How To Increase Sales In Retail Using Software

Following IBISWorld, the US convenience store market size grows inexorably, reaching $ 33.2bn in 2021.

Perhaps, the key reason for such success is pandemic restrictions. But, Evgeniy Aleksandrenko, Head of Digital Transformation at JEVERA, is convinced that "a consistently fast turnover has always been and remains an equally crucial factor for retail's growth."

If you agree with him, maybe it's time to discover how to increase sales in retail grocery stores? We offer to do it for the next 5 minutes.

Upsells and cross-sells are the most widespread and efficient ways to increase profit in retail. These tools always work if you know exactly how to use them. You don't have to complete a public speaking course or memorize every item in your product catalog to achieve it (although that won't be superfluous either).

The software will do all the complicated work. Which one exactly? More on that later.

Now, let's prevent confusion and see what's the difference between upsells and cross-sells.

What Is Upselling To A Customer?

Upsales is a way to increase the order value by offering the customer a more expensive product of the same type.

Retailers use this tool when a buyer has the ultimate intention to purchase the item. It will be enough for a company to offer other items from the same group, which has more attractive characteristics. There is an opinion that the new offered product's cost should not exceed 25% of the previous product cost. Otherwise, a customer may postpone the purchase or not return to your store at all.

Example of upselling

Imagine an ordinary hardware store. One buyer is looking for a budget laptop for a designer's work. He has chosen a device that meets his requirements by 70%. The last thing left to do before the purchase was a brick-and-mortar store visit.

It is where the consultant enters the game. Excellent assortment knowledge and a little digital magic allow him to understand that the designer's choice will not become a reliable assistant.

He can offer a more robust laptop with huge storage and load-bearing capacity. Its characteristics can justify its higher price. If approached correctly, the buyer will purchase a more expensive laptop, feeling the retailer's care and consultant's professionalism.

What Is Cross-Selling In Retail?

The essence of cross-selling strategies is to sell a suitable product to the client. In this case, we don't convince customers to buy the same type of product with better characteristics.

Cross-selling is a way to offer complementary products that will make the core purchase usage more convenient. This method applies to those customers who have already bought goods or who are going to do it.

Example of cross-selling

Remember how when buying snacks at the convenience store, you receive an offer from the cashier to take a pack of wet wipes. Here it is, the simplest example of cross-selling. The employee offers you the complementary item, making your outdoor lunch more enjoyable.

E-commerce cross-selling works on the same principle. Imagine you decide to order a home delivery service from a nearby supermarket. You have added a lot of sweets and one package of coffee to your shopping cart. Now try opening it. Among selected goods, you can see complementary ones, like water, milk, or cream.

How Can Convenience Stores Boost Upselling Using Software?

#1 Point of sale system software

A POS is crucial for every convenience store. It allows you to conduct transactions, generate tax reports, manage assortments, contact suppliers, etc. But that's not all. It also can become an effective reward system for employee motivation.

POS helps the retail increase up/cross-sells in the way of gamification. The last one is a way to transform routine work into a fascinating competition. For each successful operation, the employee gets stars, points, and so on. The prize here is often extra weekends or different training certificates.

Are you still not sure what the POS system has to do with it?

Due to its user-friendly interface, an employee can receive everyday tasks. Let's say:

• if a customer comes to the checkout with a semi-finished product, the cashier should offer him a sauce at a discount (cross-selling);

• if a buyer took 0.5 kg of meat, the cashier should offer him 1 kg of the same meat for a slightly higher price (upselling).

To earn additional points and claim the prize, the employee will try hard to sell more. The high level of software integration allows management to track his performance.

As seen, due to generous rewarding, and accurate recognition of everyone's contribution, the staff will work harder, and the sales will grow.

If your business KPIs include an increase of upsells or cross-sells - the versatile point of sale system will come to the rescue.

#2 Contact Center

What else is worth using for sales, if not communication channels? The multichannel approach always supports advanced goods turnover. Contact center software allows operators to make upsells and cross-sells in real-time, thanks to prompts. Thus, confirming the home delivery of water, the client can use the operator's advice to buy juice as well.

Gamification can also be a part of this software. But along with order confirmation, the contact center proceeds claims and suggestions. In such cases, upselling procedures are a bit inappropriate. Thus, gamification works more efficiently as an integral part of the retail POS system software.

However, it all depends on your business needs. Therefore, to enrich the contact center with the gamification or not is up to you.

#3 Real-time campaign management system

Do you know what else will support your sales? - Properly organized marketing activities. Imagine a company that offers a vegan to buy a piece of meat with tofu. Its cross-sells are doomed.

If you own a large chain of convenience stores and interact with a skilled marketing team, the RTCM system will not hurt you. It enables the launching of countless campaigns targeted at different audience segments accurately. Your sales level will increase if you stay ahead of customer demand by offering them the right products in real-time.

Let's say a customer logged in to your store's web portal. He is selecting travel items in the product catalog. If he opens the description of a tent, the system will offer him more functional tents below. If he adds one of them to his shopping cart - make sure that this customer will see sleeping bags at a pleasant price.

The RTCM system allows your marketers to set clear requirements for audience segmentation to offer them only needed complementary goods. Such an approach helps carry out upsells and cross-sells online almost effortlessly.

#4 Loyalty system

This software tool will help you reward your audience for their engagement. Think over the customer reward system to the smallest detail, offering more valuable bonuses or coupons for complementary item purchases.

If your loyalty system allows your customers to get even more value from buying higher quality products or complementary goods they need, imagine how that would affect their customer experience. The audience will remain active and satisfied. Meanwhile, your sales level will skyrocket.