How Retailers Get Loving Feeling This Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day... one of the most romantic holidays of the year, how can SME’s maximize the opportunity to claim their share of profits? Valentine's Day isn't an exclusive affair restricted to retailer of any kind of business, such as florists and chocolatiers.

Timing is everything

The secret to an effectively building connectivity with Valentines and your brand is to start early. Typically, women are shown to start their shopping earlier than men so starting your campaign early will target these customers. Many retailers will start as early as the last week in January to start building hype around the year's first business event. Create a sense of event through music, decorations and balloons.

Getting people over the threshold is half of the battle. Creating an engaging with window display will entice people in, allowing them to make purchases. Window dressing is a powerful tool when drawing foot traffic, giving you the chance to tell a story, make your products the point and build your brand. There's no limit to how out there you can go, get people talking, tweeting and sharing! Obviously, if you are less creatively inclined, keeping it simple can be an equally effective way to elegantly showcasing your products.

The same principle applies to your online store. Update your site to integrate a valentines theme, discounts and promotions. Include a countdown clock to add a sense of urgency to promotions and discounts. The Royal Mail conducted a survey which showed one in every ten online customers abandon their baskets before making a purchase.

Social media is a great free advertising tool allowing you to build relations with your customers. Twitter is a great platform for sharing snippets of stock with your current and potential customer base. Consider creating a teaser campaign on the development to Valentines to generate interest in any promotions you plan on running. Sharing pictures, cryptic messages or competitions can go far in creating interest. Encouraging your customers to share content of your products, for example, pictures and testimonials adds to your social impression. A small themed gesture, for example, heart shaped baked good's, or complimentary discounts on specific products will boost your customers to upload content to your social media platforms.

This is also a prime time to build your email lists, standing you in a good stead for the coming years customer events. Encourage people to sign up for newsletters and site updates. You could have a signup sheet by the till or note the site and social media details on the receipt. Customers will for the most part be more inclined to do this if they feel they're receiving something in return. Exclusive offers for email subscribers, for example, discounts and promotions are certain to see a boost in engagement.

Convenience is Key

Historically men are more inclined to leave their Valentine's shopping to the last minute but they also ready to part with more money, making them a retailer's closest friend. Financial site, Evolution money, reports men spend a normal of £40 on Valentine's gifts whereas women will spend simply over a half of that. The key to targeting this demographic is convenience.

Many men will often succumb to the mounting pressure, holding up until the last hour to get their gift. This means they want quick and simple purchase decisions and are happy to pay an extra premium for the convenience. There are many ways to do this, on both your online and offline stores.

Creating a gift guide for your online store assist overwhelmed customers valuable purchase options. Suggesting complementary products and including customer reviews will help turn browsers into purchasers. Again, tapping into the psychological of the customer and offering discounts or promotions will drive purchases. People are more inclined to buy if they believe they are getting a good deal.

Novelty budget friendly gifts should be close to the counter. These are the type of products people don't seek out but will buy on impulse if they grab their attention. Committing an area of your shop to Valentine's display can highlight key things making it easier customers find inspiration. This will be more successful in pushing bigger or more expensive products.

Conclusion

The commercial value of valentines runs into the millions and the traditional retailers we partner with the day are probably going to come out tops. In any case, this is a ripe opportunity jump on the bandwagon with the shamelessly market your business. Customers are primed to spend, so getting your brand noticed, both on the street and on digital platforms can secure long term custom.

How EPOS Software Help To Identify Product Lines and Categories That Are Killing Your Profits

The best ways to increase profits in your retail business is to analyse the profitability of your product lines and categories using actual sales statistics with the help of epos software.

Make sure that each retailer has at least a couple of product lines and categories that are killing their profits. By simply switching or dropping a few items that are not pulling their fair share, you can easily increase your profits by 2% or more.

In case if you do 1 million in yearly sales and increase profit margins by 2% - that is an extra £20,000 in your pocket every year!

For example, suppose you open your EPOS software and pull up a report that compares your overall profit margins for each of your categories.

If you sell sporting goods, you may see your "gym equipment" category has a truly low profit margin compared with everything else. This raises up a question... should it be advisable for you to be really carrying this category? In case if you replaced it with something that had a higher profit margin, would you get a boost in profits?

You can do a similar type of thing with your product lines. Suppose you sell lawn mowers and you built up a great deal of product lines over the years. So you pull up a sales report to compare the overall profit for each line.

What will happen if you drop those profit lines? There's a good chance you'd have less headaches trying to order and manage stock from all of those resources and you'll most likely wind up selling another brand of lawn mower which has a higher profit margin.

This results in less work for you and more money in your account.

If you analyse your profit margins, I'm sure you'll be stunned at what you see. Some of the product lines that you thought were making you a lot of money could be killing your profits.

What I really love about this process is that it depends on actual numbers - not hypothesis or guessing. Also, it works for a wide range of retail businesses.

What's more, the good thing about using your EPOS software to see profit margins is that you will save time, reduce calculation and you can easily slice and dice up the data. I'm not saying you to drop all your categories with the lowest profit margins. In any case, I'm strongly urging you to analyse those items and decide what's best for your business.

You should never assume anything.

In case if you don't have the idea about your profit margins and you're operating blind, start getting that data now! Running a business without this data is a sure fire way to bankrupt.

Now remember that not every EPOS system will give you the exact reports that you need. So in case you're looking for another POS system, you need to write down all the features that are essential to you and create a "wish list".

What Is The Need Of Mobile EPOS System In Your Business

Does my business need a mobile EPOS system?

A question which is becoming more and more prevalent in a world that is constantly changing, businesses and business owners should have the ability to adapt to stay level with the competition. For business such as retail and food service, one new trend that can improve business is the mobile EPOS system.

A mobile Point of Sale system is great to help reduce checkout queue sizes, collect customer data, keep your business flexible and even make the paying experience friendly to for your customers. Let’s take a look at those features and how can they help you.

Reduce Checkout Lines

No customer likes waiting during the bustling hours. This may even prevent a few customers from coming back. A mobile EPOS system can help reduce these lines drastically.

It's easy to have the option to grab a phone with your POS already loaded on it when the lines get long and all of your registers are busy. It doesn't take much space and easy to move around. Use it to help occupy a few customers from your queue – may be who have just 1 or 2 items and need to get out quickly. A mobile EPOS system like this could easily cut down the wait times for your business.

Collect Customer Data

Creating repeat customers is important for every business humans tend in general stick with what they know and are familiar with. With a mobile EPOS system, you can without much of a stretch collect customer data where ever they are! Have someone at the door to welcome them as they enter, standing there with an EPOS over their telephone. Here they can ask customers for their name and email and you can send them name and newsletters, creating loyalty for your store.

Business Flexibility

Food trucks and pop up shops are becoming more popular. With a mobile POS system, you can take your epos system with you on the go! What could profit your business more than the flexibility of a POS that can go anyplace even outside your business? You can go to your customers and sell them any place they may be.

Easy Customer Payments

A frustrating experience at the register can leave a customer upset and never going to return. It's an easily overlooked thing however a quick and simple checkout experience can improve things greatly. A mobile EPOS system can truly improve how your customers pay. With lot of different readers and other payment devices that can attach to a phone, it's not too hard to find the best solution for your business. Most of them simply tap or swipe and you can do everything before your customer even at restaurants!

These are simple things that can make a big impact for your customers and they can all happen at your finger tips. There are many mobile POS systems out there, so finding the right one for you shouldn't be too hard.

What Is The Use Of EPOS System In Retail Businesses

If you have a retail business that deal with sales, you have probably considered investing in getting epos software for small business and the necessary hardware to go with it. The recent rise of EPOS systems has set another standard for businesses and sale transactions, making it easier for your staff and customers. In case if you are still on the fence about investing resources into EPOS, here are a couple of reasons why you should upgrade.

Accept More Payment Methods

Not every person carries cash nowadays, depending on card or mobile payments when out and about an EPOS system means your business won't be turning your customers since you can't accept their payment. The ability to receive payment methods translates into more sales.

Store Loyalty Cards

Your EPOS can be set up so you can offer and accept loyalty and gift vouchers for your business. If your business has a loyalty card, it builds the opportunity of repeat business and even referrals as people feel more obligated to shop with you to gain points or use a gift voucher.

Stock Management

Stock management can be time consuming and EPOS can help you with updating your stock in real time and can also allow you to organise what products are well known for restocking. Find out easily how you can optimise the stock management on your EPOS system here.

Accurate Accounting

With your detailed stock and receipt tracking integrated with the system, your EPOS software takes into consideration for better accuracy in accounting. The data you collect from tracking stock and sales will enable you to spot errors and gives you a chance to improve.

Improve Sales Targets

A sentinel EPOS system means you can set sales targets and goals for your business and staff, enabling you to track each staff performance. This means you can identify weak staff in the team, so you know where you have to improve and boost your sales.

Flexible Reports

Getting frequent, up to date and accurate reports is good for impressing associates, partners or investors in your business. A quality EPOS system can offer reports instantly by day, week, month and year to give you a superior appreciation about the business' progress. You can also customise the report if you have to take a look at a specific time or product.

Easy to Use

You may be put off EPOS software if you are used to the ease of traditional EPOS systems, yet touch screen EPOS systems are easy but difficult to use and take little training. You can even access the system remotely in case if you have a cloud-based EPOS system.

How To Prep Your Retail Store for Christmas Sales?

Preparing you store is the initial step for setting your store up for success this Christmas season.

The best way to meet your holiday sale is to start early, so never wait! Start preparing for the busiest shopping season of the year now, with a few simple and imperative ways to prepare your retail location for Christmas deals.

1. Start Early

Christmas is around the corner and you should you should have your Christmas deals set and ready to promote. It's never too late to get a kick off on evaluating, scheduling and promoting your Christmas deals and the earlier the better!

Not sure how to begin? Here are a few simple ways to get the ball rolling on coming up with thinking of your Christmas deals.

- Run epos reports to gauge your best selling and popular products.

- Take your stock to see what surplus you have and where you may need to restock as you prepare for more foot traffic.

- Don't forget about online sales. Prepare and test your E-commerce business process and plan to keep the Christmas momentum. Is your retail store not set up for online sales? We can help!

2. Make sure Your Store Is Up to the Task

If your epos system is slow, faulty or not configured well for the business you plan to run on Christmas, you're going to run into problems that could cost you sales and result in disappointed customers and staff. Make sure that you do a couple of tests on your Christmas specials and guarantee that your POS process is working quickly and accurately. 

In this way your Christmas can go off easily and you can go off with a hitch to make seamless sales as possible. Never forget to train your staff on your sales process for the days. They're an integral part of your POS success, particularly on a significant day like Christmas.

3. Keep Your Customer Base in Loop

Use your mailing list to its fullest potential this season. Advise your customers of your Christmas discounts way before they start. Send messages, make social posts and even consider an immediate, mail approach, depending upon the demographic your store pulls in. 

In case if your retail location has a loyalty program set up, you may also need to think about offering special discounts to that group. This will make a trip to your customer store front worth their time and energy and may encourage more sign-ups for exclusive deals leading the way to the huge day.

4. Promote Your Deals Way Before They Start

One big rookie mistake retailers make is that they hold their Christmas discounts hidden from everyone - or stand by so long to formulate them - they never capture the business potential they could have if they advertise them early. When you've decided the hot deals you're serving up on Christmas: promote, promote, promote! Here's a tip for doing only that…

5. Boost Traffic to Your Website and Re-target Your Visitors

A minimal expenditure spent on advertising can go far. Also, when you have a huge sale coming up the best way to tell your customers is through social media advertising. Once again, don't wait until before or the day of. Start boosting posts that link back on your site now, and make sure you have a Facebook re-targeting pixel connected to each page of your site so you can re-target those customers come Christmas sales.

6. Maximize Your Retail Space the Day Of

Set the exterior and interior of your retail store up for the Christmas and you could even capture some extra sales. Here are a few things to consider:

- Put thoughtful products by the register to encourage impulse buys. Capitalize off your increased foot traffic with a couple of strategies that will increase your Christmas bottom line.

- Give your customers a reason to return back. For example, hand out a 10% off flyer with each Christmas sale but be strategist about the dates the promotion is available to make sure customers seek your store for their last holiday shopping.

Get some signage made. Spring for some signage to deliberately put inside and outside your physical store. Leave dates off the signage so you can use it quite a long time after year.

What Are The Preparations For Need To Be Done By Retailers For Black Friday!

Black Friday is a phenomenon that happens globally which help to grow both revenue and duration each year.

It is originally an American event that takes place the day after the Thanksgiving, as it has now cemented its place in the UK retail calendar as one of the greatest shopping day of the year.

Many customers will hope to get a Christmas present and studies show 40% of shoppers start investigating their Christmas shopping list in October. This makes Black Friday the perfect occasion for boosting regular sales.

With Black Friday 2017 producing £4.5 billion in the UK alone, it's not so early for retailers to start preparing your business. Investing resources into some Black Friday sale signage and Black Friday banners is the initial step in getting your epos ready for your winter promotions.

Start early

It's not so early to start preparing your Black Friday signs and marketing to build suspense around up and price drops. Use social media, emails, Black Friday sale signage and in-store flyers to give customers a sneak look at what you will offer this November.

Electronic gadgets are typically the best sellers on Black Friday. Learn from past years and stock up on the most important products, display them close to the front and keep your price competitive.

Optimise your store

Your store should be prepared with your epos system for increased crowds and optimised to make shopping easy.

People never go to stores on Black Friday for a leisurely shop. They realize what they want and want to get it quickly and leave. A large number of your customers will have searched your sale online.

Your primary sale offers should be at the front of your store on your promotional aisle, with prominent Black Friday signs. Along these lines, Black Friday customers can come in and find what they need with the least possible disruption to the remainder of your store.

Avoid disruption

A few retailers work a one-in-one-out system. People can start to line and then, when the sale officially opens, just 10 or more number of people allowed in the store. This is a great way to operate first-come firs served system to keep away from trouble.

Make sure your products are clearly labeled with rack talkers, posters or showcard frames and not all crammed into one location. For example, spread your TVs around to keep away from crowds gathering in one spot.

Prepare your staff

Ensuring your staff completely prepared for your Black Friday event is another way to help avoid disruption. Right off the bat, you should have more staff in than an ordinary Friday. Consider the length your store will be open, the number and length of breaks to be taken in a day and the quantity of staff for each department.

Your staff should know your sale. Let your customers know about your sale on Black Friday in advance, how much products are discounted, if there is progressively stock available and above all, regardless of whether there is a limit to the quantity of products per individual.

How EPOS Till System Can Impact Your Business

The way in which businesses sell has changed a lot. No longer shops or stores run off slow till system, or revert to pen and paper if their till is unreliable. The epos till system technology available to retailers is presently so advanced, that you won't understand exactly how much insight it can give you into your business customers and business.

What your EPOS can tell you

If you invest into epos, your business can gain a great so much value from its transactions. An epos can let you how many times a customer has visited your store, which products are the most or least popular, if it's time to make an order to a provider – it can even show how well your sales team is performing. The level of detail you can get from everything sold is extremely valuable and can have a big impact on your business.

The Till Is Your Business' Most Important Tool

EPOS system makes your till far beyond more than just a place to accept payment. It becomes a hub that holds key data that you can use to profit your business. You can spot customer trends which you can use to plan future sales campaigns. Noticed an item that isn't selling so well? You can use the data to create customized promotions.

Sell with Intelligence

Epos Direct has an integrated loyalty scheme that can be used to track the behavior of customers. Retailers can create customized promotions that reward standard customers as well as encourage peolpe who don't visit regularly to make frequent visits.

Because every transaction is logged on epos, it is extremely simple for retailers to spot the departments that are doing well and not all well. A good example of this is if a garden center or a farm shop has a cafe, there might be a few customers who never visit it. To pull in customers a free cup of coffee could be offered to encourage them to have a sit down in the cafe – take up for offers like these can be very profitable.

Make It Easy For Your Team

Choosing a till system can make your life easier. Whether you run a garden center chain, have a fashion store, or provide individual living things, we have developed epos to integrate custom-made features that suit customers in every one of the industries they work in. With an easy to-use touch screen and clearly labeled options, your team can access everything sales based from their till system.