Today’s retail environment is very modest. The world of retailing is a fast changing one always with the need of continuous development on the part of the retailer. To manage and control the overall retailing process in an effective and efficient manner, retailers depend on ERP. What should you know about Retail ERP Software? It’s a software package that integrate all the data and the related processes of a store. Today every industry exists with the support of technology. Let us have a bird eye view of the role of ERP in retail industry from an energizing viewpoint.
What is the need of ERP in a retail store? If you are running a retail business then definitely you need software for different functions like POS billing, inventory, sales, accounts, payroll and much more. Do you plan to buy individual software for each function or a single retail management ERP software for your entire retail business? Certainly you will choose a single best ERP software for your merchandizing. A best retail ERP solution is designed to enhance the business procedure and ensure all-in-one operation, makes the store processes more organized, improves overall productivity and increases customer satisfaction. The effectiveness of any ERP system depends on the features offered. These need to be aligned with your particular retail requirements.
The main advantage of using a ERP software in a retail industry is that there is absolute accuracy and smooth flow of data, as all the data is centralized. Compared to any other business, in retail, customer is always the leader. So a retail ERP software should have a dedicated customer management module. This module helps stores overcome customer-related challenges, and achieve a truly integrated view of their customers. The module collects data of customers’ purchase histories, allowing to identify the most valuable customers and offer them with rewards and loyalty management programs. A powerful retail ERP software allows the retailers to have and modify the programs that allow promotional and marketing schemes, including points and discounts. Besides, it ensures timely responsiveness, which means returns and customer grievances are dealt in a smooth and quick manner.
Every basic Retail ERP software for business provide product management features such as, product master data management, product categorization and product hierarchy. But most advanced ERP software for retail management solutions provide wide range of functionalities such as,
- Organize products by category, type, season, sale, and more. Automatically sort products based on vendor, price, and inventory level etc.
- Offer different variants for products, such as multiple sizes, colors, materials, expiry dates and more. Each variation can have its own price, SKU, weight, and inventory.
- Assign existing barcodes to products or create new ones. Can quickly scan customers order by using barcode scanner.
- Manage multiple manufacturers, product-business partner relation, serial number handling, product warranty management, product expiry handling, product unit of measure conversion, product attribute sets etc.
A best ERP software for retail will manage effectively the inventory levels, ensuring the constant flow of components into and out of an existing inventory. It ensures that retailer have the necessary stock levels required to complete the transactions. An ERP software for retail business also helps in tracking expiry details of products, by sending alerts whenever the inventory is approaching it which helps retailers take needed steps to clear that inventory at priority.
Retail management ERP helps streamline operations related to the store and warehouse management. Can create any number of stores and warehouses with a link to each other and enables dividing warehouses into zones for handling the materials management. The store operations are the central part in retail as retailing, inventory management, workforce management and more comes under it. A best retail ERP software handles all these features efficiently.
You should know that the ERP software for retail industry allows you to create purchase approvals across different levels and manage multiple purchase price lists and can invite suppliers for quotations. ERP software allow you to generate purchase order based on requirements, match purchase order to receipts / invoice, and provide a clear view of your merchant relationship history.
An important component of an ERP software in retail industry is employee management. Every retail ERP software provide employee management capabilities such as shift scheduling and time clocks, ability to keep track of working hours of employees. An advance ERP retail software can also assign sales commissions to employees. You can monitor your employees working time like who is working and how long they worked, how much sales they have bought in and how many hours they have worked in the current pay period. This will help in reducing overtime duty.
The reporting feature in retail ERP software is very concise and crystal clear. From the dashboard real-time analytics, you can get a bird eye view of your sales, orders etc. up to date which helps in taking decisions about pricing. So every ERP software for retail industry should provide reporting, dashboards and analytics in real time for capturing the stores real data. This helps retailer to automatically keep track of their sales and also shows how much revenue they made from each product. You can also take custom reports and export to excel sheet.
Point of Sale POS – last but not the least is a very important module for a retail management ERP. It should provide a user friendly interface that is easy to learn within a few days. This is the critical part of a retail ERP software. POS executes all retailling and is usually placed at the front counter where all the transactions take place. It can quickly update product information, modify product information like price, name, barcode, update stock on hand of products, create POS session for the store, select the counter name and user, enter a new POS invoice, barcode scanner, credit card reader, receipt printer and cash drawer. It supports a number of other activities apart from sales, such as inventory, vendor & customer management.
Retail ERP software are not luxury but an essential and beneficial part for all retail businesses. But one need to be well-versed on what they want from the system. Then only you can find a suitable ERP retail software which provides what exactly you need. You should know that your Retail ERP software is going to be the heart and soul of your retail business – more than a myriad of essential features.
