Employee theft is a large problem with small retail businesses but not for long. Our first feature in the round up this week is a security device that is triggered at the point of sale when it detects a suspicious transaction. Then we move onto numbers that will show you why small retailers should be using mobile commerce to enhance the customer experience. Our third feature in the round up is an article targeted toward the restaurant industry and crew branding but it’s a universal theory that can be used in any industry. Next we feature an article that all small businesses should consider, selling gift cards for their shops. This inexpensive concept could bring in more profits than you think. The last article we feature in this weeks roundup is more of a guide, an essential guide for small retail business owners that will show you step by step how to maximize your sales and profits during the Holiday shopping season.
1. Fighting the five-finger discount – Agilence has revealed a solution for loss prevention that could revolutionize the retail security industry. The system synchronizes raw security camera footage with point of sale data, taking a till image of every product scanned at the POS. This allows for quick review of thousands of images for any suspicious activity. Read the article for a full explanation and future enhancements.
2. Mobile commerce has arrived – The numbers in this article are proof enough that small retailers need to start implementing a mobile commerce strategy. North American mobile commerce sales will be above $750 million in the upcoming year and over 57 million American people access the web via a mobile device at least once a day. Still not convinced? The article lists many other staggering facts as well as a detailed chart showing the data.
3. Your Crew Is Your Brand – As I stated in the beginning of this post, the article is targeted toward the restaurant industry. After reading the great advice given by the author about how your employees can influence your company brand, I felt that all retailers could gain knowledge from it. The article goes into what’s missing, what’s needed and examples of who is using great techniques to bring employees to the level of promoting your brand image positively.
4. Every Business Should Be Offering Gift Cards – I couldn’t agree more with the author of this article. Every shop whether large or small should be offering their customers the chance to purchase a gift card. They’re easy, a great gift idea and a fantastic way for a current customer to recommend your product or service to a friend. The article gives statistics on the number of consumers that purchase gift cards as well as some great example of why every business should be using them.
5. How to Maximize Holiday Sales and Profits – This has to be the best how to guide I have found for any retail business. It’s a comprehensive three page article that outlines how to differentiate your small business during the holiday season, how to come up with a sales plan and marketing strategies (offline & online) that will increase Holiday sales.
Small retail business tips and suggestions dominate this weeks round up. Our first feature is a call from BusinessWeek for small retailers to share their experience and data with them during the holiday sales season. Then read about how to deal with big business moving into your neighborhood and what to do to beat them. Our third feature is the top five WordPress themes for small business which is always helpful for a small retail blog. If you’re wondering what SWOT is then check our fourth feature article of the weekly round up and finish off by reading about how small retailers can fight walk away customers.
New point of sale products highlight our weekly round up this week. A POS printer with a easy to use LCD screen and a new mobile handheld POS system. The introduction of more mobile solutions for the point of sales brings us to what mobile payments will mean for the marketing world. The economy is still slow for many consumers so we feature an article with 7 tips to market to families during the recession. Then we end will the revelation that 85% of consumers will shop online during this holiday season.
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