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Grow your Business this Christmas  

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Grow your Business this Christmas  | Omni channel Retail software | ETPgroup

 

As that unmistakable divine aroma of rum-soaked dry fruits begins to fill every neighborhood a slow sense of realization dawns upon us that soon it will be Christmas.

The festive period is a great time for families to decorate the house, kids to show off their new toys and of course to spend time with your loved ones. For retailers, however, the busiest shopping season of the year is very much around the corner. Christmas preparation for retailers usually begins by early November. It is integral that retailers are fully aware of the latest trends in the retail industry as well as amongst shoppers to ensure that they don’t miss out during this important time.

So let’s take a look at some of these trends which retailers simply can’t afford to ignore this Christmas

 

  • Influencer Marketing

There has been a trend amongst social media users to base their purchases on the tastes and likes of a certain popular figure that they aspire to be. 

The impact of Influencer marketing is only going to grow and retailers who chose to ignore it stand to lose out in the long run.

So if you are new to influencer marketing,  Christmas may be the perfect time to try to give it a shot

 

  • Self-checkout Stores

No lines. No checkout,” it says on a wall inside Amazon Go, a convenience store that has no cashiers. Instead, you have to scan your phone to enter, and a web of cameras on the ceiling uses computer vision and sensor technology to detect when you take, or return, items from a shelf and electronically charge them to your account minutes after you leave.

Self-checkout stores not only save time for the customers but also reduce theft.

It thus seems like the next logical step for the retail industry.

 

Retailers must work towards providing their clients with integrated customer experience. Regardless of whether the customer is shopping at a Brick & Mortar Store or Online, the transition should be seamless. Christmas season does not necessarily mean that people will flock to Brick & Mortar stores to make their purchases. A large percentage of purchases will be online and retailers must be able to provide a seamless customer experience.

 

  • Subscription-Based Services

A new type of business model is taking the western retail market by storm. The model is based on people purchasing a subscription for the service of a product rather than making an outright purchase. For example, consumers are purchasing a monthly subscription of formal clothing to wear to work. The customers then get a new set of clothes every month. This could be one of the biggest retail trends going into the new year and retailers must be ready to embrace this change.

 

How Retailers can make the most of the Upcoming Festive Season

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Omni channel Retail software | etpgroup.com

So the holiday season is right around the corner. Before we know it, we will have Christmas decorations in every store, holiday music will soon be playing on every radio station and we will resume  feeling that unmistakable jolly tingle. Not forgetting all the holiday parties, food prepping, money spending & much more. It can definitely be an overwhelming time for retailers. That is why we have prepared a write up about how you can ensure to maximize sales and customer satisfaction this festive season. 

  • Brand Image

Consumer confidence and consumer spending are among the two leading indicators of retail earnings. The two usually go hand-in-hand. If confidence is strong, spending could be too. If spending dips, it might mean confidence is waning. Hence in the months leading up to the festive season, it is important that retail maximize customer satisfaction and take care of their brand image, thus instilling confidence amongst buyers

  • Create a Strategy for the big dates

Friday 23 November 2018 – Black Friday

Monday 26 November 2018 – Cyber Monday

Wednesday 26 December – Boxing Day 

Having a clear plan about how to boost sales during these days is important. A cross-selling/upselling strategy can help increase sales by over 40%

ETP Connect could help in customer creation across channels to have a common Customer Master, in pushing promotions from the ETP Accelerator to the e-commerce portal, in pushing e-commerce sales into ETP V5.5 so you can have a centralized repository of sales and in offering an Omni-channel experience to your end customers

  • Staffing 

One of the biggest challenges during a busy period is staffing. Retailers must ensure that they have the right amount of staff to cope with an increase in demand. 

Arming your staff with the right training is also vital. For example, ETP’s mPOS would enable in-store mobility. At Christmas time especially, there are a number of opportunities to up-sell, cross-sell and offer alternative products, which can significantly increase average profit per transaction.

  • Be Prepared to Handle the Logistics

Usually, the festive season is very busy for retailers. But with an increase in the number of orders comes an increase in exchange and return requests. 

Seamlessly managing cross-channel returns and exchanges is integral and can be done with the help of  the Return/Exchange function of the ETP Omni-channel Store Solution 

Black Friday was started in the US and quickly spread to Europe and Asia. 

So why are Asian Retailers missing out on this Big Discount Day? 

How your CRM System can boost Sales and Increase Profits

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How your CRM System can boost Sales and Increase Profits | Omni channel Retail software

 

In today’s super competitive age, it is really difficult to run a business without a systematic approach. And I call that approach as CRM (Customer Relationship Management). Any business must follow the 3C model. The company, Customer and CRM.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is an indispensable feature of any business strategy. It aims at increasing the efficiency of any business by creating an unparalleled relationship with the customers. A CRM system is an all-in-one storage, sales communication tool, and organizer of the information of the customers. 

How do CRM systems work?

With advancements in technology, CRM has become very important. It allows connecting different departments of a business under one place.

  • CRM software uses data analytical methods to connect departments such as sales, marketing, customer service, notes, and appointments. This is an upgrade from the regular Bookkeeping system.
  • It also acts as an opportunity manager by studying the customers to establish growth trends and sales projections.
  • The data is stored onto cloud storage. This is to ensure that the data would stay safe and accessible all the time. The same can be achieved through a retail software solution.

CRM serves different functions. These functions lead to the development of function-focused software. Including-

  • Strategic – Based on establishing customer-client development.
  • Operational – This helps in establishing a dashboard for different departments. It facilitates the automation of sales, marketing department and customer service provision.

Sales are based on the trends observed from the initial stage to the latest customer purchases by the retail POS software. The use of CRM software signifies the importance of a client and help to modify the amount of interaction required to keep the customer in the loop to drive sales through various marketing strategies.

The marketing department then can automate its strategies by involving and executing tasks such as marketing emails on other social media-driven platforms.

The service department through CRM helps to establish a service technician with the customers. These include feedback, phone calls, FAQs, etc.

Using methods of correlation, pattern recognition, and data mining on the different sources or information of the customers. These help to find loopholes in the strategies used and amend them with a customer-centric approach.

 

Benefits of A CRM System

A CRM system resolves multiple problems by integrating data from various offline and online platforms. These include –

  • A CRM system enhances the relationship observed with a customer. It helps to analyze the current, past and would-be statuses of this interaction.
  • It also helps to serve the customers better. The data collected is studied to see the demands of the customers. The analysts then can strategize to serve customers effectively.

The Essentials of a Good Point of Sales System

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Omni channel Retail software | The Essentials of a Good Point of Sales System

 

The Point of Sale is the cornerstone of any retail business. From recording customer data to analyzing sales, the use cases for Point of Sales machines are growing year on year.

Today we take a look at the most important features of a Point of Sales Software System

  • Multiple Payment Method

 Payment methods presented at checkout will impact how the customer feels about the purchasing experience. POS systems that accept multiple payment methods are hence a vital tool in providing customers with a better experience

  • Integratable with Omni-channel

An omni-channel experience empowers users to personalize their own experience. The customer has the control to access the products, services, and support options on demand. It is thus integral that your POS System is integratable with omni-channel.

Omni-channel POS systems allow for the integration of customer loyalty programs which Improves profits and increase sales

  • Customer History Attached to each Profile

Point of Sales systems must be able to manage large databases. This helps in creating a sales strategy and also while launching a loyalty program

  • Retail Mobility Solutions

Mobile POS systems can enable in-store mobility. This can be a major advantage to retailers and provide customers with a seamless shopping experience

Retailers must adopt a Point of Sale System that manages all aspects of the business, integrating online and offline sales while providing the user with a seamless shopping experience. 

Also Read: Omni-Channel Technology Solutions For Your Retail Business

 

Singles’ Day- The Biggest Day for Retailers World Wide

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Omni channel Retail software

 

Celebrated on the 11th of November 2019, Singles Day is a Chinese commercial holiday. It was initiated by a group of internationally recognized dating experts in order to help singles either embrace their single status or do something about it. 

Singles Day rapidly evolved into an enjoyable unofficial holiday in which single people spoil themselves by overindulging in delicacies they would usually refrain from. Singles Day has gone on to become the single most lucrative online shopping holiday in the world, easily surpassing Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. In 2017 sales reached over  $25 billion on this day in China.

Credit must, however, go to Alibaba and Jack Ma for transforming  the de facto holiday from an ‘anti-Valentine’s Day’ for Chinese singletons to a global shopping festival back in 2009 

Singles Day sales have been on a tear over the last few years growing by over 50% year on year. As a result, retail brands are posting large sales numbers on this day. As can be seen above, total sales on SinglesDay was nearly sixteen times the sales made on both Cyber Monday and Black Friday in 2017. 

 

Discounts

As a result of the large increase in sales, retailers tend to offer large discounts on products on this day. Retailers are trying to carve out a larger percentage of the market sales on this day and offer buyers an incentive to buy their brand. 

Discounts offered are so high that they are now on par with the famously lucrative big sales days like Black Friday and Cyber Monday

 

Conclusion

Retailers must include these large discount days while chalking out their sales strategy for the year. During days of heavy sales it is important that their Point Of Sales system being used at the store is efficient in order to maximize customer satisfaction

Effective Up-selling and Cross-selling to help you Increase Sales this Festive Season

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Omni channel Retail Management | ETP groupThe most effective way of growing your business is by expanding your services to your existing clients. As competition increases in your relevant market, the cost of acquiring a customer is constantly rising and companies have to come up with a way to find new markets within their given customer base. 

Cross-selling and Up-selling are a huge part of the retail game because your customers already love you. If they didn’t then they wouldn’t be buying your product in the first place. A study says you’re 14 times more likely to sell to an existing customer then you are to a new customer.

 

What is Upselling?

Upselling involves encouraging a buying customer to add to his purchases by offering an incentive to do so. For example, a fashion store can offer  30% off on a 3rd shirt for customers buying 2 shirts.

 

What is Cross-Selling?

Selling a different service of yours to a customer or prospect. For example, a sales representative at an electronics retailer suggests that the customer purchasing a digital camera also buys a memory card.

So how can you implement Upselling or Cross-Selling this festive season?

  •  Be Result-Oriented: It’s important not to overwhelm your customers with offers. Up-selling and Cross-Selling are limited opportunities so using the right technique is important. Keep in mind, these are your existing customers, so you need to deliver the same quality and standard as before.
  • Value: Your clients need to see value in the additional purchase. Using testimonials or customer reviews may go a long way in convincing a customer to take the extra step
  • Offer a Discount or Incentive Program: Once you have the client database as well as the product or service that you’d like to sell, you can start the process of upselling or cross-selling. Start by offering a discount to your customers or maybe even a free trial

 

Conclusion 

Upselling/Cross-selling is one of the best tools for a business owner to increase basket size and thereby his sales, and it involves no extra marketing costs. So don’t miss out on this opportunity.

Best Days to Shop in 2019

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Best Days to Shop in 2019

 

From Cyber Monday to Black Friday, shoppers all around the world have a plethora of “Big Discount Days” to choose from. Today we take a look at when the best day of the year is to go all out, without breaking the bank.

What’s on the list

  • Amazon Prime Day
  • Cyber Monday
  •  Black Friday
  • Boxing Day
  • New Year’s Eve 
  • Singles Day

However, it is Singles Day which is regarded as the largest shopping day in the world. Also known as Guanggun Jie, it was started in China and is popular among young Chinese people. 

Celebrated on the 11th of November, the date was chosen because the number “1” represents a singular person or someone alone. Although not celebrated as an official public holiday, Singles Day has become the single largest offline and online shopping day in the world. 

Alibaba recorded sales of over US $15 Billion in 2018 as per Wikipedia. 

Since its inception, the popularity of Singles Day has spread all across the world and is no longer restricted to China, particularly in South East Asia. In the UK however, Singles Day is celebrated on the 11th of March.  

 

So how does Singles Day compared to the other Big Discount Days of the world?

 A survey found that the average consumer planned to spend 2,361 yuan (£181) during Singles Day in 2018  while on Black Friday the average spend in 2017 was 699 yuan. 

The volume of sales forecasted by retailers on singles day is higher than any other day. Although singles day is primarily celebrated in China, it is gaining significant traction in the west as well. 

Has GST really helped Indian Retail Businesses the way it was supposed to?

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Omni channel Retail software | ETPgroup.com

 

“One nation, one market, one tax”- was the notion on which GST was formed. GST which came into effect on July 1st, 2017 was the biggest tax reform in Indian history

3 years on, we have to ask ourselves, has GST had a positive impact on the Indian Economy?

What is GST?

Goods and Service Tax is an indirect tax imposed in India on the supply of goods and services. GST subsumes Service Tax Law, Central Excise Law, VAT, entry tax and Octroi. 

The Bad

GST was supposed to impact the unorganized sector. However three years after the launch of GST there is no study to show the impact of GST on the unorganized sector

  • Lack of Central Registration. Earlier service providers could register their business in all the states centrally. However, this is no longer possible as service providers now have to pay CGST. So they have to register separately
  • Taxation of Free Services. Now even if a company is providing its service for free they will be taxed. Under the earlier tax system, if your service was not for consideration then you wouldn’t be taxed

 

The Good

GST has removed the cascading effect on the sale of goods and services. This has reduced the price of goods since GST has removed  tax on tax. GST is also simpler to file as it is just a form online. 

GST increases efficiency in logistics as there is lesser compliance.

Now that multiple taxations is abolished the cost of inputs will go down. Paying VAT and excise duty will no longer be an issue.

Small to Medium scale enterprises whose contribution eluded most have now come under the scanner and their contribution to the economy is accounted for

 

Our Verdict

While GST is far from the perfect type of Indirect tax, it has encouraged the production of goods and services. Hence on a macro level, the tax has done more good for the economy as a whole than bad.

GST also attempts to bring a transparent and administration free tax system that is consumer and business-friendly. This will make the Indian market more stable and empower Indian companies to compete with foreign companies.