Integrate Digital Into Footwear Retailing
According to Apparel, number 7 of the Top 20 Takeaways from the NRF Big Show is “you must bring digital and in-store shopping together now.” This isn’t surprising, because people are integrating digital into every area of life. It makes sense that shopping is an area that increasingly happens online and off — often at the same time.
The Apparel article has 7 general tips for retailers:
- one digital strategy does not fit all customers
- move past a ‘seamless’ experience to the specific need of the moment
- be consistent and transparent with inventory status
- focus on ‘better’ rather than ‘more’ functions
- stop pushing sales to browsing shoppers
- embrace the social media your customers use
- help shoppers compare prices and products
The Dynamics of Footwear Retailing
Footwear retailers greatly benefit from integrating digital into their brick-and-mortar showrooms because it enhances their services. Each of the seven tips above can be used to make a footwear business much more effective with the right footwear POS system.
Imagine a customer looking for a particular type of shoe in their size. It’s nice to explore the possibilities online, but a shoe has to fit. When that customer comes into the store asking if that shoe is carried, the sales associate is able to search the inventory immediately and provide not only the style requested but also any similar styles if the shoe doesn’t fit the way the customer prefers.
If the right size isn’t carried, it can be ordered and delivered to a requested location. Why would that customer go somewhere else? The store has met all the requirements by integrating digital into its operations.
Shoes vary so much that keeping an adequate inventory is a challenge, but with an integrated retail management solution that challenge is successfully met. ChainDrive’s footwear POS software suite is ideal for footwear retailers because it is able to provide the necessary framework for integrating digital into the complicated dynamic of footwear sales today.