Multidev Technologies

Lighten your Retail Warehouse Operations Processes with ChainDrive Warehouse Management System (WMS)

January 27, 2021 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

What is a warehouse management system software?

A warehouse management system (WMS) is a software application that helps support and manage the day-to-day operations in a warehouse. WMS software controls inventory receiving and put-away, optimizes picking and shipping of orders and guides on inventory replenishment.

Types of warehouse management systems?

Warehouse management systems can be standalone systems, part of supply chain execution suites, or modules of an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
Depending on the size and sophistication of the organization, warehouse management can be as simple as handwritten lists or spreadsheets using software such as Microsoft Excel or Access, as well as specialty WMS software systems.

Top 4 Retail Warehouse Operations Processes

Every retailer has to spend some time focusing on warehouse operations processes. That includes tracking the shipment of products on order from the vendor as well as organizing your inventory before you sell it. Effective and successful warehouse management is dependent on getting the nuts and bolts right. The following 4 processes of retail management can be more efficiently managed with the right operations management solution.

1.Cross-dock processing – Not every retailer has to be efficient with cross-dock processing. If it doesn’t fit your particular retail situation, that’s okay. Focus on something else. But if cross-dock processing is a part of your retail operation, you need an efficient way to in-process products coming from the vendor into the warehouse and out-process those products to send to your retail stores without holding them in your warehouse inventory. ChainDrive makes that process simple.

2.Supply chain management – No matter what kind of retail operation you run; supply chain management is a critical component. You must track all products from their vendors to your customers, and if you manufacture the products yourself, the supply chain is extended to gathering the raw materials to make your products. This entails knowing the status of every product in your inventory. There are few things in retail more essential than that.

3.Break-pack capability – If you use a break-pack process, you should be able to look at each pack size and know the quantities of each SKU on your pallet. This is critical to having accurate counts and getting eyes on product status.

4.Wave-based distribution – If you use a wave-based distribution model, you need to be able to efficiently manage the process, and that requires highly organized warehouse operations. If you miss too many steps in the process, or get slowed due to inefficient processes, it can cost you sales at the store level. A good operations management solution makes this easier

Every retail operation is different. The processes are different; therefore, the software needs are different. ChainDrive is flexible enough to handle those differences.

ChainDrive retail warehouse management software is the best solution for all retail warehouse operations let you gain retail insight into your operational assortment and make better-informed decisions. It is an innovative, user friendly and cost-effective. Use warehouse management system (WMS) to take control of your product cycles and make your business stronger!

See for yourself how ChainDrive can help can help your retail warehouse businesses monitor its inventory, order management, performance monitoring and competition on your retail chain. schedule a free online demo!

Optical Retailers Eye New Consumer Behaviors & Post-Pandemic Shifts with Confidence

December 7, 2020 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

According to the latest market research reports, the eyewear market size is expected to reach USD 178.95 Billion by 2026; owing to increasing cases of deteriorating eye health and trend-setting launch of eyewear products by the manufacturers across the globe. Furthermore, Fortune Business Insights, in its latest report, titled “Eyewear Market Size, Share & Industry Analysis ‘’ observes that the market [which] was worth USD 115.90 Billion in 2018 and is likely to exhibit a promising CAGR of 5.7% between 2019 and 2026.

In fact, the Eyewear market landscape has seen significant changes and shifts in consumer behavior since the coronavirus breakout, but the industry now appears more optimistic about the growth prospects. With people exercising outdoors and spending more time in front of their smartphones, tablets, gaming monitors than ever before, consumers are investing in new protective eyewear to help them cope with computer glare side-effects, acquire new smart devices or synchronize their wireless-ready wearables with their smart apps or accounts, etc. Eyewear’s main players said even though sales plummeted at the onset of the initial lock-downs, business has bounced back to reach new heights.

“The spending cycle for prescription glasses is slightly different, toward the end of the year we have a rush of people who haven’t used their [insurance] benefits. We are hearing from the market that this will happen a little earlier than in years past, so the outlook for us is positive,” said Nicola Zotta, president of Marchon Eyewear. The executive added that some retail partners say they are booked for the next month or so, indicating a certain level of pent-up demand following lockdowns.

The United States’ retail optical segment supplies consumers with prescription eyewear through an extensive network of retail outlets which exceeds 14000. IBISWorld’s analysts which constantly monitor the industry trends and statistics are bullish about current growth perspectives. Prescription eyewear is on the rise in North America, with single-store businesses accounting for 90 percent of aggregate sales.

Changing Consumer Trends & Social Behaviors

Advances in wireless Internet and mobile communications devices have driven significant development in the Internet of Things (IoT) , bringing an unprecedented flow of innovative breakthroughs and services to many areas of our daily lives including eyewear technologies. As result, consumers across the globe started to value functionalities which help them monitor motion tracking, improve eye state condition, obtain higher resolutions, or stay interconnected, etc. Wearable technologies are geared towards satisfying the pent-up demand for interactive solutions including eyewear, streaming, etc.

Thus, embedding nano sensors directly into contact lenses to monitor user physiological data or enhancing the user experience at large are shaping the eyewear market industry. According to market research firm Technavio, wearables are expected to see a compound annual growth rate of around 15 percent between 2019 and 2023.

A key factor driving that level of growth, according to Technavio, will be the increasing digitization of the global economy. In layman’s terms, the proliferation of things like artificial intelligence, VR, and contactless payments into wearable devices will help to drive their growth.

Thus, the expanding ecosystem of Internet of Things devices—buoyed by the launch of 5G—will help push wearables into more homes and onto more consumer’s wrists. Technavio also predicted further development in the mobile app ecosystem, which could play a role in the segment’s growth as well.

Digital Protection Glasses for the Digital Age

Digital protection lenses are meant to help reduce exposure to Blue Light transmitted by digital devices. Blue light is part of the visible light spectrum and is emitted by the sun and artificial light sources such as LEDs, computers, and smart phones.

While some types of blue light can be beneficial and help regulate our bodies’ inner biological clocks; blue-violet light, or Blue Light, can also have a downside on the retina. The extensive use digital devices and exposure to high energy lights seem to increase macular degeneration, and therefore weaken the retina which is responsible for our clear vision. According to a recent report by the Vision Council, 61% of adults experience digital eye strain due to the extensive use of electronic devices. Fluorescent lighting and UV rays contain blue light, which adds to eye strain including headaches, dry eyes, blurred vision, etc.

Anti Glare Technology & Innovative Glasses

Sport enthusiasts and outdoor lovers who enjoy taking their fitness outside can attest to how uncomfortable it is to have the sun’s glare beaming into your eyes, making running sunglasses a must have item.

Unlike traditional sunglasses that could be prone to breaking or made from fragile material, the new generation of eyewear products are made to be more resistant and shatter-free. The glasses are made from sweat-resistant frames, rubberized nose pads for better grip, come with high-quality lenses and adjustable sport straps to stay secured on the wearer’s head through all sorts of activities including extreme sports.

Action Camcorder Glasses for The Streaming Fans

Just like the Google Glasses, these smart frames have a tiny sunglass-mounted action camera that helps its users acquire footage straight from their glasses without having to strap a camera to their helmets or forehead. In fact, the gamification of many wearables and the proclivity towards social media streaming are popular among millennials, influencers and social media fans who spend several hours on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or Pinterest are also boosting retail sales across the globe

Eye Fatigue Detectors: Smart Eyewear Sensors & Wearables

The latest fatigue glasses are designed not just to track how tired you are, but your driving posture as well. Thanks to their hidden sensors, the smart glasses can detect any signs of drowsiness, somnolence or lack of concentration on the road. Instant alerts or notifications are sent immediately to warn car or truck drivers who wish to stay alert during their long travels. The smart spectacles come also in many attractive and functional designs to meet all fashion tastes and designs.

If we take into account the shifting consumer trends, the impact of digitization and technology disruptors, the eyewear market is bound to blur the distance between traditional glasses and the newly enhanced generation of smart spectacles, let alone bridging the gap between interactive devices and data driven wearables.

In an effort to stay competitive in the era of direct-to-consumer optical services, traditional retail concepts are being remodeled to reflect the changing consumer landscape, store designs and business models. As result, retailers have to keep an eye on the rising consumer trends by putting further emphasis on the customer journey and reintroducing genuine excitement into the process of shopping for eyewear. If traditional retailers expect to compete with e-commerce, they must reinvent the in-store experience.

Here are few takeaways from the latest emerging consumer trends and technologies:

1.Focus on the Customer Journey experience
Many start-ups and retailers are starting to rely on AR Glasses, virtual reality technologies and AI driven solutions like Syte (Israel) and Schnap to reinvent the browsing, shopping and fitting experiences .Just like Shazam, these AI driven solutions for visual search discovery are reshaping the entire consumer experience in the post-COVID era by making visual search an essential component of the customer journey in the digital space. Using augmented reality apps for instance let’s prospects sample any pair of glasses from interactive catalogs by simply pointing the iPhone to the face. All you have to do is pick a model you like from the digital catalog which will appear as if you are actually trying it. Ask for your friend’s opinion by sharing it on Instagram or buy it directly from the eyewear unless it’s a prescription model which requires a professional opinion and a physical diagnosis.

2.Stay in Synch with the Tech Fashion Industry
Knowing the emerging trends and ensuring that the stores have the right mix of styles, colors and sizes of eye glasses is essential to beat your competitors, and connect with your audience; in other words the right inventory management tools or OTB solutions like ChainDrive Optical Store software to meet customer needs and expectations. Social media have become the new market places where shoppers, influencers, designers, celebrities and ecommerce players fight to attract more followers, visitors and influence consumer behaviors along the way.

3.Focus on Online growth & Metrics
Online retailers are likely to encroach upon industry revenue in 2020 as brick-and-mortar retailers experience much lower store traffic due to the recurrent lowdowns and distancing measures imposed on shopping malls and high traffic zones. Hence the importance of search engine optimization conversion metrics, predictive tools which help retailers track their website visitors, remote shopping behaviors etc.

4.Manage Staffing Challenges for Online and Off-line services
Retail eyewear providers face a two-headed staffing dilemma, technically proficient staff to craft and fit prescription eyewear who are licensed or authorized to practice in this regulated field. While employees with technical background are essential, some of them might lack the commercial which may lead to a less-than-satisfactory consumer experience.
In addition to HR staffing challenges, many companies are starting to rely on automated Chatbots to harness customer-service, appointment bookings. The good news is that chatbot applications are very easy to implement and to monitor; other added values such as letting community managers and customer service agents interact with your website visitors in real time.

5.Keep Track of Changing Business Models & Practices
Market research firm IRIS world projected in May 2011 that a big chunk of the aging population in North America is expecting to work longer before retirement. This demographic factor alone will eventually boost prescription eyewear market. Competing eyewear retailers will complete for market share by offering on-site optometric exams. Retailers hope this added service will discourage consumers from switching their business to discount or online eyewear retailers.

In order to stay ahead of the curve and make informed decisions, eyewear retailers must upgrade their existing POS systems by acquiring smart and data-driven ERPs like ChainDrive Optical Store software for Eyewear retailers. Why?
Because Multidev Technologies is at the forefront of custom-tailored solutions has an extensive expertise in smart fashion apparel, jewelry, sporting goods and many verticals which have a huge influence on the eyewear market and diversification.

6.From Customer Relationship Management to Preemptive CJMP
Managing customer relationships is so much easier, when you have a fully-integrated CRM with the rest of the ERP components. You can update each customer’s information on the spot from anywhere. If you are using kiosks, your customers can update their own information on ChainDrive CRM with ease like never before.
Being able to anticipate and understand your customer/client buying preferences, spending patterns nowadays is mission critical in the fast-changing consumer experience economy; let alone being able to implement smart, seamless and predictive tools like Multidev Technolgies does for many optical store chains and leading brands across Canada, USA and Caribbean countries.

7.Harness Agile Management Processes & Mindset
Being a fully-integrated and capable of tracking cross-channel operations, orders, inventories and business data from anywhere and everywhere is mission-critical nowadays. Modern retailing entails and requires sophisticated ERPs which could fuel overall efficiency, boost your collective intelligence, collaborative processes and organizational agility.

ChainDrive Optical Store software is the type of end-to-end system which powers and empowers optical retail store owners who are looking for a unified environment to manage all their KPIs, reports, operations under one unified platform.

Unlike many pre-packaged tools sold by third party vendors or resellers, ChainDrive Optical Store Software for eyewear retailers and wholesalers has been specifically designed to help retailers streamline their inter-operational processes in the most user-friendly fashion and capture the rise of new retailing trends like BOPIS, direct-to-consumer, or remote shopping during or after the post-COVID 19 lockdowns.

In addition to being a leading mobile point of sale software in the mid-market segment, ChainDrive Optical Store software was designed to help retailers deliver a seamless, personalized and engaging experience across the spectrum. Sales associates can obtain detailed product and customer information in real time across value-chain on-time, on-budget and on-target.

Moreover, ChainDrive Optical Store software is available in various modules and bundles to fit your Optical Store needs and budgets. As a customized system, every point of sale software is scalable enough to help you cope with the most daunting challenges most make informed decisions across the value-chain.

Last but not least, when it comes to retailing in the disruptive age, you need more than a plug and play Optical Store software that you can download in few seconds, you need a strategic partner who can help you accelerate your digital transformation, translate your business model or culture in simple codes, processes and tools.

If you are looking to step-up your retail operations and digital transformation at the same time, you no longer need to hop from one retail show to another to find the right fit, you can book a remote demo at the comfort of your own showroom. So, stop looking for prepackaged products to boost your retail operations and start looking for a reliable omni-channel partner like Multidev Technologies who could help you fend-off any disruptive trends and harness your overall efficiency. To schedule a free consulting session or demo with a retail management expert, please log on https://chaindrive.com/free-live-demo/to book a live simulation.

The Knots & Bolts of Retail Merchandising Software Unplugged

October 7, 2020 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

“Advertising moves people toward goods; merchandising moves goods toward people.” According to Morris Hite (American Advertising Expert).

Modern retailing, shopping and omnichannel commerce at large are increasingly complex to depend on soft skills, retail experience or best practices only. There is a cutthroat competition among retailers, wholesalers, fast fashion manufacturers from the Far East, distributors, ecommerce platforms and marketplace shakers. As result, merchandise management—merchandise assortments, forecasts, disposing of slow-selling items and ordering and distributing them on-time—is mission critical to a retailer’s success because having the right merchandise is the foundation of retailing. Particularly because of the fast-changing landscape of Online Commerce where customer preferences are very diverse and their level of loyalty to merchants very low; hence the importance of being aware of the shifting grounds, business models, customer behaviors; and the importance of being able to respond quickly.

In fact, up till recently, most retailers have relied on humans to manage merchandising complexity. Because there are too many merchandises, products, styles, sizes, collections and brands, it’s virtually impossible for merchandise professionals and managers to alike to assess, compare, select and dispose of merchandise effectively. Therefore, retailers need smart merchandise software systems that can enhance the performance of merchandising managers in real-time.

In the fierce world of retailing, it is very important to attract new customers and to keep the existing ones happy by offering them excellent services. Merchandising helps in reaching far more than what sales alone can achieve. Merchandising is critical for retail commerce. Retail managers must employ their soft skills and agile architecture to streamline merchandising processes with overall productivity goals.

What is Merchandising?

Merchandising is a set of various processes and activities performed by retailers such as planning, buying, and selling of displayed products to customers. It is an integral part of handling store operations and e-commerce of retailing. Merchandising presents the products in a retail environment to influence the customer’s buying decision and stimulate spur of the moment buying.

What’s a retail merchandising system?

The retail merchandising system provides critical information such as item specs, images, inventory, purchasing, suppliers, locations, and replenishment data whereas Mobile point of sale help retailers make more agile reviews, adjustments or approval of pending orders.

Why enhance the merchandising experience ?

Merchandising managers are responsible for providing a great shopping experience, driving sales and profit through customer service, proper merchandising on the sales floor and accurate merchandise movement throughout the retail operations.

In fact, the experience economy is the new normal; be it in fashion apparel, jewelry, sporting goods, footwear, leisures, health and beauty verticals. The consumers are looking for innovative stores and retailers who keep on exploring new ways to improve the customer journey through various shopping channels and platforms; hence the importance of smart merchandising in the digital age.

How do you sharpen your retail merchandising tactics?

Retail merchandising is increasingly challenging and critical. Every retail business rises or falls because of merchandising shortfalls. Retail managers have to be on top of the in-store availability, presentation, and promotion of their retail products; however, the risk of losing control is always nearby. In fact, dealing with retailing means dealing with all sort of merchandises scattered all-over the commercial space; let alone coping with the ability to cope with daunting tasks such as monitoring multiple size runs for different retail locations.

For SMBs merchants and vendors, having a retail merchandising software is mission critical as it helps them achieve consistency, optimization and better efficiency. With the help of smart merchandising software solutions like ChainDrive Merchandising Software, managers can track, collect in-store information on their mobile phones and tablets from anywhere in the value-chain. This seamless can harness the collective intelligence among the users, managers and decision-makers who could convert their data into actionable decisions in real time.

Here are 7 questions you should answer before you commit to upgrade, acquire or invest in a new merchandising software:

1.Does it support product assortment & pre-purchase planning?

In this fast-paced retail environment, choosing the most agile-friendly retail merchandising software solution can be very instrumental; as it will help you make informed decisions whenever you are not so sure about sensitive issues such as assortment planning, allocation or purchase orders. ChainDrive’s Intelligent size & SKU analysis is well suited for these challenges. It was designed to help merchandising managers help you improve your stock turnover and size ratios. This feature is very important in fashion apparel retail, footwear, and many other verticals where customers get frustrated if they can’t find what they are looking for. Your sales may increase sales or deplete if they can’t get the right size, model, color or style. Store traffic attrition and brand NPS may depend on how well your merchandising system performs.

2. Is it smart and easy to monitor merchandising KPIs?

Extensive product performance analysis and reporting, including lifecycle management are some of the key features available to merchandisers who are looking to implement lean measures as a way to fuel overall efficiency. ChainDrive’s built-in business intelligence capabilities provide merchandising managers with integrated reports and tools, immediate access to vital information which proves to be handy when it comes to making informed decisions designed to harness your predictive skills, improve your cost-cutting goals and increase your profit margins.

Offering countless pre-configured reports, metrics, pivot table queries and graphs are intuitive within ChainDrive which is known to let its users track and measure key performance indicators across the value chain by transforming the unified data into powerful, actionable decision-making tools.

3. How about automated allocation and replenishment?

Automated allocation and replenishment by min, max, min & max, sales and weekly stock turnover is a sample of what you can do to monitor your chain supply and merchandise flow. But to do it properly, you need to know ahead of time before your merchandise starts to deplete at your stores and when is the right time to start re-ordering. You also need to know how much of a particular product sells at one store versus another so that you can allocate the right amounts to each store. Having the right product, at the right place, at the right time is a must for consumers have grown impatient and unforgiving. Being able to anticipate, adapt and respond to customer demand by gaining control over your buying and selling cycles is an essential ingredient of modern Merchandising systems like ChainDrive.

4. Does it provide real-time inventory management?

There’s more to merchandising than just making sure your store displays look pretty. You need to have the right product, the right quantity, and the right sizes at the right market location. Retail merchandising software can provide real time data of out-of-stocks detected by employees, ChainDrive’s real-time inventory monitoring functionalities will help you track the location and status of your merchandise at any given time throughout the product lifecycle by simultaneously monitoring purchases, receipts, allocations, sales, transfers, in-transit, on-hands and related activity, regardless of the location.

5. Do you need advanced analytics & reporting capabilities?

Detailed purchase order analysis and reporting, including back order management will make it easier for you to keep an eye on your in-store, inter-stores and intra-operational situation. Merchandising will accordingly be lot easier to monitor. ChainDrive’s unified and fully-integrated database, reports can be generated and converged into visual friendly reports and dashboards to give you a better perspective over your entire retail environment.

Moreover, you can rely on the smart components of ChainDrive to track and report on revenue sensitive areas such as inventory, product purchases, suppliers, sales performance and many other dead angles you may not be able to do manually.

6. Can it handle retail prices and calculate costs?

Not only it does,ChainDrive’s Innovative price management tools can help you analyze, monitor and track price changes and performance at any time of the day; or set prices by geographical or pre-determined zones, create promotional campaigns – permanent or time limited, control access to all price changes, adjust prices by dollars or percentage among many automation-ready functionalities. It’s user-definable, formula-based landed cost features are also very well appreciated by retail managers across the board.

7. What about vendor management?

Ability to maintain multiple vendors per product, and specific individual vendor type which track and manage product performance down to the style, size and/or color are just as functional and essential in modern merchandising.

Merchandising software solutions are very useful when it comes to helping managers monitor competing products, generating up-to-date and detailed comprehensive analysis or live performance reports while using mobile point of sale systems. As result, merchandising executives can definitely get ahead of their close competitors by making pre-emptive markdowns. Thanks to its smart and automated inventory alerts, merchandising managers can rely on pre-set parameters to make actionable decisions on a local, regional, or targeted indicators such including goods in the trial phase.

Last but not least, you should look for a retail merchandising software partner that is best known for making the most intuitive, user-friendly and customizable software solutions; a partner who could help you ramp-up your digital transformation and resilience in the most challenging era.

See for yourself how Multidev can help you ramp-up your merchandising capabilities, inventory management, agility and overall productivity on-time, on-budget and on-target. To schedule a demo, please log on https://chaindrive.com/free-live-demo/

How to Boost Your Wholesale Inventory Management & Overall Performance in 5 Easy Steps for a Tenfold ROI?

September 3, 2020 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

Navigating through different inventory management software can be tedious, complex and time consuming. To help you save a little time, we’ve researched different options and collected what we think are the most relevant functionalities, tools and best practices.

One of the primary challenges of running your wholesale business is managing your inventory. Since you are receiving inventory from various sources and then reselling it to your retail customers, you need to have access to accurate records of what you have in stock, so you can determine what you need to forecast, order and evaluate based on informed decisions.

Wholesale operations are notably different than retail activities or patterns. Wholesale customers tend to lean towards buying in bulk; whereas retail customers manage otherwise. This difference alone creates some sharp contrasts when it comes to managing inventory as each of them is related to a different business model.

What is wholesale management system?

Wholesale order management refers to any business process related to orders placed by wholesale customers. Some of the key aspects of order management may revolve around the synchronization of your orders with the inventory in Real-time; hence the importance of being able to monitor, track and create end-to-end workflows for your ongoing sales orders.

Wholesale management system is the process of buying the stocks from the buyers and then selling them to the customers but that is a fraction from what is needed nowadays to master this craft. ChainDrive inventory management software for instance offers a full array of integrated functionalities and components to help managers tame the most complex operations:

Client order management, including discount rules
Wholesale goods catalog maintenance
Sales orders automatically linked to PO’s
Lock and unlock prices
Client account status and analysis
Real time open-to-sell (OTS)
Vendor management software and inventory status reporting
Agent and sales representative productivity reporting, including commissions management
Automated invoicing, including credit alerts

How do you manage wholesale inventory?

Inventory management is one of the biggest challenges of running a wholesale business. As a distributor, you’re going to dealing with huge number of stock and it’s essential that this stock is managed as efficiently as possible. Failure to do so will hurt the business in the long run.

So, lets dive in to see how you can track, monitor and fuel your overall productivity in 5 easy steps. Yes, 5 simple moves which could give could lead to a tenfold ROI:

Tip no: 1- Take Advantage of the latest Retail Technologies

It’s the right time for B2B and B2C industry to move beyond archaic spreadsheets and manual inventory management practices. There are plenty of smart W software tools available in the market that will help you scale up your retail or wholesale operations, increase overall efficiency, across channel activities and help you harness collective intelligence in very user-friendly ways.

The important benefit of the new generation of retail software solutions is that they are geared towards helping companies become leaner and more agile. They provide inventory management capabilities that are user-centric which helps its adopters to enhance the entire customer experience while providing them with more freedom to place orders, track shipments across the value chain; let alone helping them focus on the entire customer journey, engagement and overall satisfaction.

While acquisition costs of a sophisticated of 3.0 ERP systems might look high at first glance, the return on the initial investment is tenfold higher. the annual cost you’ll be paying is minimal compared to the benefits or rewards you would reap in the long term.

Tip no: 2- Team Work and Collective Intelligence

Inventory management is a collaborative effort by all employees and stakeholders within the organization. It only works when everyone understands what’s required and which best practices or processes must be implemented in the retail chain and ecosystem.

If you are an owner of a retail or a wholesale operation, you need to foster an organizational culture which harnesses collaborative intelligence, communication, empowerment and leadership across the spectrum. Therefore, you need a wholesale management system like ChainDrive which was designed to harness teamwork efficiency, system thinking and information sharing in seamless fashion.

Tip no: 3- Replenishment Automation & Predictive Management

When your stock starts to deplete, you’ll need to replenish your supply accordingly. Don’t wait for traditional inventory counts or manual inventory audits to figure out when to take an action. Replenishing your product should be a preemptive measure that is based on data driven indicators, notifications or metrics.

Smart inventory management means increasing operational efficiency and reducing bottlenecks in your retail or wholesale business.

If you automate the inventory tasks, it gives your employees plenty of time to concentrate on other important areas of optimization. This way, you will significantly add more value to your virtuous circles.

Tip no: 4- Smart Inventory Planning and Orders

Since you are doing wholesale business, you are ordering products in bulk–because you’re selling or moving big volume orders. As result, you need to keep your inventory at bay with your stock requirements, traffic or thresholds.

In order, to keep the stock at the right level, you need a Warehouse inventory management software that is smart enough to let you track your inventory levels according to tangible and measurable parameters. This helps you track and monitor the inventory according to the pent-up demand, seasonal or consumer trends on-time, on budget and on-target.

Tip no: 5-Allocation of Products

it’s essential to allocate the right quantity of each product to each point of sale or distribution center. Goods which move fast in one location may not necessarily sell well in other geographical locations. Retail business cycles, consumer behavior trends and changing buying patterns at each retail store area are essential ingredients of good contingency planning and forecasting.

Once again, the easiest way is to rely on a smart wholesale inventory system which give you real-time information on the inventory status from the big picture till the last SKU; hence, the importance of good business intelligence tools. Having the right dashboards is mission critical otherwise it will be difficult for your management team to make informed decisions.

Conclusion:

Whether you are an apparel, footwear, jewelry, sporting goods, department store, home decor or specialty distributor, ChainDrive Wholesale Inventory System will certainly help you ramp-up significantly your game plan and growth strategies.

ChainDrive Inventory Management solution is very comprehensive as it comes with a fully loaded tool cabinet inventory management, warehousing, and purchasing capabilities that streamlines supply-chain processes, reduces costs, and improves profit margins. Thanks to its built-in real-time demand planning tools, you will have more artillery to cope with most daunting challenges; as you will have an end-to-end visibility over the entire landscape and product life cycle.

Last but not least, what you really need to step-up your business operations are to implement a smart ERP system that knows how to mirror your inventory workflow, improve your overall efficiency; and mostly knows how to translate your needs, management processes, environment and expectations in the most intuitive way. This is what sets ChainDrive apart from the rest of prepackaged, pre-bundled products sold through third party vendors and resellers.

If you still have more questions on how to ramp-up your wholesale inventory management operations or want to see for yourself how ChainDrive can help you accelerate your transformation, please contact our retail management experts or log on https://chaindrive.com/free-live-demo/ to book a live simulation. Till then, take a look at this video https://youtu.be/0TeAmUZusXo

Six KPIs to Track & Harness Your Retail Store Performance?

August 18, 2020 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

A KPI, or Key Performance Indicators, are sets of relevant metrics used to measure performance. Retail stores use various KPIs to measure their floor sales and omnichannel activities. There are no fixed rules with respect to the volume or the type of KPIs every retail store must use. Retail stores need to pick the most relevant KPIs based on meaningful data which C-Suite level executives or decision-makers assess on a regular basis to track the company’s performance. Therefore, Retail KPI could vary from one season to another, from one point of sale to another in the value chain among many other strategic variables.

While some store owners and managers could value revenues based on Sales Per Square Foot namely for those who still depend on physical traffic, digital first retailers with more proclivity towards online shopping and eCommerce gateways might value different sets of metrics that are more in synch with digital business operations and standards including the size of followers, engagement, conversion rate, brand loyalty, time-spent on the landing pages or the number of items purchased at each visit.

The list of meaningful Retail KPI might include an extensive list of metrics or just few parameters like:

Sales Per Employee. …
Conversion Rate. …
Foot Traffic. …
Customer Retention. …
Customer Satisfaction. …
Inventory Turnover. …
Gross Margin Return on Investment.

In fact, Retail KPIs and Metrics can be divided into two broad categories. The first includes store performance metrics whereas, the second category is geared towards employee performance. These two key performance indicators are made up of more specific measurable KPIs. Knowing how these two broad metric combinations work to determine the profits of your entire chain are key to maximizing profits and efficiency within your retail organization.

So, how do we measure KPI metrics in retail stores nowadays?

Store Performance

Measuring store performance is more than calculating dollars and sense. There are a variety of ways to crunch the numbers and evaluate store profitability. Here are a few ways to measure store performance in your retail chain:

1.Sales data – It’s important to understand how your retail stores are performing regarding sales data. That not only includes how many sales your making, but other metrics like average dollar amount per customer, average items sold per customer, sales per employee, and sales per square foot. Sales are directly related to profits.

2.Conversion rate – The conversion rate measures how good your stores are at converting browsers into buyer. Foot traffic is good, but if the number of people walking through your stores are high compared to the number buying, you’ll have a low conversion rate. You need to figure out how to turn that around.

3.Average transaction value – Are your customers buying a lot with each visit or mostly buying low-priced items?

4.Online versus brick-and-mortar – This is important. If you sell more online than in your stores, it could mean that’s where you should focus your efforts–especially if brick-and-mortar is not profitable for your operation.

5.Growth – You should measure growth year-over-year and month-over-month.

6.Stock turnover rate – How often do you turn your inventory over?

There are plenty of other store metrics you should look at, as well, but let’s talk about employee performance

Employee Performance

Just like your point of sale location, your employees must perform as well. Here are three important metrics you should keep in mind when it comes to employee performance:

Sales per employee – How many sales does each employee make per shift?
Average dollars per hour – How much in dollar amount does each employee sell per hour?
Average dollars per sale – How much in dollar amount does each employee sell per sale?

Considering that retail performance metrics may entail several sets and subsets of variables to reckon with, it’s important to keep an eye on multiple factors as often as possible to monitor your overall performance from different angles.

ChainDrive’s Store Budgeting Dashboard is well suited for this task as it allows you to view and monitor various retail metrics in user-friendly dashboards so you can make informed decisions that are in line with your growth strategy.

ChainDrive’s built-in Business Intelligence modules are smart enough to provide you with integrated reports and tools, offering immediate access to vital information and insights on the targeted areas of interest. As result, you can use leverage the smart tools and dashboards to make data-driven decisions which could lead to better impact on your operating costs and revenue streams.

Thanks to its extensive arsenal of pre-configured reports, predictive dashboards, pivot table queries and graphs, ChainDrive lets leverage your knowledge, BI reports and Data into powerful and actionable decision-making tools.

Last but not least, ChainDrive Store Budgeting software is customizable and flexible enough to let set the parameters as you please.

If you still have more questions or want to know more about how ChainDrive can help you harness your retail operations, please contact our retail management software experts or log on https://chaindrive.com/free-live-demo/ to book a live demo.

Top 10 Retail Merchandising Tips to Unleash the Power Within Your Pet Shop Store

August 12, 2020 by Multidev Technologies Leave a Comment

In the Tik Tok era consumers across the board are very sensitive about retail store innovations, new interior designs, intricate layout, smart displays, lighting fixtures, olfactive experiences, cash counter ergonomics, color coordination’s and anything used by modern retailers to enhance the consumer experience.

In fact, when people think about merchandising, they will most likely think about the visual side of it namely the process where you design your shelving layout, your floor patterns, lighting system and the way you arrange your products in your showroom. But that’s only a partial answer as it takes more than few gallons of paint and interior design face-lifts to revamp retail store operations in post-COVID 19.

Pet shop retailers are well aware of one thing: people revere their puppies. When it comes to measuring the size of an extended family, many households in America treat their pets like close family members which they shower with gifts and a lot of TLC. Puppies get birthday and Valentine gifts, eat special treats, go on weekly outings or get pampered in grooming spas. If you’re in the retail business and you cater to pet owners, you might want to review your bucket list of merchandising principles and you should learn the retail merchandising tips to grow your business.

Retailers across the board invest heavily on store design and decoration to stay fresh and attractive. Just like in fashion retail, store owners are careful and attentive to the changing lifestyles and consumer trends, hence the importance of merchandising.

Top 10 Retail Merchandising Tips for your Pet Store

1.Start with the basics– Cats and dogs are the most popular pets across the board. You can stock merchandise for other types of pets, from the basic fish and gerbil stock to exotic pets like lizards and snakes, but your most basic inventory should consist of items for the most popular pets–cats and dogs.

2.Use a variety of display units – Like any retail store, you’ll make each product on your shelves stand out more if you vary the displays. That means using different size shelves for different items, making use of end caps, and using special displays like carousels, baskets, and hooks when it makes sense.

3.Place premium markup items at eye level – You want the merchandise with the best markups to be easy to see. They will sell better at eye level. Lower-priced products and high-priced items with lower markup percentages should be placed higher and lower on the shelves.

4.Monitor your sales daily and hourly – The best way to increase your profits is to know what sells the most from day to day and from hour to hour. By tracking your sales by item, you can identify which products sell best at different times of day and on each day of the week. This will allow you to arrange your displays to make the most of the best-selling products at a time when they peak.

5.Get to know your customers – Customer data will allow you to develop your relationships with your customers better. If you know your customers’ pets’ names, what kind of pets they have, and when they shop for their pets, you can cater your marketing to each customer’s needs. This retail merchandising tips will increase your sales and your profits.

6.Fill your shelves – A store with full shelves sells! Many pet stores are short of stocks due to the high pent-up demand for pets since the beginning of the pandemic. Empty shelves and out-of-stock products will force your customers to transfer to another store and this will diminish the sales or lead to customer attrition, hence the importance of having a smart inventory software like ChainDrive for pet stores.

7.Show your prices – This one might be a bit obvious, but it’s something a lot of retailers forget when setting up: the price tags. When you’re out to buy something, what assumptions are made about products without a price tag? Answer: That it’s expensive. Research has shown that when consumers see the price of the products clearly, there’s a bigger chance that they’ll purchase it at first sight.
Showing your price helps you a lot when compared to other pet stores that don’t display the prices of their products in a convenient way or do not match online prices among many drawbacks of manual price management, last minute discounts, etc.

8.Display product reviews – Product reviews can help your store in ways you probably don’t always think of. Most shoppers do not buy anything without knowing the product’s origin or specifications, breed, age, etc. Product reviews will help customers make informed decisions based on relevant information your temporary staff might not have the time to learn or explain like a Pro. Unless you have POS system like ChainDrive where all products are properly documented, updated and easy to trace, you may lose the sale to another contender that has a sophisticated omnichannel software.

9.Establish an e-Commerce shop – With more and more consumers getting used to online shopping from the comfort of their homes, eCommerce platforms have seen a huge increase in web order since the beginning of the pandemic. This way you will have a wider reach and more options to bridge the deficit in floor traffic at the physical store level. With 24/7 shopping from anywhere and everywhere, online shopping is both convenient and popular.
What if I tell you that you can manage your merchandising, marketing, pricing strategies and inventory in a seamless and more efficient way than never before while driving performance across all the channels at the same time.

10.Why Improvise When You Can Harness Your Business Instincts & Operations with ChainDrive
Retail technology maverick Multidev Technologies is one of the very few software companies to offer an All-in-One Omnichannel. ChainDrive is a fully-integrated ERP system that is seamless, intuitive, affordable and very pet-friendly.

Its extensive list of pet shop users can manage hybrid business models including physical retail chains and eCommerce gateways. Pet shop owners from coast to coast have relied on Multidev software systems to step-up their retail merchandising tips and tactics, harness sale teams and build better customer relationships. ChainDrive Retail management software and tools are fully-integrated, seamless and smart enough to help pet shop operators monitor their stocks, price strategies, revenue per location, category, improve customer loyalty programs or experience and much more under the same roof.

ChainDrive Retail Management software solutions provides Pet retailers with complete end-to-end functionality you require as a vertical specific enterprise. If you have more questions or want to know more about how ChainDrive can help you scale-up, just dial 1.800.820.1412 or log on https://chaindrive.com/free-live-demo/ to book a free demo.