Retail growth is dependent on successfully attracting customers and being able to continue to serve those customers as their number and demands increase. The way you step up your production, purchasing, and performance without having to raid the increased profits new customers attract is to work smarter.
Retail management software is there to maximize your talents and resources and minimize the spend it takes to accommodate growing customer numbers. It is the digital tools you use to cope with the increased demand for products and service that comes with success.
The most important features for generating and maintaining growth are:
- Automation produces quality to scale
- Integrated tools keep a business together
- Sales analysis for smarter spending
- Maximizing online services
- Building customer loyalty
- Empowering staff
- Creating work/life balance
These seven “must-have” retail management software features can get you growing in the right direction.
An All-in-One Platform for Growth
All of the management features listed below can be housed within a common, always accessible hub. You can upgrade your point of sales system to a digital, cloud-based, iPad-powered solution that pulls together all your business tools into a single platform.
It acts as both an in-store point of sales, service, and payment, as well as a suite of apps and programs that drive your product management and inventory, employee management, sales reports, and more.
From that central hub, you can access all the retail management software features you need to survive and thrive as a growing business.
1. Automation Produces Quality to Scale
Capitalizing on success can come down to some simple math. If you have to add staff in order to handle the extra customers that success brings, then you’ll lose out on the additional profits that should drive expansion. Automation solves that problem by meeting the demands of popularity with efficiency, not peoplepower.
Retail management software features that can automate tasks such as renewing purchase orders, following-up outstanding invoices, and performing regular stock takes can be expanded with little effort as your business grows. Computers don’t get tired or stressed or bored with repetitive work, and they never lose accuracy as the task grows.
2. Integrated Tools Keep a Business Together
Just as automation helps you meet raised expectations without having to add additional staff, smooth integration of your business tools increases capacity. Your POS system can become an all-in-one platform that connects every aspect of your retail outlet so that each part strengthens the other.
Your account keeping can be tied to live sales, inventory, and supplier dealings. Your staff performances can be weighed against broader sales trends, and your loyalty programs can be held to account against the spend and profit of every dollar that passes through your business.
By integrating all your business tools within a single platform you avoid losing track of the little figures, waste, and double handling that eats away at the profits that drive growth.
3. Sales Analysis for Smarter Spending
Perhaps the single most impressive retail management software feature to emerge from the spread of digital POS systems in retail is the sophisticated use of sales analytics. Once the exclusive domain of big business, these accessible and customizable metrics let any manager see exactly how their business is performing over any given period. Retailers already spend more than $4 billion annually on such tools, and that figure is expected to quadruple by 2027.
When deployed within an integrated POS solution, you can measure profit against a range of variables, including customer demographics, staff performance, marketing spend, loyalty incentives, and supplier relations.
The resulting advice can help you better target your purchases and staff resources around shifting shopper trends, known seasonal variations, and more.
Growing your business without knowing exactly which customers buy what products and when is leaving your future success to chance.
4. Maximizing Online Services
It’s a fact of the 2020s, every business needs an online presence. Any retail management software you invest in must include an integrated approach to web and mobile customers that allows you to expand your potential revenue streams. We’ve all heard of the ever-expanding eCommerce market, but the online world is about more than convenience. Potential customers use your website to get to know your business, to virtually wander through your shelves, and to establish price expectations.
The leading POS system providers will include direct, integrated web development in their product, and they should be able to guide you through the process of capturing your instore appeal online so you can grow your customer base.
5. Building Customer Loyalty
The more you know about your customers the more likely you are to please them, and ultimately earn their repeat business—and repeat business is the most cost-effective way to generate revenue and grow your operation.
Your retail management software should include the capacity to capture, analyze, and actively leverage customer information. You should be able to create fully customised loyalty programs and incentives that not only encourage customers to return to your store but help reveal actionable information about their habits and preferences so that they’ll buy more on each visit.
6. Empowering Staff
Growing businesses need core staff members who understand the values that made your outlet popular. Your management software should be able to grow with your leaders, delegating more and more responsibility to them as they help you realize your potential.
The leading POS solutions can offer cloud-based platform access to every member of the team, so they can manage their own shifts and timesheets, pursue training, and take responsibility for their role. Your team can use their own personal devices to access the password-protected areas of your platform they need to improve and enjoy their time at work.
7. Creating Work/Life Balance
The same cloud-based network that allows your staff access to your business tools can make a big difference to your own work/life balance. If your retail management software is accessible from anywhere, at any time, across any internet-connected device, you gain total control of how, when, and where you work. While your business is in its infancy you might be willing and able to spend all day on the sales floor, but as it grows so too do the demands on your time and energy.
The Perfect Retail Management Software for Your Business
A completely digital POS solution lets you multitask from the personal safety of your own phone, laptop, or tablet. You can follow live sales reports while traveling to meet suppliers, leave the sales review until you’re clear of any personal matters, and monitor performance across sites as your empire expands.
Successfully growing your business depends on your ability to work smarter, not harder. With the right retail management software, you can introduce efficiencies that allow you to maximize the extra profit success brings and use it to expand.
Digital business tools help you bring your unique business model to an ever-expanding audience.
The POS solutions created by talech are future-proofed to grow with you as you achieve success. We devote our time to identifying your unique challenges and customizing our business management features to protect your future.
