Read 7 tips for hospitality industry to manage business in covid and beyond crisis, LS Central for Hospitality Customized by Trident Information! Read more.
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This Pandemic has brought a massive shift in the Hospitality industry. The tough working parameters have made it quite difficult for restaurants to sustain their services. The juggle between survival and keeping up with government regulations demand a future-ready Restaurant Management Software to be a must-have for all the restaurants. Such software embraces sophisticated technology which are pushing their limits to evolve into their best vision. One such software includes LS Central for Restaurants; it broadens up to ERP for Restaurant management, and facilities complete business management in the same platform. It is an excellent Restaurant management software, especially when today’s scenarios have shaken the industry from within. Current Challenges Faced by Restaurants Covid-19 pandemic has constrained this industry to operate differently and adopt suitable solutions in order to survive. Certainly, there are a few things that no one saw coming: Meeting the Break-Even Point: your break-even point can be defined as the sales covering your operating costs. Like all the businesses, where the CEOs wish for huge profits, restaurants are struggling to meet their break-even point. Keeping up with the sanitation and health regulations: covid 19 pandemic has made customers and staff even more aware of their sanitation and health Off-Premise Dining: the enforced lockdown has labored the dine-in restaurants to swear by delivery sales and take always to meet the necessary returns. Good Restaurant management software can be a huge help. A recent techno mic conducted study has revealed, over 80% of restaurants were prevented from shutting down because of take always and food deliveries. This is believed to be the forthcoming scenario for the next few years. Limited offers and innovative menus: to last throughout the forthcoming years, there is an incredible need to adopt more creativity. Offering certain menus, new offers, and out-of-the-world experiences can draw a great deal of draw diners, especially those cutting on their dining out budget. Advance online ordering system: Restaurants are subjected to strict sanitary guidelines and lockdowns and are expected to remain the same way for quite a while. There is a growing need for contactless home deliveries and online food orders. Overcoming the slow pace in 2021 will have restaurants to have examined all business prospects and aspects again. Restaurants need suitable Restaurant Management Software such as LS Retail for food services to cope with the upcoming challenges. How Can LS Central For Restaurants Help You Combat The Challenges In Hospitality? There are many technological and non-technological challenges in the hospitality industry, such as the need of using multiple restaurant management software to get different features, back office and front office integration issues, lack of real time data tracking, difficulty in retaining customers and so on. LS Central for Restaurant can help you get rid of them. It is an all-in-one Restaurant Management Software that generates a real-time data report and exhibits the bigger picture of cafes, restaurants, and other food services, integrating activities from the back office to the final customer serving, therefore, leading to excellent coordination. Additionally, you can get the following benefits: Gives The Ultimate Control Over Your Restaurant Since you can monitor each business activity and access real-time data within the same environment, You can eliminate the excessive expenses on multiple software. It carries out the following tasks: This Restaurant Management Software supervises and administers your franchise and location from the headquarters. Controls recipes, prices, offers, menus, and campaigns centrally. Navigate the performances of your staff and carry out effective communication. Computes real-time costs and revenues, and picks up the latest trends and opportunities. Check up on the real-time reports. Uses Artificial Intelligence to read and predict your customer’s or prospects’ behavior. Scales up your business and helps it grow. Centrally Manage Your Restaurant Since you can monitor each business activity and access real-time data within the same environment, you can eliminate the excessive expenses on multiple software. It carries out the following tasks: This Restaurant Management Software supervises and administers your franchise and location from the headquarters. Navigate the performances of your staff and carry out effective communication. Computes real-time costs and revenues, and picks up the latest trends and opportunities. Check up on the real-time reports. Uses Artificial Intelligence to read and predict your customer’s or prospects’ behavior. Scales up your business and helps it grow. Cut Costs and Boost Revenue With proper assist management measures, you can minimize waste and use your resources optimally with this Restaurant Management Software. LS Central does the following jobs for you: Accurately price your menu and ensure good returns. Orders and distributes the appropriate quantity of ingredients. . Plan out your meals and streamline your ingredient orders. Automates everything and eliminates mistakes. Allow Customers to Serve Themselves Get ready to deliver excellent customer services and draw a broad set of customers repeatedly. This is how it helps your business get a customer boost: Uses mobile POS on the table and takes contactless orders and payments. Gives your customers a free hand to customize their meal by removing or adding ingredients of their choice. Exhibits the exact ingredients and information on allergens at the POS on online platforms and also on self-ordering devices. Adjusts the price and the menu as per the demand. This Restaurant Management Software allows your customers to order food online or as per their preferred services. Loyalty Programs A loyalty program is a great measure to retain your current customers and also to increase the customer base. A customer loyalty program includes the following: Prepares a personalized promotion and each guest can get an attractive meal deal Smartly generates loyalty programs to benefit you and your guests in the shape of returns. Creates happy hours strategy to attract maximum customers. Launches various deals and offers according to customer preferences and spending behavior data. Our Final Words LS Central is one of the best Restaurant Management Software which integrates services like Point Of Sale, Supply Chain Management, Operations, Online Channels, Inventory, and customer loyalty within the same environment. Trident is one of the most renowned LS Central Information Partner. For the best support, feel free to contact us. We will be more than happy to serve.
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In the era of globalization, consumer demands change rapidly. Therefore, the retail industry needs a modern Retail Software Solution to cope with the dynamic consumer desires. Flexibility, clairvoyance and quick decision-making is a must-have requirement for future CEOs. They have to work hand in hand with the latest technology available in the market, such as LS Central for Retail. It is a unified commerce solution that can help your business upgrade significantly. Why Does Your Business Need A Unified Commerce Solution? Under the influence of utter consumer demand change, the retail industry is facing a rapid shift. Retailers need to adopt a Retail Software Solution, as consumers these days are getting impatient with an acceleration: More than 85%, buyers tend to leave the store if the item is absent, or they are not assisted by anyone. 30% of consumers can specify within 2 minutes if the item they are looking for is in stock or not. 79% of shoppers would discard a retailer after three unaccomplished or late deliveries. Therefore, be it a brick-and-mortar store or an online one, it needs to undergo the latest technological shift and adopt a Retail software solution such as LS Retail Software Solution to keep up with your competitors. Biggest Challenges Faced By Most Of The Retail Software Solution? Due to the sudden need for change in customer demand, the retail industry is in constant evolution. However, a regular Retail Software Solution is unable to provide all the suitable solutions within the same environment. The retailers have to use multiple options. Nevertheless, there some common challenges faced by the retail software as followed: Customization Customers these days demand customization as an outcome of their desire to experience something unique. The buyers look for interaction, great experiences, prompt and excellent quality services The CEOs need to adopt the most advanced Retail Software Solution to cope with the market demand changes such as LS Central. You may also need its Retail ERP Software for best outcomes. Retail Price Inflation When the buys have to pay more for their needs, they do not have enough disposable income. Therefore, they tend to cut down the budget on their luxury such as clothes, makeup, and so on. Now the CEOs have to strategize new ideas to convey how their product is an excellent value for their money. Similarly, they are also struggling to deal with the inflated rates. Not all retail solutions can provide the feature to deal with the same. Communication Managing a store can be pretty hard, and comprising on communication is no exception. The level of complexity depends on the business’s size, size of the chain, and employee count. This can collectively impact the scalability, tracking, automation, and reporting Digital Disharmony The scope of technology and its uses are exceptionally growing, which fuels the need of merging online and offline businesses from back-office tasks to the final delivery. Unfortunately, most Retail Software Solution cannot provide all the essentials within the same environment. How Can A Unified Commerce Solution Change The Game? A Unified commerce solution, can be an ultimate game-changer due to the following reasons: No More Upgrades: a unified commerce solution doesn’t need frequent upgrades, as it is automatically on the latest version. Therefore, the latest technology is on your desk with 0 additional effort. Coping With The Customer Demands: a unified solution scrutinizes customer shopping behaviors and computes data relevant for future decisions. This is the best way to keep up with the dynamic market environment. Not only this, but it also makes it simpler for customers to check the current stock availability. Ultimate Integration: it integrates your business operations across channels, regions, and industries and eliminates issues occurring due to miscommunications. All of your business activities are integrated from the back office to final delivery. Boosts Sales Brilliantly: a unified solution helps scrutinize your final execution, run multiple scenarios and modify your strategies. Better strategies are equal to a boost in sales. It is highly effective during retail price inflation. We Are Not Done Yet A majority of Software Solutions follow the same pattern; they offer a small ratio of your needed features. However, a unified commerce solution such as LS Central is way ahead of them that offers the world’s most renowned ERP For Retail Industry, you get all the necessary retail-oriented functionalities essential for your business. It collects and examines your customer It makes everything simpler for your customers, boosts sales, shuns unnecessary costs, and ultimately boosts your profit rate.
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As a successful retailer, chances are you are already running some of your IT functions in the cloud. That’s smart. The next logical step is to move your entire retail management system to the cloud, and go from the on-premises version to its software as a service (SaaS) one. But even if you know that the cloud is experiencing exponential growth, and that you will, one day, take the leap, you may be hesitant to do it now. Perhaps you are afraid you’re not ready for the change. Perhaps you have security concerns. Maybe you can’t clearly identify which practical, day-to-day benefits you’d get from moving to the cloud. Whichever your reasons, you want the best for your business, and you care about staying competitive. You want to make the right decision, and employ technology that will propel you forward today and tomorrow. While you are debating whether the cloud is for you, here are 8 good reasons why you should consider migrating your system. 1. Stay up to date, automatically With traditional on-premises software, businesses are responsible of keeping their hardware and software up to date. In order to stay current (and safe), they’d need to purchase new hardware every few years, and to update their software every few months. But in reality, retailers usually have more pressing concerns than keeping track of the latest software patch or upgrade. And if the company is using multiple software solutions and there are integrations in place, a system upgrade can become a costly and lengthy project. As a result, many companies end up with outdated IT environments that work, but don’t really support the business, and may even hinder it. In the worst cases, this old tech might reduce the company’s ability to grow and take on new projects, or stay on top of consumer demands. When you are using SaaS in the cloud, all these concerns belong to the past. You don’t need to worry about periodic maintenance, or to budget for expensive and complicated software upgrades. Instead, your supplier takes care of updating your software regularly. And if you have configured your add-ons correctly, you can maintain all your extensions, and even your configurations. SaaS software guarantees that you are always, automatically, on the latest version, and can use all the new functionality that comes with it. 2. Enhance productivity with intelligence One of the biggest advantages of the cloud is the advanced computational power it offers. Tasks that until yesterday were too complex for even the most powerful computer, for example predicting future sales patterns, are now within reach of any retailer. Businesses can run their data into Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) powered tools available in the cloud, and without having to pay for extra servers or data scientists, they can get the answers they need, with minimal effort, very rapidly, and at a fraction of the cost than comparable on-prem technology. There is a wide variety of AI tools available in the cloud, giving businesses infinite possibilities to improve their effectiveness and productivity. AI can also help make smarter decisions, and deliver more personalized, to the point customer service. Would you like to send personalized promotions and special deals to your customers based on their shopping history and specific tastes? Are you thinking about adding a chatbot or virtual agent as a first-line customer support? Or perhaps you’d like to offer intelligent search on your e-commerce site? When you run your software in the cloud, all these initiatives are accessible to you, and can be started within a very short timeframe. But AI can do much more than help deliver bespoke customer experiences. You can use optimize your inventory with advanced forecasting that can factor seasonality, promotions, trends, and product substitutes and complements into your forecasts. You can refine your hiring practices with intelligent talent acquisition solutions. You can simplify searches across your catalog for both staff and customers using AI-powered accurate product tagging applied to images. When you infuse your business with intelligence, you also make it more proactive, agile, and profitable. 3. Guarantee business continuity with a reliable infrastructure With traditional in-house IT setups, businesses are at constant risk of downtimes and failures. On-site servers can’t usually guarantee a consistent performance, and if a key piece of your hardware breaks down, you may be left unable to serve customers or close sales – and could even risk losing your business data. As regards reliability, a traditional infrastructure usually necessitates a disaster recovery plan, requiring you to build redundancy, carefully monitor conditions, having dual firewalls and more – in short, you need to budget for time-consuming, expensive, complex monitoring. Switch to SaaS software, and you can step away from all of these problems. Even if you experience a hardware failure – say your computers or servers break down – you won’t lose your data, as it is safely stored in the cloud and can be accessed when and as you need to. The cloud also guarantees higher reliability. Large cloud services like Microsoft Azure, with expansive resources and entire dedicated teams, have already built in redundancy, from failover hardware to datacenters located across the world. As a result, Azure, the service where the cloud-based version of LS Central resides, can guarantee 99,995% uptime, and top security features. 4. Respond quickly to changing market conditions You know how important speed of action is in the retail industry. Yet, traditional IT environments are all but agile: even a project as simple as adding new servers or applications can be very time consuming. First, your IT staff needs time to procure the hardware or software that will fit within the current infrastructure. Then they have to set it up and test it, and finally, they’ll have to go through implementing it. In the past, this process was the only way to implement change. Today, this is an outdated and ineffective way of operating – especially when the businesses you are competing against are agile and unburdened by traditional infrastructure, such as e-commerce players. To stay
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Your retail management system is at the heart of your business efficiency. It keeps your operations smooth, connects all parts of your business, and helps you deliver services and experiences that meet and go beyond your customers’ expectations. Still, many retailers operate on legacy IT. Often, these patched-together systems can’t sync information properly, are hard and costly to maintain don’t allow retailers to deliver the services that consumers demand. Although many retailers are afraid of the investment required by a new system, outdated tech may be already costing them more than a complete technology overhaul. Are you, like many retailers, losing competitiveness because of your outdated software systems? We have compiled a list of the top red flags you should look out for. If two or more of these points hit home, it’s time for a technology overhaul. You can’t accept product returns across channels Today’s consumers browse and shop on multiple channels, and they expect to be able to return purchases the way they like, too. According to a study by Forrester Research, consumers demand simple and easy returns, and the ability to return items bought online to brick-and-mortar store locations. “There are a lot of people who don’t even bother returning [products] because it’s such a pain, and when they don’t bother returning, they just don’t shop with you again,” says Sucharita Mulpuru, retail analyst at Forrester. Ask yourself: Does my current technology enable me to offer customers the abilty to buy online and return in-store? You can’t offer click and collect or curbside pickup Click and collect – also known as BOPIS, for Buy Online and Pick up In Store – is one of the most sought-after services by consumers. Curbside pickup has been around for a few years, but it surged in popularity during the pandemic. Both options are expected to remain in high demand with shoppers, as they bridge the gap between ecommerce and physical retail, and are both highly convenient and – when needed – contactless. Click and collect also holds benefits for retailers, as it has been shown to lead to larger shopping baskets as customers add unplanned items when they go pick up their purchases. Ask yourself: Am I missing out on both sales and upselling opportunities by keeping my e-commerce and physical locations disconnected? You regularly oversell items In many retail chains, each store location runs on its own database, and the eCommerce website runs on another platform altogether. When information is saved in separate places, if the systems do not communicate with each other in real time, there is a very high chance you might sell an item on your eCommerce website even if the product is actually out of stock. At that point, you’ll have to inform the customer you can’t deliver the item they bought – losing the sale, and perhaps, the customer’s trust. Ask yourself: Do I have out-of-sync, siloed information? Is inventory information updated too seldom, causing a stale view of inventory and overselling? You don’t give customers visibility into the inventory Consumers are increasingly taking purposeful shopping trips. Today, two out of three consumers check if the item they are looking for is available before they head out to shop, the IBM Institute for Business Value reports. If you don’t give visibility into what products are available in your stores, customers may not make the trip to your store at all. Yet, only around one third of retailers give customers access to accurate product availability across store locations, and 45% offer no access to inventory at all, according to data by Sapio Research. It’s not just consumers that don’t get the visibility they need. Less than 15% of retailers give their store associates effective inventory visibility across channels, according to BRP research. This means that sales staff can’t, for example, tell customers whether an item they desire is in stock in another store location, or instantly offer a suitable replacement. Ask yourself: Do I force shoppers to make the trip in person to find out if a product is available in my stores? Can my sales associates help consumers, looking up product availability in other locations? You waste a lot of time on manual tasks You’d be surprised at how much time is spent on doing manually tasks that could be digitized. EKN reports that two out of three retail professionals are still forced to spend time completing physical paperwork during store visits! All these physical documents must then be analyzed and transcribed, manually – leading to further waste of time and risk of errors. Crocodile International, one of our customers, told us that their accounting staff used to spend many hours at the end of each month to manually verify inventory figures against sales orders. They were forced to because of legacy systems that didn’t communicate with each other. The delayed transaction postings also made them unable to know exactly how much stock was available at a given time. Ask yourself: Am I wasting a lot of man-hours with manual entering and double-checking of data? You can’t recognize customers across channels Today, the average shopping journey can begin with a customer seeing a new item on your Facebook page. They might then check out the item in one of your store locations, and buy it later on your eCommerce site. To engage customers, you need to be able to identify and follow them across the various channels and touchpoints they use. You must then share this information across your enterprise, and use it to create personalized interactions. Unfortunately, this is near impossible to achieve if, like many retailers, you manage each channel – perhaps each store – as a separate entity. Some companies don’t even have an integrated customer database, and valuable customer information like sales per client, payments, loyalty points, is stored in separate systems which don’t communicate with each other. The result? Duplicate information, incomplete and inconsistent records, and no clear view of who each consumer is, what they like, etc. When you don’t know your customers, you cannot design meaningful loyalty programs and rewards, deliver personalized recommendations, or offer relevant promotions. Ask yourself: Can I connect my customers’ data and use it to create personalized interactions? Or is
Is outdated technology destroying your retail business? 9 red flags to look out for Read More »
Africa Lifestyle Limited operates retail stores in malls and airports across Ghana, Nigeria, and several other African countries. The company carries products from popular international fashion brands such as Levi’s Jeans, as well as a wide variety of cosmetic lines including Bobbi Brown, Estee Laude’s M.A.C., and L’Oreal’s Maybelline. Africa Lifestyle Limited is dedicated to establishing a world class retail platform to deliver quality apparel, accessory, and beauty brands to customers across West Africa. The business case Before switching to LS Retail software, Africa Lifestyle Limited faced numerous challenges. The company was using a software solution that wasn’t suited for their scale and couldn’t keep up with the ever-changing demands of the fashion industry. The fashion business demands the ability to launch new collections and product ranges in short amounts of time. With their previous system, this became complicated at every step of the process: in product development, planning, production, supply chain and fulfillment. Africa Lifestyle Limited says limitations of the system included: The solution Africa Lifestyle Limited evaluated multiple solutions, but none of them encompassed of all their desired features like LS Retail software. Africa Lifestyle Limited manages its financials at their office in the UAE, while operations are managed from India and Africa, and consolidation happens at their offices in Africa. The company was drawn to LS Retail for both the system functionality in the fashion industry and the ability to manage its business remotely, from offices in different time zones, with everyone in the business working on up-to-date business information. Trident Information Systems, an LS Retail partner with consolidated experience in LS Retail software solutions, worked with Africa Lifestyle Limited on the implementation. They communicated across the company’s three different time zones and effectively coordinated with all the locations’ teams for a successful deployment. The teamwork meant the system was up and running within 3.5 months. The company decided to run the system in the cloud, as that would better support their international structure. They opted to host the solution on Microsoft Azure, a setup that has been serving them well. Benefits After moving to LS Retail software, day-to-day operations in Africa Lifestyle Limited are much easier. Satisfied with their new system and mindful of the future of their industry, Africa Lifestyle Limited is currently reviewing additional technology such as AI-powered recommendations, as well as new ways to deliver better experiences online and across the channels with virtual product catalogues and click and collect.
With mobility redefining the way retail industry is currently operating, there is no exaggeration that smart phones have brought a new lease of life into an already complex web of multichannel retailing. Needless to say, enterprise mobility has become the new enterprise experience – a unique way of transacting business and improving how people work in every area – either desk or in the store. In this perspective, many retailers are concentrating on investing exclusively on consumer mobile apps. This is a new beginning that is gaining rapid momentum – empowering stakeholders like store associates, managers, partners and consumers with mobile solutions to fully transform the customer experience. Unique Challenges for the Retail Industry Promotion of new brands, based on whether they are in the store, on the road, or at home Consumer access to myriad choice of products, models and styles Rising consumer demands to provide excellent customer service Enormous and disparate amounts of consumer and business data to collect and analyze No proper analytics to model and forecast different scenarios. Harness the power of mobile solutions to transform your business! Gone are the days when store was just a retail floor; it's now a virtual shop operating 24/7 connecting your employees, partners and customers. This means all these stakeholders require mobile solutions to transform and define the way they learn team work and shop to build loyalty, augment sales and improve their overall RoI. Some of the typical areas of retail where mobile can have significant impact are: Store Operations Through centralized POS management and back of store transformation, retailers can remotely manage both fixed and mobile POS systems from a single location. Access real-time data anytime, anywhere, and meet seasonal demand by instantly provisioning workspaces as needed. Resourceful shelf-space utilization by field associates through apt mobile planogram. Loss Prevention Audit Analytics Supply Chain Enhance decision making and fulfilment with real-time visibility and collaboration. Enable faster time-to-market with new products. Minimize wastage, shrinkage, obsolescence and expenditure. Streamline stock fulfilment. Marketing & Logistics Offer personalized promotions, resulting in enhanced customer loyalty. Augment store visits by leveraging location-based features. Offer location based services such as loyalty rewards and status media preferences. Leverage mobile commerce to offer superior shopping experience. Customer Service Offer more reach to your customers via mobile catalogue browsing, ordering and store pickup. Enhance customer in-store experience with mobile checkout. Let your customers have instant access to store price and products availability, enhancing their customer satisfaction. Minimize margin shrinkage and lost sales by providing a seamless multi-channel store experience to your customers. Mobilizing Retail Analytics A real-time reporting tool for retail businesses Monitor traffic patterns and transactions Customize graphs and tables to highlight certain metrics Measure all aspects of the business that matter Understand shopper behaviors and discover opportunities Contextual Retail IOT Platform Beacon based proximity marketing solution Deliver highly relevant message to shoppers Setup campaigns to target individual shoppers Analyze each campaign with detailed insights CMS to build micro locations and create personalized messages Extend your brand’s reach on consumers’ devices
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Consumers hate standing in line at the store. This is nothing new. Nine out of ten UK shoppers interviewed by Box Technologies and Intel revealed they avoided stores with long queues. When Amazon opened its cashier-less, checkout-less store Amazon Go, many hailed it as a much-needed revolution exactly because it eliminated the need to queue to check out. Since Covid-19 hit, long lines have gone from being simply a nuisance and a waste of time to a potential hazard. As a retailer, how can you reduce the risk of lines forming without going the Amazon Go route? Here are six ideas. 1. Bring the register to the customer with mobile POS Today, the most advanced retail software solutions enable you to run the Point of Sale (POS) on mobile devices like tablet computers or smartphones. Your staff can look up information, scan items, close transactions, accept payments and print receipts anywhere the customers are, both inside and outside the store premises. No need for customers to line up at the register and wait for their turn. Another advantage of mobile POS is that you can easily add more devices when needed, without having to devote space to extra registers. [Download our whitepaper “No more strings” to find out more benefits of adding mobile Point of Sale to your in-store experience] 2. Add special stations for complex processes Simple sales are usually fast to handle, so a line of customers simply buying items usually flows rapidly. On the other hand, more complex processes like returns, custom orders or loyalty program signups can take longer, and slow down the line significantly. Since simple sales usually outnumber complex ones, you can reduce the average waiting time having a special service station for shoppers who need extra help, for example those needing refunds, exchanges, special orders and more. 3. Experiment with virtual queues With a virtual queue machine, customers can take a number and secure a place in a queue without actually having to stand in line, close to each other. Although these kind of machines are common in service centers like post offices and banks, they are not as widespread in retail stores, especially at the register. My local electronics store, for example, uses virtual queuing for customers looking for assistance, but relies on traditional lines at the register. Are they missing an opportunity? An added reason to try out virtual queues is that they give customers the time to wander around the store while waiting – a great opportunity for them to see extra items they might want to add to their cart. 4. Set up one-to-one appointments Not all retail store visits need to be unplanned walk-ins. If a consultation or special attention is required, more retailers are encouraging people to book a time beforehand, so they can be given the time and attention they need. Jewelry chains Watches of Switzerland and Goldsmiths, Mappin & Webb started booking one-to-one appointments with customers as soon as they reopened their stores after the temporary pandemic closures. Craig Bolton, executive director of The Watches of Switzerland Group, says that his company set up 13,000 one-to-one virtual and in-store appointments in the last two weeks of July alone. Although this format may not fit retailers in all industries, reservations can help organize the flux of incoming visitors and ensure that you have the time and space you need for your customers. 5. Add “scan and go” tech The latest revolution in Point of Sale technology sees the POS move into the consumer’s hands. Scan and go mobile apps allow consumers to self-serve in the shop, using either their personal mobile device or a provided handset to scan items and pay. The process is different from traditional mobile POS, not just because customers take care of the scanning themselves but also because items are scanned as they are added to the cart. Although for now Scan and Go technology is most common in grocery stores, there is no reason why retailers in other sectors shouldn’t take advantage of it. In a fashion, health, electronics or DIY store, customers would benefit from the ability to add items to the basket at their convenience while limiting human-to-human contact. Scan and go apps have other benefits, too. When they scan aa barcode , customers can see all the product details, including information like nutrition, components or ingredients and care instructions– a great way for shoppers to get all the extra information they need to make a buying decision without having to touch the product. 6. Empower your staff with intuitive, reliable tech Is outdated, slow technology one of the causes of long lines in your store? One of our customers told us a horror story of their old POS breaking down during the Christmas Eve rush. “It was a nightmare: one of our cash registers locked up, causing all of the systems in our main store to go down. Lines wrapped around the store because we had to process all transactions manually by writing everything down. We easily lost $20,000 that day, and who knows the long term effects it had on repeat business.” His conclusion? “The most important criterion when choosing a system is reliability.” Take a hard look at your technology: is it still serving your customers adequately? When selecting new software, look for systems that ensure short transaction times. Long queues used to be a luxury problem for a retailer; not anymore. Do you need help finding the right technology to give customers a safe, pleasant experience in your stores? Do not hesitate to contact us.
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