Faqs

RenARK™ App / Kiosk

Our App and Kiosk includes:

  • Unlimited User Licenses
  • Unlimited Devices
  • Reporting

Additional features:

  • Hang Tag QR Code Generator
  • Showcase Ashley Inventory

Contact [email protected] for pricing.

The most recent version of the RenARK App is 4.0.5

  • The RenCommerce RenARK Legacy App has been sunset but rest assured you are still supported and the App will work on your current device
  • Please sign out and download the RenARK App in Google or Apple depending on your device to experience our RenCommerce RenARK App
  • Once you have updated the App manually to the most recent version, the App will auto update going forward once you've connected to the internet

Your current hardware consists of two parts:

  • One kiosk touch screen monitor and one Chromebox that runs your software
  • As a visual example, think of your old monitor that had wires connecting to a tower

1. Your RenARK App may NOT run on an outdated or obsolete Chromebox
2. Your new Chromebox, loaded properly with the RenARK App may NOT run on an outdated or obsolete kiosk touchscreen monitor
3. Outdated or obsolete hardware is typically two (2) to three (3) years or older and may not work as noted above and may not support App updates

With your RenArk-installed Chrome Box, you can connect your RenCommerce ready Master Catalogs and your In-Store Catalogs to your touch-screen kiosk(s), quickly and effortlessly!

If you have purchased your Chrome Box through Renaissance and Best Buy Electronics, your Chrome Box will be delivered pre-installed and ready to go.

Your Chrome Box contains:

  1. The latest version of the RenARK™ App
  2. Your store login and password saved
  3. Your store’s Wifi, pre-configured (when applicable)

To get started, locate the following ports on the back of your Chrome Box:

  1. Power (feeding electricity to your CB)
  2. HDMI (connecting your kiosk display)
  3. USB (connecting your input, be it touch-screen or mouse and keyboard)
  4. Ethernet (when applicable, or as a backup to your Wifi)

Starting with the power port, connect your Kiosk and your Chrome Box’s power supplies to an electrical outlet. You will see a blue light on your Chrome Box indicating that it has been turned on.

Proceed to connect an HDMI cable between the HDMI port of your Kiosk and the HDMI port of your Chrome Box. If your Kiosk was already connected to a computer, unplug the HDMI cable, remove said computer, then plug the Kiosk’s HDMI into your Chrome Box.

Referring to your Kiosk’s side panel, connect the USB input port on the Kiosk, and one of the USB ports of your Chrome Box, to utilize a touch-screen input. If you do not have a touch-screen device, you may connect a USB mouse and keyboard to your Chrome Box.

Once powered on and connected, your Kiosk will display a Google Chrome Box loading screen. Please allow yourself at least 5-10 minutes for the Chrome Box to fully load. You will see your store’s RenArk home screen, all ready for you and your customers, once the device has finished loading.

Note: Your Chrome Box will reload any time it is turned off and on. Your store’s login will always be remembered, along with your Wifi information. 

Yes, whatever Master Product Catalog brands are present on your Desktop and Mobile site will automatically transition and update onto RenARK Kiosk App Program.

Note: When adding In-Store Products to your RenCommerce website, the newly added products will not be available to be synced/updated to the RenARK app for 24 hours.

Requirements for iPad Hardware

  • Model: iPad mini and above
  • OS: iOS 12 and above
  • Storage: Min 128 GB but 256 GB is recommended for multiple catalogs

Requirements for Android Tablet and Kiosk Hardware

  • Screen Size: 8 inches and above
  • Screen Resolution: Between 1024 x 768 to 1920 x 1080 pixels
  • OS: Android 11 and above
  • Storage: Min 128 GB and above
  • Memory (RAM): Min 8 GB and above
  • Ability to access the Google Play store and run Android apps. If you are using a Chromebox, check this list to see if your device is listed: https://www.chromium.org/chromium-os/chrome-os-systems-supporting-android-apps

How to Download and Install the Website App on Your Device

  1. Begin by proceeding to the Apple Store, or Google Play Store, if you own an Apple or Android device, respectively. In the store search bar, type “RenARK” or “Renaissance Retail Kiosk” to find the RenARK App page. Click on “Get” or “Install” (on an Apple or Android, respectively) to download and install the application.
  2. On the sign in prompt, please login with your Google credentials, or create an account and then sign in once the account has been created.

Once the website app is installed on your device, locate it among your installed applications and launch it. You will be prompted to enter a Username, Password, and URL—all of which will be provided to you by Renaissance.

NOTE: Any retailer with a Renaissance website can use the “Catalog only” version of the RenARK Kiosk app. The “E-commerce” addons are enabled with the Renaissance POS and extends additional features and functionality, from the mobile shopping cart to your POS.

Logging into Your Website App Admin

On any page of the RenARK app, press and hold your store’s logo to access the login for your website app admin (for approximately 5 seconds). In the login box, enter the same password you used previously to log into the website app.

Whenever you wish to logout of your RenARK app admin, press on the logo and you will return to the RenARK app front-end.

Updating Products within the RenARK App Admin

Before beginning a product update, ensure that you have a stable Wifi connection. If at any time your Wifi connection is disrupted, you may log back into the RenARK application and resume the update from where it stopped. You will know the update is complete by the appearance of the date in a grey bar. After the update is successful, you will then update your images to your products, fully-arming your RenARK kiosk.

Clicking on “Catalog Update” in RenARK app admin mirrors all product on your website. “Data Update” will upload locally stored Wish Lists and any Inquiries to your website database, so that you can engage with your consumer later.

Updating Your Homepage Graphic and Logo

Your app is customized and branded with your store ‘s logo. Your homepage graphic and store logo can both be customized 100%. If you wish to change or update this graphic in any way, you can do so by logging into your Dashboard and navigating to POS Settings > RenARK™ App or you can contact your Renaissance Program Content Specialist at [email protected]

RenARK App Homepage

Within the RenARK app, you may frequent seven different types of pages, starting with your store’s Homepage.

  • On your Homepage you may utilize the navigation menu, mirrored after your website’s navigation menu. All your product categories and brands will be accessible from here.
  • Clicking on the heart icon or “Wishlist” will allow you to see the products that a customer has saved for a future purchase.
  • You may also search for a product by its SKU or keywords, by utilizing the search bar on the Homepage.
  • If the Layaway module is enabled for your website, products of this brand may be added to Layaway.
  • Clicking on the QR Code icon will allow you to scan a unique QR code for a specific product in your store’s catalog.*
  • You can click on the UP Button to activate your In-Store Analytics and CSR Sales Tool.
  • You can click on the Star to initiate a Review in real-time.

Subcategory and Product Detail Pages

By navigating to a product category and subsequent subcategory page, you can take advantage of advanced filters—as you would on your website—to narrow down your selection by price or by subtype.

On any product detail page, you can see all related products and collections at a glance, as well as high-resolution photos of the said product.

Product Wishlists and Inquiries

Pressing the “Wishlist” or heart icon will launch a pop-up window. In this window you can record your customer’s contact information, including their phone number, email and home address.

In a similar vein, pressing on the “Inquiry” icon will launch its own pop-up window. Here you can record a customer’s contact information, and automatically email them details about that product in question.

QR Code Scanning

After enabling the Hang Tag generator for your website app, you may scan any generated QR code to automatically jump to that product’s detail page on your tablet.

NOTE: You must purchase the Hang Tag generator add-on to enable this feature within the website app.

Collection Consumer Data

When engaging with a prospective customer on the sales floor of your store, you can collect and save data about said customer through your website app on your tablet.

Click on the green “UP” icon to launch a small pop-up window. Here you can save and gather all the data supplied by your new or prospective customer, such as their name, address, and email.

Finalizing a Sale by Tablet

After updating your customer’s shopping cart on your website app, connect to a WiFi connection to finalize your entire sale, from shipping to the Sales section of your POS system.

On the “1 Shopping Cart” page, click the “>” in the lower right corner of your app to proceed to the “2 Calculate Shipping” page. Here you can choose a location by country, state, city and zip code or click on “Free Instore Pickup” to skip calculating any shipping for this order. Again, you will click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to the next step,

“3 Purchase Type”

If your customer will be paying by Lay-A-Way, you may click on “Choose Lay-A-Way Payment Plan” and enter the monthly payment amount, along with the total number of payments. If your customer wishes to pay in full, click on “Choose to Pay in Full”, where you may apply any discount coupons towards this order. Click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to “4 Billing & Shipping."

On the “4 Billing and Shipping” page, you may search for your customer by phone number or email or checkout as a guest (and, if the customer wishes, create a new account in the process, by email and phone number). Click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to the next step.

If a customer already exists in your system, the website app will populate as much of “4 Billing and Shipping” as possible with available billing and delivery information. New customers will require a new billing and delivery address, accordingly. When ready, click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to “5 Order Summary”

NOTE: If your customer opted for a free in-store pickup, the delivery address for this order will be the location of your store.

On the “5 Order Summary” page, your customer will agree to the terms of your store’s delivery and return policy. A pop-up window will appear entitled “Return / Exchange Policy & Customer Satisfaction." Have your customer review these terms before agreeing to them, then proceed to the final step, “6 Make Payment."

At the “6 Make Payment” page, you may opt to “Pay With Square” or “Pay at Store, Send to Register.” Regardless of which option you choose, a pop-up will appear, indicating that the order has been “successfully sent to the Sales Section of your POS."

NOTE: You can access any sales orders initiated and finalized through your website app by launching your Renaissance Dashboard. Once logged in, go to your left-side nav bar and head to POS > Sales > All Sales. You may search and view the status of any sales orders by invoice #, customer phone number, first name, last name or email.

Chromebox:

  1. Connect a USB keyboard to your Chromebox
  2. Restart the Chromebox
  3. While on the white Initializing Application screen, press Ctrl + Alt + S on keyboard to break out of kiosk mode
  4. Select browse as guest (if prompted to login)
  5. Go to settings and connect to WiFi network
  6. Restart Chromebox and allow RenArk to load

EloView:

  1. Press button or buttons on the back of the Elo Device
  2. The Control Panel Password prompt should appear. The password should be 1elo or elo1.
  3. Click on Network
  4. Connect to WiFi network
  5. Restart device and allow RenArk to load

Yes, your Chrome Box that drives the 22”, 42” and 46" Android kiosks can all be hardwired to the internet with an ethernet connection instead of WiFi

If you are facing RenARK login problems most likely you are not connected to the internet. This needs to be done only once and the computer you are using will be able to automatically log you in from now on. Here are the steps to get your computer connected to the internet.

By default, your Chromebox requires a Gmail account. Please create a Google account for your business and use it to log into Chrome using the below credentials:

In order to get connected to the internet, we have to exit the kiosk mode. 

  1. Make sure to power-off your computer
  2. When your computer is completely off, power it back on and while it is still booting simultaneously press the following buttons on your keyword: CTRL+ALT+S this will allow you to boot your computer normally without launching the RenARK application
  3. Once your computer is powered up, connect it to the internet. The internet icon should be located in the bottom right corner of your screen
  4. Once you are connected to the internet, simply reboot your computer and it will automatically boot into your kiosk mode
  5. Now you will be able to login with your username and password provided by Renaissance

You cannot log in to RenARK™

  1. Confirm that you have the correct user, password, and domain
    1. Your User and Passwords are managed in RenCommerce > Dashboard > POS Setttings > Users > Users
  2. Confirm that the domain is being entered in the domain field
  3. If they you cannot log in, please send a screenshot to [email protected]

Product Data or Prices Not Updating

  1. The RenARK™ app updates product data from a file on the web server that is specifically generated for the RenARK™ app. This file will be automatically re-generated once per day upon receiving a request from the app to update. If you go to update the product data and see a message about "Preparing Fresh Data", this is the file re-generating.
  2. It is recommended that the you set up a daily Auto Sync in the early morning hours to re-generate and update the product data prior to the store opening for the day.
    • If the auto update is set, any changes to prices or products on the website will automatically be reflected in the RenARK app on the next day
  3. If the you have made changes on the website and need them to reflect on the app on the same day, we can clear the RenARK product data manually. Please send a request to [email protected]

Product Data or Images not Updating (Product/Images are missing)

  1. This can happen if your device has run out of local storage. If you have a large number of catalogs and are updating the images to your Chrome Box, the image files may fill up your local storage.
  2. To address this, the product images can be removed from the device and served from the web servers. Please note that the device must be connected to the Internet at all times with this options.
  3. In the RenARK admin area, go to Other Options and set the Image Source to Online.
  4. Select Yes on the pop-up to delete all stored images. This may take several minutes if there were a large amount of stored images.
  5. After this is complete, initiate a new sync.

Sending Requests to Renaissance

  1. If the issue persists, please send to [email protected] with the following information:
    1. Manufacturer and model of the Chrome Box device
    2. Version of the app installed (found in admin area under App Info)
    3. Date/Time of last sync
      • Specifically, screenshots of the Catalog Update and Update-Products screens showing the timestamps of the last update
    4. Detailed description of the issue along with screenshots

The RenArk Web App allows you to upload video files under 100MB in size that will play as a screen saver when the tablet/kiosk app isn't in use. It's important to make sure the file size is under 100MB and the name of the video file contains no spaces.

Example: sofavideo.mp4

To add video to RenARK App:

You will need an MP4 file (100MB Max, no spaces in the file name)

In the Master Admin, navigate to the "Kiosk Site" tab.

Upload the MP4 file under "Kiosk App Video"

Within the admin portion of the app, navigate to "Screen Saver Video" and click "Download." The video will download, and show next to selected video. You can also specify the number of minutes before the screensaver video plays on the website.

When a price sync is initiated on a device using RenARK, does it update from the web database or a stored JSON file?

  • It updates from the stored JSON file. As we have both Product & Price in the same JSON file.

How often is that file updated?

The JSON is generated everyday with the very first request comes from the RenARK App to Store. This is per store per brand file generation.

  • i.e. If on 2/1/2019 a JSON file exist for "CheapFurnitureDirect" for "Signature Design by Ashley" brand, the new JSON file will be generated for the same store and same brand ONLY when the SYNC call is requested to the FMD Live Server from the App Login of the "CheapFurnitureDirect".

If it is a stored file that is automatically updated, can we confirm that the automatic updates are taking place?

  • No, if the JSON file is already generated on any particular day, the new JSON file will only be generated for that store for that brand, if there is a Request for Sync from App to Server on the next day.

If it is a stored file, is there any way to purge the stored file and generate fresh data like we can for product data?

  • If it is the same day on which the file is generated, and you want a new file to be generated, you have to manually purge and then hit "Update" again from the App.

If the Autosync feature is set up on a device, does that include a Price Update?

  • Yes it does sync prices within the product JSON file.

Collecting Consumer Data

When engaging with a prospective customer on the sales floor of your store, you can collect and save data about said customer through the RenArk Website Application on your tablet or kiosk.

Click on the green “UP” icon to launch a small pop-up window. Here you can save and gather all the data supplied by your new or prospective customer, such as their name, address, and email.

NOTE: With the E-Commerce addon for the RenARK app, you can guide a customer through the entire sales process—from inquiry to checkout—all on your tablet or kiosk. POS system integrations then permit you to retrieve the completed sale, and adjust your inventory, by logging into your Renaissance Dashboard.

Finalizing a Sale by Tablet

After updating your customer’s shopping cart on the RenARK Website Application, connect to a WiFi connection to finalize the entire sale, from the shipping to checkout.

On the “1 Shopping Cart” page, click the “>” in the lower right corner of your app to proceed to the “2 Calculate Shipping” page. Here you can choose a location by country, state, city and zip code or click on “Free Instore Pickup” to skip calculating any shipping for this order. Again, you will click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to the next step, “3 Purchase Type.”

If your customer will be paying by Lay-A-Way, you may click on “Choose Lay-A-Way Payment Plan” and enter the monthly payment amount, along with the total number of payments. If your customer wishes to pay in full, click on “CHOOSE TO PAY IN FULL”, where you may apply any discount coupons towards this order. Click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to “4 Billing & Shipping.”

On the “4 Billing and Shipping” page, you may search for your customer by phone number or checkout as a guest (and, if the customer wishes, create a new account in the process, by email and phone number). Click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to the next step.

If a customer already exists in your system, the RenARK app will populate as much of “4 Billing and Shipping” as possible with available billing and delivery information. New customers will require a new billing and delivery address, accordingly. When ready, click on the “>” in the lower right to proceed to “5 Order Summary.”

NOTE: If your customer opted for a free in-store pickup, the delivery address for this order will be the location of your store.

On the “5 Order Summary” page, your customer will agree to the terms of your store’s delivery and return policy. A pop-up window will appear entitled “Return / Exchange Policy & Customer Satisfaction.” Have your customer review these terms before agreeing to them, then proceed to the final step, ”6 Make Payment.”

At the “6 Make Payment” page, you may opt to “Pay With Square” or “PAY AT STORE Send to Register.” Regardless of which option you choose, a pop-up will appear, indicating that the order has been “successfully sent to the Sales Section of your POS.”

NOTE: You can retrieve any sales orders initiated and finalized through your RenARK Website app by launching your Renaissance Dashboard. Once logged in, go to your left-side nav bar and head to POS > Sales > All Sales. You may search and view the status of any sales orders by invoice #, customer phone number, first name, last name or email.

You can enable the in-app browser in your RenArk app by going into the app admin area, selecting Other Options, then selecting Show Browse Icon. This will place the browser icon in the upper right section of the screen. When the in-app browser is launched, you may visit any website assuming your device is connected to the Internet.