Running a business no matter what your area of expertise is hard. But running a retail business can be particularly tricky because it comes with its own specific set of challenges. Like keeping track of stock and making sure that the guys on the floor are working as hard as they can to help customers. Luckily, there is some tech on the market that can help you do that. Read on to find out more.
Stock Control
In its very essence; retail is all about supply and demand. It’s your job to supply to the customer what they are demanding. That means you have to have a good grip on your stock control. Knowing instantly what you have to offer, and what is running low. By doing this, you can ensure that your customers are happy and that their wait time for any auricular product is reduced. Something that can make a big difference to their overall satisfaction.
Back in the old days the only way to do this was head down to the stock room and do a visual check and what you had. Not so easy if space is a mess, as you can spend hours and hours going through similarly shaped boxes trying to find that one item Mrs. Jones has insisted on. Luckily, those dark days of rooting around in stockrooms are over, because now we have some great tech like digital stock tracking.
This is a system that uses barcodes, hand held scanner and software to help keep on top of what products you have in stock and what needs to be ordered. The brilliant thing about this is that you can link this information to your website, if you sell online, or to a digital display in your store. Giving customers up to date, real time information that can help them to make their purchase. For example, if they can see that there are only two items left, it may convince them to buy now. As they don’t want to get left in position when they have missed the boat.
However, a word of warning. While this tech is pretty reliable, but like all technologies, barcode scanners aren’t immune to faults or breaking down occasionally. That is why if you are going to switch all of your systems over to this you will need to have a good Mobile Computer Repair company that you can contact. Otherwise, your system will become redundant, and then you will be worse off than if you were just running a manual one efficiently. Taking you right back to square one in terms of tech and the benefits they provide for your staff and customers.
Productivity Monitoring
Another essential piece of tech going forward in the retail industry is productivity monitoring software. These are programs that collect metrics from lots of different sources to keep a check on how your staff are performing.
They also give you the opportunity to praise staff when they are doing well, something that is invaluable for motivation. Meaning that you can take a positive approach to management, instead of a punitive one. Something that really means tech can make a constructive difference in the way that you run your business.