By Ankur Shah. Originally published at ValueWalk.
Technology and innovation are gifts that keep on giving. Just a few years before, it was impossible to think of software that could streamline all facets of a retail store- from order processing, billing, and receipt generation. But, now technology solutions have become essential for every retail store that is looking to scale both productivity and efficiency.
Q2 2020 hedge fund letters, conferences and more
Whenever a customer walks into your retail store, they are looking for three things. Convenience, resourcefulness, and efficiency, and all these three things are made possible with the use of technologies that are created with customer satisfaction in mind. The future of retailing lies with those business owners that are ready to harness the power of technology, and are constantly adapting to mercurial customer behavior.
Below are 4 ways technology is revolutionizing the retail industry.
Social Media Marketing
Gone are the days when retail stores had to target a local consumer base through broadcast media advertisements and newspaper marketing. Through the advent of social media, the marketing efforts of retail stores have not only become easier to implement but can also reach a staggering audience, beyond the store’s locality. Social media handles are used by stores to consistently bombard customers with the merit of their products. The best marketing campaigns include a constant stream of high-quality and appealing content that leverages photographs, graphic design, offers, and sale information.
Digital Operations Processing
Traditionally, retail stores had to maintain a physical record of sales, vendor payments, and other finances, but now the paperless technology has taken over. For instance, if you run a retail pharmacy, then advanced pharmacy point of sale systems can be used to track day-to-day sales, payments, inventory in-store, and stocks. This is extremely beneficial for business owners from a financial standpoint because now they don’t have to invest in human resources to track payments and manage stock. Rather, an integrated software solution can manage all facets of the retail store, without committing a human error.
Data Accumulation For Targeted Business Forecasting
For a business to improve its revenue stream and notoriety, it has to continually invest in forecasting. Your business cannot maintain its standing in the market if it doesn’t evaluate future trends, and shifting consumer behavior and preferences to improve the services it offers. This is where the use of technology to accumulate data becomes vital, in order to carry out effective forecasting.
Modern retail stores can accumulate customer data with their consent, and evaluate it to generate trends. These trends can accurately predict consumer preferences and demand for a certain product, to ensure that retail stores always offer a targeted customer experience.
Getting Feedback And Improving Customer Service
Technology has also improved the feedback accumulation process. Previously, retail stores had to use comment cards and manual feedback systems that were ineffective, because people found filling cards too mundane. Nowadays, through appealing digital feedback systems, you can gain the attention of a consumer and extract honest feedback from them. This can either be done through tablet enclosures at the end of the store, where a simple rating mechanism is used to swiftly record the feedback. Feedback is important to know what the market sentiment is regarding your retail business and to devise mechanisms of improvement.
The post 4 Ways Technology Is Revolutionizing The Retail Industry appeared first on ValueWalk.
Sign up for ValueWalk’s free newsletter here.
