If retailers are to stay off the economic rocks, they must run a tight ship, says Andrew Blatherwick, executive director of Argility.
The international software company supplies electronic point of sale (EPOS) and merchandise management solutions to the retail industry.
The current economic environment, according to Blatherwick, “is as tough as we have seen for a very long time, and for the public, the perception is near disaster, and the natural reaction is to reduce spending”.
Says Blatherwick: “In this environment, retailers need to be right on top of their game if they want to survive. These are times for the brave, the smart and those who control their business more tightly. If that means spending on new solutions to give you that control, then this may be the best investment you could make.”
If companies are under pressure with regard to costs and margins, notes Blatherwick, they can't afford to have large levels of shrinkage, staff theft or fraud. They also cannot afford to lose customers because of inabilities to process sales. “Be creative on promotions or manage customer service properly. Every customer is invaluable, every cent counts and your staff members are likely to be in a state of flux, as you upgrade employees in order to get the best.”
It is imperative when looking at retail technology solutions to ensure products are easy to use and intuitive. “With high staff turnover, you need to be able to get new starters up to speed rapidly and new systems implemented very quickly to achieve the fastest possible return on investment.
“Training staff on new, highly complex and restrictive solutions can cost millions of rands in lost time, and in retail outlets, you cannot afford to take staff off the shop floor for days to train on a new EPOS solution. Neither can you afford to have them struggling to use a complex solution while customers wait,” he says.
“To survive, retailers will need to be on top of their game and in control of their business. While investing in new technology at this time seems instinctively wrong, it may be the saviour of your business if it plugs those holes that are allowing your profits to leak away when you can least afford it.”
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