Spectra Group Members!
SPECTRA leverages total group volume so Members enjoy increased profitability as they build the business with Supplier Partners. Since 2016, Windward has been SPECTRA Marketing Group’s exclusive provider of Business Management Software for its Lighting Showroom Members. Click for More Information
Empowering Business Owners!
Lighting One provides scale, resources, and innovation to create sustainable growth and effective competition in today's evolving lighting marketplace. Windward Software is proud to be a preferred vendor of business management software for this respected industry cooperative. Click for more information.
Shine the light on your business
Innovative Lighting Store Solutions
Handle your daily business challenges with ease. We have extensive experience in dealing with lighting stores, and that’s reflected in our lighting showroom software. Our goal is to help you sell, order, ship and interact with customers more effectively.
All-in-One Business Management
Meet all of your business management needs with one complete software solution. Windward System Five is fully integrated, meaning individual modules work in unison to streamline every aspect of your operation.
Windward Expert Support
Operate with the reassurance that Windward Software’s expert support staff is with you every step of the way. From the installations to training to troubleshooting, we offer live global support seven days a week. We’re not happy until you're happy.
Lighting Showroom Software Features
Manage your lighting store from start to finish with Windward System Five
Point of Sale
Engage customers and increase profits by equipping your sales staff with the tools and knowledge they need to provide an exceptional level of customer service.
Read More | Point of SaleBarcoding
Enjoy greater inventory control with barcoding for faster checkout service, improved customer satisfaction, fewer errors and quicker stock checks.
Read More | BarcodingSignature Capture
Reduce paperwork, streamline administrative processes and incorporate a higher level of security with our POS software’s electronic signature capture capabilities.
Read More | Signature CaptureMulti-store POS
Keep your business network running smoothly and cohesively with our lighting showroom software. Oversee your operations from a single location and communicate business-critical information between branches.
Read More | Multi-store POSCredit Card Processing
With Windward Software’s integrated credit card processing, you’ll be able to conduct credit, debit and gift card transactions quickly, accurately and securely.
Read More | Credit Card ProcessingeCommerce
By integrating your online and offline operations, you’ll keep administrative costs down while maintaining tight control over your expanding inventory.
Read More | eCommerceBusiness Management
Buy better, market smarter and work more efficiently in your lighting business. Windward System Five provides you with the knowledge and control to drive profits.
Read More | Business ManagementInventory Control
Control your inventory, track inventory movement, optimize stock levels and improve your cost control measures through detailed reports.
Read More | Inventory ControlCustomer Management
Create a database with your customer information to provide a smoother, more personal shopping experience, and increase your selling and marketing opportunities.
Read More | Customer ManagementGeneral Ledger
Windward Software's integrated accounting software allows you to view, print, enter and report data quickly and conveniently, providing and simple, error-free way of managing your books.
Read More | General LedgerSerial Number Tracking
For businesses that require that extra level of inventory management, our software provides serial number tracking capabilities so you know where your product is at all times.
Read More | Serial Number TrackingAdmin & Control
Empower your employees with the access and information they need to perform their jobs properly, without compromising security or confidential data.
Read More | Admin & ControlFinancial Reporting
Track and compare company performance with P&L statements. Use balance sheets to determine and monitor your financial standing.
Read More | Financial ReportingCustomer Reporting
Get remarkable insight into the people that matter most to your business - your customers. Slice and dice customer data in hundreds of ways to optimize processes to improve business efficiency and the customer experience.
Read More | Customer ReportingCreate Your Own Reports
The beauty of Windward's custom report designer is that you can analyze the details that matter most to you... whether that's staff in multiple locations, inventory levels, and another area of interest.
Read More | Create Your Own ReportsSMB & Enterprise Editions
Windward System Five is available in two versions: SMB lets you choose the modules you need most. Enterprise comes fully loaded to provide the most comprehensive business management system available.
Read More | SMB & Enterprise EditionsInstalled or Cloud
Choose from two options for deploying our ERP software: through a tried and tested local installation, or by using our innovative cloud-based Windward Cloud model.
Read More | Installed or CloudSoftware Integrations
Configure Windward’s business management software to handle lighting industry-specific processes and integrate with systems you already have in place.
Read More | Software IntegrationsRecommended POS Hardware
Windward System Five point of sale software supports a range of optional hardware to help your business run smoothly - scanners, printers, computers, touch screens, and more.
Read More | Recommended POS HardwareFail Safe Technology
Whether you need reliable backup to protect against system failure, or you need to synchronize information across multiple locations, Windward’s fail safe technology has got your back.
Read More | Fail Safe TechnologyExpert Support
Windward offers phone support, virtual assistance through screen sharing, or on-site support depending on edition and plan. Self-help is always available 24/7 through our extensive knowledge base.
Read More | Expert SupportTraining
Our comprehensive training materials are available for all customers. Whether you're just getting going or just need to train a new employee on one thing, you'll love the video library and how-to's.
Read More | TrainingMaintenance
Maintenance and support packages are available for customers that like an ongoing support team available to fine tune software features. Our experts will handle the software issues so you can focus on your bottom line.
Read More | MaintenanceDesigned with your everyday tasks in mind
Parts Integration
The lighting industry has hundreds of thousands of inventory items available, many of which will change as personal tastes change. Lights America and XO Lights provide a subscription service that maintains hundreds of popular lighting lines.
System Five integrates parts databases to give retail showrooms the ability to search fixtures by dimensions, colors, and wattages, allowing you to quickly build a lighting package with a customer.
With Windward Software’s Lighting Showroom Software, you can download orders and even part lists created in these solutions, ensuring there are no data entry errors and saving you time.
Scrambled Part Numbers
By scrambling the part numbers, you can make it difficult for your customers and builders to shop around and get better pricing. After all, part of your service is your designers deciding what would look nice where. The printed invoice for a fixture could contain the:
- Scrambled part number
- Room name
- Description
- Quantity
- Price
- Picture
Even with this extra information, the scrambled part number still makes it hard for them to shop elsewhere (Note: our lighting showroom software makes it easy for you to find the item from the scrambled part number, the real part number, barcode number, manufacturer's part number or other numbers that you may have).
Real customers, real results.
"Windward is a great software system that does A LOT. Fairly intuitive and easy to learn. It has many features that helps keep users organized and on track!"
-Christine Williams, Mahlander's Appliance and Lighting
Read MoreShipping Labels
Among other things, shipping labels can include the:
- Builder's name
- Owner's name
- Job address
- Fixture number
- Description
- Bulbs required
- Room name
These labels can help keep track of the inventory in your warehouse, as well as making it easy to deliver and place in the correct room.
Complete the Sale With Light Bulbs and Other Necessities
When you sell a fixture onto an invoice, Windward’s lighting showroom software will automatically add the correct number of bulbs to the invoice. If you later change the quantity of fixtures, the number of bulbs will automatically be increased or decreased proportionally. If you are out of stock of the required light bulbs, you can use the Swap Kit Item feature to update the invoice with the new part number you are using. This ensures the link between the fixture and the bulbs remains.
One of the benefits of our lighting showroom software is that when you print shipping labels, the bulbs will be printed on the same label as each fixture, complete with the room name, job address, and other information.
Professional Quotes
Having the ability to print a professional-looking quote for the customer right from Windward System Five gives you time back to sell to additional customers and provides a great customer experience.
If you have a color printer and pictures of your fixtures, printing the customer's choices on the quotation will help them remember what they ordered and allow them to shop for other matching furniture.
Room Names
You can define as many room names as you wish. When you enter a fixture, the lighting showroom software lets you assign it to a particular room. This can help when preparing an estimate as you can easily identify each room and ensure you have provided lights for each.
When you deliver the fixtures to the job site, the boxes will be placed and installed in the correct room, the first time. To help with this, shipping labels can be printed with the room names on them. On the printed invoice, you can also sort the lines by the room name. Installers like to have all the fixtures listed for a given room so they can complete the work and move on to the next room.
Shipping Dates
Windward’s lighting showroom software tracks and reports shipping dates to make it easy for your warehouse personnel to get shipments ready on time. They can optionally use the confirmed field to ensure that the builder or owner has confirmed the shipping dates before loading the truck.
Special Orders
Special orders, also known as tag orders, can be entered from the work order. If you try to sell an item that is not in stock, our lighting showroom software will prompt you with a pop-up window asking if you need to special order the item. By placing the item on special order, the system will ensure that you don’tforget to order it.
Showroom Tag Creation
Professional, fully customizable showroom tags can be built using the label designer feature in our lighting showroom software. Create different showroom, sale exclusives and regular pricing tags. Avoid incorrectly tagged inventory by printing a photo on the showroom tag to assist sales staff in the tagging process.
Barcodes can help you keep better track of your inventory, saving you time and money. The ability to add barcodes to the showroom tags permit faster, more accurate recording of information. They also help decrease stock count time as well as time spent receiving inventory in the warehouse. Warehouse labels and barcode labels can be printed anytime, with or without cost codes or pricing information.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you have questions about our premier showroom software solutions, we have the answers! Check out the answers to some of the most common questions we hear below:
We specialize in inventory control, point of sale, invoicing, and accounting systems for Lighting Showrooms like yours. Using a series of soft switches, Windward's System Five enterprise resource planning software adapts to the way you do business. Unlike many of our competitors, we don’t believe that a company should have to change its existing business practices to suit a software package. Many of our Lighting Industry clients tell you Windward System Five is the most flexible and user-friendly business management system on the market today.
There are many benefits to using lighting showroom business management software, including:
- Increased efficiency: Windward's business management software can help you manage your lighting showroom more efficiently, allowing you to track inventory, sales, and customer data.
- Improved customer service: This lighting showroom software can help you track customer data and preferences, allowing you to provide a better customer experience.
- Improved profitability: The software can help you track sales and inventory data, allowing you to make more informed business decisions that improve profitability.
System Five on Cloud supports printing labels and forms directly to local printers without needing additional drivers or configuration. However, as System Five on Cloud is hosted in the cloud, it requires internet access to use the solution. If your internet connection goes down, your access to System Five will be lost, but the data is safe and will not suffer corruption from a dropped connection.
A POS is a computerized system used in retail businesses to track sales and inventory. The system consists of a computer, cash drawer, receipt printer, bar code scanner, and credit card reader. The computer is connected to a network that allows it to communicate with other computers in the business, such as the inventory management system. The POS system software runs on the computer and allows your sales associate to enter sales transactions, track inventory, and print receipts. The bar code scanner scans bar codes on products, and the credit card reader reads the information on credit cards. When a customer makes a purchase, the sales associate enters the amount of the purchase into the POS, scans the bar code of the product, and swipes the customer's credit card. The POS prints a receipt for the customer and records the sale in the inventory tracking system.
There are many reasons to track customer data, but some of the most important are understanding what customers want and need, improving customer service, and increasing sales.
Tracking customer data can help you understand what products and services your customers want and need. This information can help you improve your products and services, and even create new products and services. Gleaning insights from customer data can also help you improve the customer experience. By understanding what your customers like and don’t like, you can provide better service. This can help keep your customers happy and increase customer loyalty.
Your customer data can also help you increase sales. By understanding what products and services your customers are interested in, you can create targeted marketing campaigns that increase sales. You can also create special offers and discounts that appeal to your customers.