Being on multiple marketing channels is now widely considered essential to sustainably grow a business. For retail companies looking to get an edge over their competitors, increasing the available channels generally improves their reach and provides a more nuanced view of customer preferences, resulting in higher revenue.
There is a fundamental downside to multi-channel marketing though. The more channels you operate in, the more complex your operations become. Eventually, this complexity results in challenges in optimizing each channel. Over time, these challenges can elevate the risks of a business and hinder growth.
Modern Point-of-Sale (POS) and Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems help solve these issues by removing much of the friction that used to characterize multi-channel operations. Once these systems are set up, customers may freely move across platforms to interact with your brand, all while enjoying a uniform experience regardless of where they engage with your brand.
Before we can explain in detail how an updated POS system and ERP can transform your business, it helps to have a grasp of the capabilities of these technologies.
What Do POS and ERP Systems Offer?
Though the term POS is often used to refer to devices or payment terminals in everyday conversation, a POS system actually includes all the hardware and software collectively used to complete sales transactions. These systems record sales data, process payments, and can even generate sales reports. Importantly, the data derived from these systems can be used to manage inventory and produce insights for marketing and R&D.
On the other hand, an ERP system is a software platform that integrates various business processes across an organization into one comprehensive system. This can include integrated functionality for a POS system, but they can also include modules controlling finance, supply chain management, human resources, and other operations. Consolidating these functions provides a centralized view of the business, improving efficiency and aiding in transparent decision-making.
Ways POS and ERP Systems Support Effective Multi-Channel Retailing
Businesses that are pursuing a multi-channel strategy can use modern POS and ERP systems to derive the following benefits:
1. Real-Time Data Access
Both POSs and ERPs provide access in real-time to sales and inventory data, allowing managers to make timelier, less risky decisions. Having real-time data on tap can also be valuable for enabling useful process automation scripts throughout a business’s various operations.
2. Streamlined Order Processing
With connected POS and ERP systems, orders from all channels are automatically consolidated, making order processing more efficient and avoiding the risk of manual entry errors. Such considerations as VAT, exchange rates, and shipping rates can also be automatically calculated, providing both businesses and customers more transparency and convenience.
3. Consistent Pricing Across Channels
Price discrepancies are a common concern in multi-channel marketing since these can erode customer trust. ERPs and POSs can automatically set the same price for the same item across all channels, helping maintain trust and saving time when running price-based promotions. If you’re running discounts for your products or services, for instance, updating the price information on a single platform should reflect on others as well.
4. Effective Marketing Integration
Aside from standardizing prices, linked POS and ERP systems can also coordinate marketing efforts across all channels by providing a unified message and maximizing the impact of campaigns. More importantly, they can be set up to collect, collate, and analyze data from all channels to offer decision-makers a comprehensive understanding of customer behavior and preferences. These insights, in turn, can be used to develop better offers or provide bespoke services that encourage repeat business.
5. Centralized Inventory and Supply Chain Management
Integrated systems make it possible to manage inventory across all channels from a single platform, ensuring that stock levels are always accurate and up-to-date. This accuracy makes it possible to set up automatic reorder systems to ensure that stocks are maintained at optimal levels. ERPs can also streamline interactions with suppliers, allowing for better terms on orders.
6. Wider Financial Integration
These systems also allow for seamless links with financial systems, reducing expensive transfer errors while also simplifying accounting and financial reporting. These benefits can help businesses manage financial compliance, even in cross-border transactions.
7. Boosted Employee Productivity
The automation offered by integrated systems frees up retail employees from repetitive and error-prone manual data entry. This can potentially allow them to enhance their vital customer-facing skills and perform other value-added activities.
8. Improved Scalability
Traditionally, multi-channel marketing involved setting up new processes and specialized teams working in parallel, something that was not always feasible for small businesses. However, with an integrated system, businesses can easily add new sales channels without disrupting existing processes, solving one of the longstanding challenges of multi-channel expansion.
Are Your POS and ERP Systems Growing Your Business?
Small-to-medium enterprises (SMEs) that are aspiring to hit their next level of growth must seriously consider integrating POS and ERP systems to remain relevant in the multi-channel environment that modern consumers are now accustomed to. Moreover, they must choose systems that can be effortlessly configured to closely meet their business’s overarching goals. With the right technology and vendor partners by their side, SMEs can better leverage their POSs and ERPs to effectively drive growth and maintain their relevance across all their sales channels.
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