Data. The four-letter word we love to hate… or hate to love, depending on how we’re feeling that day. Managing the power of data can feel like a tricky relationship. Trying to decipher hidden messages, pleading with it to play fair and when you think you’re making progress, you’re back in the dark.
Unfortunately, as much as we might like to kick data to the curb and go it by instinct, a successful retail business can’t operate without it. The good news is, with a little help data doesn’t have to be tumultuous. Here are four simple steps to consider:
Identify gaps to streamline operations
Ever feel like your day is determined by the number of tabs open? Flicking between browsers, emails, accounting platforms, inventory management, you name it and there’s a tab for it. If you’re working across separate programs, it’s going to be time consuming trying to get a clear picture of how your business units work together. A fully-integrated system that houses everything from POS to fulfilment provides everything you need to identify gaps and improve operations.
Australian company, Blue Pod Coffee, a supplier of workplace coffee machines, is a prime example of an organisation that has streamlined operations and improved customer service as a result. Having used email in the past to manage inbound customer enquiries, Blue Pod Coffee needed to automate this manual process to support growth and provide customers with the information they needed instantly. Using Neto, the company implemented a customer enquiry process that, upon a prospect entering relevant information, allowed the customer to be served the information they needed via the Blue Pod Coffee website. The result put the power back in their hands of Blue Pod Coffee’s website and automated tiresome processes.
Reduce POS wastage
When you’re handling high volumes of transactions every day, errors are bound to happen, but with the right tools you can avoid problems or catch them before they put a hole in your pocket. Using a cloud-based POS system connects everything from your online shopping cart to your cash register so you can keep one eye on your sales data and ensure there are no errors.
Understand customer purchasing behaviour
In the Amazon-age, this is the Holy Grail. Getting into the heads of shoppers to work out what they want. By delving into customer data, you can better understand their online behaviours and start to map what they buy, where from, on what devices and at what times. This enables you to forecast demand and get smart with your marketing efforts, “predicting” what your customers need, when they need it and reminding them to purchase similar products.
Inventory management
The beating heart of operations. If your inventory management goes awry, it has an impact to all aspects of your business. You need to have eyes across what is selling, what your stock allocation is, where that stock is located, what products are out of stock and the value of your items, if you want to ensure success. The downside to using separate or manual inventory management programs is it increases room for error and decreases visibility hence why you need a fully integrated retail platform that links all your inventory data in one place.
The power of data lies in its ability to give you full visibility of what is going on in your business. If you don’t know what’s going on in your business, you will not be able to run it efficiently and by making it easy to harnessing your data across the above points you will improve profitability, customer service, enhance operations and iron out any niggling issues you couldn’t quite put your finger on. The data doesn’t lie.
Jason Titman, Director and Chief Operating Officer, Neto
