By Jeff Haefner
There are countless reasons for retailers to track customer information in their point of sale (or retail management software)...The information stored in your POS software can be used in limitless ways and allows you to perform powerful queries (questions). For example, you can easily create a list of all customers that purchased a certain type of product and send them an offering of a related item. You can easily identify and send your 100 most profitable customers a nice gift at Christmas. Or you can identify customers that haven't shopped in the past 4 months. And since these customers could be drifting away, you could send them a $20 gift certificate to help get them back. (read more)
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Rediscovering Layaways
Underrated for years, layaways are sweetening sales in a sour economy
Reprinted from The Register - News and information for the Microsoft Dynamics RMS community - April 2009
Often overlooked in our "buy now, pay later" culture, layaways are making a comeback, among both customers and retailers. It's easy to see why. Customers are finding multiple benefits. First, there's no interest to pay. Why pay high credit card interest and perhaps even find yourself still paying for something years after its useful life? Layaways also don't promote the empty calories of impulse buying, buyer's remorse, and the consequent returns. And, many people are enjoying a new sense of control over their lives as they get back to the basics of actually planning their purchases and saving. Retailers, too (including big national chains) are rediscovering the lost art of layaways. Not only do layaways expand sales during downturns, when customers are more careful with their dollars, but layaways bring customers back into the store on a regular basis to make payments. Layaways also reduce the number of returns, which has increased in recent years to become a costly percentage of sales. Then there is the customer loyalty and community that layaways and other customer-friendly policies nurture - possibly the most valuable and most overlooked benefit of all.
Read More - Rediscovering layaways
Reprinted from The Register - News and information for the Microsoft Dynamics RMS community - April 2009
Often overlooked in our "buy now, pay later" culture, layaways are making a comeback, among both customers and retailers. It's easy to see why. Customers are finding multiple benefits. First, there's no interest to pay. Why pay high credit card interest and perhaps even find yourself still paying for something years after its useful life? Layaways also don't promote the empty calories of impulse buying, buyer's remorse, and the consequent returns. And, many people are enjoying a new sense of control over their lives as they get back to the basics of actually planning their purchases and saving. Retailers, too (including big national chains) are rediscovering the lost art of layaways. Not only do layaways expand sales during downturns, when customers are more careful with their dollars, but layaways bring customers back into the store on a regular basis to make payments. Layaways also reduce the number of returns, which has increased in recent years to become a costly percentage of sales. Then there is the customer loyalty and community that layaways and other customer-friendly policies nurture - possibly the most valuable and most overlooked benefit of all.
Read More - Rediscovering layaways
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