“Nisyst really do care about you as a customer. Right from our very first meeting, they really listened to our needs and paid attention to what we wanted, providing a tailored solution for us as an independent charity. They are always willing to listen to our feedback so they can continue to provide the very best EPoS product for the charity retail market.”

As someone who started her career at Hospiscare eighteen years ago working as a volunteer in one of their twenty retail outlets, Helen Hutter appreciates the absolute necessity of using an EPoS system in store which is one hundred percent dependable.

Now Head of Retail at Hospiscare, a Devon based charity which provides end of life care for those who are terminally ill, this experience has given her a greater appreciation of the frustrations experienced by shop managers and volunteers when the EPoS system used to serve a customer goes down unexpectedly.

“We have twenty retail outlets in total, all dedicated Hospiscare charity shops. These include sixteen generic charity shops, two warehouse style shops, one department store and one book and collectable shop. Our last EPoS system was so incredibly unreliable – at any time tills in our shops could crash. This caused massive inconvenience for everyone involved and in some cases meant that we missed out on a sale. Not good news when you are a charity and entirely dependent on retail sales and donations to fund what you do! It was clear, going forward, that our EPoS system was not fit for purpose.”

It was this frustration, and a desire to improve the process of claiming Gift Aid, which spurred Helen on to go out to tender for another EPoS systems provider. She approached several companies, but it was clear from the get-go that Nisyst’s approach made them stand out from the crowd.

“Right from our very first meeting with Nisyst, they really listened to our needs and paid attention to what we wanted. They weren’t providing a one size fits all solution, but a tailored approach which suited us as an independent charity. They were also able to address the data conversion challenge, easily importing the information from our existing system into CHARiot.”

Nisyst’s CHARiot EPoS system was installed in a matter of six weeks, with Hospiscare being one of the first charities to use the ‘Single Scan Barcode’ (SSB) service. This service enables every product to be put through the till and scanned using a barcode which assesses whether or not the product is eligible for Gift Aid. The service is also used to label donations once they are handed in, which means the charity can adhere to GDPR rules, much improving the experience for the donor. Hospiscare also take advantage of the Lottery Module service, which enables them to sell lottery tickets anonymously.

“Installing the new system was a really smooth process and, without doubt, has completely changed the way we operate. It has meant that managers and volunteers within our retail outlets are far more confident and comfortable dealing with customers. We can offer a far better service to our customers, in the knowledge that our tills won’t crash at any given moment. It has also made the process of claiming Gift Aid far more robust and compliant and generally much smoother. In addition, we’re also able to view how each individual shop is performing daily via a mobile dashboard. This enables us to respond to issues quickly and lets the shop manager know if they need to do more to reach their sales target.”

Helen also really appreciates the level of customer care given by Nisyst on a regular basis.

“The team continue to provide us with an absolutely outstanding service, responding to our requests for assistance quickly and efficiently. We have regular meetings with our account manager who is always willing to listen to our feedback. They have a strong desire to provide the very best EPoS product for the charity retail market. Nisyst really do care about you as a customer.”

You can download the case study here