Low Cost Marketing, Smart Fixtures, Mobile POS, Retail Internet Technology
This weeks weekly roundup is full of technology news for the retail industry. It seems shopping has come a long way from the old clunky cash registers and little variety. In today’s retail environment a customer can find what they want, when they want it and quickly. This makes every market very competitive in which you will only survive if you can provide the best customer service combined with an excellent product.
1. Low-Cost Marketing Ideas to Help You Ring Up More Sales – Another great marketing article from the Specialty Retail Expert. Patricia discusses five low cost marketing ideas to improve your overall business. These ideas are simple and straightforward she suggests giving away a monthly prize or a product giveaway promotion with a purchase. Customers love when they get something for free and it will keep them coming back for more.
2. Penney’s ‘smart fixture’ rolls out as next technological step – This is amazing technology that you must read about! J.C. Penney has taken shopping to a whole new level by implementing the smart fixture. The smart fixture is a door frame size structure that has a touchscreen and runs an application allowing for customers to scan an item, learn more about the different features and even have the information e-mailed to them. J.C.Penney has applied for a patent on a smart fixture they plan to test next month in a few stores…it’s called “findmore jcp interactive store”.
3. Live chat drives sales, satisfaction, but only when executed honestly – It’s amazing to learn that a live chat application on a website can bring more satisfaction to a customer than calling the store customer service hotline. James Brickers discusses the benefits and downfalls of offering live chat to your web-based customers. Number one no-no don’t use chat bots and always train your chat operators to be superior in customer service.
4. Which businesses should use Mobile Point of Sale Equipment? – We all know the answer to that question…any business that wants to keep their customers happy. Times are tough economically right now and the fastest ways to lose a customer is poor service and long wait times. This article discusses various options for mobile point of sale along with logical reasons every retailer should be using it.
5. Bravestorm unveils click-to-call for small retailers – This goes hand in hand with the live chat article. Bravestrom has announced a beta version of BoldCall Express click to call. It is an online lead generation tool to help retailers connect with their customers. A button placed on a website is clicked by the customer requesting that a representative from the business call them. The calls can be routed a variety of different ways to suit the business using the feature. It’s affordable, it’s new and it will bring personalization to your web based customers.
“Our goal was to make click-to-call technology easily accessible to any business,” says Bravestorm president and CEO Steve Castro-Miller.
