The retail industry has suffered worse than most during the events of 2020. It has been a tough time for many and a time that will have ongoing impacts for at least the next few years.
With the latest of new lockdowns now in place, the New Year hangovers can now be allowed to recover, whilst we prepare for the January sales!
There are many retailers that are thriving! The key for most has been early adoption of digital transformation strategy. Those retailers that invested during lockdown 1.0 are now reaping those rewards.
At Eposly we have seen increasing interest from forward thinking retailers. Many retailers have taken this time to regroup and refocus on a new digital future. We have had an increase in interest in our products and services throughout 2020. The key is to ensure that the retail systems are connected and that they are web and ecommerce ready.
New priorities for retail
There is a repeating theme that we hear from our customers and prospects, and that is one of digitisation and of omnichannel. Modern physical retailers are increasingly joining the dots digitally between their online operations and their physical stores; online and physical are both very important elements in the end to end customer experience.
- Shop Local search – The ability to put individual stores on the search engine map. Allowing customers to “search local” and to identify local stores that have products in stock.
- Click and Collect – The ability to order online and then pickup in store. The POS system needs to have full visibility of all orders placed.
- Omnichannel – The ability for orders from many sources, phone, online, field sales, store sales, partner channels and more to all be available in a single system of truth.
- Endless isle – The store can be an extension of the retail website, offering items that are not always stocked in-store.
- Inventory management – the ability to have Realtime visibility of stock levels in store and also at other stores, so that sales can still be closed.
- Pay by invoice – the ability to send quotes and invoices to customers so that they can either pay later, as part of a deposit and final payment scheme or simply to allow customer to pay fully contactless, at a safe distance in Realtime and via their own mobile phones
- Mobility – improving the customer experience with mobile points of sale, allowing your store staff to have a “pos-in-my-pocket”, and be able to service and transact anywhere in the store!
The future of retail point of sale
Eposly is at the fore front of the current disruption that is being forced on to retailers. Legacy point-of-sale and retail management systems that care little about the customer experience no longer have a place for a modern omnichannel focussed retailer.
Eposly provides customer focussed POS systems that are built natively on the Salesforce platform and leveraging mobile apps. This ensures a tight Realtime connection to all customer information and data, and a next generation experience for both customer and store staff.