Want to better satisfy your customers? Integrate mPOS with Retail Inventory Management

mPOS can deliver a “high tech” image to your stores – no more waiting in lines; sales associates with product information at the ready; meeting customers on the store floor with helpful suggestions; snazzy new tablet devices – but is your new mPOS solution providing all the benefits you hoped it would?

If it’s not, the reason could be that something’s missing: mPOS integration with your retail inventory management solution. If you can’t quickly connect the dots between getting more value out of your mPOS solution and retail inventory management, here are three ways using them together can make your mobile initiatives more successful -and more lucrative.

Find out what the customer is looking for

One benefit of providing tablets to your sales associates is giving them the ability to access information. But you have to have the right information for them to access. If your sales associates have limited inventory information, i.e., just inventory at their location, their resources will be limited when customers need help finding what they are looking for. For example, a customer loves a particular blouse in the color red, but the store location she visited is out of her size. An inventory management system integrated with your mPOS solution can help the sales associate locate the right blouse, in the right color and in the right size, and have it shipped to the store for pickup or even delivered straight to the customer. Furthermore, an inventory management solution that gives you a single view of inventory throughout your business on all channels can help you increase the chances of fulfilling demand and making sure you don’t disappoint the customer.

Find a substitute for what the customer can’t find

The red blouse isn’t available anymore. Not anywhere. A retail inventory management solution can provide information on comparable items or different items from the same designer. A sales associate can access the information as a part of the conversation with the customer, referring to a tablet to research options, as opposed to having to go to a back room or office and leave the customer standing alone in the aisle. Continuing to engage the customer and providing information and assistance will go a long way toward creating a positive customer experience and building trust and loyalty. iVend Retail’s research highlighted in our Great Omnichannel Expectations report, almost one-third of North American consumers surveyed said they would prefer sales associates to use tablets to provide them with product information — information they could access through a retail inventory management solution.

Find something else the customer wants

When a customer has made a choice, your sales associates’ job is not necessarily over. Your retail inventory management system can help with information on complementary items in stock that are commonly purchased with the one your customer just chose. Also, if accessories or consumables can be sold with the item — leather conditioner for boots, for example – your mPOS and retail inventory management system can give sales associates the information they need to upsell.

You deployed mPOS to allow your business to operate more efficiently and to enhance the customer experience. Arm your sales associates with everything they need to accomplish those goals — not just a tablet, but also access to real-time inventory information.