Internet downloads, sales cut into retail software business

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Meeting the challenge of selling software to businesses is a growing concern for software retailers. |ret||ret||tab|

"Eighty percent of our clientele is businesses," said Jeff Clinkingbeard, co-owner of Software Central Premium Computer Systems. "Software has taken a very different direction (since 1996). The lower-end market has completely eroded, but professional programs like Office XP and Adobe are still selling because they are professional products."|ret||ret||tab|

Clinkingbeard and partner Robert Singer opened Software Central Premium Computer Systems in 1996.|ret||ret||tab|

The proliferation of Web-based sales and downloadable utility programs such as calculators play a large role in the decrease of software sales in retail stores, retailers say. However, independent software retailers are not the only businesses affected by this change. |ret||ret||tab|

Caleb Shaw, computer and software manager at Best Buy, has seen it, too.|ret||ret||tab|

"In the time that I've been here I've seen our software section lose an aisle or two because they've cut back a bit on our selection," Shaw said. "I think people are becoming more comfortable with going online and giving their credit card number or downloading software. But there are still a lot of customers who like to have the CD copy of a program." |ret||ret||tab|

A significant amount of Best Buy's sales come from businesses, Shaw said.|ret||ret||tab|

"Our sales are about 50-50 between small-business owners and home users. QuickBooks is always one of our better sellers and a lot of office software sells well, too: Word Excel, Power Point, Outlook," said Shaw. |ret||ret||tab|

Clinkingbeard cites point-of-sale software as an important product for his customers.|ret||ret||tab|

"One of the biggest things we are doing right now is point-of-sale software. Springfield is made up of a lot of small- to medium-sized businesses, which is my market," Clinkingbeard said. "A lot of them have been doing their inventory by hand or by an old style cash register. Point-of-sale is a program that tracks inventory, keeps track of most popular items and the vendors you buy them from, and scans purchases. (It) basically allows a mom-and-pop retail operation to function like a chain store."|ret||ret||tab|

Server software and programs that streamline e-mail also are popular with business customers, according to Nancy Cribbs, general manager of the Springfield branch of the Integrated Solutions Group. |ret||ret||tab|

Integrated Solutions Group primarily focuses on providing business solutions and technical support to businesses of all sizes, but the company sells software as well.|ret||ret||tab|

"The new Exchange program has been very popular for e-mail. It is a Microsoft server application that will administer all of the e-mail for businesses, and it works very well," said Cribbs.|ret||ret||tab|

Developments in server software are benefiting small businesses as well. |ret||ret||tab|

"Server software is getting to the point where small businesses can afford a true server," Clinkingbeard said. "The Micro-soft small-business server is a very popular product right now. It used to be that a server was something you had to have 40 or 50 computers to have. Now you can have a server with four or five."|ret||ret||tab|

A server big enough to handle five computers would cost about $1,000, according to Software Central.|ret||ret||tab|

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Education|ret||ret||tab|

As technology is a perpetually changing market, retailers face a variety of challenges when serving business customers. |ret||ret||tab|

Consumer education plays a major role in software purchases.|ret||ret||tab|

"A lot of small-business owners can be pretty vague about what they need and what they want, so it can be pretty tough to match up every single time," Shaw said. "But that is the nice thing about our Web site. Now most people can ask for programs by name and have a rough idea of what it costs."|ret||ret||tab|

Education of employees can be a formidable task as well, according to Cribbs. Integrated Solutions Group, like Best Buy and Software Central Premium Computer Systems, keeps employees abreast of technological advances through vendor certification, seminars and company literature.|ret||ret||tab|

Legal issues are an aspect of the software business in which Clinkingbeard seeks to educate his clients.|ret||ret||tab|

"Our main challenge is trying to keep (businesses) legal. It can be costly to outfit all of the software necessary, but in the Springfield area Microsoft does do sweeps occasionally to verify site licenses and make sure they have the right number of copies," Clinkingbeard said. |ret||ret||tab|

Regardless of the issues individual retailers face, the software business can be approached as any other business. |ret||ret||tab|

"We stay in areas where we can generate business," Clinkingbeard said, "and make sure to treat people right so they come back." |ret||ret||tab|

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