There are multiple pieces of software now available which make retail employees’ jobs easier and help them to increase their productivity and profits. Retail audits and field merchandising are amongst some of the best. These are just a few ways they can help any retail business:
Go Paperless
Many companies are trying to cut down upon the amount of paper they use to save both money and their carbon footprint. Business2community says that it is especially useful for mobile retail audits as the necessary data can be gathered quickly and accurately and displayed to managers immediately in real time. You can use them to save money on printing paper forms, save storage space, and gather data much quicker than you would writing it down. Writing by hand is also easily prone to error if somebody’s handwriting is ineligible.
Identify Problems
An article published on Linkedin says that retail merchandising software can be used to spot any potential problems in a retail store’s layout and correct them. You can use it to compare data of where customers travel in a store with best or worst selling products and realign the layout accordingly. All retail stores use this, which is why supermarkets often place their most popular departments near the back of the store to encourage customers to make impulse buys along the way. Mobile retail audits perform the same job but in a much faster and more efficient manner. They can also show what times of the day or the week that the store experiences the most traffic so that managers can plan their staff schedule and make the most out of their payroll budget.
Online Shopping Habits
Finances Online says that the huge amount of people who shop online means that it is just as important to use your retail audits to monitor your online store and website as well as your physical store. You can find out what parts of your website are gaining the most views, where online visitors are being directed to your site from, and how easy they find the experience of shopping on your site. You could also monitor how much your online presence is drawing people into your store, such as offering promotions or marketing certain items.
Window Displays
Some retail window displays work much better than others, which is another area where retail merchandising software can help you. It can demonstrate which window displays are bringing in the most customers, which promoted items are selling best, and how well your branding is working. You could also use your online data to see which items to display in your windows in order to drum up more business. This will help you to design and build displays that are not only attractive but do their job of bringing in more customers.
Audits and merchandising are traditionally tedious pieces of admin that nobody particularly enjoys and keeps people from their more important jobs. Using modern software will make it quicker and easier, allowing for greater profits and increased staff productivity and satisfaction.
