If you're a retail business owner, you know how important it is to manage your operations efficiently and effectively. But with so many tasks to juggle, it can be a challenge to keep everything organized and running smoothly. That's where retail management software comes in.
Table of Contents
- What is a Retail Management System?
- Selecting The Best Retail Management System
- Top 5 Retail Management Software Overview
- Top Retail Management Software Comparison
- Benefits of a Retail Management System
- Conclusion
What is a Retail Management System?
A retail management system is a type of software that is specifically designed to help retail businesses manage their operations. It can be used to automate and streamline various tasks, such as inventory management, sales transactions, and customer service.
Retail management software can provide valuable insights into sales trends and customer behaviour, allowing store managers to make data-driven decisions to improve their business. It can also help reduce costs and improve the overall efficiency of a retail business.
Selecting The Best Retail Management System
Before you go ahead with selecting a retail management system for your retail store, you need to research the software available in the market and then make a list of the features that you are looking for in your retail management system. Now according to that list, you can evaluate and eliminate the software that you don’t think is suitable.
Following are a few features based on which you can select your management system:
Inventory Management
Being a retail business owner, you need to have information about your stock. Manual check and balance will require you to hire staff specifically to update your stock information. So you should look for a retail management system that can give you information about your real-time stock and notifies you when your inventory falls below the pre-set limits.
Related Article: How To Smartly Manage Your Fitness Retail Store's Inventory?
Customer Management
Customer management keeps a record of the data about your customers. It provides insight into the preferences and buying patterns of your customers. This is useful to gauge which items you should stock up more and increase your sales. Other than that, if you are offering loyalty programs this will help you keep track of the customer’s loyalty points and rewards.
Employee Management
This feature will keep track of all the activities the employees will be doing in the retail store such as the shifts, hours spent, schedules, leaves, and any overtime they might have spent. This feature will let you keep your employees up to date and will make it easier to track your employee's monthly performance.
Sales and Order Tracking
A Point-of-Sales (POS) is necessary for any retail store which is why your retail management software should have this feature.
By using a POS feature you can maintain your sales data and can get an idea about the products that are more popular at your store. You can also determine which time is your store more frequently visited by shoppers. Through this, you can better your sales and orders.
Reporting and Analytics
Reporting and analytics features will give you access to reports on the sales, inventory, employee performance, and trends of the products you will be selling in your retail store.
Other features a retail management software may provide:
- Customer relationship management (CRM)
- Supplier relationship management
- Price management
- Marketing management
- Exchange or Return management
Top 5 Retail Management Software Overview
RQ Retail Management (iQmetrix)
RQ retail management is a solution provided by iQmetrix which is an IT and service company. RQ retail management is a cloud-based retail management solution for retailers which features POS, CRM, HR, inventory management, and reporting and analysis for its users.
RealTime POS
RealTime POS is a hybrid retail management system, it is offered as either a cloud service or on-premise. RealTime POS keeps track of point-of-sale transactions, CRM, manages inventory, and provides real-time integration, reporting and analysis.
Brightpearl
Brightpearl is a software that automates almost all retail operations such as complex order fulfilment or multi-location inventory management. Brightpearl provides inventory planning, POS, CRM, sales forecasting and analysis, and Plug & Play integrations.
NetSuite RMS
NetSuite RMS provides its customers with an Omni channel shopping experience both in-store and across the web. It is a great software for users to engage with their audience and provide them with personalized shopping experiences, which creates customer loyalty.
Lightspeed Retail
Lightspeed is a cloud-based system that provides a unified solution for online and in-person retail operations. Their software features inventory management, retail analysis, 24/7 support and forecasting, and a secure POS system.
Top Retail Management Software Comparison
Here is a comparison table of the top 5 retail management software:
| RQ Retail Management | RealTime POS | Brightpearl | NetSuite RMS | Lightspeed Retail | |
| Can be used by | 1 - 1000+ users | 1 - 1000+ users | 2 - 200 users | 2 - 1000+ users | 1 - 1000+ users |
| Pricing | |||||
| Monthly Price | $99 | $80 | Contact vendor for pricing | $499 | $79 |
| Free Trial | |||||
| Free Version | |||||
| Features | |||||
| CRM | |||||
| Merchandise Management | |||||
| Mail Order | |||||
| Commission Management | |||||
| Email Marketing | |||||
| Employee Management | |||||
| Loyalty Program | |||||
| Order Management | |||||
| Purchase Order Management | |||||
| Reporting/Analytics | |||||
| Returns Management | |||||
| Deployment | |||||
| Cloud, SaaS, Web-Based | |||||
| Desktop - Mac | |||||
| Desktop - Windows | |||||
| Desktop - Linux | |||||
| Desktop - Chromebook | |||||
| On-Premise - Windows | |||||
| On-Premise - Linux | |||||
| Mobile - Android | |||||
| Mobile - iPhone | |||||
| Mobile - iPad | |||||
| Support | |||||
| Email/Help Desk | |||||
| FAQs/Forum | |||||
| Knowledge Base | |||||
| Phone Support | |||||
| 24/7 (Live Rep) | |||||
| Chat | |||||
| Training | |||||
| In Person | |||||
| Live Online | |||||
| Webinars | |||||
| Documentation | |||||
| Videos | |||||
| Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | Visit Website | |
Benefits of a Retail Management System
Having the proper Retail management system for your retail store is the best strategic approach for your business. With the right retail management system, you can generate more sales, manage your inventory easily, manage your employees and can improve the overall operations of your retail store.
Following are some of the benefits of having a proper Retail management system:
Improved Efficiency and Productivity
With retail management software, you can automate many of the repetitive tasks that take up your employees' time, such as tracking inventory levels and processing sales transactions. This can save your employees valuable time and allow them to focus on providing excellent customer service.
Better Inventory Management
Retail management software can help you keep track of your inventory levels in real-time, ensuring that you always have the right products in stock. This can help prevent stock-outs and overstocking, which can lead to lost sales and wasted inventory.
Enhanced Customer Service
With retail management software, your employees can quickly access customer information, such as purchase history and preferences. This can help them provide personalized recommendations and support, improving customer satisfaction and loyalty.
Improved Sales and Revenue
Retail management software can provide valuable insights into sales trends and customer behaviour, allowing you to make data-driven decisions to improve sales and revenue.
Related Article: Scope Of Big Data Utilization In Fitness Retail Stores
Streamlined Operations
A retail management system can help you streamline your operations by providing real-time data and analytics. This can help you make informed decisions about your business and reduce costs, improving the overall efficiency of your operations.
Saves Time
A retail management system allows you to automate all of the time-consuming and exhausting tasks so that you may have time to focus on other aspects of the store. Time-consuming tasks include inventory tracking, reporting, billing, keeping records of the payroll, etc.
Gives a More Accurate Analysis
As retail management software implements AI, it utilizes big data and automatically collects data without any error thus it gives accurate analysis and predictions. The more accurate your predictions and analysis would be, the better you can design and implement your strategies and efforts for promoting your store and products.
Better Employee Management
A retail management system can help in keeping track of your employees. It can track their check-in and check-out time alongside the days they took any leave. It can also keep track of employee payroll, through this you can automate the payments of your employees so that they receive their payments on time.
Conclusion
Overall, retail management system can be a valuable tool for any retail business. If you're looking for ways to improve your operations and increase sales, consider implementing a retail management system. It could be the key to unlocking the full potential of your business.
