Are You Ready For The Back-To-School Rush?

It’s back-to-school already. This year the National Retail Federation’s (NRF) annual survey projects that total spending for school and college combined is expected to reach 83.6 billion. That’s more than a 10-percent increase from last year’s 75.8 billion.

Be competitive with year’s back-to-school rush. Here are a few ideas to maximize sales by utilizing your point-of-sale (POS).

Track, Analyze, Project

Do you know what sold last year at this time, and how much? What didn’t sell so well? Don’t worry if you don’t have definite answers. If you have a quality POS, it most likely tracked all your numbers last season. Pull your data and analyze your stats. Then project what you think you might sell again. Now you are ready to order.

What’s in Your Inventory?

Before you order, check your inventory in your POS. There’s no sense in ordering a ton of two-pocket folders if you already have a quite a bit in stock. But be sure to set alerts that let you know when inventory levels are getting low. You don’t want to run out of stock. If you always have what your customers need that will help them feel confident that your business is the one-stop shopping spot for back-to-school supplies every fall.

Plan Your Sales

Store promotions are always helpful at bringing in the sales. Don’t worry if you haven’t started yet, the NRF is predicting that parents are waiting till the last minute to buy supplies. Don’t forget to use your POS to check your hourly, daily, and weekly sales reports. That will help you keep a handle on your traffic, as well as optimizing sales.

Customer-Specific Discounts

Try customer-specific promos and discounts. Use your Customer Relationship Management (CRM) to review customer information. Leverage it to offer incentives to your most valued customers. One idea might be to offer a discount to students, or even their school based off their purchase.

In the competitive retail world, it’s wise to plan accordingly so your business beats the competition. What plans do you have in place for the back-to-school rush? Call Bepoz for a point-of-sale demo.