4 must-have retail solutions for the 2022 omnichannel merchant.

Retailers are facing serious challenges. Technology can help them stay on track.

Merchants are dealing with a trifecta of challenges from global events as consumer behavior has shifted toward the digital. Expectations for personalized and streamlined experience across all shopping platforms and devices are high. Supply chain disruptions have caused delays and port closures, impacting the availability and delivery of merchandise. Finally, persistent labor shortages have wreaked havoc on an industry that already struggled with recruitment and retention in pre-COVID times. 

In these unprecedented times, matching the right retail solutions to omnichannel merchants’ operations to help them continue to operate efficiently and profitably is more important than ever. Here are four solutions your merchants need to embrace to come out on top in 2022: 

Employee management.

It’s no secret that the retail and restaurant industries carry the highest employee turnover rates. At a time when hiring, scheduling, and training employees have never been more challenging, business owners need management retail solutions that save time and extend resources. After all, when the average cost to hire (or re-hire) an employee is more than $4,000, and with turnover rates of 57.3% for retail and 130.7% for restaurants (up from 45% and 78.9% in 2019), it takes a toll on the bottom line. 

Omnichannel merchants need solutions that make managing employee recruitment, onboarding, and payment simple and streamlined. Essential features of an employee management solution include: 

• Customizable levels of access – The ability to easily build a team of administrators, managers, cashiers, and other staff with unique roles and permissions. 
• Fraud and theft prevention – Allows merchants to manage employee activity at the point of sale and allow functions like refunds and stock count updates to be authorized only by a manager or administrator. 
• Robust reporting – Give merchants access to the data they need, including the number of transactions, volume sold, payment methods, employee sales, and more to be at the touch of a button, from anywhere, in real-time. 
• Business management tools – Help merchants schedule faster, track employee time more accurately, and hire more efficiently — all from one centralized platform! 

Inventory management.

Google research shows that 98% of consumers switch between devices every day. Today, 50% of consumers are using more than four touch-points when buying an item. Starting an order on one device and completing it on a second has become common to the modern consumer purchasing experience. 

However, managing inventory seamlessly in real-time, no matter the channel, can be challenging for small to mid-sized business owners. Furthermore, consumers who receive an out-of-stock notification after processing a transaction for an item that seemed to be available is the fastest way to lose market share in an ultra-competitive space. 

Omnichannel merchants need sophisticated solutions for inventory management that make it easy to sell, track, and restock, including: 

• Cloud-based management – Allows merchants to build their product catalogs in one centralized place, accessed from any platform on any device. They should be able to quickly import, categorize, modify, and discount items for efficient management and faster access at the time of a transaction.
• Barcode scanning – Bluetooth or BYO device options that  allow items to be scanned quickly to add to orders or update counts.
• Instant alerts – Customizable notifications so that merchants know immediately when an item is low or out of stock. Inventory syncs across all platforms and devices no matter where sales are made
• Data analytics – Allow merchants to track what’s hot and what’s not by item, category, modifier, or discount. 

Dispute/chargeback management.

Moving into 2022, sales show no sign of slowing down. In fact, consumer spending is anticipated to grow 8.1% in 2021, up from a 3.8% fall in 2020. While this is good news for merchants, disputes and chargebacks come with the territory. It can be challenging for business owners to manage the time-consuming process of dealing with unwarranted chargebacks. 

Omnichannel merchants need solutions that make responding to chargebacks as simple as possible, such as: 

• Easy-to-use dispute management tools – Business owners need to be able to respond as easily and efficiently as possible to chargebacks. How? Via tools that allow them to issue full or partial refunds or accept the chargeback, rebut or respond to the chargeback with documentation like proof of purchase, delivery, or fulfillment, and track the arbitration process.  

Data analytics insights.

In a report from Accenture surveying 8,000 consumers, 91% of those polled responded that they are more likely to do businesses with brands that provide a personalized experience that remembers, recognizes, and provides relevant recommendations and offers. 

Omnichannel merchants need feature-rich retail solutions to deliver a personalized experience that will create lasting customer loyalty. Essential features to ensure merchants have the tools they need to grow business include: 

• Customized reporting that cuts through the noise – Data isn’t useful without analysis. Ensure that the solution provides easy-to-understand insights that cut right to the chase of helping business owners make better decisions. 
• Net promoter score tools – Monitoring sentiment is crucial. Help merchants better serve their customers with tools that allow them to solicit feedback and manage reviews. 

One merchant platform delivers it all.

The good news for North American Bancard partners is that you don’t have to cobble together retail solutions that include all of the functions necessary to the modern-day business owner. NAB offers them all within one centralized, secure merchant platform. 

Contact us to learn how to leverage the retail solutions within our platform to manage omnichannel merchants’ payments and back-of-office tasks while delivering experiences that keep customers loyal to their businesses.