3 Ways to track your inventory for better sell-through

Retailers more than ever before are faced with critically evaluating their inventory to curate a selection of products that will sell quickly and reduce their inventory costs.

The longer products sit on a shelf or in a warehouse, the faster their value decreases.

Carrying costs can be between 20 and 30 percent of inventory value, which indicates too much stock is simply taking up room and not providing revenue.

Capital costs are the largest portion and perhaps the greatest burden of carrying inventory; they include the investment made in acquiring goods and the interest lost when cash becomes inventory.

There are also storage costs and service costs.

And of course, there are risks with carrying inventory, primarily that the real value of the items will decrease while in storage, waiting to be sold.

1. Watch shopper demand

To streamline offerings, companies routinely weed out what’s not moving, and focus on products — and related items — that are popular.

One of the most efficient ways to determine exactly what customers are buying is by monitoring your inventory and sales data.

That provides the data necessary to determine what customers really want.

It can also help determine what they’ll want a few months down the road; investing in an analytics expert can be a cost-effective way of understanding and acting upon the information gathered.

Retailers tend to look at revenue as the primary metric of success or failure.

But knowing what drives those sales is equally important, because that information can help formulate a strategy for growth.

The additional analytics provide a more complete picture of a retailer’s health.

2. Audit store inventory

A complete audit includes more than an inventory count of both product on shelves and back stock, as it also can include a count of damaged products; assessments of in-store displays; planogram compliance (shelf location, number of SKUs, missing or inaccurate shelf tags).

Some retailers include a summary of competitors’ strategy as well as a look of their own roadmap.

Many retailers use point of sale software like Retail Pro to track current inventory, which is crucial in determining the right balance of products to carry.

POS software provides real-time inventory visibility and helps ensure the items are available in-store or for fulfillment of online orders.

It’s also important to confirm that data visually to have an exact idea of current stock.

While it may seem old-fashioned — and certainly not a replacement for today’s technology — performing a visual inspection could find an underlying reason for the slow sales, such as poor product placement on the retail floor.

Technology like RFID can help a retailer conduct physical inventory counts in hours rather than days.

Similarly, POS software can also help retailers identify product shrinkage, which may be easily remedied by physically relocating the item or by changing loss-prevention techniques.

3.Manage turnover ratio

By effectively managing the inventory turnover ratio, cash flow is optimized.

It provides feedback that the retailer is meeting customers’ needs, and results in maximized profits.

Even and especially the largest retailers need to be aware of their inventory situations and make their stock work for them.

Not only does that result in healthier revenue, but it also ensures more satisfied customers who know that what they come for is in stock.

Retail Pro ranked #1 POS for midmarket retail

 

 

We are honored to announce that the cross-platform, cross-channel POS and retail management software Retail Pro® was ranked number 1 retail mid-market POS in market share, global reach, innovation, and growth in the latest Retail Executive Advisory Program Research Study from IHL Group.

The study evaluated retail technology providers from all over the world based on relative strength, growth, direction, resilience, and market share.

“Over the years we’ve amassed a tremendous amount of primary and secondary-source data in this pursuit to assist retailers in vendor selection and to help understand the trends transforming our industry,” said Jerry Sheldon, Vice President of the IHL Group.  “The study considers primary and secondary source data to evaluate and rank on-premise and SaaS POS for retailers with chains ranging from 1 to 100 locations – representing over 9 million POS locations installed POS units worldwide.”

In this hyper-competitive context, Retail Pro holds 5.9% market share in the midmarket slice for general retail and also ranks as a top performer in IHL’s positioning map which measures vendors by innovation and market strength dimensions.

Kerry Lemos, CEO of Retail Pro International, comments, “We thrive in the highly creative and demanding environments in all major markets worldwide. Striving together with our loyal customers drives us to keep honing our technology to be more efficient, more innovative, and more adaptable to the diverse retail brands using Retail Pro worldwide.”

 

 

As retail in emerging markets continues to expand and enterprise retailers are rearchitecting systems for unified commerce, IHL projects the POS software market will grow 53% from $3.2 billion in 2018 to $4.9 billion in 2023, implying further growth opportunity for top POS providers.

“In spite of economic condition setbacks in some markets, retail continues to advance in North America, EMEA and APAC. This presents our retail technology solution providers with an opportunity to move forward and prosper in the era of intentional innovation,” commented Greg Buzek of IHL.  “These companies, ranked above all others in our study, represent a cohort of movers who push and help organizations drive growth. We congratulate the top-performers who move our industry forward.”

We are humbled at the significance of being ranked top POS at a global scale, and it is not by our efforts alone that this achievement was earned. Thus, we would like to recognize the people who work so hard every day, everywhere in the world, who are the hands, feet, minds, and retailers behind this triumph:

Our brilliant retailers who are always optimizing for more beauty and efficiency in retail experiences – and are using Retail Pro to do it.

Our forward-thinking designers, architects, engineers, and developers who create and support Retail Pro, and our dedicated team of business staff who keep the company on an upward trajectory.

Our skilled Business Partners who labor day and night to serve the 9000 retailers worldwide entrusting their operations to Retail Pro.

Our innovative Strategic and Development Partners who augment Retail Pro with the plugins and integrations they create.

All striving together for opportunities to push beyond what we thought we could do yesterday. All uniting to make retail what it is today.

THANK YOU.

 

 

Using Retail Pro mobile POS to connect with customers on the sales floor

 

 

How does going mobile help you understand your customers?

It frees your sales associates from the cash wrap so they can more meaningfully engage with shoppers on your sales floor and learn about them!

There is no better way to personalize a customer’s experience than by actually getting personal and asking questions. What are they looking for? What’s the occasion? Can we help you find something to go along with the item you’re trying on?

That kind of human connection makes customers feel like they’re shopping with a friend, and it builds emotional attachment to your brand.

Then, when they’re ready, the associate can complete the sale right there on the spot.

 

 

United Colors of Benetton use Retail Pro on tablets in their hip new flagship redesign. The mobile POS reinforce the brand’s ultramodern mood and allows an exclusive payment via mobile and card only, potentially everywhere in the store, reducing the time spent in a queue.

You’ll need to train associates on smoothly transitioning from the personal shopper role to closing the sale and packing their purchase. Positioning bagging stations at key, central points in your store will help keep the efficiency of the traditional queue, without its anti-climactic, assembly line feel.

The best thing about mobile POS is its versatility. Since Retail Pro POS is a browser-based software, you can use it on your choice of Apple, Windows, or Android devices.

And with support for biometric login, Retail Pro helps your employees log in faster and jump back into that assembly line mode for a fast and efficient checkout experience. Plus, the stocking associates can pull out another mobile POS to bust through the line faster.

Thinking about going mobile in your stores? Request a demo and get this whitepaper to see if mobile is right for your enterprise.

 

 

Shoppers don’t care about your POS. So why does it matter for CX?

 

 

Retail exists in an ongoing tension: how to run retail profitably without forfeiting its heart – to meet people’s needs and bring joy.

Unified technologies are integral in this balance, offering a truer picture of your business and customers so you can discover and act on opportunities to better serve your customers.

For example, having your inventory data visibility across stores means when your store is out of stock on a particular product, sales associates can check its availability at other locations.

But merely seeing product availability only goes so far.

Having actual connected data means your sales associate can save the sale by placing an order to the other store using send sale capabilities.

They can then set up the order to be fulfilled either by shipping it to the customer’s home or nearest store, or to have the customer pick it up at that location.

This way, you’re saving customers from disappointment and you’re saving sales.

Customers are happy – check.

Inventory is moving – check.

You’re increasing profitability – check.

 

How unified tech actually helps CX

So how do you do this with Retail Pro POS?

Retail Pro is a platform technology, so you can unify all your retail technologies on its foundation.

That means you can connect data from your ERP, CRM, email marketing platform, dropship tools, RFID, ecommerce, and every other tool you use.

Not only does this give your sales associates tools to better serve your customers – because they’ll have access to shoppers’ purchasing history and preferences for clienteling and they’ll be able to get them what they want every time – but it will also give you the meticulous visibility you need to really see what’s happening in your business.

With data connected in the Retail Pro POS platform, you can set up real time updates between applications and get better accuracy in stock management and order fulfillment.

You can color in a fuller picture of what’s happening in your business and use KPIs to uncover areas for improvement.

Our accessible application program interface lets you integrate all pertinent data and automate data exchanges so you’re increasing efficiency and acting on the data insights you’ll get.

With data-backed insights, you can take steps to actually improve customer experience in ways that will be meaningful to shoppers and will add to their convenience in buying from you.

 

Putting shoppers first

Retail’s goal is not just selling and upselling for profit’s sake, though yes, profitability is what keeps you in business.

But really, retail is about connecting shoppers to goods that might help them live life a little more productively, a little more delightfully, a little more generously.

Retail is about putting shoppers’ needs first, and unified commerce built on Retail Pro helps you do it better.

Talk to your Retail Pro Business Partner or request a consultation today to see how Retail Pro can help you unify commerce.

 

Retailers going omnichannel pass on tech benefits to customers

 

 
In-store customers account for 50% of all eCommerce activity, research by Salesforce found, so closing the online-offline gap is critical for customer experience.

In response, retailers pursuing omnichannel with Retail Pro are turning their technology gains into customer-facing conveniences for unified commerce that puts shoppers first.

Here are three ways you can pass on the benefits of full data visibility in Retail Pro to your customers.

 

1: Show store inventory availability online

 
79% of shoppers research products online before buying in stores. Analysts are calling the trend ROPO – Research Online, Purchase Offline.

With so many shoppers choosing this blended approach to shopping, you can use your inventory data in Retail Pro to give customers online visibility into a product’s availability at their local store and secure the sale.

 

2: Make personalized recommendations

 
Though personalized recommendations generate only 7% of online visits, they result in 26% of online conversions – well worth the effort.

You can analyze customer history data in Retail Pro to personalize your marketing with recommendations based on items they recently or frequently purchased.

Effective recommendations are those that complement what the shopper already purchased from you, rather than simply other iterations of items the shopper has already browsed or bought.

 

3: Blend channels into one holistic shopping experience

 
For on the go consumers, the real shopping is done on your website.

They see your store as a fulfillment center where they will try on or pick up what’s needed on their way to do other things.

Integrated ecommerce and store POS can help you create a streamlined experience for these busy shoppers: shoppers can plan ahead and fill up their online shopping cart, and then access it at your store POS to complete the purchase and get the goods.

 

Omnichannel at Kanmo Group

 

Kanmo Group took this kind of holistic approach to managing data with Retail Pro Prism.

“To truly benefit from our omnichannel strategy, Kanmo Group has to look beyond simply engaging customers through offline and online means. When you look at the customer behavior in Southeast Asia, you will see that shoppers love to fill up their basket online – but they still prefer to complete the purchase in physical stores,” commented Bhavin Patel, Omnichannel Director of Kanmo Group. “We want to give our customers flexibility to collect and check out the ‘basket’ they created by communicating with a salesperson or through the real-time Retail Pro Prism POS system.”

 

Customers can fill up their shopping cart online. If they are in the area, they might choose to visit a nearby Justice store and complete their purchase there.

 

Going Omnichannel with Retail Pro Prism

 
Retailers pursuing omnichannel are taking on the monumental task of integrating all their data sources into a 360 degree view of their business.

With full integrability in the Retail Pro platform, omnichannel is becoming attainable reality rather than simply rhetoric.

Accurate, real-time communications in Retail Pro help you keep your inventory and customer information up to date across the entire business, so you can make better decisions from holistic, integrated business insights.

Whether you’re leveraging Retail Pro for your brand stores, ecommerce, kiosks, outlets, franchises, store-in-store, or pop-ups, Retail Pro is one solution for all your retail and helps you unify commerce in a way that puts shoppers first.

 

To see what it will take to unify commerce with Retail Pro Prism in your business, contact your Retail Pro Business Partner or request a demo today.

4 Ways to use POS data better with Retail Pro

 

 

More retailers today are recognizing value in the raw data they collect from every transaction and seeing the need to use it more strategically to create a unique customer experience that will boost their bottom line and keep customers coming back for more.

The challenge then becomes knowing which data to single out from the torrent of data you have available: which data should a retail company track which would give direction for marketing efforts and lead to more conversions and repeat sales? And how do you put that data to good use?

Here are 4 ways you can take advantage of data gathered in Retail Pro POS to personalize your customers’ experience and boost your bottom line.

 

1: Collect better data with user-defined fields

 

Relevant data is where data-driven profit begins, and user-defined fields in Retail Pro POS give you flexibility to add the fields for which you want to gather data.

You can start by collecting the basics, like customer names and emails, and put that to good use immediately to personalize your communications.

Or, get more detailed with information like skin tone when you’ve just helped them pick out the perfect face makeup, so your marketing team can make more tailored offers on items like lipstick or blush.

Plus, you can grow your bottom line more efficiently by reaching out to past and repeat customers. This is where collecting emails at the POS really makes a difference.

Retail Pro Prism’s scriptable XML/CSS user interface lets you collect the data you’re interested in to better understand your customers and reach them more effectively.

Because you can entirely reconstruct the POS workflow to reflect your operations, you can create a popup prompting the sales associate to ask the customer for this information, helping you increase the amount of data points you’ll have to analyze.

 

2: Upsell with customer management features

 

Upselling is easier than selling to a customer for the first time and can help a store’s revenue grow faster. It should make customers feel as though they are winning – not as if they are simply shelling out more money. And when they’re winning, you’re winning too.

A quick glance at a shopper’s purchase history (or all those customer details you’ve started collecting!) in Retail Pro can equip your sales associates with the information they need to determine what products your customer would find most interesting and relevant, and make the offer for an upsell when they’re in the store.

Make it clear why you deserve these customers’ business, and why you offer a better value proposition than competitors. Most importantly, let them know how they’ll profit too.

 

3: Report on and analyze all your data for deeper insight on what your customers want

Getting holistic, real-time data in the hands of key decision makers allows them to take immediate action and improve performance in your stores. And when you give customers what they want, they come back for more.

To help you maximize the value of your data, intuitive dashboards and clear graphic visuals in Retail Pro Reporting allow you to summarize performance, analyze results, and explore trends.

Plus, when you integrate all your data sources in Retail Pro Decisions – like data from your database, ERP, CRM, external statistics, Google Analytics, social media, and any other data to which you have access – you can better understand what happened, why, and what’s coming next.

 

4: Integrate POS data with your CRM and personalized marketing platform to build loyalty and boost sales

Analyzing transaction data as a whole, like what customers purchase from you, when and how often, can be more useful for your longer-term marketing efforts, to better segment your shoppers and create personalized email offers based on their purchase history.

Personalized marketing solutions like AppCard for Retail Pro use transactional data from Retail Pro to trigger behavioral-based campaigns and keep shoppers engaged with your store.

It can help identify brand advocates and nurture prospects with AI-driven, highly personalized offers that helps convert prospects to customers and turn customers into delighted customers.

Watch our recent webinar: How to Use Loyalty Data NOW to Boost Holiday Sales

By combining those data points, retailers can infer a level of interest and reach out accordingly. Remember, actions can speak louder than words.

 

Proactive retailers are constantly striving to increase visibility into exactly who their customers are, how they’re interacting with your stores, and what they want. And, with Retail Pro, you can collect and act on the data you need to drive more sales.

Want to see how you can put POS data to good use? Request your demo today >

3 Ways to Improve Your In-Store Experience with Retail Pro

How a customer experiences your brand when they visit your stores is a strong indicator as to whether they will become a repeat customer or leave you for competitors with better service.

Elements of customer experience range from baseline solid replenishment so customers get the products they want, all the way to the heights of experiential retail where they get to test your products in the store – and you can use Retail Pro capabilities to improve each phase.

Here are 3 ways to improve your store experiences with Retail Pro.

1. Give them the goods

First and foremost, shoppers come to you for products.

If you don’t have what they want, shoppers may go for brand alternatives in your store.

Or, they might choose an alternative retailer to meet the need you couldn’t.

We know your team is doing its best to keep shelves and racks stocked with the latest and the best, and Retail Pro can be a strong help in this area.

To help you minimize lost sales due to out of stocks, use replenishment capabilities in Retail Pro.

For every item in your inventory, you can set minimum and maximum quantities.

These quantities specify the minimum and maximum amounts you want to have on hand at any given time.

The Best Replenishment utility allows you to automatically create purchase orders or transfer orders to ensure you have enough stock in each store when your quantities are above or below these numbers.

You can define formulas for different stores, departments, vendors, or styles.

Formulas use sales history records to ensure you have enough stock on hand for the period of time defined by the formula.

The wizard tool in Retail Pro helps you set up formulas quickly and easily.

You can read more about this on the My Retail Pro user portal blog: Automate Inventory Replenishment with Retail Pro® Auto Utilities

2. Show customers they’re worth your time

When you have enough personnel on the sales floor and at the cash wrap, shoppers intuitively get the message that they are worth your time and staff investment.

You can train your sales staff to keep an eye on queue length and whip out Retail Pro POS on a tablet to open up additional check stands so you make sure your customers get a good last impression.

Another way you can show shoppers they’re worth your time is by training your team to actually take time with customers before they get to the POS.

If the Min/Max features failed you or you just sold the last pair of high rise skinny jeans in your customer’s size, your sales associate can use Retail Pro to see if your other locations have those jeans in stock and place an order from the mobile POS.

That way, you can do a stock transfer from another location and the customer can pick up those jeans at your store in a few days.

Or you can place the order from your online store and have it delivered to the customer at her home.

Lyn Evans

Retailer Lyn Evans created that kind of no-disappointment experience for their customers.

Every store is equipped with iPads that show their company website at all times to allow for cross-selling from other stores.

If a customer wants a certain style or color that is not available at their location, a store associate will save the sale by helping the customer place the order from the store’s iPad before they go.

A good customer experience starts with giving your customers what they need without friction or disappointment.

The next step up is to get to know individual customers so you can pinpoint what else they might need and want.

So, while your sales associate is looking up stock availability from Retail Pro on an iPad or iPod Touch (or any other mobile device), they can also look up the customer’s transaction history and make recommendations for cool sweaters or tees to complete their look.

It’s extra little steps like these that show your customers they’re worth your time, and they leave happy.

3. Get Creative

When you’ve got the basics of good inventory management and great customer service in place, you can devote mental energy to creating an immersive, interactive experience in your stores.

And Retail Pro is honored and humbled and grateful to be a part of what awesome retailers like you are doing in your stores.

Oakley

VP of Oakley Retail, Erik Searles, shared with Chain Store Age how Oakley is using technology to draw customers into the brand’s innovation.

Oakley uses digital technology and mobile devices to give customers a more active hand in creating a product personalized to their needs in its new in-store custom and prescription eyewear centers, which are launching in all Oakley stores.

The eyewear is built on the iPad and then right in front of the customer, ready to take home.

Oakley is also utilizing mobile POS to help customers via quick transactions on the spot, rather than having them finish an interaction with an Oakley expert and then go elsewhere to pay.

United Colors of Benetton

Global head of retail design at Benetton, Michele Trevisan, shared with Retail Focus how they’re infusing beauty and color into their retail experience – and how it’s facilitated by the use of modern technology.

“When we started the project, the brief was not just to do another flagship store; the idea was to create a brand amplifier, a place where the customers can become users of the brand’s philosophy, not just simple consumers. Therefore, we decided to use three drivers for the project: attract, explore and inspire.”

Inside the store, two digital applications were created with the intention to simplify the customer’s activity, reducing the waste of time.

The first one is the mobile payment system that, thanks to the use of WiFi tablets and mobile POS, allows an exclusive payment via mobile and card only, potentially everywhere in the store, reducing the time spent in a queue.

The second is represented by three digital interactive tables showcasing content on selected products, on Benetton brand initiatives and, thanks to the use of an integrated RFID antenna, they release technical information about the products that are placed on the table top.

Do something amazing

These are just three ways you can improve your customer experience with Retail Pro.

But retailers like you are creative, visionary people with many idea of how to improve your in-store experience.

Retail Pro is ready to go there with you.

Doing something amazing with your Retail Pro? Tell us about it!

Write in to newsletter@retailpro.com to share how you’ve been improving your customer experience.

Haven’t experienced Retail Pro for yourself yet? Request a demo today.

Images: Oakley, United Colors of Benetton

Optimize retail management with Retail Pro and SAP Business One

 

experiential retail

 

Most retailers need an end-to-end retail management solution that provides them with centralized control and a real-time view of their operations for faster decision-making.

Successful retailers choose an all-in-one retail management system with robust backend software to run in tandem with great Point of Sale and store management.

With the smooth integration between Retail Pro® POS and store management software and SAP Business One® ERP software, you get:

  • End-to-end business automation
  • Complete operational visibility and control
  • Accurate real-time reporting and analytics
  • Access to critical data – anytime, anywhere

Discover how you can optimize retail management with Retail Pro and SAP Business One.

 

Learn More

 

Make lasting brand impressions at your mobile POS

 

experiential retail

 

As much as customer engagement strategy differs between brands, one thing is consistent across the board: the POS is still the one thing that never fails to bring sales associate and customer together.

And last impressions matter.

When speed is the goal, it’s critical to establish efficient workflows for your mobile POS that are tailored to your exact process, so you can minimize human error.

If customer data collection is important for your marketing strategy, giving associates a way to record data to your customer’s profile tactfully from the mobile POS screen is invaluable.

When showing customers your full collection on your mobile POS, having a stunning user interface that reflects your brand essence is powerful.

That’s why it’s critical to have mobile POS that you can fully configure to reflect your business needs.

The Retail Pro POS and retail management platform is written in HTML, so your IT team can tailor everything to match your workflows and branding, from the background image and customer data capture at the POS to user-defined touchscreen buttons.

And, with Retail Pro Software Assurance, you get a free lab environment so you can test every optimization before going live.

How would you optimise your UI with flexibility like this?

Roll up your sleeves and start optimizing.
Talk to a Retail Pro Business Partner today to see how.

 

Request a Demo

 

Get 360 degree visibility with end-to-end retail software

Blog-02

Getting a single, 360° view of your customers and stock performance from your retail POS is crucial and retailors are thinking through integration of mPOS with ePOS for greater flexibility and data unity.

On 2 – 3 May, visit us at RBTE stand H-150 to see how you can get GDPR-compliant, end-to-end integration of your mission-critical retail software to streamline your operations with Retail Pro, our service and support partners Pinnaca Retail Solutionsand Datascan Retail Solutions, and our solution partners Dedagroup Stealth Retail ERPBS Payone payments, and Pimble ecommerce and digital marketing.

mobile POS from Retail Pro

Retail Pro POS is a single, device-agnostic software that gives you robust functionality on both ePOS and mPOS – so you get integrated store data without sacrificing flexibility on the sales floor.

When used in conjunction with our expert local support and solutions partners, you get total visibility across your organization.

  • Grow your brand across regions and countries with localizations for any world language, currency, and tax structure
  • Automatically replenish and manage stock between locations for higher inventory turn
  • Complete transactions anywhere on the sales floor with mobile POS and flexible mobile or fixed payments systems
  • Get creative and increase average customer spend with promotions that keep shoppers coming back
  • Save on hardware and training costs with user-friendly mobile POS available on Apple, Windows, or Android devices
  • Engage shoppers and upsell more effectively with access to customer history from the mobile POS

Book your RBTE appointment with us today to see how our end-to-end solution that will help you build a solid foundation for your omnichannel retail operations.

Book my RBTE meeting today