While the world is running at a rapid pace amidst the ongoing Digital revolution, the global business markets are witnessing more updates and advancements with every day passing by. Moreover, if we talk about the retail industry in the same context, the industry has gone through drastic changes in terms of all the transactions and information involved in the process. Earlier the retailers were lacking all the accurate information in order to ascertain their daily returns on investments and raw materials in use. With changing times, they are now in a better position to keep a track of each and everything in a better manner, all thanks to the ever evolving technology.
How ERP help in Retail sector?
Moreover, all such technological advancements have left these retailers reeling under too much raw and unstructured data which they are unable to interpret in the systems. That’s where ERP systems comes into picture and while we talked about its relevance in various other industries in a short span of time, it has transformed the Retail industry in a bigger context down the line.
As ERP Software Retail sector works on the details garnered from various departments of an organization to ensure that each and every department works along with the other one enabling a smooth supply chain in the process. While doing this, you can also enhance the efficiency of your employees and staff members by providing them with a common pool of information to process orders in a faster manner and boost the overall productivity of the retail firm in the process. Let’s take a look at some of the way by which ERP can help the Retail industry in the bigger context.
Financial Management
Most of the retail organizations are working towards using more and more cloud-based enterprise resource planning systems nowadays. While Cloud solutions offer an integrated system to store all the multifaceted information in regards to their retail outlets, they would also keep all the related data synchronized in the meantime. Moreover, as an ERP system can be easily incorporated with POS (Point of sale) systems, you can go ahead with a real time tracking of the same transactions.
Personnel Management
Most of the Efficient ERP systems can help the retail outlets by pre-scheduling of the staff members in order to meet the footfall at the retail outlet. Moreover, it eliminates any goof ups in terms of absenteeism or unavailability of any staff member by rescheduling the list of all the employees and their available provisions when and wherever required.
Customer Resource Management
While keeping an accurate record of the customer details is a must in every retail business, managing the same and using it further for product and market research is quite a hefty task. ERP systems helps the retail firms in streamlining all the data in regards of the customer’s purchase history and make it further available to the management in order to design future campaigns based on better customer experience. This way, the firm can ensure more potential customer along with better business relationships with the existing ones.
Tag: Retail
How To Choose The Perfect Retail Location And Make It Profitable!
Choose The Right, Retail Real Estate Location! Family Expenditures – And How They Can Guarantee Success!
Location, Location, Location – we’ve all heard that catchphrase! Choosing a great location is of the utmost importance…the correct location is one of the most important factors in a successful retail business.
Family expenditures will greatly increase your chances of selecting the correct area and location for your business. Whether you are starting a new business or increasing the number of stores in your multi-unit retail business, the benefit of evaluating the immediate area through family expenditures is immeasurable.
Firstly, we need to establish an understanding of our product or services, then pick a couple categories which our product/service falls into. Any demographic profiling consultant firm can give you a list of the different categories of products or services which they track or have in their profiling databases.
Secondly, we need to establish a radius or catchment area, which we believe we can draw clients from. For a typical small to medium retailer the catchment/trade area , is typically approximately 3KM surrounding your potential or existing location. When we have finalized our product category or service category and our catchment or trade area we can move to the next stage.
Let’s assume our product is widgets, the category we fit into on the database with our local demographic profiling consulting firm, is general widgets. We have also concluded we can pull customers from up to 3Km’s away; therefore we will use a 1KM and a 3Km radius circle around our potential or existing location; as the parameters for our study. We then produce a map and a list of variables, showing our potential or existing location; firstly the map can show, traffic counts, traffic generators, daytime populations etc, which will help us evaluate the immediate trade area. As well secondly, we produce a list of variables which includes; family expenditures on general widgets. Along with the previous information which also needs to be examined, let’s go into a little more detail on the family expenditures.
The data will show us…how much money is spent within a 1KM radius and a 3Km radius on general widgets within a year period. The data will also show us how much money is spent per household on general widgets within a year period. Now we have some hard data on dollars spent and can begin to establish a sales prediction model. Let’s assume $10,000,000 is spent on widgets within a 1Km radius of our potential location within a 12 month period…we want as much of those dollars as possible for our new potential retail location. A good first step would now be to check out the competition in the immediate 1Km radius and compare their widgets to the widgets you intend to sell. Also the competitions- service, quality of widgets and the look and feel of their stores. Some of the elements we could look also evaluate are the competitions, price point, quality of widget, quality of packaging, merchandising, location, convenience, store hours, store build-out, return policy, delivery service…these are just a few tips, there are many different variables you can incorporate in your comparison.
The next step is to chart the results and compare your location or potential location to the competition. This study and comparison can become very lengthy and detailed or quite simple depending on your needs.Through the evaluation of our chart we can now make a determination of the percentage of sales we can expect from the $10,000,000 of sales of widgets in the 1KM radius. We can then, follow the same procedure for the 3KM radius, if needed. This greatly helps us determine our sales at our new potential location. Which can also help us determine how much rent we can pay, how much staff we can hire, how much stock to order etc. and be profitable. As well, if we are studying an existing location we can set targets for sales based on the numbers we concluded from our study. We can also see which aspects of our existing location are inferior to the competition and resolve those deficiencies, and hopefully surpass the competition on same.
Evaluating family expenditures will greatly enhance our chances of choosing the right real estate location for a retail business. As well, continuing to work with and evaluate family expenditures as they come available year by year, will also greatly enhance our chances of a healthy, successful and profitable ongoing business!!
Family expenditures can do so much more than you ever realized! Want to ensure your success and outsmart the competition? Choose to investigate the world of evaluating family expenditures and open yourself up to a whole new world of possibilities!
Why Ecommerce Website Is the Need of the Hour for Your Retail Business?
From new companies to expansive ventures with well-known brands, relatively every organization is picking up an advantage from their eCommerce site where they can offer their particular items or services. In the present focused society, buyers never again search for adventures on the high boulevards to purchase merchandise or items; instead, they use online assets for their shopping accommodation.
“According to Statista report, in 2017 eCommerce was responsible for around $2.3 trillion in sales and is expected to reach $4.5 trillion in 2021.”
This is the place internet business sites gain ubiquity in the market. Numerous retailers are favoring this choice to offer their items on the web. There are immense advantages of internet business sites and here are a few motivations to pick an eCommerce platform for your business:
Extends Your Brand
Consistently the number of online clients expanded by some rate and half of them invest energy in seeking and shopping of items. Thus, web-based business site can be a viable device to expand your brand image alongside internet showcasing services and eCommerce life utilities.
This will enable you to grow your items and administrations to a full degree while making your business famous in the online commercial center.
Comfort of shopping
Have you ever wish to go out shopping late at night or have required a few products on dire premise? Online business sites are accessible every minute of every day to buy products whenever and with quick coordination, it will be an additional favorable position.
Also, individuals don’t generally have much time to go out and look through the things they need to purchase, so they go online shopping for those things. This demonstrates the online retail business is exceptionally advantageous for shoppers since it has no time requirement.
Focus on a more extensive engagement of people
Web is a huge field where you can discover billions of clients web-based, hunting down something, or creating something applicable to them. A large number of clients may look for merchandise and ventures for their benefit. Ecommerce development can take your business to them and achieve a vast amount of online clients.
Subsequently, you can focus on a substantial number of engagement of people through your web-based business and satisfy their necessities with your items and administrations. At the point when clients discover your site essential and helpful, the movement will increment and draw in more groups of onlookers.
Displays launching of services or products
There are a wide variety of internet advertising devices and practices that can be used to make your site prevalent among online clients. Internet business is where you can get best-promoting open doors that can get quality movement on your website. Most conventional advertising systems are SEO and SMO, PPC, content showcasing and some more.
To set up an eCommerce website for your business, you will require certain things, for example, a group of best eCommerce business site designers, online advertising techniques, a god spending plan and some an opportunity to actualize your thought effectively. Internet business has everything that can make your image mainstream through online assets.
After everything, you need to decide, go for something which you can control in the future when your business will expand. Don’t be in a rush. You can check our blog on things to remember before developing a website.
Read more about Magento vs Shopify: Select the best platform for your eCommerce
4 Reasons Why Your Retail Business Needs a Mobile App
Mobile epidemic is spreading. Nowadays, there are more than 2 billion active smartphone users all over the world. And all these people choose a smartphone as the most convenient device for the majority of their daily tasks. The possibilities of this market are unlimited, and if you still haven’t done anything to use them, it’s high time for you. In this article, we’ll explore why a website is not an option anymore for online retail business, what benefits you will get if you create an appealing retail mobile app and what functionality you’ll need to include there.
Your site isn’t enough
Ask yourself what device you use more. Is it a PC or a phone? I’m sure that it’s a smartphone. Now, ask yourself what is easier to work with a mobile app or a website via a mobile browser? I think that the answer is obvious. And we are not the only people who have noticed the difference. Here are some statistical facts taken from PR Newswire portal to prove my point:
- Mobile app users browse 280% more items compared to websites on mobile devices.
- Mobile apps have 90% higher rate of goods added to basket compared to mobile websites.
- Mobile websites in the retail sphere have more than 100% less conversion rate if compared to mobile apps.
The numbers clearly show that the mobile apps work much better in such areas as customers’ engagement and profits increasing. And one more thing for you to consider, the portal Flurry analytics has calculated that modern mobile users spend about 90% of time working with apps and only 10% on browsing.
You see the statistics and have to make conclusions because your competitors do. Every day we get thousands of retail mobile apps and there are several reasons why business holders create them.
Benefits for business
All these phrases like “business improvement” and “profit increase” sounds very hazy. Let’s talk about real advantages which you’ll get after your retail app release:
Sales boost. It was calculated that more than 85% of users who installed a retail app use it regularly. Almost 55% percent of these people have made a purchase via the app last month.
Very promising statistics, right! Besides, with the help of discounts, special offers and a loyalty program for mobile shoppers, you can easily break these records. For instance, Alibaba, an online retail app famous for its discounts, has got the highest profit from mobile users – almost $25 per a user a month!
Extinguish competitors. This business if taught and the race is very intensive. Did you know that 60% of all interviewed business holders in the retail sphere confirmed that they are ready to start their own app development or they have already released one? Modern apps are very easy to use, they have much more intuitive interface than mobile websites do and %45 off people who took part in AYTM survey claimed that they prefer doing shopping via a mobile app rather than a website. Sounds like a lot of people, right? Don’t give these customers a chance to choose another app. Contact a mobile app development company and release your product faster than your competitors!
Build brand loyalty. Brand recognition and loyalty is a huge plus for your company. Many businesses are trying to build their marketing campaigns in a way to increase their brand popularity. That’s one of the main reasons for many business holders to create their own mobile app.
In-store experience improvement. It was calculated that more than 50% of customers can use both a mobile app and physical store shopping. Which means that these notions aren’t mutually exclusive. Moreover, one can help another. In such a manner, you can improve your in-store experience with the help of a mobile app.
For instance, with a barcode scanner app, your customers can get more information about a product and its peculiarities without pinging a staff member. As well as that, your customers can pre-order goods and pick them up whenever they like.
MVP feature list
Still, there are some features which are an absolute must in your retail mobile app. Here they are:
Convenient catalogue. It has to be really well-organized and structured catalogue to help users save their time and nerves. Here’s a tip for you, use only high-quality goods photos and keep your catalogue up-to-date. Nothing drives customers crazy as an item which you can see in the app but can’t buy because there are none.
A lot of filters. Customers are very demanding nowadays that is why it would be useful to add additional filters to the usual ones, like size, colour and so on.
Convenient payments. Add several payment options. Not all people use only Visa or MasterCard. Different options give a user right to choose. It would be also great if you add total cost feature to your shopping cart, so a user can see whether he has enough money or it’s necessary to exclude one or a few items.
The information we’ve listed above should become a guide for you if you want to make your retail business prosperous. The modern era demands only modern technologies and approaches. Don’t waste your time and give your customers a chance to shop with comfort!
Evolution of Online Retail
Competing in a high-pressure business scenario has become a challenge for retailers. As an effective alternative sales channel sellers are looking at the internet, which gives them direct access to target customers. Online retailing (also known as e-tail) is a web-enabled interface between a retailer and its target consumers for selling products and services on the web with the facility of ecommerce. These kinds of retailers are also known as e-tailers. Almost all big retailers are now electronically present on the World Wide Web.
After the invention of WWW (World Wide Web) web browser in 1990’s, release of Mozilla Netscape navigator in 1994 and opening of first online retail by Pizza Hut, the online retail has gone through a lot of transformation and today it is still developing in a very diversified way. E-tail has become very popular in the areas of apparel, arts and handicrafts, books, car rentals, computers and electronics, cosmetics, financial services, gifts and novelties, etc. This retail could be an e-store, internet shop, web shop, web store, online store or virtual store.
Some of the major advantages of e-tail which makes it popular among the retailers are low investment cost, direct access to target customers and quick return on investment. This kind of retail format helps the retailers to serve their customer quickly and more efficiently by offering them a detailed portfolio of products and services. On the other hand, availability of the point of transaction data helps the retailers to analyse and interpret their target customers. It has become the most efficient way to offer valuable information to the customers like discounts, promotions, new and existing products as per the customer requirements and past shopping behaviour. Availability of plenty of information about the products has increased the confidence level among the consumers.
Online retail industry in India is likely to be worth Rs. 70 billion by 2015 according to Associated Chambers of Commerce and Industry of India. The buying-selling trends from leading e-tail portals indicated that online retail market currently stands at Rs. 20 billion and is growing at a steady annual rate of 35%. Among Indian states, Maharashtra has the best IT infrastructure, both from the retail industry perspective as well as consumers. Mumbai accounts for a 24 per cent share in India’s e-commerce transactions. Some of the popular Indian online retailers are Staples Inc, Home Shop 18, Indiaplaza, eBay India, Future Bazaar, India Times, Rediff, etc. Easy availability of broadband services and increasing internet penetration is acting as a support to the growth of online retailing. The increasing purchasing power of the Indian customers is set to bring online shopping boom in India. One of the latest additions to online retail is advertising through social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, etc. Apart from website technologies, retail leaders are trying to adopt video, mobile and social media strategies with a view to provide richer, more engaging and user friendly experience.
After bringing revolution in the metro cities, online retailing is set to create sensation even in the rural areas. Furthermore, with the opening up of the Indian economy in relation to change in the FDI strategies, it is a wake-up call for retailers that have done too little to develop an online strategy as retail giants like Tesco, and Amazon have already started actions and strategy implementation in the Indian retail market.