“We added the shopping cart feature which really helped our retail division,” she says. “It really helped our customers who weren’t comfortable coming into the store to shop because of the pandemic. It gave them the ability to search product availability, order online, and arrange for delivery or pick up depending on their preferences. For the most part, it provided extra convenience for our existing clients which is always good for customer loyalty.”
Tracy Bond, the owner of Great Valley Pools, agrees with her operations manager and says the 2021 season was busier than ever and the online store was heavily used by their customers.
“We had not used the online store much in the past, but with the state of turmoil it was great to have this additional point-of-sale option,” says Bond. “We rolled it out as a contactless purchasing option and did a lot of curbside pickups for customers over the past six to seven months.
“We scheduled pick up times within 15-minute increments which helped our customers feel safe by being able to order the products they needed and paying for it remotely.”
According to Bond, most of their customers changed their shopping habits from purchasing products in-store to buying them online instead.
“It was probably the same amount of work for our team, just different work as we did more processing from online, fulfilling in store, placing in boxes, and staging for curbside pick up,” says Bond.
By improving one’s e-commerce store and digital marketing efforts, it will allow pool and spa retailers to provide customized offers to clients, knowing who bought what and when. This type of information will be extremely helpful this coming season when there may be some supply chain shortages. Having a robust, integrated business software that integrates with a powerful online store, gives retailers the ability to plan better and smooth out supply issues.
“This season, we will operate much more proactively—rather than how reactively we operated last season—the goal is to be prepared, reduce stress, and sell more,” says Belcourt.
That said, when clients go to a retailer’s online store, they should be able to order, pay, and arrange for delivery or pick up of their chemicals and other related products. Therefore, it is important the business service software not only supports one’s online store but also has pool and spa industry integrations, so inventory and delivery dates are accurate. Retailers should also be able to easily process credit cards on their e-commerce site directly through their business software system, to eliminate mistakes and ensure the correct end-of-day tally.
The software should also make online sales seamless by using an online payment system that creates a reliable billing process to make it easier and more convenient for customers to checkout.
Mobile functionality
The past two seasons also emphasized the importance of having mobile software solutions to thrive in today’s business environment. With resources stretched thin, business software should be accessible on any mobile device to support staff and to provide better customer service. When choosing industry-specific business software, one should select a program that includes the following in-demand mobile technology solutions:
Mobile retail
One can provide better and faster service with a retail ‘line buster’ feature using a mobile device. Using a tablet, staff can search inventory in real-time, get instant access to customer history and profiles from any location. With an integrated magnetic strip reader, or a pocket barcode scanner to complete sales transactions, staff can process credit cards and email receipts from anywhere in the retail store. These tools can not only help increase the level of customer service in one’s store but can also assist retailers in closing more sales.
