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
