1. Have Seamless Customer Experiences

Improving customer experiences through a Point Of Sale (POS) technology is a key to increasing sales for retail businesses. However, to create a truly seamless customer experience, it’s important to consider all aspects of the buying process, from the customer doing pre-purchase research, to ordering, receiving, and the post-sale experience.

Delivering seamless, integrated shopping experiences across all channels has become the bare minimum that most customers today demand. This is how smart retailers have achieved memorable experiences for their customers, who feel well served by any channel.

Merging online and offline interactions allows customers to purchase products from anywhere, anytime, and in the way that works best for them. It also allows business owners to better understand customer needs and preferences, which can lead to more sales.

An omnichannel integration can also help reduce the time it takes to resolve customer complaints and increase the accuracy of customer data. Plus, it can help employees better understand customer needs and preferences. Additionally, an omnichannel strategy can help retailers reduce the costs associated with offline marketing campaigns and increase revenue from online shopping.

By using a mix of online and offline channels, companies can create an omnichannel experience for their customers and increase their sales.

2. Analyze the data of the Point of Sale Program

Using a POS system, is essential to gather all the important data for your business that will allow you to make real-time decisions:

• Manage inventory: Check inventory statuses in the warehouse and in different stores.
• Manage deliveries and returns.
• Automate shipments. BOPIS: buy online, pick up in-store
• Manage information about products and customers
• Manage employees. Time cards and sales performance.
• Analyze real-time data of brick and mortar stores and e-commerce
• Analyzing KPIs performance indicators is essential to increasing sales in your business.

Remember that we can only improve what we can measure.

With a Point Of Sale system, retailers have access to KPIs like total profit and profit margin, which are clearly laid out in POS system reports, allowing retailers to track profitability and ensure that their inventory actually helps generate revenue.

The POS system can provide information about which products are selling more than others, and strategic decisions can be made. A deeper analysis will allow you to see where to place the best-selling products, colors, or models in the store, or which vendors are the sales champions in that period.

Due to this information, retailers can make better decisions that allow them to increase sales, save and make more money in a smarter way.

3. Leverage real-time speed with cloud-based POS systems

Time is decisive when it comes to making decisions quickly and safely, and this can be achieved with cloud-based systems that have the power to update inventories instantly each time a garment is sold or returned in a store, even if they are online stores or a consumer shop in the e-commerce of the business.

With a mobile point of sale, vendors can easily scan and charge for items, making transactions quick and easy. Also, there are different add-ons like the card readers, barcode scanners, cash drawers or receipt printers on the market that help compliment your POS hardware.

Also, inventory is easy to manage and track when using a mobile point of sale (mPOS) system like an iPad. That is because the iOS systems, in addition to the simple understanding and ease of use, allow users to enter data quickly and effortlessly using on-screen keyboards or touch screens.

Using an iPad POS App can take your retail business to the next level by combining the efficiency of a mobile POS, with the versatility and extraordinary customer-centric design of the Apple iPad. Your brand will gain versatility and a mobile device with the highest technology using POS for iPad, which gives you the guarantee of great performance and an innovative look.

4. Empower your POS by having Fast Check out in stores

Much of the customer experience happens in the store, so a key strategy is to ensure that your check-out process provides a fast, agile, and seamless experience, every time a consumer shops in your store. Point of Sale systems that allow payments with mobile devices, tablets, or iPads can make a huge difference, allowing sales staff to have mobility inside the stores, and go where customers are.

A study conducted by Capterra found that retailers using a mobile POS system in the United States increased from 32% in 2017 to 46% in 2020, and continue to increase. The study also reveals that 64% of the retailers surveyed agree that the adoption of a Mobile Point of Sale system helps them increase their sales, and 82% say that having the mPOS allows them to achieve seamless customer experiences.

A mobile point of sale (mPOS) system can improve the performance of retail businesses by speeding up transactions and providing greater accuracy. If you have an easy-to-use cloud-based mobile POS solution, not only will transactions be faster in-store, but cloud synchronization will also mean that every transaction is reflected across all company areas, and your inventory will be updated in real-time, both in the physical store and in e-commerce.

5. Having the Right Information, at the Right Time

A good retail POS system also allows you to track sales and inventory levels on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, so you can make informed decisions about future sales and pricing.

Once the customer is ready to pay, the sales staff can have the correct information about the products sold to the customer or the discounts that can be made, increasing the ticket at that moment.

In addition to this, email campaigns can be carried out with certain offers or advertisements for each client based on the information provided by the Point of Sale system, and the inventory stocks.

Retailers can also benefit from using retail POS systems that provide real-time reports and daily analytics. This can help them understand how their customers are using the system and what areas could be improved in the future.

What the future holds

Increasing sales with a Point Of Sale program will require a comprehensive strategy that includes proper data management. A strong sales strategy, combined with the right POS system, can be a game-changer for retailers when used to their full capacity.
The insights provided from sales data alone offer valuable insight to your sales staff, but the key is to use it appropriately to make convenient decisions that truly impact the growth of your company.

Regardless of whether you are a small business or a large chain of stores, your Point of Sale System must be easy to use and have a friendly interface, since it is important that salespeople have a friendly experience, which allows them to bring faster service and be more efficient.

It’s important that you have the full Point of Sale system that allows you to accept cards, read barcodes, have a ticket printer, and everything you need to make sales in a physical store.

A Mobile Point of Sale system offers many advantages for retail businesses. It’s faster and more efficient than a traditional cash register, transactions are processed quickly and smoothly, and inventory is easy to manage and track. Another positive feature is that sales reports are effortlessly generated, so customer data can be easily accessed and used for marketing purposes.

Leading brands are executing successful omnichannel strategies along with their marketing strategies, and know the difference between omnichannel and a multichannel strategy, achieving success across every buying channel, gaining happy customers, and increasing their sales. Customers expect to be listened to through any channel with the same benefits, so your system must offer payment processing for all forms of payments available, such as credit cards, cash or even gift cards.

Are you ready to choose your Point of Sale (POS) software?

Teamwork Commerce is an omnichannel solution that provides retailers with POS, OMS, Inventory Control, CRM, and Analytics. As a leading partner of Apple, Teamwork is constantly evolving and ensures the use of cutting-edge technology. The world’s leading retailers use Teamwork Commerce to create customer-centric omnichannel and frictionless experiences, and offer exceptional customer service. For more information, visit: https://www.teamworkcommerce.com/demo-request/

This article originally appeared in Retail Merchandiser

Retailers who didn’t have a reliable online presence were quickly forced to adapt during the Covid-19 pandemic. Left with no option to physically welcome customers, many stores had to begin or enhance their digital channels. For some, this meant relying on an eCommerce platform that was underprepared for an online-only approach. Worse still for others, they had to create one from scratch. Retailers were immediately put on the back foot, and their ability to deliver a high-quality customer experience suffered as a result. However, from a consumer perspective, while the convenience of online shopping provided a breath of fresh air, many missed the experience of physically being in-store, sampling products, and receiving an in-person customer experience.

Fast forward to 2022. The pandemic is almost behind us and stores are open once again. Retailers are now facing a new challenge: providing the best possible service to customers who want the convenience of online shopping, but the high-quality experience of in-store shopping. With an optimized omnichannel strategy, retailers can find the right balance between online and in-store, and provide a unified shopping experience for their customers.

Seamless Flow of Information

The ability to effectively blend online and in-store channels is highly reliant on communication between the two. There is little more frustrating than finding a product online, only to discover that the item is out of stock once you arrive in-store – and vice versa. Retailers should be looking to provide a flow of information that is completely unhindered, from point-of-sale (POS) systems right through to their websites.

To deliver a truly great customer experience, information between channels has to flow seamlessly without any silos. This includes everything between physical and digital channels, event digital marketing strategy and customer service. Everything must be aligned and communicated effectively to ensure that customers have the most accurate and up-to-date information around product availability, delivery or pick-up slots, and even ongoing deals and promotions.

An all-encompassing omnichannel solution

Today’s customers shop on their terms. If a retailer cannot meet their demands, they will find one that can. The key to not only growing a customer base, but perhaps more importantly, retaining existing customers, is to give consumers a range of purchasing options that fit their needs.

In a post-pandemic environment, with many professionals being given much more flexibility in their working hours, their shopping habits are changing significantly. They are at home more often, able to take deliveries more easily. However, they also have the freedom to buy online and pick-up in-store if they want to.

According to eMarketer, buyers will spend $95.87 billion via click and collect this year, a 19.4 percent increase year over year (YoY). Furthermore, PWC also finds that more than half of shoppers view an efficient delivery or collection service as ‘always’ or ‘very often’ important. Before the pandemic, these additional services were seen as a ‘nice to have’. Today they are essential.

In order to achieve this, retailers need an all-encompassing omnichannel solution, which includes POS, order management, inventory control and customer relationship management (CRM) to ensure a consistent and streamlined experience, regardless of channel and stage of sales process.

With an omnichannel POS Software, retailers can ensure that their customers have a consistent shopping experience regardless of where they buy from or how they interact with the brand.

Remaining agile

The last few years have proven to the retail sector that flexibility is integral to long-term business success and sustainability. Those who were able to shift quickly to the requirements of the pandemic and resulting lockdowns in 2020 benefited much more than those who had previously operated with a limited eCommerce offering, let alone the retailers that had relied solely on a rigid in-store only approach.

The pandemic may be nearly in the past, but with an omnichannel approach, retailers can not only remain agile and competitive in the short term, they can use the latest technology to ensure long-term business sustainability. Retailers need to know their customers on an individual basis. They need to understand how they like to shop, where they want to do it, how they want to be marketed towards and even approached in-store.

The more retailers can cater towards their customers, the better the overall customer experience will be, and the more likely they will be to return. This can only be achieved with an all-encompassing omnichannel solution that keeps a seamless flow of information across all channels.

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Whether you have a small business or a large company, one of the most important decisions for your retail company is to choose the best point of sale software. This decision will determine how your business information flows and how your sales evolve. 

Regardless of whether you have a good ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) system, a point of sale system is essential to manage a retail company since it helps you to automate payment processing, as well as track sales and relevant data for operating a retail store, such as the availability of your products or items in stores and warehouses, your customer profiles, among many other management features. 

Currently, there are many different options of point of sale software available on the market, so it’s important to find the right POS option for your retail business needs. And we want to help you to do that!

In this article, we will share 5 things you must consider to choose the best Point of Sale software for your retail business, after the COVID 19 pandemic redefined the way retail companies operate. A solution that allows you to be at the forefront of technology while you meet your customer needs.

What is a Point of Sale (POS) System?

Point of sale software is computer software that helps retail companies run their business operations. Talking about the POS hardware, it can be used on desktops, laptops, or even mobile devices such as Android tablets or iPad POS, and it can include management features such as ordering systems, cash registers, inventory control, payment processing, barcode scanners, and point of sale screens where transactions are completed in front of customers.

There are many different types of POS software available on the market today, however, it is important to know how to choose the best, so it can meet the most current requirements that customers are looking for and is both easy to use, as well as a powerful system for your business to empower your sellers.

How to know if a Point of Sale software is good?

• It is simple and uncomplicated: The software should be easy to learn and use, especially for new employees.
• It offers Data Tracking: A retail industry needs to be able to track sales, general data, and other important metrics.
• It offers strong security:  POS software should include features that protect against fraud and theft.
• It is customizable: Vendors should offer a wide range of customization options, allowing retail managers to create a system that feels unique to them.
• It has a friendly interface: Good POS solutions allow employees to use them intuitively, without the need for constant training.
• It helps business owners to make real-time decisions: a cloud based POS system will allow immediate updating, synchronization and real time reports, so that the decisions you make are based on the correct information at the correct time.

Sales management, advanced inventory management, and being able to link inventory to sales are also important. Without accurate records of what is in stock and what has been sold, it becomes impossible to manage your finances or track the activity of your customers.

A good retail POS system also allows you to track sales and inventory levels on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis, so you can make informed decisions about future product launches and pricing.

In addition, a comprehensive Point of Sale system provides tracking capabilities for your customers. For instance, being able to know who is buying what and when, or which products are flying off the shelves and which are not.

5 Tips to Choose the Best POS Software for Your Retail Company

1. Consider what your business goals are. What will you use the POS system for?

Before choosing a POS software, it’s important to determine your company’s business goals. Like any important decision, the strategy you are considering implementing is a key factor in a world with so much competition, and in which the rules change and are reinvented every day. So it will be very important to ask yourself questions such as:

Do you want to increase sales? Control inventory? Reduce administrative costs? What do you need the software to do? Do you need to track sales and data? Create customer profiles? Do customer management? Do payment processing? Support a Loyalty Program? Serve your customers instore and online, or through multiple channels? Upgrade your system to be omnichannel? 

All these mentioned tasks can be performed with different POS systems. Answering these questions before making any decisions about which POS to implement, will be of great importance in meeting your retail company’s goals.

2. Evaluate the cost-benefit relationship

When choosing a point of sale software for your retail business, it is important to consider the cost-benefit ratio. Point of sale software can improve efficiency and save you time by speeding up transactions, but it’s important to weigh the benefits against the costs. The following five keys can help you calculate the cost-benefit ratio:

• Evaluate how much transaction or payment processing time is wasted due to inefficiencies in your current system. 
• Determine how much money could be saved by eliminating errors and speeding up transactions. How long are you taking to generate reports, and how much does it cost your business.
• Calculate the potential gross margin for each point of sale system in your retail business.
• Calculate how much additional investment you are making in marketing because you do not have a system that allows you to integrate your marketing strategies and contact your customers, or implement customer management strategies. 
• Compare price points and POS features to find the best option for your needs.

And of course, it will be essential to consider your budget. Consider how much you are willing to spend on a POS system, since some of the more popular systems can range in price from $100 to $10,000.

Another factor to determine the cost-benefit ratio is to evaluate the current technological infrastructure of your company. Perhaps a large investment in POS hardware has already been made and the best option is to take the most advantage of it. However, in the cost-benefit ratio, no cost is greater than the need to stay current, satisfy your customer needs, and generate more sales.

Without any doubt, being up to date with an omnichannel point of sale system is one of the best investments that you can make. Far from being an additional cost or a “nice to have” software, your point of sale system will determine the company’s future, since it simplifies the management of your business and increases your sales.

3. Compare different types of POS software: on-premises, cloud based, or hybrid.

POS software comes in three main types: local, cloud based, and hybrid. Each of them has advantages and disadvantages.

Local software is installed on company servers. This means that the company has full control over it and it can easily update it. However, this type of POS software is more expensive to install and maintain than the other two types.

A cloud based software runs on a remote server owned by the company or a third party. This means that the company does not have to invest in hardware or software, but sacrifices some control over how the software is updated and managed. Cloud based systems are easier to use than on-premises systems, and nowadays they offer much better security and performance than on-premises systems.

Hybrid systems combine elements of all three types of software. That is why it will depend on your needs to choose the modality that best suits your retail company.

4. Make sure the POS is Omnichannel 

Omnichannel POS refers to the use of multiple channels (internet, smartphone, mobile applications, e-commerce) to interact with customers and manage sales transactions. Leveraging these channels, companies can improve customer loyalty and service, and increase revenue by eliminating the need for customers to visit multiple locations or make multiple phone calls.

There are several factors to consider when selecting an omnichannel POS platform: the digital and distribution channels that businesses use most often, how much customization is desired, for example, pricing, scalability, integrations, and partnerships available, among others. 

Advantages of having an Omnichannel POS

The first benefit of an omnichannel POS is that a company can increase its sales in a short period of time. Omnichannel POS software enables the retailer to track customer behavior and preferences across all channels, enabling the business to provide a more customized shopping experience. This means that customers are more likely to purchase items they have been interested in, and are not as influenced by advertisements or other promotional materials. Additionally, if an item is out of stock in one channel but available in another, the retailer can automatically order it from the out-of-stock channel, saving time for the customers. 

Retailers who adopt an omnichannel point of sale (POS) software can obtain several important benefits.

• Omnichannel POS terminals enable retailers to handle transactions in a more efficient and customer-friendly way. 
• Using omnichannel POS systems allows retailers to track sales, inventory, and data in a more effective way.
• Using omnichannel POS systems can help drive customer loyalty by making it easy for them to shop across a retailer’s store network.
• Omnichannel POS systems can help retailers reduce costs associated with traditional retail operations, such as labor and overhead.
• Adopting an omnichannel retail POS can position you as a leading provider of consumer services across all channels.
• An Omnichannel POS system provides a better service, helping reduce customer complaints.

5. Make sure it will help improve Customer Experience

Retailers who want to improve customer experience and increase customer loyalty, should choose the point of sale (POS) software that meets the needs of their business. The right POS software can help ensure accurate sales transactions and save you time, while it also offers reduced wait times for customers.

Clients increasingly demand great customer experiences in all aspects of their lives, specially the ones they got while shopping. This has led to a demand for POS systems that provide an excellent customer experience. Retail companies need to consider how they can best meet this demand and keep costs down.

There are different ways to improve customer experience with POS systems. Some popular techniques include providing friendly and helpful staff, user-friendly menus and kiosks, and layouts that are pleasing to the eye. It is important for retail managers to choose the right POS software for their needs, as not all systems will offer all of these POS features.

Retailers can also benefit from using retail POS systems that provide real time reports and daily analytics. This can help them understand how their customers are using the system and what areas could be improved in the future.

What’s next?

The retail industry has a wide range of POS software to choose from, each with its own set of pros and cons. The right POS option will depend on the specific needs of your retail company.

With so many options available, it’s important to do your research and find the right software for your business needs. There are many factors to consider when choosing a point of sale system for a retail business, however, business owners can find the system that allows them to be at the forefront of technology and be part of the businesses that thrive in the new post-COVID19 reality.

Are you ready to choose your Point of Sale (POS) software?

Teamwork Commerce is an omnichannel solution that provides retailers with POS, OMS, Inventory Control, CRM, and Analytics. As a leading partner of Apple, Teamwork is constantly evolving and ensures the use of cutting-edge technology. The world’s leading retailers use Teamwork Commerce to create a customer-centric omnichannel experience and be frictionless. For more information, visit www.teamworkcommerce.com

The global POS system market is projected to grow from $75.5 billion in 2020 to $138.1 billion in 2026, a 10.3% CAGR (compound annual growth rate), according to a late 2021 report by Global Industry Analysts. Mobile POS software terminals specifically are predicted to experience a slightly greater growth – 10.4% CAGR – within the next 7 years, adds the report.

Part of this can be attributed to the massive growth some retail markets are experiencing locally in different parts of the world. Another part will be accelerated as retailers spread their assets further and further across the world, diversifying both their business risks and growth opportunities.

As your company takes advantage of global opportunities, you need a POS system that will support your expansion. A POS system that already understands the global marketplace, regulations, payment processors, and more.

How Global POS Terminals Support International Expansions

International expansions require tools that can make the new stage of operations smoother, especially when you look to navigate credit card and customer data processing alongside customer sentiment and trends. A good global POS system is more than simply translated into the native language. It needs to help you meet local fiscal regulations, integrate with local payment providers, and keep your customer’s data secure around the globe.

Law & Regulation Compliance

A POS system is more than a way to track inventory and make sales in a new country. Behind the scenes, it means you’re navigating through local data management, privacy, credit card processing, tax and cybersecurity laws and regulations, to name a few. Not complying could lead to fines, reputation damage, lawsuits, or even a ban on doing business in a given state, region or country.

Therefore, when you set out to choose a global POS system for a specific market, it’s critical to choose one that’s already done the legwork, and integrated all the local laws and regulations into its devices and software products. If you plan on expanding to multiple locations, it’s best to go with a global POS system that’s immersed in as many of them as possible, and has the experts and processes in place to adapt to additional markets.

Software Localization

The first thing many people think about when it comes to localization might be translation. After all, it’s the basic step toward communication in a new country. However, true localization goes beyond that.

It means understanding a market’s unique communication etiquette, the way customers discover products, the type of products they relish most, which sales strategies are acceptable, what they consider a great customer experience, what’s their standard for customer service, what they expect if they need to return a product, cultural phenomena and political climate, among others.

When it comes to customer relationships and transactions, you need a global POS solution that’s as tailored as possible to each market’s needs. It will help you minimize friction at crucial interaction points. Moreover, it will make the final step of purchasing feel like it was created just for your new customers, because when you work with localized global POS terminals, that’s pretty much what happens.

Global Security

A global POS system makes protecting customer data and complying with local security regulations across the globe simple. For example, stay GDPR compliant through tokenization, which allows you to secure customer data in a central location, and access it locally without ever importing it – or storing it – on the local system. 

This enables a secure, compliant omnichannel retail experience for your customers, no matter where in the world they’re shopping.

Set Your Company to Success with a Global POS System that Knows How to Grow with You

Helping retailers grow their companies and improve customer experiences around the globe is why we founded Teamwork Commerce. We believe in the power of localized operations, and embedded our software in the local preferences, regulations and laws of over 20 countries, with more on the horizon. Our POS is fully localized in twelve languages, and will keep you compliant by meeting fiscal regulations in countries like China, Brazil, and France.

Along the way, we’ve also developed teams and processes to support our global customers. We have offices in North and South America, Mexico, Europe, Australia and Asia. 

Chinese consumers are loving luxury retail. In 2020, as countries closed their doors to travelers, Chinese consumers used their international tourism budgets for luxury retail therapy. In 2021, that habit accelerated by 36% to $73.6 billion, according to CNBC. While the spending did slow down later in the year to pre-pandemic numbers, the country is still on track to become the world’s retail luxury leader by 2025, surpassing the US, adds CNBC.

One of the reasons? The population that’s doing the shopping.

Who’s Shopping for Luxury Retail in China

China Sends Mixed Messages to International Brands

Entering the Chinese market on your own can be very confusing. Let’s explore some of the considerations you need to take into account, then look at what could help you succeed.

That Time China Caused European Luxury Stocks to Drop

As more citizens grow their income, the Chinese government announced plans to step in, increase taxes for high incomes and high purchases, and redistribute this wealth for better economic equality. While it sounds good, the results weren’t great for European luxury brands. Together, their stocks lost $120 billion within two days of that announcement in 2021.

This potential tax challenge is just one of the uphill battles for international brands hoping to rely on the Chinese market for their own growth. There’s also a question of whether Chinese consumers would buy from them at all.

China Encourages Citizens to Buy from Local Brands

In addition to redistributing wealth, China is also doing its best to create a culture that keeps money, and the financial power it provides, within its borders. In other words, it’s encouraging citizens – starting at a young age – to buy from local brands and prioritize products that emphasize China’s uniqueness.

It’s working. The population seems to prioritize local brands. However, international brands still have hope, because when the borders are open and Chinese consumers travel abroad, they love shopping at internationally recognized brand name stores… and that’s something the government isn’t ignoring, either.

China Also Provides Business Benefits for International Brands Opening Shop in the Country

This is where it gets confusing. The same country that is now talking about charging extra taxes, and causing European luxury retail stocks to drop, is also the country that’s been providing business benefits, including tax reductions, to international brands that open shop in China, in a desire to get more of them to do so.

To help you become one of those brands, let’s look at three international brands that focus on this market and see what they’re doing.

3 Examples of International Brands that Succeed in the Chinese Market Anyway

Succeeding in China might not be easy, but these brands prove it’s possible.

Burberry Understands it Takes a Village

When Burberry first entered China, it knew it didn’t understand the Chinese market enough to serve it well. Therefore, it let locals lead the way – in big part, by franchising the brand to local businesses.

Once it gained better insights and the brand name gained local trust, the company upped the work it was doing in-house to strengthen relationships with Chinese customers, among others, via local social media platforms and brand-owned stores.

BMW Creates Long Term, Local Partnerships

In 2003, BMW created a partnership with a Chinese organization, which helped the company manufacture BMW cars in China and establish the brand as one of the leading luxury car brands in the country. Over the years, BMW’s share of the partnership has grown. It now holds 75% of the shares, but its commitment to the partnership is still strong. In early 2022, BMW announced the extension of the partnership for 18 more years, while also indicating it will continue collaborating with the provincial government, as it has done until now.

Pampers Succeeds When it Understands Chinese Customers’ Needs

While Pampers isn’t a luxury brand, its success story represents a vital element of succeeding in China. Way back in the 1990s, Pampers tried selling diapers in China without understanding how Chinese parents potty train their kids, and how that impacted their dislike of Western diapers. When sales weren’t great, the company reduced prices, but Chinese customers still didn’t trust it.

Only in 2006, when the messaging shifted to a research-based claim that diapers equal better sleep, and better sleep could drive better cognitive development, sales skyrocketed. Why? Because Pampers finally understood what actually mattered to Chinese parents.

Want to Succeed in China too? Pay Attention to Cultural Differences When Strategizing Your Marketing

As the Pampers example proves, brands can’t assume that what worked in the west will work in China. Even if a campaign worked well somewhere in Asia, it might not work well in China. Simultaneously, brands can’t just make a few tweaks and think they’re ready to go. Instead, they must customize messages to Chinese needs, and maybe even create them from scratch, just for local customers.

When you do that, you need to take the cultural, historical and political landscape, as well as its heritage and the heritage’s impact on this landscape, into consideration. This, of course, doesn’t mean adding some traditional Chinese motifs, like dragons, to your branding and calling it a day. That won’t necessarily speak to contemporary customers. You need to develop a deep understanding of local customers’ motivations and needs.
For example, men buy makeup in China, just as some men buy makeup in the US. But in China, it’s not about gender fluidity – it’s just another way to improve yourself, like building muscles or getting a degree. The messaging needs to be totally different to speak to local customers.

But differences can be more invisible sometimes – say, when what’s considered a “small” or “medium” size is different in China, or when hand gestures can have completely different historical contexts than they do in the west.

That’s why it’s important not to do it alone. Partner with local organizations, or companies that have experience successfully localizing in China, and keep open communication lines with your local audience.

Importantly, keep the respect and embrace of this rich, unique culture front and center even when you market elsewhere in the world. The internet has made the world a small space, and staying culturally sensitive to this significant market even in faraway geographical areas will go a long way in building trust with your Chinese audience.

Discover What Customers Actually Need

About a decade ago, fashion brand Kate Spade New York made a promise to inspire its customers to lead a more interesting life. As then CMO Mary Beech said at a Columbia Business School conference, the brand identified its #1 customer to be a culturally curious woman, who “lives life to the fullest… takes chances and… stands out from the crowd.”

This customer profile was front and center for all departments, from design to social media and customer service. It even led to interactive store experiences, such as signs that hid below handbags to surprise customers when they picked them up.

You can watch Beech’s full presentation here:

But this kind of customer profile isn’t accidental or made up from thin air. To discover what customers need, you need to talk to them:

=> Run surveys.
=> Invite them to roundtables or one on one calls with your team.
=> Talk regularly with your customer service and in-store employees to get direct customer feedback.

In addition, pay attention to what they share online:

=> Mine your social media and blog comments.
=> Use social listening tools.
=> Analyze product reviews on your site and on marketplaces like Amazon.

To take it to the next level, analyze what they’re saying about your competitors, too. Discover what they love about competitors, and what gaps are left to fill.

Of course, back all that with browsing and shopping data. Run product and promotional tests. See which changes speak to customers most, and adjust accordingly.

Choose a CRM that Provides a Universal Customer View

When choosing a CRM, choose one that provides a universal, omnichannel customer view, so you can start stepping away from fragmented experiences that exhaust and frustrate customers. Verify your CRM gives you:

=> Browsing history on all channels.
=> Shopping history on all channels.
=> Customer service history on all channels.
=> Loyalty program data.
=> Other engagement information, like how many channels they use to follow or engage with your brand (Do customers who follow you in three or more channels have different needs? Greater loyalty?).

In addition, it’s important to share and analyze data across silos. Customers expect to feel like they’re talking to the same “person” whether they contact you on Instagram, chat or in-store, and whether they reach out for sales or or service help. The only way you can authentically provide that feeling is by creating in-company collaborations.

Source: Brightpearl and Multichannel Merchant via CBI Insights

Provide Personal Experiences with Clienteling

The long term relationships brands build with customers through clienteling are especially strong, because they go beyond personalized experiences for segments. Clienteling creates personal, one on one relationships between a sales associate and a specific customer – although it’s especially powerful and effective when it’s empowered by technology that provides the universal customer view we just covered.
In this case, sales associates get access to customers’ preferences, wish lists and purchase history. They get to know their tastes and desires. Therefore, it’s easier for sales associates to provide product recommendations, including upsells and cross-sells, and early access to new items.

Sales associates can go the extra mile by providing gift cards for customers’ loved ones or facilitating product maintenance sessions, for example. With the help of a mobile POS, they can help customers cut the line when it’s time to make a payment, as purchases can be finalized anywhere in the store.

Sales associates can also use their mobile POS to gain access to the unified customer data, and add their own, as they document every interaction. Put together, the brand gets a rich database that enables it to reach out and engage with the customer long after she left the store, so she can feel cared for no matter which channel she prefers to use next.

Create Emotional Connections

Brain studies show that we often make purchase decisions based on emotions first, then rationalize these decisions afterwards, reports Psychology Today. Therefore, the deeper emotional connections you can create with customers, the likelier they are to buy and keep coming back.

Consider why customers are buying, or how buying from you or engaging with your brand makes them feel.

Emotional Needs

Let’s take fashion, for example. Buying clothes can be fun, but maybe not as much if all the representations you see are of beauty models you might never achieve. But when you buy from a brand like Aerie, which continuously showcases models of different body types, races and physical abilities, you might feel valued and beautiful on a whole other level.

Values and Purpose

Alternatively, you might buy from this brand because it represents and advocates for your values, whether it’s diversity or sustainability. You might choose this brand over another because you prefer to give your money to a brand that has more financial power than you do to drive the change you want to see in the world.

Opportunities for Trust Building

Just as importantly, you’re likely to stay with a brand that takes responsibility, shows empathy and helps you find resolution when things go wrong.

When Things Go Wrong

Customer centricity is a fun topic when we’re planning marketing strategies, checking out innovative technology options, and brainstorming ways to pamper our most loyal customers. It’s easy to think that if we do all these things, it’ll be all rainbows and unicorns from now on.

And in a way, we’re not completely wrong. When companies take one more extra step toward customer centricity, customers are likelier to forgive their mistakes and keep buying.

That extra step is empathy – especially when things go wrong.

According to CEB, most customers who reach out for support already tried to resolve things themselves, which means they already feel frustrated. Then, we’ve all experienced contact centers that require us to jump through hoops, contact multiple touch points, explain our issue over and over again… only to get blamed for doing things wrong ourselves, or otherwise getting treated poorly.

No wonder that CEB reports that “customer service interactions are actually 4x more likely to lead to disloyalty than loyalty.”

It’s critical to invest in tools and training that facilitate more empathetic, customer-centric service.

The Secret Nobody Tells You About Customer Centricity: It Actually Shouldn’t Be Your First Priority

In fact, it’s very challenging to create customer centricity if it’s your number one priority, because it isn’t created in a vacuum. It’s created by people – your employees.
The challenge is, “a third of employees aren’t truly engaged on the job” and it “cost[s] companies between $450 and $550 billion a year,” reports HR Dive. When employees aren’t engaged, they often do the minimum. When they don’t feel appreciated, they often won’t go out of their way to think outside the box and innovate. When they feel stuck at a job that mistreats them, they might come off frustrated and annoyed in customer interactions.

In one company, management was so oblivious to the employee experience, that it simultaneously asked them to take actions and threatened to fire them if they took said actions. No matter what the company did to motivate its employees, or what bonuses it “threw” at them, product development remained slow and the company kept losing money.

To prevent this from happening in your company, treat your employees as your number one customer sector. Discover what they actually need, get a universal view of their experience, personalize their journeys in your company, create emotional connections, and be there for them when things go wrong.

When you do that, it’ll be much easier for them to help you successfully implement these strategies with your prospects and paying customers.