Regardless of their size, retailers have a variety of tools designed to make operations more efficient. Here are the top five strategies and tools.
In today’s business world, technology is evolving at a rapid pace. This means that the only way for traders to stay in the game is to harness the power of the trading tools available to them.
Whether you are a small or large retailer, you have a variety of tools at your fingertips designed to make your retail operations more efficient. Here are five – CRM, POS, online payment options, social media and consumer tracking – that can make your business more efficient.
Customer gifts to build loyalty
Giving gifts to your customers can be a great source of building long-term relationships with your customers. You will see a rapid increase in the number of repeat customers using this effective strategy.
There are a variety of gifts for customers to choose from. It won’t cost your business much, but it will bring a lot of customers back. It is a must-have strategy for retailers, both online and offline.
Find the right CRM for your retail operation
Customer relationship management (CRM) tools help build loyal customers and increase recurring traffic thanks to key elements such as the integration of allocation and replenishment and the connection of key operational areas – sales to retail, customer and field services.
However, you need to make sure that your CRM solution is retail specific and that you are using all of the tools that your software has to offer. It’s easy to forget the tools right in front of you.
Integration of POS software in your business
Point of Sale (POS) software automates the movement of inventory in your physical store or the Internet. This allows you to manage inventory, sell inventory through customer orders or point-of-sale transactions, track customers, and manage accounting.
A good POS system will eliminate unnecessary work, improve customer relationships, and save you money by automating inventory replenishment, generating up-to-date sales reports, and allowing customers to make quick and accurate checks.
Offer online payment options
Keep in mind that consumers prefer to have a variety of options when paying online rather than just using their contactless credit card machine.
Rather than updating the packaged software and making regular backups of your customer account data, you may want to connect to an online customer account service. Find one that allows you to offer a variety of online payment options to customers and that handles all updates and maintenance for you.
Putting social media to good use
How well do you integrate Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook into your marketing strategy?
“There has never been a time in history when a retailer, without a lot of capital, can fully engage with customers and potential customers at this level,” suggests writer Michael Datton in his article ” Get started with social media ”.
How important is social media? Research shows that “9.2% of shoppers who visited a retail site from a social media site made a purchase. In addition, 77% of all social media traffic started with Facebook. And e-commerce is expected to continue growing, with mobile phone sales expected to reach 49% this year.
If your retail business is not making good use of social media, you are missing a great opportunity to reach new consumers as well as current consumers.
Use of security cameras and mobile phones for tracking
Do you want to monitor buyer behavior and know where consumers are spending their money? Many retailers do this via security cameras and cell phones.
Physical stores competing with online shopping are at a disadvantage. Until now, they have not been able to track consumer activity. However, some have started using security cameras to “track the way people move”. In addition, others are testing facial recognition software that can identify the gender and approximate age of buyers.
Another emerging retail tool is monitoring pedestrian traffic via buyers’ mobile phones. Path Intelligence, based in England, sells a phone tracking technology called FootPath that tracks buyers in malls in Europe.
Whether your retail operations are brick and mortar, online or both, there are tools to improve operational efficiency. It’s about deciding which business tools are best for you.
