The Characteristics of a Good Retail Management System
Every business in the retail industry incorporates a wide range of operations - from procuring goods to replenishing stock to tracking transactions. By enhancing the way these operations are managed, retailers can boost sales and improve the customer experience. They can achieve this by gaining insights and having a better understanding of consumers and the products/services of the company that these consumers use. This is known as retail management.
What is the retail management system?
Retail management system (RMS) comprises a set of digital applications for all aspects of a retail business, such as manufacturing, distribution, merchandising, customer feedback, and the like. The purpose of using a retail management system is to ensure that customers have a convenient, frictionless and satisfactory shopping experience overall.
What must a retail management system include?
The most common components of a retail management system are as follows:
1. Inventory Management - The inventory management software (IMS) is used to monitor and maintain records of stocked products, orders, sales, and deliveries. Since retailers deal with thousands of sales orders a day, retailers must implement an IMS that spots stock movement in real time because a slight mismatch in the orders might profoundly impact the business.
Ginesys’ inventory management solution allows the user to track any stock movement instantaneously so that the retailers can restock easily, manage all orders, and maintain the retail outlet efficiently.
2. Point Of Sale: The Point Of Sale (POS) systems are used in every retail outlet to complete transactions for customers at the time of checkout. A POS system comprises elements such as barcode scanners, cash counters, computer devices, and the like for calculating the amount to be collected from a customer.
Retailers have started investing in mobile POS solutions so that customers do not have to wait in long queues for completing a transaction, and thus, have a better shopping experience at the retail outlet. Ginesys’ M-POS solution, Zwing, enables retail customers to skip the queue and proceed with a quicker and easier checkout.
3. Accounting: An accounting software is used by retailers to monitor payable and receivable amounts and other operational costs of the organization such as bills and rent. Moreover, the software also generates basic reports that determine sales performances, profits earned, and the like. Keeping a track of all accounts and expenses is extremely crucial for any retail business so that retailers can make well informed strategic and financial decisions for the growth of their business.
4. Customer Relationship Management: A Customer Relationship Management (CRM) platform is used to keep track of all crucial customers of the organization. Maintaining customer data such as birthdays, product preferences, and purchase trends, would allow the retailer to enhance the customer’s shopping experience by offering discounts during birthdays, personalizing offers based on their purchase trends, etc.
Additionally, a CRM can also be used to maintain records of various vendors, partners, and distributors.
5. Analytics: An analytics software generates reports for all aspects of the retail business – inventory management, sales reporting, customer analytics, and the like. The dashboard provides an at-a-glance view of all key factors of the business, that allows the management to gauge necessary steps that need to be taken for the company’s growth.
Why do retailers need a retail management system?
With such a wide range of options for a customer in the retail industry, it is easy for an unsatisfied and unhappy customer to deflect to another retail outlet without any second thoughts. So, customer experience is extremely crucial in the retail arena. Implementing retail management systems not only allows retailers to retain existing customers but also to draw new ones.
Retail management systems help keep the stores organized, which allows ease in locating any product at all times. Also, these systems ensure that ample stock is available in the store and the customer does not have to wait for a long time.
Additionally, these systems also allow the retailers to assign unique SKUs to each product, which increases security and prevents shoplifting or theft from within the stores.
Conclusion
Retail management systems have become an integral part of the retail industry. Any organization that looks at growing their business in this extremely competitive industry must invest in implementing efficient retail management systems such as Ginesys.
