You’ve got to be demanding when searching for your next small retail business software. It’s got to be cloud-connected, it’s got to work online and off, it has to perform data analysis, it should be automated, and it must be flexible enough to conform to every nuance of the way your business works.
We live in an on-demand era where you should expect your business tools to be fully customizable and built in the image of your business. This software will sit at the heart of your operation, linking you with staff, suppliers, logistics, and customers—so make sure it’s intuitive to use and offers some insight into how all the moving parts of your retail outlet come together to create a profit.
There are several “must have” features we can outline when you’re looking to improve your retail software, but the most important of all is that the software achieves your goals and improves your business.
Seven Features Your Business Software Must Have
Your small retail business software should cover every aspect of your enterprise. While it is important that it can be integrated with highly specialized third-party business apps, especially those you may already depend on for payroll or accounting functions, for example, you want to create an all-in-one solution. This platform should be a single access point for all the key aspects of your working life.
With that in mind, here are the most important features any small retail business software must have:
- Cloud Connectivity
- Online and Offline Functionality
- Advanced Inventory Management
- Data Analysis
- Automated Order and Payment
- Employee Management
- Customer Management
The key to packing all of those features into a single small retail business software package is the first point on that list – being as cloud compatible as possible.
- Cloud Connectivity
Cloud computing is perhaps the most important development of the digital age for small businesses. It allows enterprises of any size to access the full width and breadth of the internet to reach tools, capacity, and customers that would otherwise fall out of reach.
By outsourcing the storage and maintenance of your business software to a third-party you get instantly accessible, state-of-the-art advantages at a fraction of the cost and without any of the IT concerns. You, your staff, and your customers can access the same all-in-one platforms from any internet-connected device, be they in-store, at home, or online.
- Online and Offline Functionality
Being connected to the wider internet world is critical, but your software needs to operate in the offline reality as well. Using your point of sale as the central hub, your system should allow you to continue to serve your customers and securely process their transactions with or without a live online connection.
- Advanced Inventory Management
As a small retailer, your stock is your most important asset. Your revenue depends entirely on your team’s ability to maximize the profit on the items that flow through your store.
Your business software needs to be able to track every item in your possession from purchase order through to final sale. It should provide a live count of everything on your books, its worth, and its history. You should also be able to get creative in your sales efforts with fully customizable product packages, sales, discounts, refunds, and incentives that can be accounted for in your inventory.
- Data Analysis
Your small retail business software should do more than just accommodate your business practices, it should offer some insight into their effectiveness. By linking inventory with live sales information, staff data, and customer details, you should be able to discover the ingredients of every sale. Your software should be able to identify patterns in your sales data that can help you better run your business. You should be able to find out, for example, which combination of staff, time of day, and product line leads to the perfect sales recipe.
Information on sales trends, customer shopping variations over time, and the impact of promotions and discounts can help you maximize your resources. It is the same data science employed by the biggest of retailers, and it should be a standard component of your business software.
- Automated Order and Payment
Your business software should make your life easier. Computers are wonderful at pattern recognition and at repeating routine tasks without tiring or making mistakes. So, you should be able to use your business tools to automate much of the core purchase order and supplier payment operations. By turning these tasks over to your software, you ensure you’re never caught short on the floor when offering a customer an alternative solution. Your working time is precious, don’t waste it on mundane tasks.
- Employee Management
You’re not the only person who’ll be accessing your business software. Ideally, your staff should be given as much autonomy as their role demands in completing and managing their rosters, training, and HR responsibilities. A robust business software platform will allow you to assign access to common areas in order for your staff to manage their affairs from any compatible device.
In addition, your software can become a communications platform where you and your team can coordinate, or just chat, and stay connected after hours.
- Customer Management
Finally, your software solution should allow you to gather, analyze, and maximize customer information. From spur of the moment discounts and bundled sales through to long-term, personalized loyalty programs, you should have total control over the customer experience.
As with all of the must-have small retail business software features outlined above, your customer management system should be completely incorporated into the overall platform. What you need is a single point of access to influence every aspect of your business. That solution should take your unique circumstances as the starting point and then create a digital hub that lets you run your business your way.
We at talech want to assist customers that have been financially impacted by COVID-19, in light of restricted movements in cities and towns across the country. We have launched a number of initiatives to help customers during this time. Click here to find out more or reach out to our Support Team at support@talech.com
