Amidst rising prices, supply chain challenges, and economic wariness, it’s a tough time for both retailers and consumers. As we navigate a changing retail landscape, we should work together to make life and business easier for all of us. That’s the concept behind compassionate retail, a new movement …
How to Update Retail Merchandising for Spring and Summer
Retailers are always working a season (or more) ahead. Holiday preparations start during the summer months, spring styles arrive in winter, and brands start working on back to school before the previous school year even ends. As the spring and summer shopping seasons get in full swing, here are a …
Three Metrics to Pull from Point of Sale Data
Now more than ever, retail stores and small business are finding new and inventive ways to do more with less. Whether that’s leveraging digital marketing, offering creative promotions, or shaking up branding and merchandising, retailers are making it work. That includes making full use of every tool …
What Should Retailers Keep in the Post-Pandemic Era?
As in most industries, there is no “back to normal” for retail after the pandemic. Customer behaviors and expectations have changed significantly over the last 18 months, and many of those changes are here to stay. So what should retailers keep in the post-pandemic era, and what should they leave …
How to Increase Sales in the Checkout Line
The checkout line is one of the best and easiest ways to increase customer engagement and spend. And because it’s generally the last step in a shopping trip, the checkout can either make or break a customer’s in-store experience. But many busy retailers overlook the checkout line and cash wrap. …
As Shoppers Return, Focus on Experience
The pandemic turned all of us into online shoppers, whether that’s our preferred way of shopping or not. Many people like shopping in person, and, as vaccines become more readily available, are eager to get back to their favorite stores. But COVID restrictions are still in effect in many parts of …
6 Lessons From 2020 for Retail Success in 2021
After a tumultuous year, retail store owners and managers are beginning 2021 with some degree of clarity on what the year will hold. Hopefully, retail will look more like it did pre-pandemic, but it’s likely that current conditions – capacity limits, mask requirements, and customer hesitation – will …
Get Ready for Holiday Shopping with a Register Health Check
At Retail Tech, retail is our business. Over the past several months, we’ve heard from our customers about the significant challenges and severe impacts that the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their businesses in 2020. Retail Tech wants to help retail stores end the year strong. As retailers prepare …
What is Unified Commerce?
And how can it help retail stores boost business in the new retail landscape? The shift from physical retail toward e-commerce was well underway before 2020. But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, with store closures and stay home orders, the move to digital retail went full speed ahead. Now, as …
Use Your POS Data to Improve Product Performance
Retail analytics and performance metrics can be powerful tools for understanding customer behavior, seasonal trends, inventory issues and all other facets of retail management and operations. One benefit of using these tools is that they are already available to store owners and managers – in your …
Best Tips to Run Effective Promotions
Sales, specials and promotions can be an effective tool, both for drawing new and existing customers into a store, and getting them to spend more once they’re in. But when promotions are executed broadly, haphazardly, or without a specific goal or target in mind, they can actually hurt the bottom …
Build Customer Loyalty Through Returns
Returns are expensive, disruptive, and time-consuming, but they’re an inevitable fact of life for retailers. A 2018 survey by the National Retail Federation found a median return rate of 10 percent in U.S. retail stores. This adds up to about $370 billion in returned merchandise. Further, return …
Use Retail Trends to Improve the Customer Experience
As we move into the new year, retailers are focused on the bottom line, working to continue the fight against online shopping and improve in-store sales. There are many debates over the best way to do this, but ultimately, it’s pretty simple. By paying attention to retail trends and continually …
Focus on Inventory and Pricing to Maximize Sales
Shoppers tend to have heightened expectations when shopping at a brick and mortar retail store. This can be both good and bad for retailers who are looking to maximize sales. On the positive side, a happy shopper who had previously only shopped online, but who has a positive in-store experience, is …
Turn Holiday Shopping into Year-Round Success
The holiday season creates many opportunities for small business success. During this busy shopping season, especially with the recent movement to “shop small,” local retailers can attract new customers, increase sales, and build momentum for the year to come. However, those things don’t just happen …
Maximizing the Checkout Experience
In today’s retail market, it’s important to take advantage of every opportunity to increase sales and build customer engagement. However, many retailers aren’t fully maximizing one of the most important aspects of the customer experience: the checkout. In a recent study of grocery customers, …
Using Retail Analytics to Drive Sales
Analytics are a key indicator in any type of business, but they’re especially important when sales and customer satisfaction are key to success. We’ve previously written a blog post on the importance of evaluating restaurant analytics, but, of course, restaurants and retail stores can be quite …
Refresh Your Retail Merchandising for Spring
Spring is on the way, which means that retail stores are launching new product lines and in-store displays focused on the upcoming summer months. Spring is a time for new beginnings, which offers a great opportunity to review and think your overall retail merchandising strategy and …
New Tactics Are Essential As Retail Landscape Shifts
The increasing popularity of online shopping, combined with years of chronic overbuilding and shifting consumer preferences, has led to what some are calling the “retail apocalypse.” While the word “apocalypse” is probably much too dramatic, it’s true that traditional retail is experiencing a …
In Today’s Retail Industry, Personal Connection is Key
It seems that every article or thinkpiece that discusses the retail industry has one message: retail is dying. But, as a company that works closely with retailers of all different sizes and in different markets, we at Retail Tech know that is simply not true. Retail is changing, yes, and business …
Adapting to a Changing Retail Industry
There’s no denying it: the retail industry is changing. In fact, some experts claim that retail – or, more accurately, traditional brick and mortar retail – is dying. And in the face of falling profits, store closings and bankruptcies, it may seem as if that’s the case. But retail can’t – and …
Why Your Chip Card is Still Not Accepted Everywhere
Slow Transition for a Big Change to Chip Card Processing Most companies now have chip card readers, but some have been slow to implement the new technology. The United States began accepting chips on credit cards on October 1st, 2015. This also made merchants responsible for fraudulent charges made …
Top 10 Benefits of Using a Point of Sale (POS) System
Cash Registers Vs. POS Systems For many years, cash registers were the only way to go when completing sales in a store, shop, or restaurant. But with the advent of technology, the options have expanded to a variety of systems that work best for your business. Point of Sale systems have many …
Think Local, Act Local. What About the POS?
A retailers strategy is anything but stagnant. Operators are continuously looking for new ways to change and improve their processes. Especially right now, organizations are asking themselves a number of questions regarding the POS environment. Do we allocate our entire budget toward mobile …
Read, Read, Read: TechTOPICKS Point of Sale Blog
"Smaller is better for aging shoppers" "Are We Getting Closer to a Mobile Payment PCI Standard?" "Kellogg's customers click with videos triggered by QR, text codes" Have you read these articles yet? If not, you should! As a successful operator, most likely you are keeping tabs on your …
IBM Retail User Group: It’s Not Too Late to Register!
IRUG is IBM's permier event for retailers and solution providers to network and harvest mutually benefical relationships. As a proud sponsor of the 34th annual IBM Retail User Group, Retail Tech is excited to meet with existing clients and share our value with new customers! If you are not yet …
