5 Ways to Survive the Holidays With Endless Aisle & Dropship
The holidays are less than month away and that means that shopping is now considered an extreme sport. It also means that online and in-store sales will start to go through the snow-covered roof. For those ready to take advantage of the most wonderful (and profitable) time of year, I’m here to give you the gift that keeps on giving: Endless Aisle and Dropship.Endless Aisle and Dropship will allow you to fulfill your customer expectations and provide you the ability to close the sale, whether you have the product in-store or not. Below are 5 ways this dynamic duo will help you move ship during the holidays:
1. Balance your inventory investment
Perhaps the iPhone launch wasn’t quite as successful as you were expecting or the year just isn’t hitting your original forecast. Rather than stressing about investing in a ton of inventory that you may get stuck discounting after the holidays, focus in implementing tools that can ramp-up revenue. Using both Endless Aisle and Dropship allows you to balance your in-stock and virtual inventory in a small box format. You can easily bring in one or two higher-end items to satisfy the customer’s need to see and experience the product, and then fulfill sales virtually. That means you won’t need to pay for the inventory until you’ve already closed the sale yourself.
2. Avoid stock-outs
Just as being overstocked can be detrimental to your bottom line, so can being out-of-stock. Keeping items in stock throughout the year is incredibly important, but it becomes even more important, and also more difficult, during the winter months. With Endless Aisle and Dropship, you can still capture the sale even if your shelves are empty of that item. Even better, you can enable multiple Dropship vendors so the odds of going completely out of stock on any item decreases while your breadth and depth of products available increases.
3. Keep your product insight
Less obvious than lost revenue is the loss of product insight. If something goes out of stock, you lose the understanding of the demand and future of that product. Endless Aisle and Dropship makes it possible for you to always have that insight and choose to increase or decrease stock levels, based on virtual and physical sales combined. Perhaps your team manages to exceed your expectations and sell more high-end items like drones or speakers. Understanding product insights would help you evaluate all your options; in this situation, it may make sense to bring a few more items in-store than you originally thought and capture those higher margins. More insight means more sales!
4. Give your customers what they want
We’ve all heard the selling scenario. A customer is getting their new phone and they’re very excited about the purchase. Given it’s an expensive item, they want to spend a little extra to protect it. But what if the color or brand of phone case they want isn’t in stock? Providing above and beyond service, the sales associate offers a helpful suggestion; “you could check for it on Amazon?” Rather than turn them away to a competitor, give your customers what they want when they want it. Dropship lets you check virtual options, find the desired item, and capture everything on one, simple transaction and leaves your customer delighted.
5. Engage customers while they wait
Your store is packed and your sales associates are all busy with other customers when another shopper walks in. How do you keep them engaged, interested, and in your store while they wait? The waiting game can make customers easily agitated and frustrated with your business if left out in the cold too long. With Endless Aisle screens, customers can begin educating themselves on the products, comparing rate plans, or building their virtual shopping carts. Having multiple browsing locations around the store — a tablet mounted to a counter, a self-serve kiosk, or even something stationed at the POS — keeps shoppers busy until an associate can assist. Digital engagement lets customers remain occupied and allows your staff to take the necessary time with each customer to make their experience a great one.
Are you ready for the holidays?
Rather than worrying about how you can compete with big box stores and online super-giants this holiday season, rest easy knowing that Endless Aisle and Dropship is the perfect gift for your retail store.
Sell more with Endless Aisle and Dropship. Check out all details below and book a meeting!
Shuttershock / Tyler Olson
