3 Advantages Retail Metrics Have that Deliver Faster ROI

November 14, 2017

High-quality products, an exemplary customer experience, gut instinct, and luck historically have helped retailers to a record of success. But even if your bottom line is in the black, retailers who rely on traditional methods may now be at a disadvantage.  Today’s state-of-the-art point of sale (POS) and retail management software gives modern retailers a competitive edge in the omnichannel marketplace. For some, this may mean embarking on a brave new world — the world of data analytics. For those who take the journey, here are three advantages using retail metrics will provide to your business and your profit margin:

1. Understand customers

Customers are integral to any retail business, but how well do you really know them? Retailers who take the time to understand their customers’ interests, purchasing habits, and behaviors will ultimately reap higher profits.

Modern POS software should include customer relationship management (CRM) capabilities that enable retailers to track purchases and behaviors. Retailers can analyze this data to better target email offers, coupons, and customer loyalty programs. Best of all, the ideal CRM, integrated with your POS, allows business owners to pull these retail metrics at the click of a button, allowing them more time to implement the business decisions that will lead to a faster ROI. Armed with the data such as store traffic and the purchases individual customers made, retailers can glean key information regarding promotions and other factors that had optimal influence on buying decisions.

2. Incentivize employees

For better or for worse, employees play a key role influencing customers’ decisions. A courteous employee who goes above and beyond to meet a customer’s needs provides a stellar experience. This goes a long way in building the relationship that fosters customer loyalty as well as encouraging add-on sales.

Retail metrics can help businesses evaluate performance and incentivize employees. Tracking sales data helps retailers understand where sales generated and by which employees and is a great way for determining team productivity. This lays the groundwork for setting performance expectations and rewarding those employees who exceed the standard. With clear expectations, and an environment where hard work is recognized, employees will be happier expending that energy on a better experience for customers and higher profits for the business.

3. Help reduce inventory costs

Retail metrics is a business’s secret weapon to tackling the inventory beast. You may know your customer inside and out, but if an inventory mishap leaves a retailer sold out of a promoted product, that’s a real loss in terms of dollars and cents. An integrated POS solution offers sophisticated inventory management, which not only tracks available products, but how long it takes a retailer to get these products from a supplier. Knowing the procurement cycle for best-selling products allows retailers to never leave their customer’s disappointed, empty-handed, or waiting for the next shipment. Procurement rates go hand in hand with inventory turnover. A modern POS will show which products are slow to move allowing retailers to make order adjustments; conversely, retailers can upkeep stock of best-selling products. Using metrics, retailers can also easily pinpoint discrepancies between the inventories on paper versus the actual stock available, helping to keep shrinkage under control.

In with the New, but Not Completely Out with the Old

Although tracking retail metrics is important to visibility and informed decision-making, it’s also important for a business owner to incorporate their own expertise into running the business. Your knowledge of the retail industry, your niche, and your particular customer base is still of great value and an essential ingredient to your success. State-of-the-art technology gives you added capabilities, not a replacement, for managing a successful retail enterprise. Leverage an integrated POS system to assist you with greater visibility into customer preferences and behaviors, a more objective assessment of staff performance, and tighter control on inventory and costs to help you set a course that leads to higher profits and retail success.