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How Click-and-collect can help boost your retail business (video)

Posted on February 25, 2019June 8, 2022 by admin

Omni channel retailing enables retail brands to expand their presence as it removes the dependence on a single channel and allows the use of multiple channels to interact with their customers as well as sell products. ‘Click-and-collect’ or ‘Buy online pick up in store (BOPIS)’ is a powerful omni-channel fulfillment option that is gaining popularity, globally. The below video illuminates some of its important benefits.

ETP Omni-channel Retail Software Solutions provide you with features such as ‘Click and collect’ enabling you to deliver a unified brand-customer relationship across all channels.

ETP SIS V5.5 (Shop-in Shop) Mobile Solution

Posted on February 21, 2019June 8, 2022 by admin

ETP is delighted to launch the ETP SIS V5.5 (Shop-in Shop) Mobile solution for retailers.

ETP’s Mobile SIS solution helps shop-in-shop/departments store retailers better manage their sales, CRM and inventory on a convenient mobile platform in their SIS/Consignment location within department stores. Retailers can now make their replenishment more efficient to avoid over and under stock situations with online information of sales of sales and receipts from SIS stores. They can receive goods and track inventory movement at SIS stores. It removes the hassle of doing reconciliation with department stores on periodic sales and collection. Built on the technology that supports both Android and iOS, the ETP Mobile SIS solution can be hosted on premise or on the cloud.

Mr. Naresh Ahuja, Chairman & CEO, ETP Group mentioned, ‘’The problem shop-in-shop retail brands have is that they get sales information from the department stores either weekly or monthly and the data may not always be accurate. ETP Mobile SIS is a user-friendly, powerful mobile app which can allow them to record the sales (not actually produce the bill), update the system when they receive goods and also do a stock take.”

What makes luxury retail a challenging business?

Posted on October 27, 2023October 31, 2023 by admin

Luxury products have always been one of the most admired and sought after products. So much so, that consumers of such products take pride in their possessions and are often considered to be of a higher class. They and their products are the ‘talk of the town’ most of the times in social gatherings and people like to be associated with such class conscious, brand loving and luxury seeking consumers. Luxury products therefore had few options and demanded a high cost of purchase deliberately tailored to a select set of consumers.

But now times have changed thanks to rapidly changing consumer mindsets and the very idea of “luxury” is evolving. The old-fashioned ideas that defined luxury as aspiration, high status, exclusive, wealthy, don’t really paint the exact picture of what customers perceive about luxury products. One of the drastic changes over the recent years is that the new age luxury isn’t for showoff. Similarly other values that luxury brands exclusively attributed to, such as better quality and style, precise workmanship and great designs, are not exclusive any more to luxury.

Consumers’ tastes are evolving. There is an indisputable appeal for new products and services along with more choice of options yet having the flavor of uniqueness and exclusivity. This has given rise a various breeds of brands such as specialised ones and those that are highly customised to customer demands, thus increasing competition.

Further, along with changing tastes, customer shopping patterns and buying behaviour have undergone a tremendous transformation. Traditionally, luxury shoppers heavily relied on physical retail to fulfil their desire for luxury goods. But now, multiple channels have come into the game and customers willingly switch between channels to get what they want. Seamless demand fulfilment across channels necessitates the reduction of various issues such as decrease in quality or other losses that are caused during the course of the supply chain. While older shoppers are still playing a significant role in the luxury market spends, millennial’s and Gen Zs are predicted to account for the larger growth in the coming years. Moreover, their new spending habits which are faster, more frequent, brand-conscious and trend-driven while being highly influenced by digital platforms.

All these are the modern day challenges that luxury retail businesses, especially the ones still depending heavily on the heritage and traditional processes are facing and there is one way out. They need to transform their retail businesses to omni-channel and employ the right omni-channel retail software to exceed their customer expectations and fulfil their business goals.

Also Read: How Can Retail Leverage The Benefits Of Blockchain

The opportunities to create an engaging retail experience

Posted on October 16, 2023April 4, 2024 by admin

Gone are the days where retail used to be treated as a transactional business where in retailers sold the products to consumers who came to their stores to buy those and the mutual give and take of the product and the cost was the be all and end all. It has all changed now. While the transaction is still integral, it is just one of the many processes that make the retail business the way it is today.

A shopper not only buys a product from a retail brand, he/she wants to interact and engage with brand across certain stages of the shopping journey which has evolved into a complex, multi-dimensional journey that shoppers embark upon when they want to buy a product.

This complexity has come in due to the influence of technology into the retail sector leading to substantial shifts in the shopping behaviour. The point to focus is not on the complexity but the opportunities that retailers have to connect with their end customers.

Consider this scenario – a shopper intends to purchase a mobile phone. So he decides to research about the options and varieties online on the website of his preferred retail brand. He is not happy with the options so he decides to further research on a market place online.

Having shortlisted the devices that he could consider to buy, he visits multiple stores to check out the devices, to have an experience of their look-and-feel. Still not convinced of which one to go with, he goes onto social media and seeks opinions. Moreover, he also checks out information portals that review products.

Now, the above shopping journey is an incomplete one since the purchase has not happened yet, however it is interesting to note the number of times the shopper has interacted with the brand through multiple touch-points. From a retailer’s point-of-view, these are indeed the opportunities for the brand to interact and engage with the customer.

The above scenario is one of the complex shopping journeys and the complexity can further increase along with the number of touch-points that can be used throughout the entire shopping journey. Again, these are multiple opportunities that retail brands have to interact and engage with the customer and create the impact.

To sum up, as shopping behaviour has evolved, it has provided ample opportunities for retail companies to go beyond the traditional concepts of retailing. Rather, this evolution has enabled brands to meet and greet their customers across multiple stages and touch points of their shopping journey. Ultimately, customers prefer an engaging experience and those brands who will be able to offer that kind of an experience will thrive.

Also Read : From Past To Present To Future, Retail Is Going To Be About ‘location’

The 3 important ways POS data can be used

Posted on November 28, 2023November 28, 2023 by admin

The modern day point-of-sale (POS) has evolved to become more than just a transaction processing tool. Technology has advanced since the original cash till, and today, the POS has business benefiting features that retailers can really use across processes. Let’s focus on one of the most important benefits of the POS which provides value in intelligence and decision making – data collection.

While most retailers over the last few years have started collecting data at the POS, it’s those who are actually processing this data in the right way and drawing insights to enhance their businesses are getting ahead in the retail arena. Below are 3 important aspects of POS data and how it can be used.

Inventory And Stock Optimization:

When the POS is used to record data about inventory, it enables retailers to stay on top of stock levels thus making it easier to track items — from ordering through the point of sale (and even returns). This further aids in better inventory forecasting, purchasing, and this is also useful in retail marketing decisions. Some modern retail POS software provide some important features related to inventory such as conducting inventory counts, managing returns, automating re-order points, checking stock levels at stores, among others. Analyzing the inventory data collected at the POS can enable retailers to have the right product at the right time.

Enhancing Customer Experience:

The POS software can be used to collect customer information while registering customers, look-up already registered customers, capture their feedback, track the frequency of their visit to the store, and also monitor their ticket size, the kind and quantity of products they generally purchase. All this data can be processed to draw powerful insights to analyze shopper behavior and their buying patterns thus allowing retailers to personalize customer experience along with having the right inventory at the store. Further, the information can also be fed-back to the store-staff at the POS to enable cross/up selling. Also, having the inventory data will allow the store associates to proactively let shoppers know about the availability of certain products. These efforts can enhance the overall customer experience.

Improving Staff Performance:

The POS software can be used to collect data related to sales staff. Some of the valuable metrics in addition to total sales could be basket size in-terms of price and quantity, walk-ins converted to registered customers, customers issue resolutions, and so on. The data can then be processed to learn about employee performance and understand the areas where improvements are required in terms of training and also recognizing the achievements of the store employees. In addition to this, factoring in the staff to sales ratio is an essential parameter to decide about the staffing needs for the store.

Also Read: What Retailers Need To Understand About The Omni-Channel Customer Experience

What’s in store for retail in 2019?

Posted on December 27, 2018January 10, 2023 by admin

While everyone is enjoying the festive season frenzy, and eagerly awaiting the New Year with hope and aspirations, it is time for businesses to retrospect and set objectives for the future. Retail businesses, specifically, are more consumer driven. Therefore, it becomes essential to be intuitively proactive in gearing up for what lies ahead while striving to outperform the previous year.

It’s a given that technology will continue to play a major role in the New Year as it did in 2018 and the years gone by. Being an enabler, and also a disruptor, technology will see itself getting strongly embedded into the very genes of retail businesses and will drive the engine. And this is perfectly evident in the prediction by Gartner analysts who say that retailers’ investment in technology will grow by 3.6% globally in 2019 as customer expectations will put pressure on them to perform.

Further, Gartner mentioned that software would be one of the fastest growing technology expenditures in the retail industry, especially platforms for analytics, mobile applications, digital marketing, e-commerce and Artificial Intelligence (AI) increasingly becoming areas of interest for retail CIOs. By these predictions it is clear that technology will be the driving force for retail businesses in 2019.

The next thing in retail that is set to make the waves in 2019 and the years following would be the rise of brick-and-mortar retailing. As global sales of physical retail went up by 4.8 in 2018 and there were more stores being opened than closed, the trend will seem to continue. Even large online players like Amazon have started their own physical stores or are buying out other stores. As physical stores are evolving and are becoming destinations for experiences and not just limited to transactions, customers will continue to flock to the stores to enjoy these curated experiences.

Eventually, retail is no more about the channel, but it is about the consumer. Ultimately, the integration of technology and the business in the right manner will ensure that customers get what they want while businesses achieve their goals in the New Year 2019.

Why is customer data and analytics beneficial for retail?

Posted on December 14, 2018June 8, 2022 by admin

Technology has been an enabler for most businesses to achieve better outcomes. The retail business has witnessed tremendous disruptions across various aspects in terms of operations and processes, thanks to technology. Today, the retail sector is the best example of how a business can evolve and one of the major reasons for this has been the customers – they adopted technology, and with that, not only their purchasing behavior, but also different stages of their shopping journey evolved, leaving retail companies no choice but to follow suit.

Tech-savvy customers being the drivers of the retail evolution led to one of the biggest advantages for retailers – the ability to acquire customer data, and translating that data into powerful insights that enabled in better decision making. Listed below are some of the important and tangible benefits that customer analytics based decisions have:

Streamlining retail campaigns: Retailers can channelize their marketing efforts and optimize costs.

Having competitive pricing: Retail brands can price their products based on demand and customers’ expectations and market trends.

Enabling customization: Retail customers can be provided with a combination of features or service that satisfy their needs.

Reducing wastage: Retailers can manage their inventory better by proactively anticipating customer demands.

Facilitating faster delivery: Knowing local demands and trends will enable retailers to set-up the right supply chain management system to fulfill customer orders.

Fostering customer loyalty: Offering the products at the right prices enhances customer satisfaction and leading to loyal customers.

Increasing profitability: All the above factors will lead to higher profitability for the retail business overall.

In today’s retail scenario, the customer is key. Retailers can ensure increase in profitability and sustainability of their businesses by focusing on the customers, knowing and understanding their needs and fulfilling them as and when the customers’ desire.

Important Retail Technology Predictions

Posted on December 31, 2018April 15, 2023 by admin

Good bye to an eventful 2018 and welcome to the New Year 2019! At this juncture, it is the time to remember all the good things of the past year as well as get ready with plans and strategies for success in the new year. The retail industry has seen many ups and downs in the past year. And from all the reports, stats, debates and news, one thing was clear – retail companies who were not able to cope with technology, struggled while those businesses who used technology effectively, succeeded. The same is expected to continue in the new year and beyond. So here are a few retail tech predictions for the the future.

3 Important Tips for Retail Business Success in 2019

Posted on December 26, 2018June 8, 2022 by admin

The New Year is almost here and retail businesses must look forward to getting it spot on, right from the word go. It is therefore important for retailers to rely on learnings from the past while strategizing for success in the new year. So let’s look at 3 important factors that will help retailers get it right in retail in 2019.

Striving for Seamless integration across the business: It is now or never for retailers, where ‘unified commerce’ is concerned. Shoppers are increasingly demanding seamless experiences across channels. Operating in silos will surely spell doom for retail businesses. On the other hand, integrating channels and business processes will provide dual benefits – single version of the truth, seamless flow of information. Data is key to delivering outstanding experiences to customer. Having the right information related to product and inventory across channels, and having a thorough knowledge of the customer while ensuring that multiple channels are well integrated in the business system will enable retail brands to deliver exceptional retail experiences to their customers.
Focusing on Lifetime value rather than transaction value: Retail brands should stop focusing on the value of the transaction, rather they should look at how much value a customer brings to the retail business throughout their lifetime. This approach will provide a more holistic insight while managing customer relationships. While using on a transaction value based approach will help retailers to increase the value of a single transaction, focusing on the lifetime value will allow retailers to design strategies that will be enable them to extract more value of the customer. Further, this approach will aid in customer retention and cementing brand loyalty while ensuring repeat business and creating brand advocates.
Staying abreast with technology advancements that could disrupt: Every new technology that made its headway into the retail industry has led to the disruption of the business, primarily in 2 ways; i) consumers adopted technology faster leading to changes in their shopping behavior and shopping journeys, ii) businesses who were early adopters used technology to enhance their processes and operations which made traditional methods obsolete. Some of the biggest game changers in recent times have been e-commerce, mobile commerce, omni-channel, virtual reality (VR) & augmented reality (AR), Internet of things (IoT), and Artificial Intelligence (AI) being the latest entrant. It is necessary for retail owners to equip their business with the right retail technology for futureproofing their investments.

Gearing up with the right attitude while aiming to work towards making their business better using the above tips will allow retailers to have a Happy New Year 2019.

Malls – One-stop retail shopping destinations!

Posted on December 12, 2018January 10, 2023 by admin

The Christmas festive season is almost here, as is the end of another year and we look for the best in the New Year. The past 2 years have probably been one of the biggest testing times for the retail industry, especially for physical retail. In the wake of the last year, which seen many known retail brands going bankrupt or shuttering stores, debates on whether physical retail would witness an apocalypse because of the rise of online shopping have been happening across the industry; but it seems like the predictors of the doom of physical retail have been silenced, thanks to the reinvention of retail.

Malls still face a threat from e-commerce shopping due to rising number of consumers preferring to shop online. The major reasons being a wide range of options available online, more discounts on online purchases, convenience of shopping from home while avoiding crowds and even reducing the chances impulse shopping. One of the major debates were whether malls would survive the online shopping or e-commerce onslaught, but the numbers are in favor of shopping in a mall. A recent survey indicated that more than 60% of consumers would visit the mall for apparel shopping as opposed to shopping for clothing online, and another 39% prefer to go to the malls, not only to explore multiple retail brands in one location, but also try on and compare clothing options. Malls offer strategic advantages which are still a hit among consumers.

One of the biggest clicks for shoppers visiting malls is the tangibility of products. Brick-and-mortar retail has thrived on the ‘touch-and-feel’ feature that shoppers love when it comes to purchasing apparel, footwear and other items. Moreover, most retail brands would be present in malls and this allows shoppers a fair opportunity to explore different brands belonging to similar categories and then take a conscious decision on what to buy, from where. Another major advantage that malls offer is socializing. Consumers prefer shopping with family and friends or even interacting with store associates to help them find the right product, as they find it easier to seek opinions and then make a purchase. In addition to this, malls are a one stop destination for shopping, entertainment and eating, thus offering wholesome experiences to shoppers for their time and money.

The bottom line is that malls and e-commerce will continue to coexist as consumers will always look at multiple options to satisfy their shopping needs. However, the catch is to ensure customers get what they want and retail brands are able to do that no matter which channel they use.

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