Is Your Retail Store in Trouble

Posted on by

With the economy in a seemingly unending nosedive; many small retailers are finding it increasingly harder to survive. It is quite simple, as people are tightening their budgets; they are cutting back on their leisure spending or finding more economical alternatives to what they used to do in the more opulent times. So how can you save your stores? One way that you can increase efficiency while cutting down on inventory shrink levels is through an investment in point of sale software.

How exactly can hosted software ease your burdens? Well, one effective way is through customer tracking. The system can track all of the purchases made by each customer to detect patterns and to reward customers who have certain performance levels. The saying goes that the best customer is a repeat customer.

Next, hosted point of sale software will allow you to track your inventory so that you can see which units of stock are not performing. With this knowledge, you can know to stop purchasing certain items and you can know which items are in desperate need of a promotion to get them off of your sales floor. Inventory management is critical for the retail chain’s survival.

Another way that you can improve your business via hosted point of sale software is through employee tracking. You can have your employees put their unique identification tags in for every sale that they are responsible for which will create a record of their sales performance. The employees may not appreciate the added stress of having to perform, but this will certainly revitalize your company and give your employees incentives to sell. Point of sale software can improve employee performance and make sure that they do not shirk their responsibilities.

Along with the measurement of employee performance, point of sale software can measure supplier performance. You might think that a particular brand is doing your company a lot of good, but with the cold hard facts, you will actually know which brands are over performing and which are under performing. You can increase orders from the suppliers that are over performing and help the underperforming suppliers to exit your company. Less waste gives you a better shot at increasing your profit margins and taking your company into the black.

A hosted point of sale software system can help you cut back on inventory shrink, employee theft, and just theft in general. If your system is telling you that there are 5 items in the stock room, but you cannot find them, you will know that it is time to increase security and surveillance in the stockroom. You could also conduct interviews with each employee to see if they have any information regarding to the missing merchandise. Without the point of sale software, you would only be able to assume that the stock was missing or you may even think that it was sold.

It is clear that point of sale software can help your business to become organized and make money. There is no good reason to stay with the old cash register and allow valuable resources and time to slip away. Make the smart decision and upgrade today. Point of sale Software

Image Recognition Technology A Driving Force For Retail Industry

Posted on by

Image recognition technology has converted the world into a shop window. According to new market research, this is most likely to have the highest impact on retail sales. Advance technologies like store based technologies, interactive television, smart devices, and augmented reality along with image recognition will play a significant role in reshaping the retail environment. These technological innovations are riding the crest of both online and mobile shopping. And the latest phase of these unique technologies will hit the retail sector like never before.

It is very important to understand the changes going on in the retail industry to determine the impact of these innovations. In fact, many of the leading online and mobile shopping retailers are now mapping new tech trends to explore and understand their impact in the retail and m-commerce industry. Almost all the studies revealed that image recognition is one of the standalone technologies that have the potential to have the highest impact on retail sales.

Image recognition technology allows mobile apps, software and systems to identify customers based on their facial features. Additionally, it can recognize products or objects based on their attributes. One of the biggest advantages of this technology is that it makes easier for customers to experience and interact with products.
This technology is geared towards providing a more personal experience to the buyers. It allows the systems and software to react to an individual on a personal level. Buyers can simply sit down in front of a computer device to enjoy a fully personalized online or mobile shopping experience. The technology empowers devices and websites to become intuitive, allowing them to react in a unique and engaging way. Better still, image recognition technology has the potential to improve customer safety by making online transactions more secure. As a result, this technology is becoming invaluable when it comes to the security perspective of online and mobile shopping.

From product perspective, image recognition technology will help customers with visual product searches by simply pointing their device at the product image. Consumers can find and scan their chosen products easily and effortlessly. This will further blur the lines between online/ mobile shopping and high street shopping. Thus, it is making the whole world a shop window for buyers. Static product images on catalogs, billboards, newspapers and magazines can come to life and provide a direct link to the retailer location or online site. And all these can be achieved by using the camera of your smartphone or tablet.

Considering the various advantages of image recognition technology, many of the brands and online/ m-commerce retailers are using this emerging technology to make shopping more interactive. In fact, brands and retailers are creating more number of augmented reality apps using this technology. Consumers need to simply take a picture of the product and the app will match the photo referring to their database and provide all required information to help consumers make their purchase decision.

Emerging technologies like image recognition can create enormous opportunities for retailers; however, their real advantages are yet to be fully realized.

How To Control Shrink At Your Store

Posted on by

Shrink is a part of the business no one likes to talk about. However, shrink plays a huge part in every retailers business. Shrink can take many forms, but here are the four most common. They are employee theft, shoplifting, vendor theft and paperwork errors.

Many small retailers only worry about shoplifting, but the other three accounts for about 2/3 of all shrink. We will discuss steps to help reduce your shrink.

Employee theft accounts for almost half of all shrink. Many business owners refuse to consider their employees could be stealing from them. Employee theft can take many forms such as taking cash/ merchandise, passing merchandise, and giving unauthorized discounts to name a few.

The key to controlling employee theft is to reduce the opportunity to steal. You should explain clearly to your employees if they are dishonest what the consequences will be. Here are a few suggestions.

1.You must keep the back door controlled. If it is unlocked, it is easy for employees to put merchandise outside. They could have friends or family pick it up. Also, the employee could hide the merchandise in the trash to recover after work.

2.You need to do regular inventories of high theft items.

3.You need to show up unannounced. This is especially true if you have many younger employees. They are much more likely to be involved with theft.

4.You should have your store be mystery shopped. This can see how your service is plus spot potential employee theft issues. It could be done by someone you know or through a company that specializes in mystery shops.

5.Make sure all employees give receipts. You could offer the customer something free such as $5, if the employee does not give a receipt. This makes it harder for an employee just to pocket the money. If your register keeps track of no sales, this could be a clue of a problem. Excessive no sales are either an education issue or a theft issue.

6.You should do unannounced cash counts. Vary the times and check the register total against what you are supposed to have. Also, see if you noticed anything unusual near the register area or inside the till. This could include employees have a paper with a bunch of numbers, coins or some other object in an unusual place, or part of the money unorganized.

7.You need to explain your policies to all employees especially new hires. You should mention that you trust all of your employees, but you have safeguards in place to protect the store assets. It would be a good suggestion to mention just a couple to let the employees know you are serious about protecting the store assets.

8.Employees bags and purses should be checked when leaving. Management should show their bags or purse to another employee.

9.You must have policies in place for ringing up of family or friends. Also, your discount policy needs to be clear to all employees. The most common theft is passing merchandise to family or friends or giving unauthorized discounts. For example, your $20 item may be sold for a $1. If you have a way employees can change the price of an item, you must have someway to at least spot check for potential problems.

10.You could have a tips hot line for employees to report potential shrink. Yes, on many occasions it would be used to report bogus claims about other employees. However, if work correctly, the valid claims could save you hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

11.Keep an eye on customers who are just hanging around employees. Also, if certain customers only seek certain employees could be a sign also.

12.You need to track your employee purchases. Very few purchases or excessive could be potential trouble spots with employee theft. If they never buy, it could be they are just taking merchandise. If they are buying a lot, where is the money coming from?

Shoplifting

1.You should greet every customer. It is great for customer service. Also, shoplifters do not want to be noticed.
2.Put high theft items where they are easier to watch.
3.Look for customers splitting up and one trying to keep you busy.
4.Keep your store neat and organized. Shoplifters like to leave empty packages in unorganized areas.
5.If the customer is watching the employees more than shopping.
6.Shoplifters like to go to blind spots. You may want to install some mirrors to make it easier to see the entire store.
7.Have signs made that shoplifters will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. If you have the reputation of being soft on shoplifting, you will always have a major problem.
8.Look for nervous shoppers.
9.If shoppers come in your store often and seldom buy anything. Most shoplifters do buy a few items and just help themselves to others.

Vendor Theft

1.Check all orders for shortages. It is best a good employee or management be responsible for this.
2.Make vendors break down boxes before leaving the store.
3.Dont hand a signed invoice to the vendor until they are done. This will help with the previous two suggestions.

Excessive shrink can cause your business to fail. Shrink cannot be eliminated, but it can be reduced. Following our suggestions is a good way to ensure that you take more money to the bank than your employees, shoppers or vendors.

Security of ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System

Posted on by

Security is one of the basic aspects of an ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS. You may be a reputed seller with a big retail store running a retail management system like the one provided with capabilities with ecommerce for Dynamics RMS; there is no guarantee that customers will opt for your web store with ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS even though they have opportunities to purchase products at a discount. To ensure that online shoppers prefer your store with ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS, you will need to provide them with a secured environment to shop freely.

If you are using Microsoft Dynamics RMS to run your physical store, setting up a secured online store with provisions to do ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System will be a cakewalk for you. A reputed ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS such as 24Seven Cart can help you to set the online store and connect it with the entire system for ecommerce for Dynamics RMS using a web integrator. In this way, no mission-critical information will be compromised as you are always backed by a complete secured platform supported for ecommerce for Dynamics RMS.

Besides the overall security of your data synchronization, ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System provider will also ensure that the payment processing mechanism is also 100% safe. Unlike a free shopping cart, owning a proprietary-based ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS like 24SevenCart can give you the advantage of utilizing additional resources to reinforce the security. Besides complying with the industry-standards like PCI compliance system and data encryption features, the ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System provided through 24SevenCart can also customize the checkout region to put extra-layers of security.

Your retail management system, especially the one with ecommerce for Dynamics RMS is the nerve center of your business. When you connect it to the ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS, your resources will also be available online. With a secured setup to do ecommerce for Dynamics RMS, you can easily maneuver your resources to bring in more customers to your online store. By enabling the security features provided through the environment for ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System and using a payment gateway of repute, you will succeed to gain customers’ trust and gain frequent visitors to ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS.

An ecommerce for Microsoft Retail Management System like 24SevenCart can also ensure that your ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS is not affected by frauds or hackers. The service provider of ecommerce for Dynamics RMS can provide you with options to block IP addresses and prevent fraudulent activities. Usually, the firewall systems and security-layers implemented in these servers are of highest standards and what you will always get is an error-free and safe system in the form of your ecommerce cart for Microsoft RMS.

Turnaround Your Retail Business

Posted on by

Turning around a retail business is easy, so much a lot of straightforward in fact than the many books written on the subject. Once you cut away all the fluff, it extremely comes down to some basics. Get these right and you’ll the focus on the additional complicated ideas.
The high six concepts for turning around a retail business in tough times are:
USP. Guarantee that the business contains a unique selling proposition, product, services or different factors which make the business distinctive from others in the same field. If you are doing not contains a USP why should people search with you?
Value management. Create certain that business prices are managed, that you are not spending cash on non-income generating activities. If your prices aren’t managed and are indeed out of management then you wish to sell more to cope with this.
Use folks who wish to figure there. Cheerful employees help you sell additional products. Selecting the right folks is very important to making any business more successful.
Competitive offer. Your product combine and pricing would like to demonstrate that your business is competitive. If your costs don’t seem to be good or your product combine not right then why would client shop with you?
Traffic generation. It is vitally necessary to plug the business outside its four walls. How you are doing this can depend on the business. Too usually, businesses in trouble are spending nothing or terribly very little on promoting their businesses. External selling could be a free check in your automotive, an advertisement or a self created flyer.
Being client friendly. Ensure that your retail business is laid out to suit customers and to assist them pay money.
The following pointers are non ancient because they’re straightforward and specialize in very basic ideas. While there are lots of different ideas for turning around a retail business, if you do not have these basic ideas right then the additional complicated and time consuming ideas can not help.
if your retail business is in trouble, start immediately to require action. Doing something, anything, is healthier than nothing and worrying. The ideas in this article are designed to get you pondering steps you can take while not spending money.