Tips to Help Start or Grow Your Small Retail Business

If you are a small business owner, it’s likely you goal is to grow that business into something that you’ll be able to sustain for many years. For the purpose of this article, let’s assume your business is a retail setting, as this is where I have some experience. The most vital aspect of your business will be your POS system. If you choose carefully, this system will take care of many aspects of your business. Most systems have apps that you can download that can handle most of your day to day operations.

Streamline Your Checkout Process

You’ll want to be sure whatever system you choose has the ability to use a barcode system. This will make your checkout process flow much faster and mover your customers much faster. You will have to enter each item as you receive it, but after you learn the system, this will become second nature.

Having training for your trusted employees to accomplish this will make your life much easier. Barcodes can be easily printed and placed on price tags. Be sure you have your branding on every aspect of your merchandise. This means even your price tags. They should have your logo, address and website as well. You want to make it so your customers remember where they bought their items. This is another place a good POS comes in to play as well. Your receipt should carry your store’s information as well. If it prints your logo that’s all the better.

Utilize Payment Solutions

You also need to take the time to utilize any payment solutions you may have. In this day and age, being versatile when it comes to payment processing is so important. You have to make sure that you are accepting all major credit cards and you also need to understand your target customers and their demographics. Now that they have different options to pay it is your job to provide them. If you can do this then you are bound to get the solution you are looking for. If you don’t know how to get started, look into payment APIS first, and go from there. Be sure to shop for the best payment processing company. The fees to process can vary widely. Do not pass this cost on to your customers as many businesses are doing these days. You need to look as this a the cost of doing business. Customers frown on this practice and may not shop with you again if you charge them for this fee.

Manage Inventory

If you sell online, it is important that your inventory is up to date. Hopefully the online system automatically updates as you sell items. If you have to mange this manually, do not fail to do this. If a customer has more than one or two experiences where they buy and item then get a notice that that item is actually out of stock, they will likely not make any more attempts to buy items. Take the time to update your customers regularly regarding where their order is. Hopefully your online system will let them know when the item ships. If not, you should manually send this information.

Encourage Loyalty

Implement some kind of loyalty program so you can make sure that everyone can access what they need when they need it. Offering rewards can be a fun way to keep customers coming back. A frequent buyer card is an easy way to do this. Giving customers the chance to get a percentage off after they spend so much is a good incentive. You could also offer specials for social media shares. This will help grow your online presence. This is especially important if you do online business. If you want to be competitive in these tight economic times, you need to find ways to set your store apart from other retailers. These are some tips to help you do that.