popularize products and, most importantly, capture the mindshare of global decision-makers. It’s where the best minds and best content meet on the web.