Inventrak Blog

The following are four retail technology strategies that I believe will give retailers the biggest benefit and maximum return on their technology investments. Your small retail operation can be just like the Big Box stores when it comes to being efficient and productive.

Point of Sale (POS), Bar Code/UPC Code Scanning 

A POS System is mandatory. A good POS system can track all your sales. It replaces your cash register and allows a multitude of features that will save you time. Bar Code and UPC Code scanning allows you to check products at the point of sale much faster and more accurately than can be done on the keyboard.  

Real Time Inventory Tracking

Inventory is your biggest asset. It generates almost all of your business’ income but also ties up a substantial amount of your cash. Inventory management is the heart and soul of retailing. Real-time inventory tracking tools enables you to know where your products are and how many are there in real-time. With such a tool, an out-of-stock situation will rarely happen at your store.  Moreover, you don’t need to overstock your inventory as you can make reordering decisions based on real-time sales reports across all stores. This tool not only reduces your inventory level but also ultimately increases your customer satisfaction.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM)  

CRM includes individual customer purchase tracking, customer group management, and loyalty/reward programs. Customer purchase tracking helps you to identify your best customers as well as understand their purchase habits, so that you can design certain programs to increase their spending and satisfaction. For those who do not visit your stores often or do not purchase much, you can use a programs such as a reward program to transform these customers into loyal ones. 

Retail Marketing Technology

Retail Marketing Technology involves e- marketing, m-marketing and in-store marketing.You need to use all possible marketing tools to get your customers involved. For example, your POS pops up a reminder to tell your cashier what to promote at the point of purchase. Another example is to download a list of customers who are most likely to buy the item which you want to promote and use e-marketing tools to inform them of this promotion.