The Retail Buzz

New article at One Step Retail Solutions that talks about factors involved with erosion of brand value and how to evolve to align your brand within the new economy.

Here is what the article says ...

There has been a lot of discussion around the erosion of brand value and the fact that consumer brand loyalty has been slipping for an extended period of time.

Many factors have contributed to this, not the least of which is the ability to compare products and prices on the Internet. Any given retail chain or online store also develops its own "brand image" that can improve or deteriorate based on the overall shopping experience and merchandise lines.

For example, in the early years of online sales there were a number of absolutely livid Web shoppers whose purchases didn't arrive in time for Christmas - those store brands certainly suffered! Now that time has healed the wounds and the retailers involved managed to revamp their systems and rebuild their service and delivery image, online sales continues to reach record numbers.

But rather than looking at it as a single company or brand that is losing value, I would argue that when one brand is slipping more often than not another is gaining. An example of that would be the wireless handset industry - while Motorola lost its place as a leader, BlackBerry held its own and now even new players such as Dell and Google are entering the market.

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Retailer runs every day operations of store using POS software

Store manager Soung Kim runs Sportech, a sports apparel and footwear retailer specializing in racquet tennis, talked about his experience using point of sale technology in the every day running of the store.

Sportech has been in business for 16 years and expanded its store from 2000 square feet to 5600 square feet, and plans to expand to more locations in future.

Kim stays in tune with the business side of things, keeping close track of the store's merchandise with Retail Pro POS software to avoid over and under purchasing. He follows what is coming in and says, "It really helps keep track of the business aspect of it, as it is a business."

Kim ensures that store employees are very helpful and actually give shoppers customer service. Developing and maintaining customer loyalty has kept their customers coming back. He frequently does a large mailing to them with coupons. Sometimes he teams up with doctors and local podiatrists to come in and do a clinic to help teach his customers different aspects of using proper footwear and apparel.

To know what his customers are purchasing, Kim checks the buying history of his customers in the POS software. He uses this information to motivate customers, who are pleased that they know them by name and what their history is.

Kim doesn't work alone however. Any time he needs to discuss a problem or technology issue, he relies on One Step Retail Solutions who provides technical support for him anytime of the day, even weekends.

Kim attributes a 10% growth in business to utilizing point of sale software. He uses it daily to easily manage all aspects of running the retail store operations, enabling him to stay on top of inventory and improving the customer's shopping experience.