Apparel and clothing
POS systems for apparel and clothing stores
Styles in several colors and sizes, seasons and brands, orders that have to be split across sizes, and customers who pay over time. Infinity includes an Apparel Mode for complex apparel operations, including color and size variants. BizTracker specifies, sets up and supports apparel and clothing store systems on Infinity.
Remote setup and training nationwide. Onsite service across Tampa Bay.
What does an apparel or clothing store need from a POS system?
An apparel store needs a POS that keeps every color and size of a style tied to that style, splits orders across sizes by what has sold, groups stock by season and brand, and takes layaway at the counter. Infinity includes an Apparel Mode for complex apparel operations, including color and size variants. In Infinity Apparel Mode, color and size variants of a style are managed as individual records. BizTracker checks how your styles, colors and sizes will be set up before any stock is loaded, converts the item file and trains the staff.
The distinguishing problem in apparel is that one style is really a set of colors and sizes, and each of them sells at its own pace.
- One style, every color and sizeIn Apparel Mode each variant has its own UPC and stays tied to the style SKU.
- Changes made once per styleIn Apparel Mode, cost price, sell price and supplier are maintained at the style level.
- Orders split by sizeSize ratios, an Apparel Mode table, split an order’s total quantity based on top-selling sizes.
- Seasons and brandsIn Apparel Mode, season and label fields group styles separately from departments, including for reporting.
- Layaway at the counterCustomers pay over a set period, with the deposit, term and cancellation fee the store chooses.
Apparel Mode is an Infinity setting that is off by default, and some standard-mode functions work differently or are not available in it, so whether it suits your store is confirmed before quoting rather than assumed.
What apparel retailers bring us
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Every size and color is entered as an unrelated item
Nobody can say how a style sold, only how each separate item did.
In Apparel Mode, each color and size gets its own UPC and stays tied to one style SKU.
Inventory management -
Price and cost changes are made one size at a time
One supplier cost change turns into many edits, and some get missed.
In Apparel Mode, cost price, sell price and supplier are maintained once at the style level.
Inventory management -
Orders are split across sizes by guesswork
The middle sizes sell out and the ends are left over.
In Apparel Mode, size ratios split an order’s total quantity across sizes based on past sales.
Purchase orders -
Seasons and brands are tracked outside the system
Reporting by season or brand means exporting and sorting by hand.
In Apparel Mode, season and label fields group styles outside the department structure and can include or exclude them from reporting.
Reporting -
Layaways live on index cards
Deposits and balances are argued over at pickup.
Layaway with your own minimum deposit, period and cancellation fee, and each customer’s payments and balance owing on record.
Customer accounts -
Markdowns are re-ticketed by hand
The tag says one price and the register another.
Price changes scheduled in batches, with updated price labels printed as part of the change where label printing is set up.
Label printing
Infinity POS
What an apparel configuration includes
Items marked Apparel Mode apply when Infinity is running in Apparel Mode.
Color and size by style (Apparel Mode)
Inventory managementIn Apparel Mode, colors, size types and sizes are set up in your own tables and combined into a size/color matrix, with a UPC for every variant.
Size ratios (Apparel Mode)
Purchase ordersOrder quantities apportioned across sizes from past sales history.
Seasons and labels (Apparel Mode)
ReportingStyles grouped by season, such as Spring/Summer or Fall/Winter, and by label or brand.
Style-level deals
Inventory managementA fixed-price deal can apply across items that share the same SKU, so a multi-item offer is set up once.
Layaway
Customer accountsLayaways started at the register, with each customer’s payments and balance owing, and a report of outstanding layaways.
Counting by style (Apparel Mode)
Stock takeStock takes filtered by a range of style SKUs.
The counter
The apparel store counter
An apparel counter scans tags, takes returns and layaway payments, and prints labels when prices change, so the devices follow that.
A checkout station for the counter
Hardware for InfinityA register, a scanner, a receipt printer and a cash drawer, placed for a counter where lookups, returns, layaway payments and sales all happen in one conversation.
Item labels and tags
Label printersA label printer for item labels carrying the description, price and barcode, designed in Label Designer and printed with Infinity Labels.
Counting a style-deep floor
Portable data collectorsA portable data collector, so styles can be counted along the rail during trading rather than after the doors close.
Taking payment at the apparel counter
Merchant processingCard processing for an Infinity system runs through one of two paths, Bold or Hybrid. Which one suits an apparel counter is decided from a current statement, and layaway payments are taken on the same terminal as a sale.
Before you buy
What to make an apparel POS demonstrate
Ask to see the everyday apparel work done on screen: a style in several colors and sizes, an order split by size, a delivery received and tagged, and a layaway. Those decide whether a system suits an apparel store.
A style set up in Apparel Mode
Inventory managementAsk to see a style entered with its colors and sizes, how its UPCs are created, and what the setup screen looks like.
An order split by size
Purchase ordersAsk to see an Apparel Mode size ratio applied to a purchase order, and how an order for a full size run is entered.
A size run received and labeled
Label printingAsk to see one style received across its colors and sizes, and how tags are printed for what arrived.
A markdown at the end of a season
Label printingAsk to see a price change scheduled for a season’s styles and the new price labels printed with it.
A layaway from deposit to pickup
Customer accountsAsk to see a layaway started at the register with a deposit, a payment taken against it, and the balance owing.
An exchange at the counter
Customer accountsAsk to see a return and a new sale rung in the same transaction.
Going live
What getting an apparel store live involves
In apparel the item file is the project: styles, colors and sizes have to come across structured, not just copied, or the new system inherits every duplicate the old one had.
Deciding on Apparel Mode
Infinity POSApparel Mode is a system setting that is off by default, so it is settled with you before the item file is built.
Style and size conversion
Data conversionStyles, colors, sizes, suppliers, costs and customer records reviewed from the current system’s export, then mapped, cleaned or rebuilt before go-live.
Labels on the floor
Barcode scanning and labelsItem label templates set up so stock can be labeled as it is received, before the store trades on the new system.
The counter, set up and tested
Start with a statement reviewProcessing and the counter hardware set up and tested together — the register, the scanner that reads tags, the label printer and the payment device — with any existing equipment checked by model first.
Training on styles, layaway and returns
Installation and trainingStaff trained on finding a style’s colors and sizes, taking layaways and processing returns before go-live, remotely anywhere or onsite across Tampa Bay.
Apparel and clothing POS questions
Does Infinity handle sizes and colors?
Yes, in Apparel Mode. Infinity includes an Apparel Mode for complex apparel operations, including color and size variants. In Infinity Apparel Mode, color and size variants of a style are managed as individual records, each with its own UPC and tied to the style’s SKU. Apparel Mode is a system setting, so we confirm it suits your store before anything is loaded.
What is Apparel Mode?
Infinity runs in one of two modes. Standard mode is the default and is designed for retail other than complex apparel operations; Apparel Mode is for stores that manage stock by color, size type and size. Some standard-mode functions work differently or are not available in Apparel Mode, which is why the choice is made with you when the system is specified.
Can it help me order the right quantity of each size?
Yes, in Apparel Mode: size ratios apportion an order’s quantity across sizes based on past sales history, splitting the total by top-selling sizes. Ask to see a size ratio applied to a purchase order in the demo.
Can I track seasons and brands?
Yes, in Apparel Mode: season and label fields group styles separately from your departments, for example Spring/Summer and Fall/Winter, and reporting can include or exclude items by season or label.
Does Infinity support layaway?
Yes. Staff start a layaway at the register, and you set the minimum deposit, the layaway period and any cancellation fee. Each customer’s layaway payments and balance owing are on record, and a report lists outstanding layaways. Whether a layaway can be paid at a different store depends on a setting chosen when Infinity is installed.
Can I move stock between my stores?
Yes, where the stores run Infinity Head Office. Transfers need Infinity Head Office and at least two stores with Infinity Back Office, and the receiving store checks the stock in through its normal receiving. How a whole style moves between stores is worth seeing in the demo.
How are exchanges handled?
Infinity can be set to process sales and returns in the same transaction, so an exchange can be rung as a return and a new sale together. Ask to see it at the counter in the demo.
How do markdowns work?
Price changes are scheduled in batches, and updated price labels can be printed with the change where label printing is set up. Ask us to walk through a seasonal markdown in the demo.
Is this the same platform as your other retail systems?
Yes. It is the same Infinity platform as our grocery, convenience, liquor and specialty systems, set up in Apparel Mode where a store’s styles, colors and sizes need it.
See whether Infinity suits your apparel store
Tell us how many styles you carry and how you buy them, and ask to see a style set up in Apparel Mode, an order split by size ratio and a layaway taken at the counter.