They include an enclosed shopping mall, a grocery store, an open-air shopping center, or a drug store. All these businesses have different requirements in terms of location. Here are a few things that a location must have for your retail business:

1. Accessibility of space

You must always go for a location that’s easier to access. People shouldn’t have any difficulty in finding your retail store or shopping center. Having a good amount of parking space in the front would be an advantage. How easily the vendors can deliver your inventory is also important. Let’s say you’re opening a furniture store. In this case you’ll need enough space for the trucks to park and move the items of furniture.

2. Availability of potential customers

Selecting a location where most of your target customers live or work is a great idea. For example, if you’re opening a store for kids’ toys, don’t choose a location full of college-going crowds. It just wouldn’t make sense. You must have a good amount of research on the demographics of the location.

See what’s the average vehicle and foot traffic in the area. Look for spots where you can attract the maximum number of passers-by during business hours.

3. The neighboring businesses

Having competing businesses can give you some headache, but those who are complementary can be good to have as neighbors. If your business is into aquarium supplies, you wouldn’t want another aquarium supplies store next to you.

Some businesses make huge profits due to their location near restaurants or entertainment venues. So, before opening your retail store, ask your landlord if there are any competing stores coming up nearby.

4. Move-in readiness

You’ll have certain retail spaces where you’ll not require significant modifications. Such spaces are ideal as they save you a lot of costs. The retail spaces that are not move-in ready would need modifications according to your business needs. They might involve adding walls or bringing down the existing ones, and rewiring the electrical system. This adds to your cost and you’ll also end up wasting some precious time.

5. Lease term

A shorter lease term is always beneficial if you’re starting a new business. It will give you more flexibility. Upon signing a longer lease term, you’ll lock in your rent. In case your business fails, you’ll find yourself in a pretty difficult situation. One disadvantage you have with a short lease term is that you’ll be vulnerable to a rent increase during renewal.

Retail leases can get a bit complex, so it’s better to consult an attorney to review the lease. This will give you a fair idea before you sign the documents.

6. Infrastructure

This is one aspect you must never ignore. Always look for the infrastructural facilities that are available for you. If you’re considering a building that’s a bit old, make sure there’s enough heating, cooling, internet, and other facilities. Among the other things to look for are the restroom facilities available for your customers and employees.

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Before making their buying decisions, they consider the overall customer experience that the products offer. Never before have consumers wielded such power. With such variety of choices in almost all the products, brand loyalty has been waning gradually. Today, they usually look for the products that best serve their needs at a certain point.

So, they don’t mind switching between retailers and online stores while making their purchase. Even the luxury retailers are feeling the winds of change while trying to keep their customers happy. The wealthy customers also tend to go around, looking for their best option. Under such circumstances, the retailers have been trying to find the most innovative ways to attract customers.

Besides, the technological advancements have also provided retailers with certain tools. They have helped retailers considerably in attracting new customers and retaining the existing ones.

Technologies driving marketing and sales

It seems that there’s no dearth of technologies for driving the sales and marketing efforts of retailers. However, these technologies haven’t been effective in working together. The amount of data that a business gathers keeps growing at an unbelievable rate. Yet, the number of available staff for analyzing such huge volumes of data remain more or less the same.

In this situation, it becomes important to ensure the use of information in a correct manner. The retailers must also take utmost care that they don’t contribute towards the problem of data silo. A good solution is to find a technology that can handle such huge volumes of data.

It’s also important to focus the data in a direction that doesn’t overwhelm but benefits the marketing efforts. As time goes on, it will become even more important to approach marketing like a data scientist.

Consumers choosing multichannel buying experiences

While it appears that almost every customer is shopping online, they’re also going for in-store purchases. There are certain benefits that e-retail provide and one of them is reduction in shipping times. So, nearly 96% of the Americans use online shopping in today’s times. It is also true that these Americans spend almost 65% of their overall shopping budget in land-based shopping establishments.

So, it’s quite clear that the customers like online as well as offline shopping experiences. They generally prefer retailers who can facilitate such transactions in the best possible way. One also considers the mobile retail revolution that has gripped almost every country in the world.

It has facilitated the combination of in-store research and online purchase. This is simply viewing a particular product in a physical store and making the purchase online. A win-win for online and offline retail would be free delivery of online orders to a local store.

The need to create a unique customer experience

There’s no denying that many customers are also into serving people in their own jobs. So, whenever they’re on the other side of the counter, they’d want to feel special. The biggest contributor towards brand loyalty is customer experience. A negative experience can significantly affect the chances of a customer’s repeat visit.

Promotions and offers do help to a great extent and make the customer feel important. The key to create an experience that’s truly unique is personalized service. If the retailers make constant efforts to know their customers well they can also serve them well. An example here would be getting to know them from their previous purchases and interests.

The retailers can use this information to serve them in a better way. This is how retailers can drive brand loyalty. The methods employed to make this happen would greatly depend on the size of the business. Something as simple as a quick chat with customers can make a big difference.

Sending the customers personalized content is also a great way to connect with them. Sending offers through the email or contact number that the customers prefer would be the best approach. The content must, in some way, anticipate their needs and wants. It must also guide them down the sales funnel towards making their next purchase.

Customers’ expectation of a seamless experience

A regular online customer would want to be treated as one even while at the retail business’s land-based location. In online as well as in-store experiences, customers would want the same products to be available. They’d also want a seamless experience. If they’ve made a purchase online earlier during the day, the in-store system must have a record of it.

The retailers can create this fluid online-offline experience for their customers. This is usually done with the help of a centralized customer data. The customer profile must be easily accessible. This can help retailers in promoting some excellent loyalty programs. Such programs are used not only to reward customers but also deliver relevant content. Across all the points of interaction, the data must be integrated.

Siloed customer data

Today, it has become a lot more important for retail businesses to engage with customers. So, the modern techniques of marketing use different channels for this purpose. They include text messaging, social media pages, and email. These multiple channels help the retailers in creating a great customer experiences. The problem is that with these different channels, the customer data can become siloed.

If the different teams in the marketing department don’t work together and communicate efficiently, customers can be overwhelmed with repetitive information. This overload of conflicting or repeat messages can easily create the opposite of what was originally intended. As a result, the customers can easily move on to the competitors if they’re more clear in their communications.

This explains the importance of having the right technologies and communication procedures. This would ensure that all the marketing teams are on the same page. A clear strategy would help them in working together instead of going in different directions. This will not only save time, money and efforts but also avoid any negative customer experience.

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Retail management software can work well with the hardware installed at the payment terminals. It can also provide mobile support with the help of its app. Now, let’s take a look at the top retail management software available in recent times:

1. 6DX

This software has been built on an open retail architecture. It helps in enhancing the retail experiences of your customers. The software comes from Intellect Commerce Limited. The company has been catering to mid-sized and large retail chains across 19 countries for more than two decades. The greatest benefit of 6DX is that it can handle multiple stores located across different geographies.

It works great even if you have a multitude of vendors, product lines, and channels. The POS that the software provides is cloud-ready. It gives you the chance to make good use of the components that you’ll need at any given point.

2. NetSuite

NetSuite offers a unified platform that would help you future-proof your retail business. In other words, it is the first and the last retail management software you’ll need. Using NetSuite, you can get real-time visibility across your business unit. The software also helps in the removal of any operational inefficiencies.

You can get your IT costs reduced, which would allow you to focus on revenue-generating activities. With over 29,000 implementations of the software, NetSuite can be the most reliable retail management software. It also has the right tools and years of expertise that will help you in expanding your business.

3. Detego

Combined with its artificial intelligence capabilities and comprehensive reporting, Detego is a highly efficient SaaS platform. It is powered by RFID technology. This platform gives you faster return on investment through improved stock accuracy, better decision-making, and product availability. It delivers operational efficiencies and increases revenue across the value chain.

The platform makes this possible through the digitization of traditional inventory management processes. As a result, these traditional processes are made more efficient and accurate. Customers of Detego include many international department stores and retailers.

4. Square for Retail

Square for Retail helps a great deal in making all the complex tasks simple and efficient. It’s a great platform for software, hardware, and payment systems of retail businesses. You can use it for your back office as well as your storefront, thus boosting sales and reducing costs. A retail business can complete a sale within seconds by scanning the bar code and searching with a keyword.

If you attach a card on file to the sale, it’ll facilitate a seamless and faster checkout. This software helps you in creating the profiles of your customers instantly. It also adds inventory from your point of sale. A free trial of this software is available for 30 days.

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It is the responsibility of such employees to walk the sales floor and watch out for any suspicious activity. Here are a few tips that can enhance the security of your retail store, irrespective of its size:

1. Monitor the sales floor

It’s good to have some protocols in place to help your employees in keeping a watchful eye. They must be in the form of guidelines, which they can use while watching the customers and merchandise. This must be followed even if your sales floor is just one small room. It is a part of customer service to make sure that the customers are safe while at your retail store.

You must instruct your employees to ask them if they require any assistance. It is necessary that your employees watch your customers while they’re shopping. If you have a large sales floor, you can divide it into zones. Then you can assign the employees in each zone for the security measures.

2. Have more than one employee on duty at all times

There are times when an employee can be alone. This would be mostly during the breaks. Make sure that in such a situation, they have an easy way to call out for help. One way to ensure this is to have a phone that’s easily accessible. You can also consider having a panic button in that particular area. Allowing employees to have their cell phones near them would also be helpful.

3. Have a professional monitoring system

If you have a sizable budget, you can hire professionals to install a professional security system. You might try your best to keep an eye on your business all day. However, it’s just not possible to do this every day. Having a professional monitoring system will help you in keeping a watchful eye on your business 24/7. You can also have these systems customized according to your budget and business needs.

4. Creat the space to facilitate clear line of sight

You can make it easier for your customers and employees to see each other with proper arrangement. Consider positioning the displays, signs, and shelves in an appropriate way. They must allow customers and employees to see each other. This can prevent instances of theft and keep both the parties safe. By having such an arrangement, they’ll not be isolated.

5. Set protocols to monitor cash register

You must always try to have someone close to the cash register. After all, it is the cash register that’s more important than any other thing at your store. Develop some best practices after careful thought to keep an eye on it. The employees who are responsible for it must not leave it unattended.

Tell your employees how far they can go from the register if they have to get up from their place. There are times when customers might need some help. Under such circumstances, these instructions can be of great help.

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Undoubtedly, the best place for such an experience is a physical retail store. The fear of pandemic is almost over. Now, you’d want to step up your efforts in bringing people to your retail store. So, here are a few ways, by which, you can increase the number of visitors to your retail store:

1. Make your storefront attractive

A well-maintained and fun storefront can draw in a lot of customers. A store that appears damaged will never attract customers unless they’re really desperate to buy something. Take a good look at your store from the outside and you’ll get all the answers. Notice whether the windows need some cleaning.

See whether there’s a need for some painting work to be done. One thing that you must be very particular about is maintaining your storefront well. Sweeping must be done daily and cleaning windows must be your top priority.

2. Offer your best customer service

Once your potential customers walk into your retail store, you must create a lasting impression on them. Their in-store experience would be extremely crucial in determining whether or not they’d visit again. One happy customer walking out of your store will tell 10 people all the good things about your store.

The opposite would be true as well. If you disappoint just one customer, he or she will tell 10 folks that your business is bad. If you’ve got employees, you must train them well in customer service. This is one aspect of your business you just can’t afford to ignore.

3. Plan some promotional events

Customers love promotional events such as lucky draws and contests. You can plan such events for boosting your brand awareness. Never hesitate to let your customers know what they can get in your store. Whenever a new product arrives, make an announcement without any delays.

All such events can also be promoted online. You can share some enticing posts about them on social media and send emails to your customers. Make sure you tell them that they have to visit your store to benefit from such events.

4. Keep your employees happy, enthusiastic, and busy

Customers notice each and every aspect of your retail store. This also includes the behavior of your employees and the look on their faces. No one wants to enter a place where they see bored-looking faces. What’s even worse is that if you have a large window, they’ll see your employees’ behavior from outside.

So, come up with some innovative ways to keep your employees cheerful and happy. Most importantly, they must be kept busy. Take time to chat with them and plan some fun events with them whenever you get the chance.

5. Work with your neighbors

Don’t see your neighbors as your competitors. If you do something that could possibly help their business, they’ll be happy to do something for you as well. Consider this as some sort of cross-promotion. You can hang small boards telling your customers more about your neighboring business or businesses.

If they’re offering some special offers, mention them on the flyer. If they benefit from this, they’ll happily promote your business as well.

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