Custom Software Solutions 
for Retail Management

THE IMPORTANCE OF SCALE AND PERFORMANCE

Capture every potential sale when you can handle high volume.

An online gifting retailer’s website crashed during Christmas, due to high order volume. Sales were lost, as the website slowed to a crawl and users went to other sites to order flowers and other holiday gifts. They left at least as many orders incomplete as were completed. That’s a loss of 50%. Yes, half the revenue!

With Valentine’s Day approaching and Mother’s Day closely following, both expecting a 200% increase in order volume from the Christmas rush, a sales nightmare was in the making. Doing the math, you would expect to only be able to take 22% of all possible orders. They were going to lose 78% of the possible revenue.

Geneca was hired to ensure the website could handle considerably more volume. We tuned their online ordering system so the retailer could capture every Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day order after that. The result? 5X the revenue of Christmas!

Avoid lost revenue with enhanced performance for online orders.

Another online retailer had mastered marketing to get many more online orders. When they did, the website crash unpredictably stopped processing almost all orders. The marketing triumph was a POS disaster!

With many SKUs at lower price points, this company needed to handle many more orders for larger quantities without the expense of 27 servers. To do this, Geneca designed a new way to cache sales data that increased the performance of the website 100x allowing this retailer to take 100x more orders than it did before. This grew their online sales from 20% to 40% of revenue practically overnight.

People think of scale and performance as separate, but they are not. They are so tightly connected that you cannot have either if you don’t have both. Move more stock with more sales and increase your revenue. Tune your retail operations software to watch your profits soar!

POINT OF SALE SYSTEMS

A great shopping experience is crucial, whether online or in store. POS systems run brick and mortar stores and e-commerce systems alike. If the POS system is slow or isn’t intuitive, the customer will be frustrated waiting to finish their transaction. When that happens, the customer isn’t likely to just leave the store and go online. They are more likely to find another retailer and potentially let their friends and family know to avoid your store.

POS software is important for your company’s understanding of what the customer wants. It helps customer relationship management for small businesses and even large corporations.

Cloud-based information storage helps with the flow of business operations, reduces the payment process time, and eliminates outdated cash register systems. Retail POS systems ensure easy management reporting because the information is organized and stored efficiently while connecting smoothly to warehouse management systems managing stock and office systems for invoicing and purchase orders.

EASE OF USE

While ease is certainly in the eye (or fingers) of the beholder, there are plenty of analytics on key features that make your site or system easier to learn and interact with. Always use best practices to ensure that your users can find what they need, fast. Take advantage of the user data your site collects to simplify the experience of your audience. If things are difficult or counter-intuitive to people, those people will bail and go somewhere else.

To simplify the user experience, include key features in your retail software like autofill to streamline information entry and use design elements to drive desired user actions. Bonus points if your software can be easily integrated with social media for a seamless experience for customers!

Increase efficiency in stores by taking the same care with employee-facing software, like a POS, employee management, order management, or customer management system. Your employees will get up to speed faster when hired and work more quickly on the floor, meaning they can spend less time on office tasks and service more paying customers in the amount of time they save.

CLOUD-BASED RETAIL

Traditional retail management software confined users to one spot, resulting in a lot of missed opportunities when it comes to operational efficiency and customer experience. Retailers today have seen many advantages by transitioning their retail software solutions, like POS systems, to the cloud.

Cloud costs are often lower, saving retailers money. These newer systems enable increased efficiency, additional personalization, heightened visibility, and more flexibility than ever before in the retail sector and beyond. Cloud-based retail applications allow for improved business management by letting businesses take back-office functionality on the go. They can account for additional sales when you can take your POS system on the go, too.

Retail software solutions based on the cloud provide insights on customer behavior, improve order management, enhance POS systems, and streamline operations—all while allowing for the scalability of your business.

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

To keep up with the competition, retailers implement the latest technologies like artificial intelligence. However, AI isn’t just cool. It has the power to transform the customer experience and position retailers as the best in customer service. Customers appreciate the convenience and speed of the digital shopping experience. Your retail operations can enhance those qualities and create the best possible experience by using artificial intelligence.

Artificial intelligence can be used to analyze consumer behavior to predict what they need and direct them to the item that best suits their personal preferences. AI can also provide insight on what motivates customers and how to get them to buy again, thereby earning their repeat business for your stores without you having to lift a finger.

In fact, AI itself can be used to provide customer service in stores, giving a swift resolution to simple customer issues without tying up retail staff. AI kiosks have also proven to be useful tools for many retailers. They can give advice and learn to recognize human behavior patterns to garner reactions and provide suggestions tailored to the individual.

PERSONALIZED MARKETING

The right retail management software can provide retailers with the tools necessary to customize and personalize marketing efforts to patrons online and in stores. Many retail businesses have taken advantage of affordable beacon technology to entice nearby shoppers, track their progress throughout stores, and send related offers, reminders, and deals directly to their mobile phones.

Custom mobile applications for individual retailers are becoming increasingly necessary to engage and retain your business’ target audience. Features of these apps include loyalty programs, rewards point tracking, e-commerce, and one button POS checkout. They can also include features exclusive to those shopping in stores, like barcode scanners that allow customers to check prices, discounts, and stock of desired items.

When retailers combine retail software with the Internet of Things, they can learn a lot about their customers. For instance, wearable technology lets multiple retailers understand behavior, recognize shopping patterns, and predict the needs of individual consumers. Taking an omni-channel approach to reach customers wherever they are allows retail businesses to gather data and use it to personalize their shopping experience, convert sales, and keep people coming back.

IT’S NOT JUST THE PRODUCTS YOU SELL.

IT’S THE WAY YOU SELL THEM.

What made Amazon the great retailer it is today? You may say stock selection or pricing, but those weren’t there in the beginning. You may say the next-day delivery. Again, not there in the beginning. Their business performance is great because of its superior retail management system.

What differentiated Amazon in the early days is the customer experience it provided when ordering from their site. Quick, easy ways to find things. Easy buying. Eventually, they introduced one-click ordering and subscriptions to make retail even simpler. The ease and intuitiveness of amazon.com–from user screens to POS systems–is what first made them the go-to shopping experience. Then they added products.

Why bring up Amazon in this context? Because Amazon is an example of a business replacing retail stores with better retail software that makes life easier for customers, encouraging them to buy more. They became the standard that consumers measure other retailers against. Let Geneca help you set the new standard.

OPPORTUNITIES ABOUND

With so many potholes to fall into in the retail marketplace, there are many opportunities to win. It only takes one of the above situations to cause customers to leave your competition.

You can be the one that they turn to. The POS system they love. The one that never frustrates them away from buying what they want.

Is that worth something? You bet it is. It may be worth millions! The retail industry is competitive, so showing your customers that you care by using the right retail management software and customer management solution is an important step in the right direction.