When it comes to their time in your retail store, customers have specific expectations that can make or break their shopping experience. Each time consumers encounter something that ups the ante, creating a great experience during their path to purchase, their expectations increase and as a retailer, you are now held to an even higher standard.
For businesses' omnichannel strategies to succeed, they need professionals who are well-versed in omnichannel marketing. While this seems simple enough, many brands are only now getting up to speed.
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A POS system should not be a solitary component in your IT infrastructure. Rather, it should be seen as a retail hub that absorbs data from each of your departments and informs a wide range of your processes and operations. With the right type of POS system in place, it's possible to streamline and automate a number of cumbersome processes all while enhancing management and the customer experience. In order to function as a true retail hub, however, your POS needs the right features.
We all know that technology is playing a huge roll in the ever-changing retail landscape.
In my last blog, The Death of Boring Retail, I detailed the changing retail landscape and the need to create a more immersive shopping experience importance for retailers. I focused on the fact that it was not retail that was dying but rather “boring retail” that was going the way of the dodo. We dove into how strategic store design and the inclusion of tech into that design would help facilitate the necessary changes to survive.
The following is a guest contribution by nChannel Marketing Analyst Jillian Hufford.
All growing merchants experience growing pains. You can’t keep up with incoming customer orders and inventory doesn’t stay up to date fast enough. Eventually, your manual processes cause more errors than you can keep up with. This is even harder to manage when you’re selling both in-store and online.
Think of in-store retail technology as electricity in your home. It has little value on its own, but when combined with other elements, it can have a huge impact on your life—or in this case, your business.
Say watt? It's true!
If you’ve worked with APIs before, you know how critical they can be to improving your business processes and increasing efficiencies. If you haven’t utilized them, entering the API world may seem like an abstract, daunting endeavor. Put simply, an API – Application Programming Interface – provides a way for two pieces of software to talk to each other and exchange information.
Visual merchandising is one of the most powerful tools available to modern retailers. When used correctly, it allows brands to easily showcase their products and services while also crafting a unique look and feel for their store. A strong visual merchandising strategy has incredible potential to increase sales and revenue, so retailers who neglect or overlook this fact will be doing so at their brand’s expense. With this in mind, let’s have a look at five visual merchandising tactics that work especially well for wireless retailers.
The first annual RQ Bootcamp was held this past week at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess resort and it went off without a hitch. Okay, there were a few stumbles from some of our freshman presenters, but let’s face it, these only the created funny and memorable moments we will cherish. More importantly, all presenters effectively shared their breadth of knowledge and years of experience with all of those in attendance.
The first-ever 2018 RQ Bootcamp came to be when we realized there was a need for an intensive, in-depth RQ training. Held just over a week ago in Scottsdale, Arizona, this event was different from any we’ve hosted before! The content was not conceptual, but rather tactical items attendees could take home and implement immediately. We focused on four key areas of business that come together and allow wireless retailers to facilitate growth.
Wireless retailers have developed a reciprocal relationship with customers. The retailer provides an innovative omnichannel experience that is as seamless and customized as possible. In exchange, customers allow some of their personal information to be tracked, stored, and analyzed.
In the highly competitive landscape that is retail, it’s all about saying “yes” to your customer—“yes, we have that product in-stock,” “yes, we can order it for you,” and “yes it can get shipped to your home.” Strong virtual inventory practices allow for a leaner, more agile inventory operation. This means carrying core product groups in-store while still being ready to fulfill any number of orders not in your physical inventory. All in all, a well-managed virtual inventory will set you up for success when it comes to satisfying customer demands.
EMV: three years ago, those letters, and a lot of technology expense, turned the U.S. payments landscape on its head. Now, with 100% of U.S. consumers scheduled to receive chip-cards by the end of 2020, combined with 75% of SMB U.S. merchants having already implemented chip-capable terminals [US Payments Forum], EMV has finally become the accepted payment standard across the U.S. But this post isn’t about the importance of EMV security or the additional protections that the technology offers.
