If you have been keeping up with the latest business news you’ll know that many retailers are struggling in terms of profitability. Not only can this be put down to a combination of high business rates and decreased high street footfall but it can, in part, also be attributed to retailers being held back by outdated IT systems that are costly to run and difficult to integrate with newer technologies to allow them to stay agile in this competitive marketplace.
Fortunately, with the help of cloud technology, retail businesses could start to reverse their fortunes by having access to real-time data and the ability to turbo-charge sales with cloud point of sale (ePOS) and cutting-edge cloud eCommerce that can help to grow their retail business by speeding up and streamlining daily processes surrounding stock, customer sales and payment transactions.
If you’re yet to be convinced, we’ve put together a guide to the benefits of the cloud epos and ecommerce for retailers:-
1. No need to manually check inventory ever again
Thanks to the amazing interconnectedness of cloud systems, retailers can view their inventory in real-time.
No matter where you sell – online or in-store or multichannel - stock levels are adjusted each time you make a sale, eliminating the risk of overselling and optimising the whole inventory process, keeping you knowledgeable about what hold.
It can also make stock re-ordering easy by automatically raising supplier purchase orders when stock needs replenishing, keeping you in control.
2. Convenient, efficient and better equipped to deliver excellent customer experiences
If using an outdated retail system, merchants may find it difficult to offer a unified approach across each of their different sales channels.
This includes, but is not limited to, customer accounts, stock notifications, customer promotions, customer rewards, purchase orders, click and collect, shipping statuses and convenient multichannel selling.
If you want to sell multichannel, by moving to the cloud, these sales processes can be streamlined, and the customer will enjoy the kind of seamless customer service and interaction they want and expect.
3. What exactly is a cloud Point of sale system (ePOS system)?
Unlike old-fashioned point of sale which typically involved clunky cash registers, cloud retail systems represent what is known as electronic point of sale or ePOS systems. Your information or data is displayed on your computer, however, instead of running a program from a computer sat in front of you or having to look at data stored on a server, you do it all online.
It will enable you to log sales, take payments, make refunds and exchanges, apply discounts and promotions, sell and take gift vouchers and track stock.
A good epos system is quick, accurate and can handle a large volume of sales making the day-to-day running of your retail shop easy and efficient by simplifying your daily processes, increasing transaction speeds and by improving the quality and accuracy of your sales and service.
4. Improved business visibility and better product performance insights in real-time
Retailers generate huge amounts of information which traditionally has been held across several different systems - your inventory management system, spreadsheets, your ecommerce website, your point of sale system to name a few - making it difficult to analyse all aspects of how well a business is doing.
However with cloud retail systems, retailers can gain important insight into their retail business because almost every aspect of their sales and sales process is connected in a central hub or platform.
Information for all sales channels can easily be viewed, providing important business intelligence so that you can make smart business and merchandising decisions about what's selling, what's not, where, when and how.
Because everything’s online and all transactions occur online you can view all your data anywhere, anytime, meaning that business owners and managers can view company matters and reports remotely, when you need them.
And when you are selling across a number of different sales channels – online, in-store and multi-channel - this is particularly useful.
5. Keep your ePOS and eCommerce system futureproofed
The retail and online world moves quickly and keeping your ePOS system and ecommerce website up-to-date with the latest trends and updates, although important, takes time and can also eat into that important budget.
So how can you futureproof your software? Access to the latest technology is another great bonus of cloud retail systems. Rather than having to pay for new updates or install the latest software versions, generally, cloud-based solutions are automatically updated, meaning that you are always on the newest version, enabling you to continue to meet customer expectations and stay competitive.
6. More cost-efficient
Another great way for retailers to find savings by opting for cloud retail systems is that these solutions tend to be low monthly fees rather than large upfront costs.
These low monthly fees tend to cover not just the software and its retail features but also hosting, help, technical support, backups and future upgrades (as mentioned above), which means you can do away with costly servers and there's no need to pay for technical issues or expensive software updates.
This not only will save you maintenance time but also money, meaning you can spend your budget on other important sales and promotional activities.
6. Cloud hosting is reliable and secure
It is a common misconception that cloud hosting is less secure than in-house servers. It should be noted that cloud-stored data can actually be much safer than locally-stored data.
If your data is stored on an in-house server, it is much more at risk from accidents or thieves. What's more, cloud services are regularly updated with the latest security software, as well as back-up procedures, to ensure data is safe and stored as securely as possible at all times.
Looking to take advantage of a cloud retail system?
Interested? Want to know more about how a cloud retail system like ShopTill-e can help your business? Here's what one of our customer have to say:-
"We were looking for a new system to replace our Epos and bridged Magento websites, we struggled to find a company that could accommodate our needs until we discovered Shop Till-e.
Since we have been working with them, we have transformed our stock management and reconnected with our multiple web stores and third party sites including eBay and Amazon all from one easy to use system at a fraction of the previous costs.
Working with a company that understands our needs is priceless, they’re always available and nothing has ever been too much trouble, its so refreshing to deal with a company that has a genuine interest in helping our business grow."
We can not recommend Shop Till-e enough, they’re the perfect fit for our business and genuinely great to deal."
Why not take away the headache of using multiple systems in your business? Book a personalised demo today or try ShopTill-e free for 14 days.
Run and manage your retail business with just one system.
Everything in one place, access anytime, anywhere.
Sell online, sell in-store or sell multichannel, make it easy for you and your customers and efficiently run your retail shop and ecommerce business.
