If you own a retail store or chain of stores, then you know how challenging it is to manage inventory. Keeping track of inventory as it moves through your system is critical, but it's often hard to control it once it's on the floor. Shoppers often move things around or hide an item so they can find it later. Overcoming inventory challenges is easy with the right retail mapping system. Here are some of the things the software can do.
Pinpoints Individual Items
A retail mapping system allows you to pinpoint the location of any item in your store by using RFID tags and IoT, or the Internet of things. Your employee can simply look at a device and see if an item is in stock and where it's located.
This eliminates the need to go to the back room and hunt for an item to see if it is in stock or to search the sales floor for a misplaced item. The system is precise, so the employee knows all details about the item such as the sizes and colors that are in stock and where each one is positioned in the store.
While this technology makes running a store much more efficient, it's also beneficial for shoppers. Shoppers can access the same data on their smartphones. The software leads them right to the item they're looking for.
This is even useful for customers shopping from home for store pickup later. Older inventory trackers were not as reliable and shoppers were often disappointed to learn an item was out of stock when it was supposed to be available.
A retail mapping system that relies on RFID and IoT is precise. The item is tracked from the minute it enters the stock room until it is checked out and leaves the store, with the data updating in real time. This ensures an item really is in stock before a customer makes a special trip to the store to buy it.
Creates Maps For Wayfinding
A retail mapping system is designed to create maps for staff and customers to follow throughout the store. The maps might be 2D or 3D replicas of the exact layout of the store.
A customer can watch the virtual map as they walk through the store following a navigational arrow on the screen. An audio beep might indicate when the desired item is within close range, and the indicator on the screen will point to its exact location. This cuts down on the need to ask employees to show where items are located and it makes for a more enjoyable shopping experience for your customers.
A retail mapping system can be customized to fit your exact needs, and it can integrate with other systems to make tracking and reordering inventory easier and more efficient. Whether you operate one store or several, a mapping system benefits your employees and customers too.
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