Retailer has the ability to export your book sales to Nielsen via BookScan, giving you access to Nielsen's sales reporting. Sales are sent through as part of your End of Shift process, and are based on the supplier that the stock was arrived under - you will need to select which of you book suppliers should have their sales recorded. This means that your stock must have been arrived into the system via invoice arrivals for it to be eligible for the sales to go through to Nielsen.
This feature requires you to have an account with Nielsen.
Getting Started
Firstly, you will need to see if BookScan has been enabled on your account with Tower. To do this, from the main menu of Retailer, go up the top to Help->Register. Look amongst the tickboxes for 'BookScan' - if it is ticked, you are good to go. If it is not ticked, contact Tower Support and request that the BookScan Module is enabled on your account.
Secondly, you will need to get your FTP details from Nielsen. The information required from them is:
- Server Name (This will most likely be ftp.nielsenbookscan.co.uk)
- Username
- Password
- Port (This will most likely be 22)
Setting up the Export
Server
- On your server/MAIN computer, up the top in the main menu of Retailer go to Setup->EDI
- Use the left & right arrows up the top to move through the options until you find BOOKSCAN (They are in alphabetical order).
- Click the 'File Transfer' tab. Change the following settings:
Files are to be sent and received by: Tower FTP
Send Sales Frequency: End of Shift
Send Sales Data for this EDI System: Ticked - Click the 'Utilities' tab and make sure Enable this EDI System is ticked
- Click the 'Remote Server Settings' tab. Here, enter the Server Name, Username, Password and Port provided by Nielsen. In 'Server Type', select FTP Server.
Leave Server Out Dir and Server In Dir as blank
Tick 'Display a List of Uploaded Files' - Click Save.
At this stage, you can click the 'Check Comms' button to see if the FTP details you entered are working.
POS Terminals
The following steps only need to be completed on terminals other than the server that you perform End of Shift on. If you only run End of Shift on your server, skip this section.
First, if not already done you will need to set up Server Mapping, as the POS terminal needs to be able to save a file to your server. See
HERE for how to set up drive mapping.
Server mapping is a requirement for XchangeIT as well - if you use XchangeIT, this step should already be done
Once drive mapping has been setup, on the POS go to go to Setup->EDI, then use the arrows to find BOOKSCAN. In What Drive are the EDI files on, select your mapped drive (usually N:\) from the drop-down list and hit Save.
Setting up Suppliers
- From the main menu of Retailer, go to Stock Maintenance -> Suppliers and Departments, then click on the 'Suppliers' tab.
- Use the magnifying glass button to select one of your book suppliers
- Click the 'Edi' tab, then click the 'EDI Systems' button
- Find and tick BOOKSCAN in the list, then click OK.
- Repeat steps 2-4 for all other book suppliers
The sales for any stock arrived under one of the suppliers chosen this way should now be sent through to Nielsen at the end of each End of Shift process.