With a constantly evolving industry and customer preferences changing and adapting as businesses reopen, marketing your restaurant can be a constant challenge. New trends are popping up, your business might have gone through some recent changes, and customers are always looking for the next new and interesting thing. As businesses reopen, customers are ready to get back out into the world and are looking for places to go.

5 restaurant marketing ideas

Many restaurants make the mistake of leaning solely on third-party marketplace platforms to raise awareness for their business. These platforms can be helpful with discoverability, but there are other options to spread the word about your business and your own website or ordering hub, without needing to pay third-party platforms to boost and promote your business. 

Here are 5 ways you can market your restaurant and catch customers’ attention.

Stay active on social media

Social media can be your best friend when it comes to connecting and marketing directly to existing and potential customers. Here are a few things to consider when using social media to promote your business:

• Keep your goals in mind. Good social media posts for businesses drive both conversation and sales with customers.
• Keep your pages updated. Stay top of mind with your customers by posting consistently. 
• Be strategic with posting times. If you’re not sure when to post, try doing it around lunch and dinner time when you know your regulars are hungry and scrolling through their phones for options.

Keep your business page up to date

There are multiple channels and websites that host business pages, and it’s important to claim them all for your business — and then keep them up to date. Some of these include:

• Apple Maps
• Better Business Bureau
• Bing
• Google My Business
• Facebook
• Instagram for Business
• Yahoo! Local
• Yelp
• Foursquare
• Yellow Pages

Accurate NAP (name, address, phone) data is especially important for discoverability, and being consistent across all of these platforms will help with getting better visibility on search engines. As your business reopens, make sure to keep these pages up to date with your specific guidelines and hours, and if you’ve made any changes to your business that customers should be aware of. 

Explore SEO opportunities

Search engine optimization (SEO) is essentially a free marketing channel that offers a huge opportunity for discoverability of your business. While businesses of all sizes can and do utilize SEO, for smaller businesses especially, ranking high in search results not only helps customers find your business, it increases your credibility with them. To take your marketing efforts to the next level and expand your reach, take the time to learn the basics of SEO and implement them to amplify your business.

Interact with your community

Not all marketing happens online. In fact, some of the best marketing can be through word-of-mouth recommendations that loyal customers pass on to their friends. You can build this loyal customer base by showing your repeat customers that you care. A few ways to show appreciation for your local customers are:

• Special promotions for the community: Consider offering a discount for locals on a weekday where your customer base is more likely to be folks from around the neighborhood.
• A top-tier staff: Invest in who you hire and how they interact with your customers. Service can make all the difference and remembering your regulars’ orders can go very far in making them feel appreciated. 
• A loyalty program: Offer rewards or promotions to customers that join your loyalty program. This entices them to keep coming back and helps strengthen your relationship with those customers. Loyalty programs can also offer valuable insights on what your repeat customers are looking for. 

Join your local Chamber of Commerce

Another offline way to market your business is by joining your local Chamber of Commerce. From building local interest to getting exposure through Chamber of Commerce events and newsletters, this unexpected channel can go a long way in drumming up business. You’ll also meet other business owners in your community who you can lean on — or partner with — for future endeavors.

Marketing your restaurant and getting customers excited to come back can feel stressful, but the most important thing to remember when marketing your business is to have fun with it. You want your customers to feel eager to enjoy your restaurant and even more excited to keep coming back. 

Running a successful restaurant is a rewarding career path for those who are passionate about delicious food and excellent customer service. That said, making sure that your business runs smoothly and keeps cost efficiency in mind can be an enormous undertaking. So, it’s a good idea to simplify the process by reading up on some cost-saving tips every restaurant can use.

Build a Strategy

The first step to cutting costs in your restaurant is building a solid, intentional strategy for how you expect to reach your goals. You can start small or dive in headfirst, but an essential part of carrying out your plan is getting specific about how you’ll save money and in what areas.

Get Your Staff on Board

Once you’ve built a strategy you feel confident about, your next step should be communicating your plans clearly with your staff and training them accordingly. When you clue your employees into how they can directly contribute to the success of your business, they’re more likely to want to collaborate with you to accomplish your goals. Additionally, rewarding employees when they show initiative in helping cut costs at your establishment can give them more incentive to continue putting in the effort to help you.

Trim Your Menu

Once you’ve sorted out your strategy and have your staff on board, it’s time to start enforcing your new policies. One policy that should make your list is finding ways to trim down your menu. While this might seem complicated, it’s just a matter of taking stock of the items that aren’t selling so that you can discern which dishes you can afford to lose. You can do this by tracking the sales of each menu item in your POS system. And if you find that low-selling items are costing you small fortunes in food waste and inventory, you should remove them from the menu.

Optimize Your Inventory

After you review your menu items and make the necessary cuts, it’s time to do an extensive inventory of your kitchen. This method will help you evaluate every food item that comes through your restaurant and analyze how much it contributes to your business. Doing this gives you a comprehensive glimpse into whether you’ve been over-ordering or purchasing expensive items that you can substitute with other ingredients that you use more often.

Buy Used Appliances When Possible

Restaurant appliances can rack your bills up quickly if you’re not careful. So, it’s wise to purchase used appliances over brand new ones when appropriate. For instance, you may not want to cheap out on your restaurant point of sale equipment, but you could probably afford to buy a used espresso machine. Using this strategy will help ensure that you have all the appliances needed for success while cutting your costs.

Cutting costs at your restaurant may seem daunting, but the good news is that with the right strategy, it’s doable. Hopefully, we’ve inspired you to consider some of these cost saving-tips every restaurant can use for your own business.

Stockouts almost always make it to the “worst nightmare” lists of retailers, and for good reason. Not only do they lead to lost sales, but out-of-stocks also result in reduced customer satisfaction and lower loyalty levels. Shoppers often feel let down when you don’t have what they’re looking for, and the last thing you want is to disappoint customers.

Fortunately, though, there are a number of solutions to your out-of-stock woes. Many causes of stockouts can be prevented by taking steps to better understand your business and products, and by refining your store’s processes.

To give you a better idea of how you can accomplish this, below are 5 common causes of stockouts and pointers on how you can sidestep them:

1. Inaccurate data

It’s very easy to run into inaccuracies when dealing with inventory. Between shipment variances, misplaced products, returns, and stolen goods, retailers find that the inventory numbers they have on paper (or on screen) often don’t match what they have in their stores.

Such discrepancies can lead to merchants mistakenly thinking that they have an item in stock when they don’t, so they end up re-ordering the wrong products or quantities.

How can you address this? Consider the following:

a. Use a modern inventory system

The first step to avoiding discrepancies is to implement an electronic (ideally cloud-based) inventory system.  Keeping track of products using a pen and paper isn’t just time-consuming, it can also lead to mistakes.

It’s best to use a point-of-sale or inventory system that automatically modifies inventory levels as you ring up sales, so you won’t have to worry about manually updating your database. Such solutions are also beneficial if you have several locations because they allow you to manage multiple stores from one place.

Not ready for a full retail management solution? Consider creating an inventory management system in Excel. It’s easy, basic, and it can give you the data you need to spot inventory inaccuracies.

b. Integrate your platforms

If you’re selling through multiple channels, be sure to connect all your retail platforms. This typically means integrating your POS system with your ecommerce site.

Doing so helps ensure that all your catalogs are in sync and that stock levels are updated every time you make a sale. After all, the last thing you want is to sell something online that isn’t physically available in your stores or warehouse.

c. Stay organized and vigilant

Modern inventory systems can only go so far. While a nifty solution can keep your databases synced, it can’t deter shoplifters nor can it stop suppliers from delivering the wrong quantities.

This is where your diligence and organizational skills will come in. Get to the root of your inventory discrepancies. Is it an issue with your vendors? Are you dealing with theft? Whatever the case, find the reasons why the numbers aren’t adding up and take the necessary steps to stop them.

If it’s a matter of vendor discrepancies, for example, you may want to make changes with how deliveries are handled in your store. Perhaps you need to reschedule shipments to make sure that deliveries don’t happen all at once, or maybe you need to assign someone to double check the packing slips.

Dealing with theft? It could be time to upgrade your security system or re-arrange your store to make it easier for associates to keep an eye on shoppers.

d. Consider RFID (Radio Frequency Identification)

Other retailers are taking on a more hi-tech approach when it comes to maintaining inventory accuracy. Many are now using RFID–a technology that can store and track product information using a chip embedded in an item’s tag or packaging.

RFID enables merchants to monitor and search for merchandise using a handheld scanner (see image above), making it faster and easier for them to track down where each item is.

“People manually counting items in the supply chain take too much time; it is too expensive and is also fraught with error,” writes Will Roche of Xterprise on RetailSoulutionsOnline.com. According to him, RFID technology is the top solution for inventory data inaccuracies, especially for apparel and footwear retailers.

e. Conduct regular stock counts

You can’t have accurate numbers if you’re not tracking and updating them. While modern inventory systems can do a great job at keeping your stock levels in check, you still need a handle on the amount of physical inventory that you have.

That’s where physical inventory counts come in. Set aside time to count your products and ensure that what you have on paper matches up with what’s actually in-store or in your backroom.

Retailers typically have two options when it comes to stock counts: full inventory counts or cycle counting.

With full inventory counts, you’ll need to set aside several hours to count every item that’s in your store. You can choose to do it after you close for the day, but if that’s not enough, you may have to halt operations for about half a day or so. (Be sure to notify your customers beforehand!)

If you’re not keen on closing your store, then cycle counting might be a better option. This method entails counting and checking just a small selection of SKUs daily until you’re able to “cycle count” through your entire catalog. It allows you to stay on top of stock counts without having to close your store.

The “right” method depends on each store, so see which practice works best for you. But whether you decide to conduct full inventory counts or you’d rather stick to cycle counting, aim to count all of your merchandise once a month, or at the very least, once every quarter.

Avoiding stockouts requires you to have near real-time information on what you have (or don’t have) on hand. You won’t be able to do that if you’re only counting your merchandise once or twice a year.

2. Failure to re-order in a timely manner

This issue is pretty straightforward: products are flying off the shelves faster than you can re-stock, and this results in you selling out of in-demand items. How can you prevent it? Here are a couple of ways:

a. Find OOS (out of stock) patterns

Try to identify OOS trends in your store. A study by P&G found that OOS “tend to form patterns such as day of week,” and retailers can find them by regularly auditing their inventory and taking note of the days and times of the week when they usually experience stockouts.

Consider the chart below

By looking at the data, it appears that OOS for this particular store peaks during Friday afternoon, Saturday at noon, and Sunday late afternoon. With this data in mind, the retailer can then schedule to have products delivered and replenished at just the right times to ensure that they don’t run into out-of-stocks.

b. Implement demand forecasting

As the term indicates, this process is all about anticipating demand so you can determine what products to order and when.

You can try to forecast demand on your own by using your judgment and factoring in stock turn, sell through, historical sales data, and other components such as promotions, seasonality, economic state, etc. Crunching these numbers should give you some insights into how products are going to perform.

One example of a retailer that forecasts demand efficiently is Christmas Elves, a holiday store in Australia.

“I have to place my Christmas orders in January or February each year, so we pretty much get one shot at purchasing. If I under-purchase and sell out then I lose sales opportunities,” he said.

According to Jason, he pays close attention to the speed at which products are selling. “I call it velocity reports. I look at how many trees are selling per week and track the sales progression over time.

”By looking at when sales spike and which products are selling the most, Jason and his team can get a clearer idea of how many units to order. Jason says he looks at sales velocity reports for specific products and their overall categories, and this allows him to figure out what items to order and if there are any related products that he could purchase.

c. Pay attention to consumer trends

Historical data is great, but you also need to pay attention to consumer trends in your market. Are there any new products that people are gravitating towards? Are there any styles that are making a comeback? Take note, then stock up accordingly.

Jason over at Christmas Elves does a great job at using trends to predict demand. According to him:

“For example, there’s this trend at the moment where customers have moved away from buying white Christmas trees, and instead are purchasing snow covered or flocked Christmas trees. In other words, fewer people are buying white and more people are buying green trees with snow on them, so it looks like a true winter wonderland.”

“Looking at sales reports allowed us to identify that trend, so we haven’t bought many white trees, and the ones we have are on sale.”

d. Set re-order points

Once you have an idea of your out-of-stock patterns and the amount of product you should have at any given time, create re-order points to ensure that you can order the right merchandise when necessary. 

For best results, use a POS or inventory management solution that lets you set re-order points, so you can get notified whenever stock is running low.

3. Poor management of people, processes, and technology

You can have robust tools and solid inventory plans in place, but if you don’t have the right employees to implement them, you’re still going to run into stockout issues.

For instance, you may have sufficient stock in the backroom, but if your staff isn’t staying on top of replenishing the shelves, customers may assume that you don’t have the merchandise available. Or, your inventory system could be offering some great insights, but if your employees don’t know how to interpret the data, then they can’t put the information to good use.

Prevent such issues from happening by investing in three areas: people, processes, and technology.

Let’s start with the first one:

a. People

Invest in better training for your staff. See to it that they not only know how to work your system but that they’re also aware of what data and insights to take action on. If possible, have a vendor, technology partner, or consultant conduct the training to ensure that they get the proper education.

Also, note that investing in your staff isn’t just about training them. You also need to invest in their well being. Happy employees work harder, are more motivated, and produce better results, which is why retailers should keep finding ways to empower them.

b. Processes

Design a business flow detailing the inventory process in your store, then assign people to take on each step. Who’s in charge of receiving items? Who’s supposed to replenish your shelves? At what point should the staff reorder products, and who’s in charge of doing it?

Have everything down on paper. Doing so will help you and your staff understand the process and implement it correctly.

This is exactly what Chris Herbert and Christian Smith of TrackR did. In an article on Entrepreneur, they talked about how documenting their inventory process — from receiving a purchase to fulfillment — enabled them to stay on top of things.

c. Technology

Arm yourself (and your team) with tools that’ll make inventory-centric tasks easier.

Planograms – A lot of retailers use planograms to create visual representations of how products should be arranged in their store. Planograms are useful for merchandising purposes and can help retailers execute appealing displays. They’re also an excellent tool for staying on top of shelf inventory. By giving your staff a planogram to refer to, they can easily see if they need to replenish store shelves and if all the products are in the right place.

Inventory counting tools – Are you still using pen and paper to physically count your merchandise? Do yourself (and your staff) a favor and switch to a more modern tool instead.

Our recommendation? Scanner, a free barcode app for inventory that works on iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. The app lets you scan all the most common barcodes and datamatrix codes, and then it saves the name and quantity of items you scan.

From there, you can save your products into a CSV file, which you can then email to yourself or your staff. And if you’re a Vend user, Scanner automatically syncs with your account, so there’s no need to deal with CSV files and email.

In-store analytics – You could also consider more sophisticated tools such as in-store analytics solutions that let you measure foot traffic. Aside from allowing you to get to know your customers better, these tools can also help you staff your stores more effectively.

By knowing when your peak hours are, you can arrange staff schedules accordingly, and you won’t have to worry about not having enough people restocking the shelves or helping customers.

4. Poor communication or relationships with your suppliers

Failure to deal with or communicate effectively with suppliers can result in missed or delayed orders, which can then lead to stockouts.

How do you avoid all that? For starters, work on your communication. Get all order and deadlines on paper, then see to it that everyone is on the same page. You should also be prompt and let your suppliers know about any issues as early as possible.

For instance, if a product is selling faster than expected, don’t wait until is inventory is low before taking action. Get in touch with your vendors ASAP, then plan your next order.

It also helps to leverage supplier platforms that facilitate communication between you and your vendors. A good example of this is Bira Direct, a product buying group for independent retailers in the UK. Bira Direct has 200+ promoted suppliers and allows Bira members to enjoy exclusive buying terms and discounts.

Finally, consider sharing data and forecasts with your vendors, so you can both agree on product ordering and schedules.

“One way that supply chain relationships often break down in the retail industry is that product forecasting is imperfect,” says Attorney Sarah Rathke, a partner at Squire Patton Boggs.

“Retailers sometimes do not know or fail to adequately analyze, how much of a given product their consumers will likely demand over the coming buying phase. Suppliers then are left totally in the dark.”

It’s vital that you invest in the necessary forecasting tools and processes, so you and your suppliers are on the same page when it comes to the merchandise that you need.

Consider what Spreadshirt, a platform for personalized clothing and accessories, is doing. According to global apparel manager to Kristina Michniak, they “continually update and share new forecasts [with suppliers] for accurate and real-time monitoring of the global supply chain.”

5. Not enough working capital

Some businesses run into stock-outs because of lack of funds to purchase new inventory. If this is you, then you’ll need to find ways to improve cash flow. Now, each company’s financial situation is different, but here are some things you can try to free up some working capital:

a. Liquidate surplus stock

Dealing with excess stock? Try to move that inventory as soon as you can. Put them on sale or bundle them with high-performing products to get them off the shelves. If that doesn’t work, see if you can sell them to liquidation companies.

b. Collect on unpaid invoices

Do you have customers who owe you money? Get in touch and remind them about any outstanding invoices. Staying on top of on-account sales is essential, as it will allow you get much-need (and well-deserved) funds into your business.

c. Increase sales

Another way to improve cash flow? Sell more. Brainstorm ways to increase sales and revenue in your store. Is it a matter of improving your product offerings? Do you need to make your promotions more enticing? What can you do to get your existing customers to buy more?

Spend some time answering these questions. You’re bound to come up with ideas to help you generate revenue and improve cash flow.

Your point of sale system (aka POS) is arguably the most important tool you have your store. From ringing up sales and taking payments to tracking your inventory and storing customer profiles, the right POS system can keep your retail business running like a well-oiled machine.

But like with most tools, a point of sale system is only as good as the person using it. That’s why it’s important that you and your team know the ins and out of your POS so you can get the most out of it.

Each solution is different, so there’s no one right way to answer the question of how to use POS systems. But most modern solutions today have similar general functionalities that you should be aware of.

This post will shed light on some of those features and offer tips on how to get the most out your point of sale solutions.

Let’s get started!

How to use POS systems to ring up sales

The primary function of your POS is to ring up sales, so you need to familiarize yourself with the sell screen of the system. Every solution is different, but generally, your POS will let you ring up sales using the following steps:

Add items to the sale – This is the first step of the checkout process. Depending on how your system is set up, adding items can be done by:

• Scanning the product’s barcode
• Searching for it on the sell screen (most POS systems have a search bar / product lookup functionality)
• Using a sell screen shortcut (CLIQPOS, for example, has “Quick Keys” for frequently bought items)

From there, you can adjust the quantities depending on how many units the shopper is buying.

Apply discounts – If you’re running a sale or would like to apply discounts to a line item or the entire basket, you should be able to use your POS to do so. If your system doesn’t have this feature, see if it lets you adjust the item price manually.

Take payments – This is the part where you get paid. Pretty much all POS systems have the capabilities to take cash or credit card, so the process of accepting these payment types is pretty straightforward.

That said, other solutions enable you to offer additional payment options including:

• Gift cards – If you sell gift cards, make sure they’re integrated with your POS so can accept them as a form of payment. Some point of sale solutions have partnerships with gift card companies so check with your provider and see if you can score a deal.
• Buy now, pay later – As its name clearly indicates, “buy now, pay later” is a service that lets customers take home items immediately and then pay for it in monthly installments. Popularized by companies like Afterpay, “buy now, pay later” is rapidly gaining popularity, particularly among Millennials and Gen Z shoppers.
• Layby / layaway – Layby is a service in which you take a deposit from a customer for a product, set that product aside, and let the customer pay it off at a later date.
• Mobile payments – Depending on your POS and payments processor, you may have the ability to take mobile payments such as Apple Pay. Check with your solution providers to learn more.
• Loyalty – If you have a loyalty program, you can also take loyalty points or rewards as a form or payment.

Add notes – Finally, if you need to add special notes to a sale (e.g., if a customer has a special request or shipping an item to their address) you can add those details as a note.

How to use POS hardware

Hardware goes hand-in-hand with your POS software, especially when ringing up sales. That’s why you need to select solutions that work well with your store’s processes.

A mobile retail business or pop-up shop would have very different hardware requirements compared to a large retail store that needs more bells and whistles.

So, take some time figuring the best hardware solution for your stores. Map out your processes for ringing up sales. Do you do it behind the checkout counter or on the sales floor?

If you have a lot of space and a large catalog in your store, then a comprehensive POS set-up — complete with a computer, scanner, and receipt printer — would be a good option.

Payment types are also a factor. For instance, if you want to accept mobile and contactless payments, you need the right credit card terminals to do so.

Managing your inventory through your point of sale solution

Your retail sales and inventory are tightly connected, which is why the vast majority of modern POS systems (particularly those that run in the cloud) offer inventory management features.

The specifics will vary from one system to the next, but at the most basic level, your POS should allow you to set up a product catalog that lists your items, their attributes, and their respective quantities.

To do this, you typically need to enter product details manually into the system or import them using a CSV file, in which case you’ll need to grab a template from your POS vendor.

Other POS systems provide more advanced features such as:

Multi-store inventory management – This is critical if you’re running more than one retail stores. You want your POS / inventory management system to have centralized stock control capabilities so you can manage products from multiple stores from one platform.

Ideally, your solution should enable you to transfer stock from one location to the next, as well as generate reports for each store.

It’s a pain to manage stores on separate systems, so if you own a multi-outlet retail business (or you’re planning to expand) make sure you can do everything from a single solution.

Multi-channel inventory management – Ditto for multi-channel retailers. If you sell both online and in-store, then your sales and stock movements should be synced across all your channels.

This enables you to have a tighter handle on your inventory, so you know exactly what you have and where. Plus, you won’t risk overselling a product online. From your customers’ perspective, there’s nothing worse than ordering something online, only to learn that it’s unavailable in-store.

Multi-channel stock control also enables you to offer services like buy online, pick up in-store, so your online shoppers can choose to swing by your shop to get their ecommerce orders.  

Stock counts – Conducting physical inventory counts regularly is essential to staying on top of stock, so it’s a nice bonus to have a system that has built-in stock-taking features.

Re-order points – Some POS systems let you set “safety stock” levels or reorder points, in which it automatically generates stock orders whenever a product drops below your preset levels

How the right POS can help you manage your customers

With shoppers expecting higher levels of personalization from retailers, customer management capabilities aren’t just “nice to have” — they’re practically table stakes. So if your current POS doesn’t have any CRM capabilities, consider finding a solution that does.

Here are some of the features to look for:

Customer database – Ideally, your system should allow you to create customer profiles that contain their contact info and purchase histories.

Customer groups – Being able to create customer groups or segments is also essential, as this will allow you to easily create tailored messaging and promotions. For example, you could create a group for VIP shoppers for when you want to send exclusive perks.

Loyalty program – Speaking of which, offering perks and rewards is a proven way of generating repeat business, so set up a loyalty program if you can. Check with your POS if it has built-in loyalty offerings. If not, you can always opt for third-party integrations (more on this later).

POS reporting and retail analytics

Modern POS systems have reporting capabilities that shed light on your sales and inventory metrics. Again, each system is different, so you’ll want to explore your point of sale solution to see what types of reports are available.

Ideally, you want to get your hands on the following:

Inventory On Hand – You always want to know how much merchandise you have in your stores, so if there’s a report that you should run regularly, it should be this one.

Low Stock – This report tells you which items are running low, so you can avoid out-of-stocks. It’s best to run this report on a regular basis so you can spot patterns around which items are always running low.

Product Performance Report – How fast are items selling? Which products are making the most money? Such questions can be answered by your product performance report. Ideally, this report should tell you how much merchandise you’ve sold over a given time period as well as a summary of items sold per month or per week. Use the product performance report to determine which items are worth investing in and which ones shouldn’t be re-ordered.

Sales Summary – This report gives you an overview of your sales for a given time period. Your sales report should also show your cost of goods sold, gross profit, margins, and tax, so you can have a better idea of how much money is actually going back to your business.

Sales Report Per Product and Product Type – This type of report makes it easy to identify your best (and worst) selling products, so you can determine the right course of action. If a particular product is selling well, for example, you could consider ordering more of it. On the flip side, if a product isn’t performing, then you’d want to know sooner rather than later so you can run promotions before the season ends.

Sales Report Per Customer or Customer Group – It’s a good idea to generate “sales per customer” or “sales per customer group” reports. This will allow you to identify your VIP customers as well as those who aren’t fully engaging with your brand, so you can tailor your marketing and communications accordingly.

Exploring POS add-ons and integrations

If you’re using a cloud-based POS system,  you can extend its capabilities through integrations. This means you can connect your POS to another platform (e.g., your accounting software, payment processor, ecommerce platform, etc.) so that data flows smoothly from one system to the other.

For example, if you integrate your accounting software with your POS, both systems should be able to “talk” to each other and sync sales and tax information. Or, if you’re connecting your point of sale with your online shopping cart, then the systems should sync your sales and inventory data so you can manage your stock across both sales channels.

In any case, there are a number of ways to integrate different solutions:

Option #1: Use preferred add-ons – This is the simplest way to connect different software solutions. Check with your POS vendor and see if they have existing integrations with other systems. For example, if you’re looking to start selling online, then see if your current POS has integrations with other online shopping carts. Preferred integrations are typically more user-friendly because your providers have already created the integration for you.

Option #2: Do it yourself – If your solution doesn’t have existing integrations with your preferred software, then you can choose to do it yourself through your app’s API. This requires some technical know-how, but if you’re equipped to do it, many merchants have found success in building the integrations themselves.

Option #3: Find an expert partner – Don’t have the technical chops to create an integration? Find a partner who can help. Some POS solutions have networks of existing experts who can help retailers set up their software. Consult with your vendor and see if they can recommend technology partners who can get the job done.

Get the most out of your POS

The first step to getting to the best out of your point of sale system (or any platform, for that matter) is to be curious. Most solutions out there packed with useful features, but they go unnoticed because users don’t take the time to really explore the system.

Don’t let that happen to you. If you currently have an existing POS, play around with it to ensure that you’re utilizing all its capabilities. You can also check out your system’s resources (i.e., help center, YouTube channel, blog, etc.,) to gain more knowledge about its different functions and features.

In doing so, you’ll not only learn how to use the system, but you’ll be able to get the most out of it and take your business to the next level.

Today, we are only ever the touch of a button away from the latest and most important information. Over the last decade, the news has made us even more aware of the impact that humans have on the planet. Humans affect the physical environment in many ways, and our actions have triggered a range of potentially devastating consequences – climate change, soil erosion, poor air quality, pollution and undrinkable water.

One result of this increased awareness is that issues such as climate change and excess waste production as well as unethical labour practices and lack of diversity matter far more to people than they did a few decades ago. Furthermore, the majority of consumers are now actively making the choice to favour business that are actively aware of their environmental and social responsibilities and are taking steps to fulfil them.

A 2017 study carried out by Cone Communications found that:

76% of consumers will refuse to purchase a company’s products or services if they discover that it supports an issue contrary to their personal beliefs.

78% of consumers want companies to address important social justice issues.

87% of consumers will purchase a product or service because the company selling it advocates for an issue that they personally care about.

While people feel that their own environmentally conscious decisions can make a big difference to the world, they also want the brands and businesses that they support to help them achieve this. A research study conducted by Futerra in 2019 found that a whopping 98% of people surveyed felt that brands have a responsibility to make positive change in the world. Here’s looking at you!

So, what can you do to make your small business more environmentally and socially conscious?

Switch to sustainable packaging

Most businesses need to use packaging in some way, whether it is to wrap goods that you sell in store, or to ship them to customers in your country or internationally. In the past, plastic was one of retailers preferred packaging materials owing to its durability, which makes it good at protecting products in transit. It is also very thin, which means it uses fewer resources and takes up less space for both storage and transport. Studies estimate that packaging accounts for 40% of plastic usage. Unfortunately, currently only 9% of the world’s plastic is recycled. Any that isn’t takes centuries to break down, but it never fully decomposes and instead wreaks havoc on our wildlife and ecosystems.

While no packaging or reusable packaging is ideal, if you need to use some, paper and cardboard are considered the most environmentally friendly due to the fact that the vast majority can be recycled. Some initiatives that you could try in your retail store include:

• Incentives for customers bringing their own reusable bags or packaging. This could be in the form of a discount or loyalty points. 
• Use recycled materials in your own packaging wherever you can.
• Consider multipurpose packaging. For example, clothing retailer H&M have bought out a shopping bag that turns into a clothes hanger – yes really! You can also add extra value to the packaging by making the box you use reusable itself. British retailer of clothes for young girls, Monday’s Child, has created an environmentally-conscious box that doubles as a doll’s house!

It is also worth considering which suppliers you use and if they use recyclable packaging when they ship products to you. If you really want to ramp up your environmental awareness, you could see if there are alternative suppliers which practice more socially conscious practices without affecting your bottom line.

McDonald’s has pledged to ensure that all of its packaging will be 100% renewable and recycled by 2025 which is some serious commitment. And sustainable packaging won’t just lower your environmental impact and make your customers happy, it will also set your business apart from your competitors. Many retailers are using stickers and postcards enclosed with their packaging to explain their commitment to more sustainable practices. Make sure you also use your mailing list, website and social media channels to communicate what you are doing and why.

Make it easier for your customers to lower their environmental footprint

As we know, consumers want the support of brands in lowering their own personal environmental impact. As such, helping your customers to offset the effects of their own retail habits will not only make them more likely to shop with you, but it will also boost your own sustainability efforts. Exactly how you can do this will depend on the type of retailer you are and the products and/or services that you offer. For example:

If you are an electronics retailer, you could collaborate with a local recycling partner to encourage customers coming to your store to bring their old printer cartridges or mobile phones in, offering a purchasing initiative to do so. Retail giant Apple don’t only offer in-store recycling – it is also possible for customers to ship electronics to them for recycling for free. If your device still has value, you will be able to trade it in for credit towards your next purchase or receive a gift card for future use. Similarly, Staples has created a program that allows customers to earn $2 in rewards for every ink cartridge that they recycle in store or by mail when they spend at least $30 on ink or toner.

If you have a café or other food or beverage outlet that offers takeaway, you can show your commitment to a sustainable future by supporting and incentivising the use of reusable drinking vessels. Most single use coffee cups are non-recyclable, and estimates suggest it can take 50 years for them to fully break down when in landfill. When there is around 2.5 billion of them thrown away every year, that is a lot of unnecessary waste. Lots of independent and chain cafes are giving discounts and rewards to eco-conscious consumers who take their own reusable cup. In the UK, Pret A Manger offer customers a 50p discount off their drink of choice when it is supplied in a reusable cup. In addition to this, they are also committed to reducing food waste by donating all of their unsold food to charities at the end of the day through The Pret Foundation.

Support a non-profit organisation

Is there a cause that is close to the heart of your retail business or the employees who work for you? Research from the Cone Cause Evolution Study reveals that 85% of consumers have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a charity that they care about, with as many as 80% of people surveyed stating that they would switch to buying from a company that supports a charity provided the product or service was equal in quality and price. This doesn’t have to be a large non-profit organisation. In fact, local charities where your consumers can often see first-hand exactly how any donations are being spent are largely preferred to larger, well-known non-profits.

It’s important to remember that your charity efforts should ideally resonate with your target audience, so do your research before committing to a cause. This will help to get their attention, and gain their trust, loyalty and respect. Instead of just writing a check for your chosen charity each financial quarter, try and be creative with how you offer support.

Shoe retailer TOMS began life as a One for One company, giving away a pair of shoes to people in need for every pair purchased online or instore and to date, they have given away almost 100 million shoes. They are now diversifying their commitment to remaining socially conscious by dedicating one third of their net annual profits to a range of charitable organisations including mental health, equal opportunities and, from April 1^st, 2020, a COVID-19 giving fund. 

Meanwhile, Petco chose to donate pet toys to a number of animal shelters as part of their Tuesday Giving efforts and UK retailer John Lewis provide their staff with an opportunity to volunteer for up to six months, on full pay and benefits, through their flagship volunteering programme, The Golden Jubilee Trust. Since it was created in 2000, the trust has facilitated the donation of over 393,000 volunteer hours to charitable causes, representing a community value of over £25 million. As a small or medium-sized business, you could arrange for all staff to volunteer for a day at a local charity

Promote ethical labour practises

When you think about social responsibility, charity donations and volunteering tend to be some of the first things that you consider. However, social consciousness begins at home – or in this case – in your retail store. One of the first things that any retailer who wants to be socially conscious should so is to make sure that they are following ethical labour practises within their own business. This means:

• A work environment that is safe and healthy.
• Providing employees with fair compensation for their work.
• Hiring employees using a fair recruitment process that doesn’t discriminate based on age, sex, race, colour, sexual orientation, religion etc.
• Enabling growth opportunities within your company.
• Valuing your team and their work.
• Treating all members of staff equally, with respect and dignity.

Not only do ethical labour practices show that as an employer, you care about your staff and are committed to ensuring fair compensation for work, but ethical behaviours also create a happy workforce which in turn ensures maximum productivity from your team.

Embrace inclusion and diversity

Retailers can expect better performance when they offer products, services and experiences that reflect what shoppers want and value. Unsurprisingly, one of the key things that consumers want is to feel valued for who they are. As a result, inclusion and diversity are extremely important to the success of any business. A study by Accenture found that shoppers are not only turning away from brands that don’t share their values, they are also turning towards those which celebrate diversity and promote inclusion. Their research showed:

42% of ethnic minority shoppers would switch to a retailer committed to inclusion and diversity.

41% of LGBT shoppers would switch to a retailer committed to inclusion and diversity.

There are a range of ways in which you can ensure a more inclusive shopping experience for your customers. Your

Your products: Choose products that address the diverse needs of your customers. For example, if you are a retailer selling wedding gifts, be sure to stock those that are for Mr & Mr and Mrs & Mrs, as well as Mr & Mrs.

Inclusive advertising: If you are advertising your retail business, make sure that these reflect the diversity of consumers and are inclusive to all types of people. For example, you could produce certain aspects of flyers in Braille, produce window displays with mannequins in a variety of skin tones or sizes like Nike who now use plus-size mannequins too, or if your store is in an area with a large community speaking a different language, produce advertising in this language as well as your native tongue.

Your workforce: Don’t forget to teach your staff the important of inclusion and diversity by incorporating training into your recruitment and onboarding process. This will ensure that new team members will understand your expectations from the very beginning. Earlier this year, Sephora closed 400 stores across the United States for diversity and inclusion training.

Go paperless

Although perhaps not as much as a conventional office, many retailers still go through a considerable amount of paper every day. Some of the ways in which you may be using paper unconsciously include:

• Notebooks or purchase order pads for taking orders
• Invoices
• Receipts
• Reports
• Inventory lists
• Rotas

A great cloud-based point of sale system like CLIQPOS can help retailers to reduce the amount of paper that they use and streamline their processes so that they aren’t reliant on paperwork which could be illegible or become lost or damaged.

There are a range of paperless functions that Hike can support your business with:

• Full or partial stock-takes with inventory entered directly onto your POS via your iPad/tablet.
• Store customer purchase history for both in-store and online purchases in one centralised system.
• Safe, secure cloud-based storage of customer details.
• Track loyalty points, gift card balances and more.
• Accounting integrations that enable you to track suppliers and customers in one system.
• Email invoices directly to customers complete with your company’s personal branding.
• Email communications directly to customers.
• Send receipts to customers via email, so that they don’t lose them, and you don’t need to use paper and ink to print them.
• Set up staff rotas online.

Reducing your paper usage will help keep your store uncluttered and simplify your processes so that you can continue to meet customer expectations and show that you are a forward-thinking, environmentally-conscious business.  

Cloud-based POS systems like CLIQPOS can help your retail business to find ways to become more environmentally and socially conscious, whether it is by making important decisions about the resources you use or the donations you make, or helping you save paper. For your non-obligation 14 day trial, please get in touch!

Retail business failures have increased by 30% in the last three years. This was primarily linked to the common issues often faced by retailers. They each can no longer find ways on how to resolve these issues before ending up in bankruptcy.

In this article, five reasons have been emphasized on why, both old and startup retail business, may fail.

1.   The Lack of Good Location.

Based from the retail experts, it is the lack of good location and capital that is the number one factor why retail businesses fail. But, still, some retailers choose for inexpensive locations. As per the locations, these are not even made visible to clients. With a perfect location, your business will be making a good impression among customers.

2. Insufficient Working Capital.

Apart from the location, as mentioned, the lack of capital is another reason why a retail business may fail. A retail business does necessarily require a lot of money. If you have thought of starting a business and opening newer stores, you should have multiplied it by 5 and then you’ll be a lot closer. If you will simply do it, you must have an adequate capital prior to opening a business.

With an insufficient budget, it means to say that businesses will not be able to take opportunities presented to them. They may also tend to compromise for high-cost but short term solutions to the symptoms of problems. They no longer look for the best and most agreeable solutions in dealing real business issues.

Even the lack of technology is another significant area that must be paid attention to. As you can most observe among retailers, they have only the most out-dated processes and technologies.

3. Lack of the Understanding of Inventory Control and Numbers.

In running a retail business, owners should have a good understanding of even the basic numbers including inventory control. There is also a need to have a good grasp of margins and costs, inventory turns, retail figures and more.  Especially in business planning, it must entirely cover certain aspects like promotional plans, sales, marketing, finance, profit predictions and cost breakdowns.

Similar with the lack of management, it is also the lack of discipline in money that makes it a big issue among retailers.

As per the inventory control, it should also be your area of passion and expertise. You have to understand that it is considered as the biggest asset in the retail field. If you will control the inventory, you should be ready to control the debt or the cash. Remember that in retail business, cash is still the king.

Many businesses have been struggling in an ineffective cash flow due to a lack of inventory control. Thus, there is a need to know that it is all about having a good product and a good idea. However, you must make an effort to meet your short-term cash outflow.

In the event that you have no basic OTB, you’ll surely run into some issues. With regard to highly reputed retailers, they usually rely on product hierarchies in tracking their purchases and sales properly. Range plans and assortment plans are even crucial among successful retailers.

The depth and the sophistication of inventory control still depend on the business and its size. It also relies on the retail sector that you are in. But, the basics still can break or make a retailer.

4. Lack of Effective Management.

It is true that entrepreneurs are sometimes not good managers. They really are a picture of people having the passion, enthusiasm and great ideas. They are not capable of handling management issues and other complex elements of operating a successful business.

In this regard, a retail business may fail because an entrepreneur hires men who have no authority or experience in making significant decisions. Thus, inexperienced and weak management is still the major cause of all business failures.

Successful businesses and successful companies are usually backed by an excellent manager. The manager usually sits beside an entrepreneur. They both make decisions together and follow an even clearer direction.

5. Poor Promotional Activity.

When you start a business it is very essential to have some promotional activity. Marketing your retail business depends on various factors but it is a vital part of your startup process. If it is neglected, then business can fail to sustain.

These are the 5 things to consider in order to prevent your retail business from failing. You can also get Point Of Sale solution software to manage your retail business to get total control and visibility of all activities.

We recommend CLIQPOS. A complete POS system that allows you to manage your business, best suitable for retails, pharmacy, saloon, repair shop, restaurant, hospitality and manufacturing.

Get started now for free.