Is Your Store Network Ready for the Holiday Shopping Rush?

The holiday rush is already tough for retailers. Once you add store network problems on top of it, it can easily become a nightmare. Frozen checkout registers in the middle of cashing out customers, network drops, slow wifi causing already long lines to increase exponentially, frustrated customers…

This is why it’s more important than ever to get your retail technology in check well before the holiday season. Is your store network ready for the holiday shopping rush? Follow these tips to ensure you’re in a good place by the time holiday shopping picks up.

How Does Holiday Demand Affect Store Networks?

Before we get into the good stuff, it’s important to know how it happens. That way, you can better prevent issues from happening later on. Some of the most common ways holiday demand affects store networks include:

• Increased POS transactions and payment authorizations
• More retail associates using technology simultaneously in the store
• Higher wi-fi use from guests in high-traffic stores
• Greater use of self-checkout, kiosks, and self-service options
• Boost in online orders, store pickups, and a greater need for accurate inventory

These are only some of the ways that holiday demand can affect store networks. Fortunately, there are also just as many solutions to prevent them.

Signs Your Retail Store Isn’t Ready for Holiday Shopping

• POS transactions and payments are already questionable
• Wifi performance isn’t consistent throughout your store
• Devices often lose connection to the network and applications
• Self-checkout machines encounter problems
• Handhelds and POS systems are delayed
• Constant help tickets are needed to solve recurring issues

If your store is experiencing one or more of these issues, your store network might be at fault. Here are some of the possible solutions you can implement before the holiday rush begins. 

5 Ways to Prepare Your Store Network & Retail Technology for the Holidays

1. Check Network Health at Every Location

Checking network health at every retail location ensures that technology is working as it should individually. It also helps you pick up on larger problems that are consistent between locations. These checks should include:

• Network performance and connectivity
• Wireless coverage and known dead zones
• Access points, cables, and network infrastructures
• Backup and failsafe options in case something goes wrong
• Performance differences between each of the store locations

After testing these various network capabilities, your next job should be trying to fix any inadequacies or inconsistencies between locations.

If there’s a dropped connection at various locations, perhaps upgrading wifi is the best solution. Maybe it’s a layout issue. Try to pinpoint the problem and solve it in advance before the holiday rush.

Explore Network Solutions

2. Test Your Retail Technology in Realistic Conditions

After checking that your network is good and everything is working as it should, the next step is testing your retail technology under realistic conditions. During peak periods, try to:

• Intentionally schedule more employees than normal
• Ensure all your tech is operating simultaneously
• Test out different areas of the store with various tech
• Check POS systems, self-checkouts, handhelds, and other devices
• See if there are any flaws in the checkout process

The biggest thing you’re testing here is whether your devices work smoothly and flow naturally from one to the other. Instead of looking at your store network as separate entities, see how each piece fits into the puzzle. Then, go a step further and see how the system works with online channels and other locations with inventory tracking and other crucial components.

3. Repair or Replace High-Risk Equipment Early

If there are certain devices you know are heavily unreliable or need to be replaced ASAP but you’ve been putting it off, now is the time to do it. Not when it fails in the middle of the holiday shopping rush. The sooner you fix equipment that’s been acting up, the sooner you can train your employees on it so they know how to use it properly by the time the holidays hit.

Some of the signs that your equipment needs to be replaced include:

• Recurring system failures, freezing, lagging
• Technology that’s 5+ years old
• Damaged peripherals
• Heavily outdated legacy systems
• Equipment that needs frequent maintenance

If your technology is relatively new, an entire refresh might not be practical with your current budget and goals. Sometimes, opting to replace certain retail technology categories makes more sense.

For example, a lot of retail tech is expected to last 5+ years. However, mobile devices and handhelds often have shorter lifespans because they’re dropped and handled more often. On top of that, the batteries typically wear faster and might have smaller internal systems that reach their limit faster.

Related Content: 5 Ways to Future-Proof Your Retail Technology and Business

4. Consider Upgrading Retail Technology Across Stores

After checking everything and determining your store network isn’t at fault, the issue might be in your legacy technology and outdated systems. If you’ve done everything you can to remedy your systems and are still experiencing problems, the easiest solution could be to swap out your outdated devices.

If you have multiple locations, you could be holding back on this due to the sheer amount of time and planning involved. However, partnering with a retail technology partner can expedite the process and make this a lot faster and easier. Instead of managing everything yourself, a partner can manage the entire lifecycle of your equipment. The right partner will:

• Procure updated new or used technology within your budget
• Deploy retail tech across all of your retail locations
• Set up and maintain your technology as needed
• Repair equipment if anything goes wrong
• Dispose of old equipment and offer trade-ins

Related Content: Enhanced Efficiency and Customer Experience with Next-Gen POS Systems

5. Have a Support Plan for Tech Failures or Maintenance

If replacing POS systems and other retail tech isn’t in your budget, having a support plan is crucial. Whether you have outdated legacy systems holding on by a thread or new equipment that you just got installed, it’s important to have backup on hand. No matter what, technology can encounter issues, and it’s helpful to have someone on call in case you need them. Especially during a busy holiday season.

There are two different approaches retailers take with this:

1. Maintenance: Ongoing maintenance will involve a retail tech expert regularly checking out your store network and systems. This helps catch issues before they happen and solves them proactively rather than reactively.
2. Repair: The second support plan retailers use is a retail tech repair expert. If or when something goes wrong during the busy holiday season, it’s often a lot faster having a partner signed on from the get-go rather than waiting for a random tech assignment that has numerous jobs to get to first.

By working with a retail technology expert, you’ll have someone who already knows your current tech challenges and has connections if you ever need something replaced quickly. In the middle of a busy holiday shopping season, this is invaluable.

Explore Retail Maintenance Solutions

Prepare Your Store Network Before the Holiday Rush

With this easy checklist, you can get your store network and retail technology ready before the holiday rush. These will help you determine any possible issues well before the holiday season so you can solve them ahead of time and get everything in order before it starts to get crazy.

To make things easier, partnering with an all-in-one technology partner like us at Retail Tech Inc can smooth out the process. Our team has expert knowledge of procurement, deployment, maintenance, and more. With our lifecycle experience, we can handle every step of the process so you don’t have to.

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