The recent years have demonstrated the benefit of using integrated retail systems, with retail management software stepping up to offer multi store retail owners the advantages of automatic inventory, faster reports and enhanced customer satisfaction. All this is in addition to a big reduction in costs. If you are a retail chain owner, it is worthwhile to consider the features and benefits of this software. Multi channel retail strategies will need to consider all possible means of reaching out to customer bases and engaging shoppers to a point where they return for more business.
Benefits
With an integrated retail system, you no longer have to rely on manual data for purchasing decisions – the system forecasts what planning will have to be done across the entire retain chain. Integrated software also makes it possible for you to bring together retail operations and back-office systems with your online web business. Further, you can use the retail software’s set of marketing tools to send out special offers and promotional newsletters to your clients. These are just a few of the software’s advantages.
Features
If your idea of a POS system is simply a cash register that gives you the total sales figures at the end of the day, then take a look at what integrated retail software can do at your point of sale. From sending out appreciation notes to shoppers, to building and running strong customer loyalty programs, to being able to look up and point to stock in other stores, real-time (and thus be able to service customers better), to auto-generating discounts at the time of billing, these innovative POS features are guaranteed to leverage your customer relationship. POS features designed to enhance shopper engagement can be incorporated at ecommerce sites, stores, kiosks or just about any point of sale. Multi channel retail strategy calls for customer engagement at touch points such as customer receipts, emails, text messages and other means of marketing.
Uses and application
In aiming for greater customer satisfaction, you have to first ensure that your customers come back repeatedly and the most effective way to do this is to build an engaging customer loyalty program. Bear in mind that more than a third of your revenue comes from repeat customers. A good integrated retail software system enables sales and support staff to actively engage with loyal customers, rewarding them at every level of sale and also informing them about promotional offers. Given that 48% of Internet users check their profiles on social networking sites, you can also extend loyalty programs to cover posts and tweets – this has proved to be a very effective strategy.
With multi channel retail software, you can keep an eye on all aspects of your retail business in a single application. Business intelligence dashboards help you analyze trends and keep an account of inventory, and also help you understand buying patterns and execute flexible reward points programs based on these patterns. Stock out situations can be kept to a minimum, ensuring that no customer leaves disappointed.
Some of the challenges that you might face when dealing with multi channel retail are in ensuring a seamless tie-up of integrated software, with legacy retail systems that your organization may have and making sure that brand information provided on all channels is the same. Integrated retail software systems bring together the best of many worlds, seamlessly merging inventory planning, POS features, business intelligence and customer loyalty programs to give you a definite edge in your business. Although a multi channel retail strategy might involve a complete overhaul in your marketing procedures, it is definitely worth the effort.
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