Spokes Bicycle Rentals<\/a> of Vancouver, British Columbia, plans to put kiosk functionality in its Stanley Park store. Well-known as Vancouver\u2019s favorite bike rental shop, Spokes is a family-run business that has served tourists and locals for over 75 years. With a prime location at the entrance to Vancouver\u2019s world-famous seawall, the rental store serves large numbers of customers during peak tourist season yet still manages to get cyclists on the trails in record time. Spokes\u2019 owner Brian Vetter has instilled a customer-first culture that resonates throughout the company. Recognizing that tourists on vacation don\u2019t want to wait in a line, Vetter has instituted the goal of never making a customer wait. Point of Rental\u2019s new kiosk is designed to complement this company policy, while the software as a whole provides necessary information to better manage inventory.<\/p>\nTim Quarles, Spokes\u2019 project manager who is overseeing the software implementation, explained that inventory management is the primary reason the company chose Point of Rental Software. \u201cNot only is it necessary to know when a bike goes missing, it\u2019s also important for us to better serve our customers,\u201d Quarles said. \u201cFor example, if someone has a flat tire, we send a mechanic out on the exact replica bike so that the customer can get on the new bike right away. In order to do that, we have to know the exact bike they were sent out with. So really, that\u2019s the catalyst for the project.\u201d<\/p>\n
While kiosks speed up the process at the beginning of the rental cycle, Quick Return is a feature Point of Rental developed to enhance the closing process. This feature allows store associates to scan the barcode on the bike and automatically return it to inventory.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen bikes are being returned, many times a group will come in minutes apart, so we need to be able to receive, receive, receive,\u201d Quarles said. \u201cThe Quick Return feature allows us to do this efficiently. Similar to the Kiosk feature, it will help us serve our customers quickly. Competition will chip into your market share if you don\u2019t get people moving quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n
Evan Fort, Point of Rental\u2019s Vice President of Cloud Products, and his team of developers utilize agile programming for Point of Rental Essentials, meaning that new features are added to the web-based software in \u201csprints\u201d and updates are released every few weeks. This is has served the company well, with the software winning top ten placement in the Cloud Innovation World Cup last year, an award sponsored in part by Google. It is also good news for rental stores, as they reap the benefit of new features like Kiosk, Quick Return, and many other enhancements becoming available in rapid succession.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe like to think of it as Christmas for our customers,\u201d Fort said. \u201cEvery few weeks we surprise them with new features that will make their lives easier, their customers\u2019 happier, and ultimately their businesses more successful.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":7352,"template":"","categories":[],"class_list":["post-7350","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t