Category Archives: Announcements

by Monica Quinn

Retail Trends: Smarter Loyalty, Better Value

Portrait of a handsome bearded man as bicycle store owner or manager standing with laptop at the bicycle workshop

One of the biggest hurdles online retailers have long faced is the lack of personal touch they can offer customers.

Today, however, data-savvy retailers are flipping the script. Advances in technology and analytics now allow retailers to deliver highly targeted offers based on behavior, loyalty data and historical patterns. The days of blanket, one-size-fits-all promotions are fading; tailored discounts can now be delivered instantly through apps and loyalty platforms.

Loyalty programs also look very different from those of just two or three years ago. Instead of relying on batch processing to deliver weekly or monthly promotions built around broad demographic segments, modern systems use AI and real-time data. Retailers can now respond immediately to a customer’s behavior with personalized offers.

When paired with a retailer’s mobile app, this capability becomes even more powerful: Dynamic discounts can be generated based on a customer’s shopping history, preferences and even the availability of local inventory. A retailer’s POS system plays a huge role in their ability to offer specialized promotions. Retail Pro Prism is a promotions powerhouse – with endless promotion types and combinations available to retailers – and paired with the AI-powered loyalty and personalized marketing tool AppCard for Retail Pro, retailers have the ability to analyze purchase history of a customer, set up triggers and personalize offers.

Next Step: Putting AI to Work

Data analytics helps put a customer’s historical purchases into context, while AI predicts what they are likely to do next. Retailers can use these insights not only to recommend products but also to refine inventory planning. In addition to identifying which promotions will build loyalty or increase basket size, AI can determine which offers are most likely to prevent churn or cart abandonment.

Starbucks’ loyalty program is a prime example of this predictive, data-driven approach. The app tracks visit patterns, time of day behavior and order customizations. AI then analyzes this data to create individualized offers—such as bonus stars on a customer’s favorite drink or incentives to shift a shopper’s routine to help boost traffic during off-peak times.

Micro segmentation

Of course, applying data analytics isn’t new. However, the granularity of each segment can now be made much finer. Consider the value of being able to drill down, not only to determine which customers are “millennial moms,“ but instead learning which 35-45 year old female customers with children buy organic snacks weekly. That type of segmentation can be invaluable for delivering relevant promotions to customers — and for increasing visibility for specific products as well as ones that are closely related but perhaps new to the market.

Everyday Value

Another trend are retailers meeting customers where they are in terms of comfort with technology: Many shoppers don’t want another app on their phone or are cautious of sharing too much personal information with retailers or are just focused on stretching their budgets. The everyday value proposition positions a retailer as one with consistent, trustworthy pricing paired with occasional deep promotions, and builds consumer confidence in the brand.

The more transparent pricing strategy fosters trust for this segment of shopper and positions retailers as reliable sources of quality products at good prices. Many of these shoppers experience “sales fatigue” and prefer fewer, more significant promotions rather than constant discounting. Walmart and Aldi exemplify retailers that succeed with this everyday low-price model.

As retailers infuse their loyalty programs and promotions with advanced data analysis, AI and real-time targeting, a new trend is emerging: using technology to enhance, but not overwhelm, the customer relationship. The most successful retailers are finding the balance between personalization and customer comfort by offering meaningful value without excessive complexity. Whether through highly tailored offers or reliable everyday pricing, this trend reflects a shift toward building trust, reducing friction and meeting shoppers on their own terms. Retailers that strike this balance will be best positioned to deepen loyalty and drive long-term growth.

Meeting Customers Where They Are: Personalize Your Approach

Create Better In-Store Experiences with Retail Pro Prism

by Monica Quinn

Are Seasonal Sales Events Losing Their Luster?

With retailers offering discounts 24/7, for any time or reason, seasonal sales events such as “Back To School Daze” and “Black Friyay” could be losing steam.

However, recent data indicates that the concept of “everyday’s a sale day” can peacefully cohabitate with traditional retail holiday events, as long as retailers remain flexible.

The traditional retail calendar is evolving as data-driven insights and shifting consumer behaviors reshape the industry.

Evolving Retail Strategies: Flexibility and Personalization

Retailers are creating strategic sales events throughout the year, providing consumers with more opportunities to save and engaging experiences that drive loyalty.  Even behemoths such as Amazon embrace “Prime Day” events twice a year, which are not tied to any holiday or season.

However, retailers can be rest assured that not all customers want to do all their gift shopping in July.

According to the National Retail Foundation, customers are still accustomed to spending money seasonally, and retailers are ready to deliver safe, convenient and affordable shopping experiences with the products and services consumers want.

Further, they expect retailers to entice them with special pricing to kick off the spending season.

However, retailers are expanding the length of these seasons – for example, Black Friday is no longer just a one-day event but now encompasses the entire weekend as well as Cyber Monday.

The NRF reported that last year, a record 200.4 million consumers shopped over the five-day holiday weekend from Thanksgiving Day through Cyber Monday. That’s a 1.8% increase from 2022.

Historical data shows that Thanksgiving shopping has trended upward, although the COVID pandemic did adversely affect 2020 and 2021.

Today’s shoppers are looking for deals and special offers outside of traditional holidays. In response, retailers are creating sales events throughout the year, often tied to specific product categories or customer segments.

Omnichannel Operations & Promotion Planning

In addition, retailers are taking those targeted campaigns and focusing their reach on individual customer preferences and behaviors.

Businesses have successfully promoted omnichannel retailing, which has led to an expectation of flexibility, not only in how shopping occurs, but also when it happens.

As the lines between online and offline shopping have blurred, traditional event-based sales have become less relevant – as well as when those take place.

Retailers are increasingly leveraging advanced analytics and visual analytics tools, such as Retail Pro Decisions and Retail Pro Reporting, to identify optimal sales periods and personalized experiences to provide more sales opportunities.

Software solutions like Retail Pro Reporting help retailers get valuable insight into their business that can be customized endlessly to identify seasonal trends that might lend themselves to a new promotional opportunity.

A visual analytics software like Retail Pro Decisions, on the other hand, can alert retailers in real time to deviations that will be helpful in considering the timing to launch a sale.

No longer bound by traditional sales calendars, retailers are making more data-driven decisions to optimize sales and foster loyalty and retention.

While the retail landscape is evolving, traditional seasonal sales events remain relevant, albeit with a twist.

By embracing flexibility and data-driven strategies, retailers can harmoniously blend everyday discounts with iconic events such as Black Friday and Back to School.

The Benefits of Consolidating Point of Sale Data

The Opportunities in Your Data

Measuring ROI of relationship building with loyalty programs

by Jennifer Bosavage

Reaching Customers In a Sluggish Economy

The current uncertain economic climate is putting a damper on consumer confidence. A shaky job market economy coupled with inflation is affecting daily life everywhere from the gas pump to the grocery store.

As a result, many shoppers are focused on getting more value for their money by seeking lower pricing on everyday purchases.

Often, that means frequenting discount stores rather than higher-end retailers as well as shopping using less-traditional channels, such as retailer loyalty rewards and cashback offers. In combination with reports to help analyze potentially advantageous adjustments to price levels, Retail Pro Prism offers loyalty and rewards programs with it’s software out of box, which come in handy in these times.

Omnichannel Advantage

However, retailers that can strengthen the bond between online and in-store will find that success with one channel will positively influence the other.

Retailers and brands that provide a true omnichannel experience deliver consistent product information, customer service and account information using all their sales channels: online, in store and on the phone.

As a result, they build better customer relationships and inspire more brand advocates.

Shoppers’ purchase histories differ as widely as the ways they want to make purchases. Some prefer to shop online from start to finish.

However, according to Harvard Business Review customers who do use all channels in their journey tend to spend more – on average 10% more, so offering omnichannel services is important.

Retail Pro Prism is a full retail management and POS platform for omnichannel retailers, with integrated data and view of all channels.

Different Strategies Suit Different Customer Journeys

A solid self-service site should show customer-specific pricing, provide account information including order history and delivery status, give access to reference materials, and integrate in-store inventory information.

Others rely on customer service representatives to help place their order, or to provide more personal assistance with transactions.

Full-service requires expert salespeople or customer service reps who can answer questions, provide recommendations, develop personalized solutions and place orders for buyers.

A hybrid approach is aimed at those looking to make a purchase by themselves, but who want the opportunity to speak with someone in case a question arises.

Shoppers can communicate with a salesperson or representative by using online chat, e-mail messaging or “click-to-call.”

Combining round-the-clock customer service assistance with self-service ordering provides buyers the freedom they want with the support they need to make their purchases.

Hybrid Support

A solid hybrid methodology showcases an online approach that supports in-store shopping – which, in turn, encourages online purchasing.

By regularly evaluating your customers’ online search and purchasing history, a more personalized online experience can be created.

Streamline checkout, make special pricing easy to understand and find, and reduce friction both online and in-store.

Whether a retailer embraces online, in-store or a hybrid approach, web analytics defines the products customers have been researching and offers insights regarding buying patterns.

That information can inform loyalty program profiles and help provide a personalized omnichannel experience. Such personalization illustrates to customers that a company has taken the time to know them and their preferences.

Security

Another way to build trust and, as a result, loyalty, is to invest in secure, accurate technology that protects customer data.

Retailers collect a variety of information, with an enormous responsibility to keep it safe. Firewalls, private networks, encryption and multi-factor authentication can all be part of your security portfolio.

Be sure to communicate what security measures are in place with your customers, because the more customers see retailers working on securing their data, the more likely they are to trust you. Economic stutter steps are unavoidable. Retailers that are prepared with solid omnichannel solutions backed by secure technology will be well equipped to face the challenge of such slowdowns.

Retail Pro Prism is PCI compliant and has functions to prevent errors from being executed by employees that cost your business, such as limits on certain actions or transaction sizes, so that when mistakes happen they don’t have consequences.

Woman window shopping and carrying lots of shopping bags

Recessionary shoppers: convenience over experience?

female owner of fashion store using digital tablet to check stock in clothing store

Tempered supply chain issues and strategies

by Jennifer Bosavage

Zero-Party Data Gives Customers Exactly What They Want

The goal for many retailers is to provide a shopping experience that meets – and possibly exceeds – customers’ needs, while generating an attractive profit.

Success depends on accurately understanding and responding to customer trends, which requires gathering and analyzing shopper data.

Traditionally, obtaining that information is done by tracking website engagement and point-of-sale data, which only offers retailers part of the story.

Ask for the data you wish to receive

Asking shoppers specific questions about their buying habits is one of the most effective ways to not only learn more about customers’ preferences but also to increase loyalty.

And shoppers – eager to have a more personalized retail experience – are increasingly willing to provide details about their purchasing habits.

By asking for relevant information and limiting the amount of personal information requested, customers are more likely to respond.

They understand their answers, referred to as “zero-party data,” are targeted at specifics, which can ultimately yield a better customer experience.

Such a focused approach offers retailers high-value data and is considered by customers to be thoughtful and minimally intrusive.

Evolution of attitude towards data collecting

Years ago, at the dawn of the info-gathering age, when the emphasis was too often on just collecting as much information as possible, customers were skeptical about providing information, fearing a constant barrage of marketing material.

Retailers were reluctant too, not wanting to use data insights too readily as they worried about appearing too “creepy” in their attempts to provide personalized experiences.

Today, those sentiments are reversing. Customers are willing to provide data, especially if they benefit.

For example, bargain hunters will sign up for promotional texts for discounts, while shoppers who are enthusiasts about a brand or particular market may subscribe to a newsletter or blog.

Using OptCulture for Retail Pro makes it easy to market to your customers through any and all channels are best for your business once they agree to share their information.

Savvy retailers offer an enticement, and customers offer select information in exchange for that valued item.

The retailer receives data that helps inform about appropriate future product selections, store locations, etc.

With OptCulture for Retail Pro, you can do this seamlessly by using a digital receipt to cross-sell or upsell.

Increasingly, customers are willing to provide details to brands when they can clearly understand the reason behind the request.

They will answer surveys or quizzes that help their favorite retailers create more tailored shopping environments, and they are eager to provide the names of brands they are enthusiastic about.

When a retailer is upfront about what information they want and how they’ll use it, it builds trust, and that builds loyalty: A recent Harvard Business Review study reported that companies with high loyalty grow revenue 2.5 times faster than their industry peers.

Analysis makes the most of zero-party

Collecting targeted data allows retailers to provide a more relevant shopping experience, and customers respond by offering their loyalty.

Long-term, that loyalty significantly affects revenue and profitability, as brands experience repeat purchases and no incremental acquisition costs.

After harvesting that information, retailers must be able to analyze it effectively.

Retailers use an average of five to six tools to collect feedback and data, but far fewer businesses invest in solutions to aggregate all that data.

Using business intelligence to analyze the information makes it significantly more useful in providing insights.

Business intelligence that is baked into software and happens automatically takes it to an even greater level of convenience. Retail Pro Decisions is one such POS business intelligence software that offers insights automatically, from every channel.

Ensuring every department uses the same CRM helps to create complete customer profiles, with data accessible among the entire business.

A unified view, augmented by customer-supplied data, supports content optimization and more relevant customer journeys.

Zero-party data, in unison with a focused CRM and targeted marketing strategy, improves the effectiveness of personalization efforts – benefitting brands, retailers and customers.

The Benefits of Consolidating Point of Sale Data

The Opportunities in Your Data

by Jennifer Bosavage

Look What’s Popping Up in Traditional Retail 

Pop-ups are increasingly becoming popular among established retailers looking to inject some fun and excitement into their retail routines.

Often thought of as vehicles for direct-to-consumer and start-up brands, they are making inroads as a means of attracting new customers, as well as for trying out products and services.

Additionally, because pop-ups are temporary, they naturally project a sense of urgency, so products are differentiated from others found in brick and mortar outlets.

This urgency also necessitates the vendor’s ability to have their system run smoothly. Retail Pro Prism is able to run sales without internet, ensuring you won’t miss out on sales and technical difficulties won’t take away from the experience Here are some reasons established retailers are investing in pop-up strategies.

Building excitement for a special-issue product

Pop-ups give an established brand the opportunity to go “off-script” a bit, and provide a platform from which they can build buzz.

They can be tied to a celebrity endorsement, or to the launch of a product that had previously only been offered direct to consumers.

Further, pop-ups can be creatively presented and shared on social platforms to further increase engagement.

That appeals especially to Millennials and Gen Z, which comprise 2/3 of the population as well as the majority of active social media users, who frequently share “in-the-moment” experiences.

Retailers often provide rewards to encourage social sharing as well.

Gathering customer information via pop-ups

Many brands use pop-ups as data-gathering tools for iterating on ideas such as curbside pickup and contactless payment.

Mobile POS are also a helpful tool to have available for these smaller store settings where staff may be limited, so associates can seamlessly transition from interacting with customers to completing a transaction.

Retail Pro Prism is one software for all of your devices and is designed to be used on all operating systems for your convenience.

They can also test product ideas to see what is popular and trending, as well as easily get feedback from shoppers about selections.

Changes to how a brand traditionally operates can also be test-run — and adjusted — successfully.

Testing in this type of intimate setting helps build customer rapport.

In addition, pop-ups may attract new, non-traditional shoppers, who can now be added to future marketing campaigns.

Pop-ups respond to seasonal trends

Many retailers can provide specific products for a particular season, but may not want to transform their entire retail space for that purpose.

For instance, winter pop-ups at trendy ski resort towns cater to slope-side shoppers, while summer pop-ups in quaint seaside villages appeal to sun seekers.

Retailers are able to maintain their traditional brick and mortar branding while providing an exclusive flair outside that domain.

Pop-ups can strengthen the customer relationship.

Pop-ups are smaller, more intimate affairs. They often generate publicity simply because of their temporary nature, and especially when they are a limited engagement.

It’s often more practical to try new trends in a pop-up rather than in an expensive retail space.

Some clothing pop-ups roll out inventory on racks daily to see what sells, and that informs their traditional stores of merchandise trends.

Success relies on the retailer really understanding the customer segment they are targeting and being dedicated to developing that relationship.

4 ways to use pop-ups’ popularity to boost your brick & mortar strategy

3 Technologies to blur the lines between life & shopping

by Jennifer Bosavage

Retail – What’s causing tension in your customer experience?

Portrait of a man in the bicycle store | Portrait of a handsome bearded man as bicycle store owner or manager standing with laptop at the bicycle workshop

Get Retail Pro Prism!

Powerful POS & retail management platform for better retail experiences

✓ Replenishment & inventory management

✓ Customer & employee management

✓ Available on iOS, Android, and Windows

✓ For mobile, laptop, and desktop devices

✓ Robust pricing & promotions

✓ Store operations & back office

✓ Performance & KPI reporting

✓ Intuitive, tailorable POS

Visit Retail Pro and our partners at NRF!

by Jennifer Bosavage

Strategies for Supply Chain Resilience for the Holiday Season

Many retailers are heading into the holiday season facing low stock and a reduced workforce, increasing the need for supply chain resilience.

Investments in technology may be the fastest way for retailers to meet the needs of shoppers, particularly as stores are facing a shortage of labor as well as products.

Omnichannel POS systems like Retail Pro Prism help fill the gaps created by these problems.

Supply Chain Resilience Fills the Shelves

man wearing athletic wear, holding two different blue running shoes in a store with supply chain resilience

Once a customer is in the store, keeping them there with a breadth of products is the key to sales and repeat business.

Empty shelves are the enemy of the retailer.

Spotty selection often equates to no sales and the customer is lost, perhaps permanently, to the competition.

In addition, today’s shoppers may not be as brand loyal as they may have been previously.

Customers being ready to entertain brands they haven’t been loyal to also demands that retailers stay abreast of trends to conduct successful merchandising.

Retailers wishing to capitalize on increased desire for brick & mortar shopping would do well to heavily curate their selection.

A recent study found that 80% of retailers believe customers will prioritize stock immediacy over brands, so having a selection of similar products is more important than focusing on a top brand.

Product visibility, from the vendor through the delivery dock, helps ensure retailers have stock when they need it.

Product visibility encourages consumers to shop in-store – seeing products they desire and wish to see in-person in stock across channels – regardless of any loyalty or lack thereof to that particular retailer.

Omnichannel systems account for both online and in-store purchases and help customers as well as sales associates understand where inventory is located.

To derive the most thorough data, they should be integrated with other technologies, such as point-of-sale technology, inventory tracking, and customer relationship management systems across all in-person locations as well as online stores.

Customer data is also necessary to inform retailers’ decisions about what to buy and when to buy it. Managers use SKU-level sales and warehouse inventory insights to gear up for holidays as well as to predict the next “big thing.”

During times of supply-chain uncertainty, getting stuck with unwanted products is a luxury that retailers can’t afford. Planning can be more accurate and efficient by sharing inventory, sales and order data with vendor partners.

In addition, accurate demand forecasting cuts waste in production, leading to more sustainable consumption and production.

When demand is predicted more precisely, items can be manufactured and ordered according to customer demand.

Fill the Job Roster

Happy woman customer handing credit card to a female employee in retail store

Business analytics can also maximize efficiency by providing instant access to store staffing data and order volumes. That helps managers plan work shifts and also improves employee productivity.

Some retailers are automating more tasks‑‑for example, increasing self-checkout‑‑to accommodate a shrinking workforce.

Others are looking to software that can help accurately target the timing of store visits so retailers can provide the personal touch when it’s needed.

Mobility tracking data provides retailers insights about what’s attracting customers to shop in-store.

Additionally, it offers information about where shoppers may linger, avoid and pass through. That data can be used to reorganize stock, change department layouts and set staff schedules.

Anonymized tracking doesn’t compromise customer privacy, but offers managers the ability to draw more meaning from analytics, and to understand customer behavior with greater accuracy and detail.

COVID-19 taught retailers that they can’t control major disruptions that impact the global supply chain.

However, with proper planning and implementation of software tools they can increase visibility into their supply chains, which will lead to better resilience through the holiday season — and beyond. With Retail Pro Prism POS associates have visibility across stores and channels, and are able to quickly determine any weaknesses within their supply chain and possible solutions.

Is your omnichannel meeting customers’ expectations?

retail worker carrying boxeslooking at phone evaluating for stock inaccuracies

Stock Inaccuracy and Omnichannel Operations

female asian shopkeeper looking at inventory challenge on POS tablet

Challenges of using store inventory for online order fulfillment

by Retail Pro

9 Best practices for building your tech strategy with Retail Pro Prism

business and tech team brainstorms for a good tech strategy on a window with dry erase marker. Men and women employees smiling up confidently at their plan.

Now, against the backdrop of smooth, systemically-run performance, independent retailers are taking a double hit. You are competing against Tier 1’s brand equity and economies of scale, and you’re losing profit to pure-play retailers who are saving on overhead costs and investing into channel efficiencies. Bottlenecks, duplicitous inventory and process, and lost opportunities are multiplying your costs at exponential rates. A well-planned and customized retail tech strategy is a necessity.

So how can you use Retail Pro technology to adapt to the demands of modern retailing and deliver the quick and efficient experience consumers expect from you? What does it take on the technology end to make it happen?

Here are 9 best practices for building your tech strategy with Retail Pro Prism.

1. Define the challenge

Focus on one operational bottleneck or customer-facing issue. Topher Mallory of Mexicali Blues chose to focus on the issue of inventory optimization.  

You might choose to focus on promotions or employee management, or vendor relationships. Whatever your focus, make sure it’s specific enough so that you aren’t trying to reinvent your whole retail operation before the weekend comes.

2. Determine the outcome you want to achieve with your tech strategy

Once you have in mind the particular area of your business that you want to reform, think about what you’d like to achieve. Is it a particular inventory turnover rate, or a certain increase in customer retention from your loyalty initiatives, or greater collaboration along the supply chain?

3. Design the experience

How do you want customers to interact with you? How do customers expect to interact with you? What will the experience be like in your store versus online? How will you connect the two, along with any pop-up stores, kiosks, catalogs, etc. that you may have?

Online How will your online channel be tied into your physical stores? Will your shoppers have the ability to see which nearby store has the product they’re looking for? Will they be able to reserve or buy online, and then pick it up at that location? How will that store location know to have the product ready for your customer?

In the store, do you want customers to have a self-guided digital experience or a high-touch, personalized experience? That’ll determine hardware – mobility or kiosk? How will payments fit in? Will you need Bluetooth printers for mobile devices? You’ll need Wi-Fi for that. Will your store associates be able to look up inventory at other locations? How will you collect data from all of that – and more importantly, how will you CONNECT the data points to know when they’re talking about the same customer? What’s the recurring theme here? Connectedness. How will you connect your channels, connect your inventory, connect your data?

4. Build the foundation for connected retail with platform retail management technology

Two men and women wearing office attire in an office connecting the puzzle pieces they all hold

Platform retail management software is a foundation for your technology.

Think of it as if you’re building a store out of legos:

  • Lego shelf structures with little beacons attached.
  • Lego checkout counter with POS, EMV compliant mobile payments platform, digital receipts, and loyalty application.
  • Lego kiosk where shoppers can order something that’s out of stock.
  • Lego backroom with RFID-tagged inventory.
  • Lego server where your web store lives.
  • Lego store in a different part of town.
  • Lego warehouse where vendor trucks are delivering products.
  • Lego vendor warehouse where those products are being picked and packed.

And what is this whole retail world standing on? A base. A platform that is connecting all of those different touchpoints to the same reality.

That’s what platform retail management technology does. It creates a base to which you can connect:

  • your customer data
  • your inventory data
  • your transaction data
  • data from your e-commerce, payments, marketing, loyalty, business intelligence applications
  • data from your vendors for drop-ship

Any kind of tool you use, a retail management platform will be the point of connection to which all data flows. And with Application Program Interface, you can build on it – your applications are running on shared data. Your loyalty application is being informed by both your online and in-store channels. Your digital receipts are generating data that can be pulled into your business intelligence and marketing software to help optimize processes or personalize your marketing communications.

A platform unifies all your data into one data set, so you’re getting a holistic picture of how your customer is interacting with you.

Wherever you are in your tech strategy, having platform technology like Retail Pro Prism is a foundational step to achieving that kind of connectivity and thriving in modern retail.

And you have a lot of options in how you can get there with Retail Pro. These are some of the things you can do with Retail Pro Prism today.

  • In-store mobility – The Retail Pro Prism app supports Apple’s iOS along with Windows and Android devices. Portrait layout in the Retail Pro Prism user interface gives greater ease when accessing the software on small mobile devices like the iPod Touch.
  • Omnichannel order fulfillment – Retail Pro Prism allows associates to create sales at one location and fulfill the order at any other location, as part of retailers’ BOPIS, Click and Collect and other omnichannel offerings.
  • On-hand inventory availability lookup – With inventory visibility that goes deep into a particular store (within a single bin or shelf) or enterprise-wide, sales associates can look up product availability and validate items by their inventory image straight from the POS. Retailers can tie this visibility to their e-commerce site and allow shoppers to reserve items from the nearest store.
  • Customer-centric flexibility at the POS – Sales associates have easy access to POS options, including transaction lookup, pending transactions, central customer lookup, gift card balance check, promotions, and customer tax assignments and rebates.
  • Purchasing & Receiving – Create purchase orders to order merchandise from vendors and create vouchers to receive merchandise and update inventory on-hand quantities.

5. Build the infrastructure of your tech strategy

How will your tech facilitate that experience? There are 2 parts to consider here: deployment and use.

  • Deployment with Retail Pro Prism is flexible. You can choose to deploy centrally or at a local, store level server, or a hybrid of the two. Some retailers are running Retail Pro from the cloud.
  • Retail Pro Prism handles a great variety of retail environments, so you’ll need to decide how you will put it to best use for your retail objective, whether you use it as your customer-facing, mobile POS with custom-branded UI, or as your complete retail management solution with full employee management, promotions, and store operations with omnichannel functions like send-sale.

6. Connect ancillary tools and supply chain

At this point you’ve established your foundation and now, with Retail Pro Prism APIs, you can integrate your supply chain and any of the ancillary tools you use.

One Retail Pro user, Massey’s Professional Outfitters  in Louisiana, USA, integrated an e-commerce solution and a vendor drop ship solution to their Retail Pro platform. Because both of those solutions are exchanging data through Retail Pro, they were able to automate the process such that, when the software acknowledges the absence of the inventory upon order completion, it sends the order directly to the vendor for fulfillment, eliminating stock outs and transportation costs. The kind of visibility they have with the Retail Pro platform allows them to keep lower inventory and rebalance inventory between stores.

7. Connect the digital with the experience

woman looking at a clothing store's website on her phone as she stands in front of the store window, claiming a deal with her loyalty points

Once you have the infrastructure and tools in place, now apply them to both the virtual and physical experience your customers will have. That, primarily, translates to how you leverage the data you collect from all those touchpoints.

Some Retail Pro users have iPads with their e-commerce site at each of their stores for cross-selling across their various locations. For you, it’s a sale. For the customer, it’s happiness – they never leave your store disappointed because you didn’t have what they wanted. As one Retail Pro retailer said, “In order for the specialty store to survive, we have to change the way we do business. Our goal is to combine the in-store personal shopping experience with the convenience of online shopping.”

8. Train the employees

Employee buy-in is absolutely critical for your strategy to work so take the time and really train them on the process, on how to make the most of your Retail Pro investment, on how to reinforce your brand essence in every interaction with the customer.

In talking to retailers who are moving to Retail Pro, we often hear that the in-store mobile POS was gathering dust because employees weren’t trained on how to maximize its use in various everyday scenarios like:

  • Line busting
  • Mobile POS
  • Inventory lookup
  • Customer history lookup for clienteling

That’s why Retail Pro users have access to the Retail Pro University with its flexible training options, including online training so you can train employees at the pace of your retail environment. This is especially useful considering the employee turnover rate in retail! You have hundreds of training videos available to you on the My Retail Pro resource portal, along with other useful resources like documentation, knowledgebase articles from our Tech Support team, and the App Market, which shows you our various development partners for applications like loyalty, payments, marketing, etc..

And finally…

9. Use your findings to keep optimizing the tech strategy

Calibration is an ongoing art. Use the data you collect and the insights you make to keep refining your strategy as the industry changes, as your customers grow up, as their needs change.

Identifying your ideal tech strategy for optimizing your ability to drive sustainable sale growth and operations takes some intentional effort that repays you in dividends. Important elementary elements of the process are analyzing your current state and data and your business goals, and applying the same attention to detail to connecting each channel of your business. The foundation of any retail technology strategy is a retail management platform, which creates a base to which you can connect each tool your operation uses and the data that they all collect. Retail Pro Prism gives the ability for functions important today such as omnichannel order fulfillment and provides a flexible foundation for building off of, incorporating ancillary products easily with API choices.

by Jennifer Bosavage

5 Reasons To Consider Click and Collect

One of the biggest drivers of shopper loyalty is the ease of doing business. Customers have little patience for any sort of friction when buying from a retailer.

Shoppers are well aware they needn’t put up with inconveniences – the after-effects of COVID-19 taught them that stores could be flexible and accommodating.

For instance, many retailers embraced a “click and collect,” strategy, also called “BOPIS”: buy online, pick up in-store.

Click and collect operations at the least are difficult if a retailer isn’t omnichannel.

With the rising importance of recent retail innovation in features such BOPIS to customers, omnichannel operations are now necessary to keep up with the fast-changing retail landscape. 

Retail Pro Prism makes it easy to achieve and customize the way your business does omnichannel.

At the time, homebound shoppers found the method irresistibly convenient: Online, they simply “clicked” to buy, but rather than have their purchase shipped, they headed to the store to “collect” it. Many retailers coupled the offering with curbside pickup.

Today, the COVID-19 shopping restrictions are gone, but customers want retailers to continue offering such conveniences.

While click-and-collect was offered prior to 2020, the economic lockdown that the pandemic created saw the strategy surge by 107% in 2020.

It accounted for $72.46 billion in sales, according to Business Insider, and that number is predicted to continue to grow steadily during the next few years.

With busy lifestyles and people reassessing how they want to spend their leisure time, click and collect will likely continue to be a key differentiator for retailers wanting to position themselves as more convenient than their competitors.

Here are five things to consider when building a competitive click-and-collect or BOPIS strategy.

1. Let data drive the understanding of omnichannel shoppers’ habits

female owner of fashion store using digital tablet to check stock in clothing store

Click and collect is an omnichannel retail tactic that lets shoppers pick up their purchases more quickly than waiting for home delivery.

Studies have also found that the strategy not only increases online buying, but it also bolsters in-store traffic, as customers often make additional purchases at pickup time.

Buying online and picking up in store (“BOPIS”) has significantly increased due to COVID-19: Research firm McKinsey reported in the early stages the global pandemic that BOPIS usage grew 28 percent year over year in February compared with 18 percent in January. The data gathered from these customers provides visibility into the type of BOPIS customer a retailer has, as well as what drives them into the store, and can provide a marketing roadmap.

2. Perform an audit of your software systems

The strategy requires sophisticated management software, which receives customer requests from the e-commerce platform. You may also need to upgrade your point-of-sale solution.

The OMS includes inventory visibility, order confirmations, alerts and updates, and distributes orders to the most local store with stock.

Pickup is automatically based on proximity to the address a customer has entered. The best systems provide personalized customer service and are seamlessly integrated, so store associates — as well as e-commerce customers — know what stock is currently available.

3. Real-time inventory is visible to all parties with click and collect

However, the stock needs to move from the shelf to the customer, so efficient in-store operations for “picking” orders are critical.

The real-time visibility across all channels, branches, and designated permissions gives associates the ability to track down an item a customer has seen online, for example.

Staff must be allocated to pick products from the floor without disrupting normal in-store sales.

However, other retailers set aside an area to fill and hold orders, rather than pulling them from the floor or inventory shelves.

Another challenge is ensuring product availability. Advanced analytics and artificial intelligence can help create forecasts that consider click-and-collect purchases to get the right amount of inventory to the appropriate locations in a timely manner.

Inventory transparency can help avoid customer frustration: No one wants to arrive at the store expecting to pick up an item that was sold moments before because the inventory system wasn’t properly synched.

To avoid that, some retailers choose to have “safety stock” built into their inventory management software.

4. Consider the customer experience around click and collect

BOPIS with curbside pickup is convenient, but it can minimize the chances that customers will make additional purchases.

Retailers are looking to extend the reach of customer pickup with innovation. For example, by offering an express pickup desk, retailers encourage a trip inside.

Also, location-based text messaging can detect when a customer is arriving for pickup and provide an incentive to go into the store, such as discounts, loyalty points or an easy way to add in-store items to their pickup order.

5. The problem of returns

Beautiful woman shopping tableware in supermarket. Manager helps a costumer with a return, accepting the bag over the counter.

Though returns are a fact of retail life, streamlining the process makes it easier for the customer and less intrusive for the retailer.

Preventing them where practical is ideal; as a result, some clothing retailers are now providing an opportunity for customers to try on items before leaving the store.

Where trying on first isn’t possible, businesses are studying how to streamline the retail process.

Some ask customers to begin their return through the store’s website or mobile app.

Brick and mortars can benefit by enabling in-store returns of online purchases, as that drives store traffic and provides an opportunity to immediately recapture shoppers’ initial expenditures. Approximately 30% of Inmar survey participants said they “usually” or “always” stay in the store and shop with their refund money. 

A survey from Inmar found that most shoppers want to return in-store, largely due to the hassle of packing up a return.

However for the customers who prefer stores that allow them to make their return as quick as possible, retailers can provide an option so seamless it’s sure to keep them loyal with a small programing task to set up their systems for all future returns.  When the customer heads to the store, the associates are notified and provided with an exact time of arrival, and the customer is greeted upon arrival for a quick handoff or exchange.

Click and collect is a strategy that can offer retailers data that can inform their inventory selection and stock levels.

It helps customers see retailers as accommodating and flexible, and it requires planning and investment to be successful long-term.

When executed properly, friction is removed from the customer journey and it enhances the fulfillment process.

With a wealth of plugins available, Retailers can customize their omnichannel operations to offer return processes that are convenient for customers and work seamlessly with their retail and inventory management.

Let’s Talk About Omnichannel Returns

safe retail shopping during COVID

In-store shoppers, in-store fulfillment: Planning for inventory challenges

by Monica Quinn

NRF 2022: Your shoppers have gone omnichannel. Have you?

Your team really stepped up to meet the sudden flux of online shopping during COVID.

Shoppers got the benefit of omnichannel purchasing, but retailers bore the brunt of making it happen – fast, and without actually integrating ecommerce and inventory management system data.

Two years into it though, many retailers are seeing their data disparities grow with an online presence that isn’t integrated to their in-store systems. And the disparities won’t end with COVID.

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