FOCUS: THE POWER OF ONLINE Shopfloor
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Maximising your website’s potential
The face of retail is changing, with online shopping growing and now playing a vital role in the success of independent businesses. Here, in conjunction with Calculus Software Solutions, we offer some tips for success and stories from those leading the way.
Setting up and managing a transactional website can seem like a daunting task, but the right platform can transform this process into a streamlined, automated and profitable part of your retail business.
One of the biggest time-savers for retailers is seamless integration between online platforms and in-store systems. Calculus Software Solutions offers websites that are directly connected to its NCompass Advanced Retail System, meaning that product data, stock levels and pricing are automatically synced in real time. This eliminates the manual task of updating product information online, ensuring that consumers always see accurate, up-to- date details.
In 2016, Smiths TV launched its fully integrated website. Director, Mark Wright, explains how this has helped the business: “The biggest benefit of having a website is increasing your visibility to your customers. We sell nationally so there is obviously an enormous benefit with customers from across the country being able to find our service online. It also benefits customers in our local area. “Before having the website in its current form, many customers might assume that we
are unable to supply certain models because we didn’t have them on display in a particular store. But by being able to advertise the entire range through our website, our sales in store benefited, and we saw an uplift in 75 to 85- inch TVs, American-style fridge-freezers and vented hobs.”
Having the Smiths TV website running fully integrated with its instore NCompass system has played a key part in the website becoming a profitable part of the business… “Being an independent retailer we are quick to react to changes in the market,” Mr Wright continues. “Having the integrated EPOS/website means that we can update information and make changes very quickly. During busy periods, such as Black Friday for example, we might change prices across products multiple times a day, and the system makes this easy to do. “Having four stores, a website that sells nationally, and a separate warehouse means that stock levels can change rapidly and the NCompass system manages this across all channels – meaning we don’t oversell. This information is live and easily visible for management, store staff and our warehouse team to check on at any time.”
Emphasis on customer service Excellent customer service is at the forefront of an independent retailer; websites can help aid the customer’s experience with things like live chat functions to answer customers’ questions after store closing time. Mr Wright explains that lots of his customers use the Smiths TV live chat facility to quickly ask about stock availability or delivery, and some even use it post-purchase for troubleshooting questions and similar queries. Customers are now used to being able to shop 24/7 and they are more savvy than ever,” he adds. “If people are unable to purchase an item in the evening or when it’s convenient for them, you run the risk of them buying it elsewhere where it was more readily available.”
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