Look for features in retail management systems that support your business goals related to customer loyalty and promotion, selling, upselling, and payment, and data analytics and reporting.
Retail management systems — integrated software applications that help you run your business — can provide visibility into all areas of your operations from one dashboard. If you use cloud-based software, you will also have the ability to access this data from any device connected to the Internet, at any time.
As you begin to discover how retail management systems could benefit your business in terms of convenience, automation, and insight, you also will discover there are many options to choose from. To ensure you invest in the best system for your business, here are five features a retail management system should have and that should be designed to align with your business goals:
Customer Loyalty and Promotions
Loyalty programs help engage and build good relationships with customers, encouraging them to continue to return to your locations to shop. A key to an effective loyalty program is accurate accounting of the points or rewards your customers earn as well as records of what they have redeemed. Your retail management system should provide this functionality.
When customers opt in to a loyalty program, you also have the ability to engage with them through email or text messages, informing them of promotions, offering them exclusive specials as a loyalty program member, and even tailoring promotions to them based on their profile and purchase history. Choosing a retail management system that supports your loyalty program objectives can mean not only loyal, engaged customers, but also increased revenue: loyalty programs are proven to expand your business, increase sales, and provide market research on your client base — something the right retail management system can help you collect and report.
E-commerce Integration
If you sell — or are considering selling — online, a retail management system with integration for e-commerce is vital. The right system not only will gives you the ability to offer your products to online shoppers, accept secure payment online and track shipping, but it will also provide you with visibility of your sales, inventory, and other metrics across all channels.
Cross-selling and Upselling
Look for a retail management system with the ability to prompt your sales associates to cross-sell and upsell during a transaction. Your POS can prompt your employees to suggest complementary or related products to add to the sale, remind customers it might be time to stock up on consumables related to a past purchase, or even suggest an alternative if an item is out of stock. This not only helps increase the total of the sale, but also engages your customers with personalized service.
Multiple tenders
You should also look for a retail management system that gives your customers flexible payment options, allowing them to pay with cash, credit card, gift cards, etc. — and to use more than one payment type for a single transaction. Beyond the convenience this provides to your customer, it can help increase the amount they spend; for example, when a customer that spends an entire gift card amount can pay the remainder of the transaction total with a card or cash, and the sale won’t be limited to the gift card amount.
Reporting
Retail management system reporting features can help you track an item from order, to receipt at the warehouse, transfer to your store, and to the purchase. You also can see who purchased the item and the other items they purchased with it. You can gather data on the performance of specific items by type, brand, or other metric. It’s important to select a system with a dashboard that presents the data in a way that’s most usable to you and your staff. Also look for real-time reporting that can guide you with up-to-the-minute insights in areas such as inventory and labor allocation.
Investigating how retail management systems support your business in these five areas can help you make the best choice for your business — one that will advance your efforts to engage customers, increase sales, and have insights into your business that improve your bottom line.