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Comment: Using technology to fight the Christmas blues
Archived article dated Friday November 28th 2008
As the UK faces recession for the first time in 18 years, many retailers will be anxious that this Christmas might not bring the usual festive rush.
Doug Hargrove, Chief Marketing Officer for Torex, highlights five key issues facing retailers this Christmas and discusses the strategies and technologies they should consider to enhance customer service and maximise profits in a difficult economic climate.• Making the most of a multi-channel method
To maintain a competitive advantage in a tough market, retailers must ensure that they are exploiting all the customer touch points at their disposal, ranging from taking orders online for in-store collection, to selling goods through interactive TV services and printed catalogues. By using an integrated POS system, these channels can be interlinked. For instance, customers will appreciate the flexibility offered by the retailer who allows them to purchase goods online and return them in-store, for instance. Integrated touch-points technology may well prove especially useful in the period after Christmas when retailers are more likely to experience a large number of returns.
• Taking on Christmas temps
Despite the downturn, many retailers will need to take on temporary staff as usual to deal with customer demand. Advanced POS systems can minimise the time it takes to train new members of staff by simplifying the processes used in serving customers, ensuring that there is no dip in the level of customer service during the period. Workforce management tools will also help to ensure stores are well-staffed at busy times by allowing retailers to schedule staff rotas for the week according to peak time necessity. A positive experience at the POS will encourage frazzled Christmas shoppers to return to that store, rather than those who do a bad job at this.
• Preventing theft
The British Retail Consortium's (BRC's) Retail Crime Survey found that from April to October 2008 a third of a million shoplifting offences took place and online fraud has increased by 64%. Retailers can take steps to lower crime in a time when they can ill afford internal shrinkage. Business analysis systems can detect regular discretionary discounts being applied by a member of staff working in cahoots with a customer. These tools can also identify regular drops in sales when a particular member of staff operates a POS, highlighting scams that include passing items over the scanner but not actually scanning them. Integrated CCTV can then verify suspicions regarding unusual activity in-store. Storing less cash in the POS is also a sensible precaution. To help prevent in-store and online credit card fraud retailers should work closely with their suppliers to ensure they don't slip up on the issue of PCI DSS compliance. Suppliers should have the industry knowledge necessary to cut through complexities in this area.
• Attracting loyal customers
According to research released by Verdict, sales of televisions, clothes, homeware, furniture and other non-food goods are set to fall 0.2 per cent, or £100m over the last three months of 2008. This situation will evidently lead to increased competition on the high street as retailers vie for their share of shrinking consumer wallets. To make the most out of loyalty schemes retailers must target products at the stores and channels that are most likely to respond well to them, and determine the quantities needed to cater for those markets. For example, customers who frequent a fashion retailer's website may have different preferences, or be of a different average age or size group, to those who tend to visit the flagship central London store. It is important to ensure these customers are catered for, rather than assuming they will have the same needs as the high street shoppers. Business analysis tools use historic performance data to arrive at an accurate estimate of demand which can then be used to determine the most appropriate promotions for customers. By understanding buying habits it is also possible to tailor marketing towards individuals as well as specific channels. This level of personalised interaction can be even more effective in improving sales, suggesting offers on products that respond to the particular tastes, cultural preferences or family situation of a given customer.
• Identifying opportunities
While consumer budgets are tightening, the changing balance of retail spending can work to the advantage of retailers who can react quickly to changes in spending patterns. For instance, the M&S “dine in for £10” offer tapped into a trend for people to dine out less and was a great success with customers. Retailers should make the most of business analysis tools, which provide access to accurate and timely information on merchandise sales, stock levels and store performance, as well as tracking sales of products at the POS and identify overarching trends. Access to this level of data is crucial to making the right management decisions and can be used, for example, to instigate promotions on products of interest to consumers this Christmas.
Tagged as: torex | retail bulletin | hargrove
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