InvenTrak Blog

You hear the term "Customer Experience" more and more frequently these days. Writers, businesspeople and bloggers like myself have been telling you repeatedly to enhance your customer experiences if you want to thrive in the face of this economic crisis. But do you have a full understanding of what the customer experience really means, and just how to "enhance" it?

Customer Experience? Well that's easy, you say. It's the full experience a customer has with a company, through every channel and each encounter (or something like that). So the question that follows is, how do I improve on that? To enhance the customer experience, keep one mantra in mind:

Take it personally.

The key to delivering the greatest and most valuable customer experience is to make it as personalized to each customer as physically possible. Where feasible, every aspect of their encounters with you should be tailored fit to them. But before you can do this, you need one vital thing: Information!

Detailed information is essential for understanding your customers, and I don't just mean contact info. With reports on your customers' purchases, you can understand

A) Whom your most lucrative customers are and

B) What your customers like to buy.

With this information on hand, imagine the possibilities: Customer-specific discounts, VIP promotions, personalized advertising, email notifications. The list goes on.

But personal information on your customers can prove beneficial too. With a CRM module that registers information such as birthdays, anniversaries and linked customer profiles (spouses, parent and child) you are able to offer personalized promotions, birthday emails, etc.

Remember that a true customer experience doesn't end at the exit sign. I always think of customer relations in terms of romantic relationships: There is the initial courtship, but just because they bought from you before doesn't mean you that you shouldn't remind them that they are appreciated or neglect to make them feel special.

So take the customer experience personally. Your customers will thank you!

In tight times, tightening inventory is an absolute must. As you downsize your inventory whether through discounting or liquidation, it is critical that you carefully choose which products to keep on the shelves. In order to do this, certain information is essential, namely a list of your bestselling items. With this list you will be able to establish your core lines, or the most popular items in your store. Core lines are the products that keep your customers coming back and depending on the item can even help to establish brand or customer loyalty.

It is vital to keep these items in stock at all times. Few things are more frustrating to a customer than to walk into a favorite store to find that their favorite item is out of stock. Setting up an automatic reordering system so that you can always have these items on hand will help to ensure that you are properly stocking your inventory.

Customers are not very enthusiastic about trying new products, brands, or stores right now. When change comes, particularly bad change, people stick to what is safe and familiar. So: Don't underestimate the power of your core lines! These are items your customers are still willing and wanting to buy, so stock up!

I am generally supportive of taking new and creative approaches to things, but with the current economic climate, inventory is not one of them! If it isn't broken, don't fix it!

Inventory is the red wine in the Holy Retail Grail. It is the life source of retailing and if not managed effectively can be a big pain in the butt. Having overstock of unpopular items or being out of stock of customer favorites can really hurt a business, as can buying from too many (or the wrong) vendors, as can hundreds of other inventory missteps. But as Inventory Management Today points out, even in the midst of an economic downturn you can turn your inventory into cash if you approach inventory control with a simple strategy and detailed analytical data.

Times may be tough, but there are always ways to make and save money. Approach your business strategy and planning with the proper enterprise information and create a plan that works for your enterprise.

In reading close to hundreds of articles, blurbs and blogs offering retailers tips to survive the recession there is one item I've noticed is always missing: The IT budget. Inventory management, labor management, and customer retention- The strategies are all fairly similar. But what about business technology? Shall we cut back? Maintain the current budget? Then I've got some of you out there saying, "What business technology?"

Which prompts me to propose something you may not see on anyone's "How to survive" list: Invest in (the right) technology. The right retail technology can help you execute your economic plan of action and revitalize your business. While investing in new technological ventures may not sound prudent at first blush, technology like retail management systems or CRM applications may be the best thing for your business in the current economic climate.

Consider the recommendations you've heard: Manage ROIs, strengthen existing customer relationships, cut back on labor costs. With a retail management system that boasts features like CRM and labor cost modules, enterprise reporting, and inventory management, all these recommendations are possible!  Pair that with the power and growing popularity of the Retail Cloud and you'll have made a minimal investment with a maximum return.

This new wave of retail technology is far from a trend: It is a viable technological tool for businesses of any size to streamline operations, achieve transparency and eliminate context tasks. So consider the benefits of retail technology. It may be the best stroke of fiscal luck you've had in years!

With the buzz of the Retail Cloud reverberating across the industry, the benefits of Software as a Service are being shrewdly examined by merchants everywhere. One of the many pros given for SaaS is the centralization of information. Web-based central servers allow heavy packets of information to be transferred and stored in one remotely accessible location. We all understand the convenience of this, but I fear that small and medium retailers do not understand just how powerful this feature can be for their business.

Centralized information gives businesses capabilities that may have previously been out of their reach. Below are some of the hardest-hitting benefits of centralization of business information:

- Enterprise Reporting: Centralized data on sales, inventory, etc. allow merchants to view detailed reports on all aspects of their enterprise. With all information stored in a central database, the reporting possibilities are endless. Inventory adjustment, bestseller lists, time and attendance reporting, total sales- No leaf of your business need be left unturned.

- Management Automation: By processing all information through one location, businesses are able to arrange automated actions to take place when certain information is pushed through the server. For example, a retail management system that offers automated email alerts will be prompted to send emails to specific addresses when a particular action takes place, say an employee forgetting to clock out on time. Without time clock information being pushed to that server in real time, the only alternative is to find out about the misstep through the end of day reporting, going back to identify which employee forgot to clock out, logging into the system to correct the error, and essentially wasting time and money to manually accomplish something that could have easily been done automatically.

- System-Wide Modifications: Another perk of centralized information is the ability to make system-wide changes instantly from one location. If the price of an item needs to be adjusted or a register needs to be added to the system, these changes can be made from the central server and then automatically pushed to the POS, making modifications a breeze.

- Measuring Data: With such helpful reports at your disposal (because you found a retail management system with enhanced reporting options, right?) you have the ability to measure different sets of data against one another. Measure your projected sales against your total sales and see how well your goals are being met. These types of information and the various ways in which you can understand and utilize them will help your business achieve maximum transparency, with little cost and even less effort.

With centralized information, businesses have the opportunity to grow and thrive, and with the Retail Cloud small and medium businesses need not miss out on this opportunity. Are you ready to move to the Retail Cloud?

While browsing the blogosphere recently, I found Doug Fleener's article Are Your Staff Believers? that discusses various ways to turn your staff into, you guessed it, "Believers." The tips presented in this article are really hints on ways to buoy the enthusiasm and efficiency of your staff.

While certain employee data (such as employee productivity reports) may have helped you to recognize your most valuable employees, how can you make the most of those workers? Chances are that you've made some staff cutbacks in the past few months, so it's absolutely vital to have the most friendly, well-trained and enthusiastic labor force you can possibly assemble. Check out Doug's tips on making the most of your staff!

In a financial environment where business transparency has become vital to business success, having specific and detailed reports at your disposal is an absolute necessity. While different applications and management systems have hundreds of various reports available, below are the top 5 reports we believe each retailer needs at their disposal.

1. Sales Projection Analysis: In recent months you have likely reassessed your sales goals to fit the current economic environment. As the market continues to rise and fall, knowing how your actual sales measure up to your projected ones will be necessary to make sure that your financial output is accommodating your input. With Sales Projection Analysis data on hand, you'll be able to informatively adjust accordingly.

2. Bestseller List: Inventory cuts and liquidation cannot be properly made without having a comprehensive view of your bestselling items. Be sure to have a full understanding of your top items, and keep them readily in stock. Getting rid of your most popular items will hurt your ROIs and disappoint your customer base.

3. Employee Productivity: As with your inventory, you do not want to make labor costs for the sake of cutting back money. Remember to cut with a scalpel, not an ax. Learn who your most productive employees are, or even better, which employees' productivity continues to rise, and make your decisions from there.

4. Customer Purchases: With reports on customer purchasing patterns on hand, you'll have the power to make all sorts of decisions, such as which items to keep in stock, how best to market to your customer base, which customers should be appointed VIP status, etc. Customer loyalty is of the utmost importance in today's market.

5. Discount/Sales Transactions: Offering customers shopping incentives like sales and discounts is a prudent decision, but how will you know the effectiveness of these campaigns? With reports on discount and sales transactions, of course. These will allow you to see A) How many customers are actually putting these prompts to use and B) How much money these sales are actually bringing into your store.

With this information at your fingertips, you will be equipped with the tools you need to make imperative decisions within your retail business.