Although I sold Newcastle Hardware in 2007, I can testify that Optemizer's Scientific Buying program enabled the store to reach performance goals that far exceeded the industry standards (according the National Retail Hardware Association). Specifically, those measurements were:

The bottom line is that Scientific Buying kept my inventories at optimum levels - I neither overspent on excess inventory,

nor lost sales due to too little inventory. The result was a highly flexible inventory investment that was created by understanding the trends in my store's sales history. Not to mention an inventory that was far more profitable than most retail hardware stores ever enjoy.

However, the new owners of Newcastle Hardware chose to utilize a different system in their store after they purchased it from me.

As such, my suggestion to any retailer considering an Optemizer POS system would be to talk to that store owner, and ask him to produce reports that demonstrate specifically how well the new system is managing his inventory - and to compare them with the numbers above. If those numbers don't compare, you'll have your answer as to which system has the best return on the investment.