Why Back Office Solutions Save You Time and Money
Convenience store managers can in many instances be responsible for retail spaces that are extremely fast-paced and require significant oversight throughout the hours of operation. This can leave very little time or opportunity to perform the laundry list of management tasks and reporting that have to be accomplished every day. In recent years, software service providers have looked at the many challenges facing convenience store retailers and provided a number of automation tools that help save both time and money in the long term. Let’s look at how well-thought-out back office solutions can provide numerous time-saving solutions that translate to increased savings and profitability.
Automated Inventory, Automated Ordering
Any manager who has worked in retail or convenience stores and had to perform a manual inventory will tell you in hushed tones and with shaking hands just how much of a nightmare that process can be. Worst case scenario, the operation might not even have had a digital scanner, and the manager had to match product SKU numbers to a printed sheet. Once they did that, they’d have to manually input that inventory into a spreadsheet, update pricing to match invoiced costs, and at the end, try to track down variances and hope that the final result resembled actual bottom line profitability. They’d then have to hope that data was accurate enough to manually place an order with their vendor, either through a manual entry form on a website, or written down and called into the vendor.
An effective convenience store back office software will integrate all of these activities with the point of sale system, automating not only inventory tracking but also the ordering process with vendors, and establish over time effective par levels that minimize waste and maximize item availability relative to customer demand. The time savings alone in recovering lost productivity is itself impressive but add to that the reduction in waste, and you have significant increases in bottom-line productivity.
Customer Loyalty Program Running On Autopilot Brings Business
Integrated into your POS system to track purchasing behavior and to plan, set, and track promotional offers to customers, an automated customer loyalty program delivered via the mobile web application to customers can be a fantastic example of improved efficiency and profitability achieved through automated software solutions. There is no longer a need for costly and time-consuming promotional rollouts, or data analysis to determine customer purchasing habits, or to track the effectiveness of promotions. With the click of a button, reports can be generated, goals can be set, and performance measured to set the stage for the next promotional program.
Labor Management Made Simple
Like inventory, manually managing and tracking labor is a time-consuming process that is subject to significant levels of human error and manipulation. Integrating labor processes into your back office solution means that there is no more guessing when an employee clocks in and out. An added bonus is that integration means integration with all of your data and systems, so your system can track customer traffic patterns, and then write a schedule based around those patterns. Some systems are even able to make suggestions as to hiring needs to fill staffing gaps.
Integrated Back Office Solutions
Success Systems understands that your time as an owner or a manager of a convenience store operation is valuable, and we don’t want you getting bogged down by tasks that can be taken care of by an integrated back-office software solution. Contact us today about automating your operation, and see how our suite of software solutions can help you maximize the value you get out of every hour of your day.
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