Use imagination and enthusiasm to successfully jump out of the "box".
Bridgewater, New Jersey (PRWEB) September 10, 2013
"Retail marketing must include seamless automation," says Rocky Romeo,, retail sales specialist.
Technology is becoming more of a key player in the retail industry and it's not just for the big stores. Automation and improved communications between management, staff members and potential customers will be the determining factors now and in the years to come.
For example: In the past, customer relationship management was done manually. It was a very time consuming process of using index cards with names and dates for follow up letters and phone calls. Today, there is a wide variety of retail software that will source, compile, process and report exacting statistics for each action taken in the retail sales pipeline. By integrating and automating the follow up process, store owners are now free to concentrate more on the front end of retail marketing which is finding new customers.
Imagine now the possibilities of automating both retail marketing and the retail sales follow up. Now, owners and managers can actually have time to enhance the customers' in-store experience and still punch up key reports and data concerning the effectiveness of specific promotions, seasonal sales or online conversion rates. Most data is obtainable in real time. This is perhaps the freshest marketing data available and it's all at the fingertips of the management and staff.
Certain software packages can even suggest two or three other products to the customer at the register and it's based on past buying habits. With all of the new technologies, it is possible that a new position may be designated as retail technologist. This would be a person dedicated to assure the smooth and seamless melding of automation, humans and technology that can work together quickly and efficiently to improve the bottom line.
Does that leave the possibility of retail becoming a solely online and automated experience? Perhaps, but until that time shoppers still enjoy the sensory delights that each individual brick and mortar store provides while the online experience caters towards convenience and price. My guess is that it's quite easy to purchase something like coffee online, but for now, people still prefer the conversations, smell and seeing the baristas do their magic in person.
So, it's not either or, but incorporating both aspects of good retailing and the newest technology that will propel stores into the future and to the bank.
Rocky Romeo is a retail sales and retail marketing specialist and has been successfully helping stores for over 34 years. http://www.rockyromeo.com.
