Tag: Point-of-sale

Why Your Current Mobile POS Systems Might Be Failing Your Retail Business

Posted on by Joaquim Silveira

Today’s customers connect with brands in multiple ways. They move between social media and physical stores throughout their shopping experience. Your retail business needs a mobile POS system that delivers exceptional shopping experiences.

Many retailers face challenges with their point-of-sale solutions. They can’t keep up with modern omni-channel commerce needs. This leads to missed opportunities. Businesses lose out on sales that could come from quick digital experiences, efficient curbside pickup, and touchless checkout options. A POS system is a vital part of retail operations. Yet picking and maintaining the right solution for your retail business isn’t easy.

In this blog, we want to get into the red flags of a poor POS system. We’ll talk about how these limitations could stop your retail business from reaching its full potential.

Common Signs Your Mobile POS System is Underperforming

Retail businesses must recognise warning signs of a poor mobile POS system to stay ahead of competitors. Research shows that 80% of customers won’t wait longer than 5 minutes to check out. Speed at checkout can make or break customer loyalty.

  • Extended wait times at checkout tell you something’s wrong. A good POS solution processes transactions in about 45 seconds. Your system might need attention if it keeps crashing or slowing down. Staff members who avoid using mobile devices or say they “sometimes do not work” point to bigger problems with the setup.
  • Inventory discrepancies reveal deeper troubles. Your physical stock might not match what’s in your system. Experts call this “poor inventory synchronisation”. This mismatch creates stockouts or excess inventory that hurts your bottom line.
  • System crashes hit hardest during busy hours. Your business suffers when the POS slows to a crawl or stops working. On top of that, it leaves a bad impression on customers. Your system should track inventory across locations. Without this feature, managing multiple stores becomes a nightmare.
  • Transaction errors and payment issues suggest serious problems. Your mobile POS needs an upgrade if customers often see declined cards or network errors. The system should handle modern payment methods. Today’s shoppers expect these options.
  • Live data access makes a huge difference. You need to know exactly where your inventory is. Without this certainty, you might oversell products and upset customers. Returns become harder to handle, and customer trust takes a hit.
  • So these technical shortcomings affect the whole shopping experience. A transaction that should take seconds stretches into minutes. This delay puts you behind in today’s ever-changing retail world.

Technical Limitations Holding Back Your Retail POS Solution

Retailers using mobile POS systems face serious security risks today. Mobile devices that transmit and store financial data need robust information security—but many systems don’t deliver. A security breach can result in financial losses, damage your reputation, and create legal problems. Your business could face severe consequences if hackers steal customer information or payment card numbers from vulnerable POS systems.

  • Inadequate systems create major compliance headaches. Mobile POS solutions that reach their end of service don’t get critical security updates. This leaves retailers exposed to new threats. Businesses that fail to meet industry standards like PCI DSS or GDPR risk heavy fines and legal action.
  • The biggest problem comes from integration issues. POS Solutions often hit roadblocks because of different protocols, old architecture, or closed APIs. Your POS won’t work smoothly with inventory management or customer relationship tools without proper integration. Staff members waste time on manual data entry because of these disconnected processes and data mismatches.
  • Network issues can cripple performance. Retailers struggle with unreliable connections in cloud-based mobile POS solutions. Customers get frustrated when systems go down mid-transaction. Large retailers can lose up to INR 421.90 million for each hour of downtime, according to an ITIC survey.
  • Old hardware makes everything worse. A POS system typically lasts about five years. Consumer technology running POS software becomes outdated in just 18 to 36 months. The numbers tell the story—only 21% of retailers use POS software less than two years old. More than 40% still rely on systems older than five years. These technical problems go beyond simple inconveniences. They hurt your profits and shake customer confidence.

How Poor Mobile POS Implementation Affects Customer Experience

About 60% of shoppers leave their purchases behind because of long lines or bad service. This shows how mobile POS systems directly affect customer satisfaction. The problems with poorly set up systems go way beyond simple technical issues.

Customers hate waiting in long checkout lines. Research proves they abandon their carts if checkout takes more than 5 minutes. Ineffective mobile POS software can make transactions 30% slower. Target learned this lesson the hard way when they lost INR 4219.02 million in sales during a major POS system breakdown.

Failed transactions make customers lose trust quickly. Technical problems like declined cards or network errors frustrate customers immediately. Price differences between stores and online channels make things worse. Numbers tell the story – 73.1% of shopping carts sit empty because of inconsistent pricing. Customers don’t hesitate to switch brands when they find better prices elsewhere – 61% make the switch.

These bad experiences create bigger business problems:

  • Customer loyalty drops (satisfaction scores fall 20% with slow systems)
  • More customers walk away (44% give up when checkout takes too long)
  • Sales suffer (good mobile POS software speed up checkout by 50%, reducing lost sales)

The right mobile POS system can cut transaction times by 30%. Staff can process payments anywhere in the store. This naturally shortens lines and makes contactless payments easier.

Slow or unresponsive systems create problems beyond customer frustration. Staff struggle when they can’t check inventory or process payments smoothly. The shopping experience suffers, and this affects your brand’s reputation and profits.

Why ETP V5 is the Game-Changer Your Retail Business Needs in a Mobile POS

 

ETP V5 can be the perfect answer to your mobile POS challenges. With robust omni-channel capabilities, it seamlessly connects inventory, transactions, and customer data across locations, giving you real-time insights and operational efficiency. Its advanced payment options and faster checkout features enhance the shopping experience, reducing cart abandonment and increasing customer satisfaction. Built with top-notch security measures, ETP V5 protects your business from risks while ensuring compliance with global standards. By investing in ETP V5, you’re equipping your retail business with a future-ready POS software that delivers unmatched speed, reliability, and convenience—helping you stand out in the competitive retail landscape.

Conclusion

Mobile POS system failures create major risks for retail businesses. These issues affect everything from daily operations to customer loyalty over time. Technical limitations and poor implementation lead directly to lost sales, damaged customer relationships, and missed growth opportunities.

Retail businesses should spot warning signs early instead of accepting these limitations. Transaction delays, inventory problems, and weak security just need quick action. Recent studies show that stores using modern, properly implemented POS software process checkouts 30% faster and keep customers a lot happier.

Future success relies on choosing mobile POS solutions that match today’s retail needs while staying ready for tomorrow. Modern systems should provide uninterrupted integration, reliable security features, and consistent performance across channels. They must also deliver the speed and convenience that today’s customers expect.

A properly working mobile POS system such as ETP V5 is truly a retail operation’s backbone. Setting up the right solution takes careful planning and investment. But letting customers switch to competitors with better systems will get pricey quickly.

10 Steps to Identify the Right Unified Commerce POS Solution for Retail Success

Posted on by Joaquim Silveira

In today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape, a robust and versatile Unified Commerce retail POS solution is a cornerstone for success. With omni-channel experiences becoming the norm, choosing the right POS system is no longer a mere operational decision—it’s a strategic one. Here’s a comprehensive guide to help retailers navigate the selection process and identify the best solution to achieve retail excellence.

1. Understand Your Business Needs

Before diving into the sea of POS solutions, take a step back to assess your business requirements. Consider factors such as:

  • The number of stores and their locations
  • Integration needs with existing systems like ERP, CRM, and e-Commerce
  • Inventory management complexities
  • Customer interaction points (in-store, online, or both)
  • Scalability for future growth

Having a clear understanding of your needs ensures you choose a solution that aligns with your operational goals.

2. Prioritize Omni-channel Capabilities

A Unified Commerce POS solution should seamlessly bridge the gap between in-store and online experiences. Look for features like:

  • Real-time inventory visibility across all channels
  • Click-and-collect and endless aisle functionalities
  • Unified customer profiles and loyalty programs across touchpoints

These capabilities empower your business to deliver a consistent and delightful customer experience.

3. Evaluate Ease of Use

A complex system can hinder efficiency and frustrate both employees and customers. During the selection process, prioritize solutions that:

  • Offer intuitive interfaces for quicker employee onboarding
  • Simplify checkout processes to reduce transaction times
  • Enable effortless management of discounts, promotions, and payment methods

The goal is to ensure a smooth operation with minimal learning curves.

4. Ensure Flexibility and Scalability

Your POS system should evolve with your business. Opt for a solution that:

  • Adapts to various retail formats (e.g., pop-up stores, flagship outlets)
  • Supports new payment methods like digital wallets or BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later)
  • Can handle increased transaction volumes during seasonal peaks

This ensures you’re prepared to meet both current and future demands.

5. Look for Cloud-Based Solutions

Cloud technology has transformed the retail industry, making operations more agile and efficient. A cloud-based POS solution:

  • Offers real-time updates and data synchronization
  • Reduces IT infrastructure costs and maintenance
  • Enables remote management from anywhere

Additionally, cloud-based systems are highly secure, protecting sensitive data from threats.

6. Focus on Integration Capabilities

Seamless integration with your existing tech stack is a must. Your unified commerce point of sale solution should:

  • Easily connect with ERP, CRM, and other systems
  • Enable data flow across departments for holistic business insights
  • Support APIs for custom integrations if needed

This interconnected approach ensures streamlined processes and more informed decision-making.

7. Assess Reporting and Analytics

Retail is as much about data as it is about sales. Look for a Point of sale system that provides:

  • Real-time sales tracking and performance reports
  • Customer behavior insights to drive targeted marketing strategies
  • Stock movement analysis to optimize inventory management

Rich analytics empower retailers to make smarter, data-driven decisions.

8. Consider Support and Training

A reliable support system ensures that any technical issues are resolved promptly. Assess the vendors:

  • Training resources for your team
  • Availability of round-the-clock support
  • Service level agreements for uptime and troubleshooting

This minimizes disruptions and keeps operations running smoothly.

9. Review Total Cost of Ownership

While upfront costs are essential, the long-term value matters more. Evaluate:

  • Software subscription costs (if cloud-based)
  • Hardware requirements and replacements
  • Future upgrade expenses

Choose a unified commerce POS solution that offers a competitive balance between cost and features.

10. Seek Vendor Expertise

Finally, consider the vendor’s track record and expertise in the retail industry. A provider with a deep understanding of retail challenges can guide you in maximizing the system’s potential.

 

Why ETP Unify Cloud POS is Your Perfect Retail Partner

If you’re looking for a cutting-edge solution that ticks all the boxes, ETP Unify Cloud POS is the answer. Designed for modern retailers, it excels in omni-channel integration, ensuring seamless customer experiences across physical and digital touchpoints. With real-time inventory visibility, an intuitive interface, and robust analytics, ETP Unify Cloud POS empowers your team to deliver outstanding results effortlessly. Moreover, its cloud-based architecture guarantees data security and operational agility while minimizing costs.

A powerful, cloud-native platform, ETP Unify Cloud POS is not just a tool—it’s your strategic partner for navigating the complexities of unified commerce and achieving retail success. 

Book an ETP Unify demo and transform your business today!



Fraud Detection and Security in Retail: Leveraging AI and ML for Protection

Posted on by Omprasad Devadiga

 

In the fast-paced world of retail, where transactions occur at lightning speed and customer data is constantly flowing, ensuring robust fraud detection and security measures has become imperative. With the rise of e-commerce and digital transactions, retailers face increasingly sophisticated threats from cybercriminals seeking to exploit vulnerabilities in their systems. In response to these challenges, many retailers are turning to cutting-edge technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) – also known as AI in Retail – and Machine Learning (ML) to strengthen their defenses and safeguard their businesses and customers.

What are ML and AI in Retail?

(Artificial Intelligence) AI for retailers involves using automation, data, and technologies like machine learning algorithms to provide consumers with personalized shopping experiences in both physical and digital stores. Whereas machine learning (ML) involves implementing self-learning computer algorithms that are intended to analyze large datasets, find pertinent metrics, patterns, anomalies, or cause-and-effect relationships between variables, and ultimately gain a deeper understanding of the dynamics that shape this sector and the environments in which retailers operate. These advancements highlight the critical role of innovative retail software solutions in addressing the evolving security challenges faced by modern retailers.

Emergence of AI & ML as Powerful Tools

ML and AI in retail have emerged as powerful tools in the fight against fraud in the sector. By leveraging AI and ML algorithms, retailers can enhance their fraud detection capabilities and stay one step ahead of cybercriminals. Additionally, the implementation of AI and ML technologies within (Point-of-Sale) POS software systems further enhances retailers’ capabilities to detect and prevent fraudulent activities, ensuring secure transactions and protecting sensitive customer information

One of the key advantages of AI and ML in fraud detection is their ability to adapt and evolve over time. Traditional rule-based systems are limited by predefined criteria and may struggle to keep pace with rapidly changing fraud patterns. In contrast, AI and ML algorithms can continuously learn from new data, refine their models, and detect emerging threats more effectively. This adaptive approach enables retailers to detect and mitigate fraud more efficiently, reducing the risk of financial losses and reputational damage.

ML and AI in retail industry are also being used to enhance security measures across the retail ecosystem. From online payment gateways to point-of-sale systems, retailers are deploying AI-powered solutions to detect and prevent unauthorized access, data breaches, and other security threats. Advanced authentication methods such as biometric recognition and behavioral analysis are becoming increasingly common, providing an extra layer of protection against fraudsters.

In addition to detecting fraud and enhancing security, AI and ML technologies can also help retailers improve the overall customer experience. By analyzing customer data and transaction histories, retailers can gain valuable insights into consumer behavior, preferences, and purchasing patterns. This data-driven approach enables retailers to personalize their marketing strategies, recommend relevant products, and offer targeted promotions, enhancing customer satisfaction and loyalty. Moreover, retailers may anticipate sales with artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning by examining data on past sales, industry trends, and consumer behavior. This allows retailers to make well-informed business decisions and in planning their personnel and inventory levels.

Furthermore, AI and ML can play a crucial role in optimizing inventory management and supply chain operations, reducing the risk of fraud and theft within the retail environment. But how do you make your e-commerce business fraud-proof? This is where Ordazzle’s AI-powered Anomaly Detection function comes into play. Its proprietary Machine Learning algorithm helps you isolate the abnormal or deviant new orders to be later reviewed and released for execution or cancellation. This helps you avoid any outlier orders that might be fraudulent further improving your inventory for normal orders.

Want to know more about ETP’s anomaly detection functions?

Click here

Potential Challenges of AI & ML in Retail

Despite the numerous benefits of AI and ML in fraud detection and security, retailers must also be mindful of potential challenges and ethical considerations. As these technologies become increasingly integrated into retail operations, concerns around data privacy, algorithmic bias, and transparency have come to the forefront. Retailers must ensure that they adhere to strict data protection regulations, implement robust security measures, and conduct regular audits to maintain trust and credibility with their customers.

How can the Government support adoption of AI in retail?

While AI presents promising prospects for enhancing marketing and operational efficiency, it’s crucial to employ it ethically and transparently. This requires a supportive policy framework addressing data privacy, security, and ethical considerations while fostering innovation.

Governments can facilitate the adoption of AI for retailers by investing in vital infrastructure and digital connectivity, supporting research and development efforts, and fostering collaboration between industry and academia. Additionally, governments can offer incentives and offers to retailers for implementing AI, and promote AI education and training programs to upskill the workforce, enabling them to effectively collaborate with AI systems.

In conclusion, AI in retail industry and ML are revolutionizing fraud detection, empowering retailers to combat fraud, protect sensitive data, and enhance the overall customer experience. By leveraging the power of these advanced technologies, retailers can stay ahead of emerging threats, mitigate risks, and build a more secure and resilient business environment. Moreover, ETP’s retail solutions integrate seamlessly with AI and ML capabilities, providing retailers with comprehensive tools to streamline operations, enhance security, and optimize the customer journey in today’s rapidly evolving retail landscape. As the retail landscape continues to evolve, AI and ML will undoubtedly play an increasingly central role in shaping the future of fraud detection and security in the digital age.

If you are seeking a reliable retail software solution. ETP is undoubtedly the best choice for maximizing efficiency and ensuring success in your retail business ventures.

Enhancing Retail Operations with Advanced Retail Software Solutions

Posted on by Omprasad Devadiga

In the fast-paced world of retail, staying competitive requires efficient and streamlined operations. Traditional manual processes can be time-consuming, error-prone, and hinder growth. Fortunately, advanced retail software solutions have emerged to revolutionize the industry. This article explores the benefits of leveraging retail software to enhance various aspects of retail operations, from inventory management to customer relationship management, ultimately helping businesses thrive in today’s competitive marketplace.

Streamline Inventory Management:

Retail software offers robust inventory management capabilities that streamline the entire process. With real-time inventory tracking, businesses can avoid overstocking or stockouts, reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. Advanced software can automate inventory replenishment, generate accurate demand forecasts, and integrate with suppliers’ systems for seamless stock ordering. With these features, businesses can optimize inventory levels, minimize carrying costs, and ensure products are always available for customers.

Improve Point of Sale (POS) Efficiency:

Efficient POS operations are crucial for providing a smooth and enjoyable shopping experience. Retail software solutions provide advanced POS functionalities that go beyond traditional cash registers. Modern POS systems are equipped with barcode scanning, integrated payment processing, and real-time inventory synchronization. These features enable faster transactions, reduce errors, and provide customers with accurate product information and pricing. By improving the efficiency of your POS operations, you can enhance customer satisfaction and boost sales.

Enhance Customer Relationship Management (CRM):

Retail software solutions offer robust CRM capabilities that help businesses build and maintain strong customer relationships. These solutions can centralize customer data, including purchase history, preferences, and contact information, allowing businesses to personalize their interactions. By leveraging CRM tools, businesses can create targeted marketing campaigns, implement loyalty programs, and deliver personalized promotions based on customer preferences. Effective CRM through retail software leads to improved customer satisfaction, increased loyalty, and higher customer lifetime value.

Optimize Supply Chain Management:

Managing a complex supply chain is a challenge for many retailers. Advanced retail software solutions provide comprehensive supply chain management capabilities, facilitating better coordination and visibility. These solutions automate and streamline key supply chain operations from procurement and vendor management to order fulfilment and logistics. By optimizing supply chain management, businesses can reduce costs, improve order accuracy, and enhance operational efficiency.

Utilize Business Intelligence and Analytics:

Data is a goldmine for retailers, and retail software solutions excel in providing robust business intelligence and analytics tools. These tools enable businesses to analyze sales data, customer behaviour, and market trends, empowering data-driven decision-making. By gaining actionable insights from retail software analytics, businesses can identify opportunities, optimize pricing strategies, identify top-performing products, and forecast demand accurately. Data-driven decision-making allows businesses to stay agile, make informed choices, and gain a competitive edge in the market.

Automate Back-Office Operations:

Administrative tasks such as payroll, accounting, and HR can be time-consuming and prone to errors if done manually. Retail software solutions automate these back-office operations, streamlining processes and reducing manual effort. By integrating with accounting software, payroll systems, and HR management tools, retail software can automate tasks like employee scheduling, payroll processing, and financial reporting. Automation frees up time for staff to focus on more strategic activities, improving efficiency and reducing costs.

Embrace Omnichannel Capabilities:

In today’s retail landscape, offering a seamless omnichannel experience is crucial. Advanced retail software solutions enable businesses to seamlessly integrate multiple sales channels, such as online stores, brick-and-mortar locations, and mobile apps. This integration allows customers to browse, purchase, and return products across channels, providing a consistent and convenient experience. Retail software solutions also enable unified inventory management, ensuring accurate stock visibility across all channels and minimizing the chances of stockouts or overselling.

Conclusion:

In an era of fierce competition, leveraging advanced retail software solutions is essential for enhancing retail operations. By streamlining inventory management, improving POS efficiency, enhancing CRM capabilities, optimizing supply chain management, utilizing business intelligence and analytics, automating back-office operations, and embracing omnichannel capabilities, businesses can unlock new levels of operational efficiency, customer satisfaction, and profitability. Adapt to ETP retail software and take your business to new heights in today’s dynamic retail landscape.

The 3 important ways POS data can be used

Posted on by admin

Etp-blog-Making-the-best-use-of-POS-data-

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

3 Important Factors to take Retail Personalisation to the Next Level

Posted on by admin

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For starters, more than half (52%) of consumers are likely to switch brands if they don’t receive personalized their communications. Moreover, fifty-eight percent of consumers say a personalized experience is essential when purchasing from a particular company. Those are numbers retailers can’t and must not ignore!

If retail brands are vying to thrive and prosper in this forthcoming New Year, ‘customer focus’ is crucial. As a majority of brands will go customer-centric, one of the aspects that will stand-out as the differentiating factor will be the level of personalisation that they provide. Here are few important factors that will help retailer to take their retail personalisation to the next level.

Data centricity
Before diving right into personalisation, the first step is to understand the customer and then plan as to how to go about the personalizing his/her experience. For that it is important to collect data and as far as possible, the right data. And the easiest way to do that is through loyalty programs and for which brands can encourage customers to register at the point-of-sale (POS) with an in-built CRM system. The end goal of personalisation in retail is to create high-value customers who will stick to the brand and carry out repeat purchases.

Omni-channel strategy
While an omni-channel experience isn’t a necessarily a personalized experience, it is a mandatory building block on the path towards creating a personalized customer experience. After all, a personalized experience cannot be offered if customers are treated differently if they use different channels for interacting with the brand. The very essence of omni-channel is creating a seamless and consistent experience for your customers across different devices both online and offline. They key to omni-channel is providing a consistent and personalized experience to every customer regardless of where they’re interact with the retail business.

Technology
Retail brands need to harness the power of technology, necessarily, as an enabler for optimizing their operations and processes to achieve a superior customer experience. It is with the help of technology that retail businesses can be equipped to capture and assimilate data for basing their personalisation strategy. Also, it is through technology that retailers will be able to implement omni-channel into their business. The right omni-channel retail solutions which encompass multiple modules including a retail POS software with an integrated CRM solution, as well as an omni-channel analytics solution, and many more can help retailers integrate, consolidate their business data and processes and implement the necessary strategies to offer a personalized customer experience across all channels.

Personalisation needs to go beyond than just marketing and sales – it has to truly be at the core of the business, influencing and driving every aspect of it. With the right combination of plans, processes and technology, retail brands must be ready to push their boundaries and innovate and grab every opportunity that comes their way to enable their businesses to take retail personalisation experience to the next level.

Pop-Up Retail: Understanding The Value Of Opportunities

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The impressive growth of pop-up retail can be seen in the fact that it was a zero dollar industry in 2003 but flourished into an 8 billion dollar industry in 2013. Pop-up continues to drive innovation and offer several strategic opportunities thus adding a new dimension to retail.

Some of the strategic opportunities presented by pop-up retail:
1. Retailers can target a niche audience.
2. Chance to experiment with an economic alternative to full-scale retail set-up.
3. Allow retailers to test new products, concepts, and markets.
4. Derive valuable consumer insights economically and with minimum inventory.
5. Retailers can create buzz and imprint their products on the customers’ minds.
6. Tap into “massclusivity” and stimulate consumer curiosity with elements of surprise and urgency.
7. Clear old inventory and stock.
8. Aggressively promote merchandise around a finite duration of time such as season, festival or holiday.
9. Create a learning center for customer

Retailers have been quick to explore the popup retailing concept:
– In 2003, Target pioneered the pop-up model with a 1,500 sq.ft. store in New York City that for showcasing designer Isaac Mizrahi’s women’s clothing over five weeks.
– Nike created a Runner’s Lounge in Vancouver with free massages, snacks, drinks, and the opportunity to test their new line of shoes designed exclusively for running.
– Collaborating with global brands – Adidas, Levi’s and Sony Ericsson, MTV promoted limited edition apparel and high-tech electronics by setting up pop-up stores in German cities for a week at a time.
– Exploring the idea of a traveling pop-up store, Gap fashioned a school bus with 60’s themed apparel and accessories.
– E-commerce retailer, Bluefly.com opened a brick-and-mortar store in New York to unload slow-moving stock in a temporary boutique.

To set-up a successfully running pop-up store or site, retailers need to employ the right pop-up technology. Web-based point-of-sale (POS) and mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) integrated with customer data and inventory management tools using the right retail software will enable the pop-up store staff or self-serve kiosks to answer customer queries and access real-time information about product availability and provide superior customer experience. Retailers must ensure strong security measures at the pop-up locations for protecting transaction data going across the network while providing connectivity.