In the world of retail or any kind of product sales, it’s often to your advantage to stay current on the latest ways to promote your product and make sales. For many, even those who sell in person, eCommerce is becoming a useful tool for keeping things organized, tracking business information, and even making actual sales. You can make things easier for yourself by using technology whenever you sell your product. Here are two ways to consider adding technology to your business to make things more efficient and easier for you and your customers.
Use Technology to Keep Your Business Organized
Every time you make a sale, if you aren’t using some form of technology, you have to make a manual record of it, including pertinent information like the date and location of the transaction, which item was sold, the price it was sold at, and the customer’s information. A lot of time is used typing or handwriting information for each transaction.
If you introduce elements of eCmmerce into your business, you can let a computer or mobile device gather the information for you. A number of eCommerce programs will keep track of all your transactions, and automatically store the information in your files. This will come in handy during tax time when you’ll need these records, especially considering the GOP’s tax plan and the changes it will bring. You can also use the records you accumulate to store customer information, if they permit it, and send them information about new products or sales. And eCommerce technology can help you sort the various products you sell, making it easier to keep your inventory up to date and relevant.
Start Accepting Credit and Debit Cards
Even if you rely on person-to-person cash payments when you sell your product, you should consider accepting credit and debit card payments. No matter where you sell your merchandise, you can make this easy by using a mobile device that allows applications and attachments for reading credit cards. If you use an iPad, for example, you can purchase an iPad credit card reader that will take an electronic payment from your customer, store it for your business, and allow the customer to sign for the purchase using the touch screen. There are even additional accessories you can buy that will print receipts once the transaction is complete. Many customers don’t carry cash, or they don’t carry much cash at one time, so allowing them to use cards to make payments will increase your sales. It may also increase the total amount of each sale as customers can spend more money if they’re not worried about how much cash they have available.
Making your business technologically savvy is easier than ever because of the many advancements in eCommerce, even for stores or businesses that do not primarily conduct sales online. If you rely on a cash register, you can use credit card readers on mobile devices as a backup system if your registers go down, keeping your business open for multiple methods of payment in all situations.