Do I need a Retail Software Solution?

Hello,

Through today’s blog we will we will be sharing discussing the need of software solution for a retail store, and would like to share the awareness among retailers on a question “Do I need a Retail Software Solution? Which often confuses them to make a decision to get software for their store or not.

Before we jump into the real discussion let us understand the basic need for a software solution that is why we need software?

The answer is Software solutions are required where repeated work, complex calculations, accurate information etc is involved and has to be done most accurately with minimal chances of error and yes at minimum cost involved.

So from the brief explanation above one thing is clear that software are essential for businesses, but why for my business, as I am into retail business, and have been doing this business for ages perfectly without using any software solution.

Let us take a typical example of Grocery store to understand the need for retail software.

A typical grocery store involves following transactions and calculations to be managed:-

• Barcode:- Standard barcodes on company products, and other products which don’t have barcodes but needs to be manage and maintained

• Inventory management: - Most important is to manage the inventory which includes terminologies like current stock, out of stock, in stock, in transit, expiry stock etc.

• Accounts management: - Accounts needs to be managed for sold items (now a day’s sell happens on cash, credit, debit cards) and purchases from various supplier which are distributors to different products.

• Billing:- Very crucial for any business, in grocery retail of a departmental store billing involves, discounts, promotions, loyalty points management, schemes and various other offers shared by the companies.

We believe that the above mentioned points are enough to understand the need for a retail store software. Let us discuss each one in a bit detail and compare both the sides that is with software and without software.

• Barcodes:- If a retail store is not using a software solution then whether it’s a standard product having barcodes imprinted or a local product with no barcode, it’s all the same, and the main challenge is to document things like the entry or Purchase date of the product, Expiry date of the product, Batch no., the product is purchased from which vendor etc, and if the store is using a software solution then all these things will be recorded and will be maintained in the software, with alert mechanism which will be helpful in case of have expired stock in inventory, and the software also helps in generating the barcode for local products which then can be managed and maintained the same way as standard products.

• Inventory management: - Without software solution inventory management in a grocery store is a troublesome task. Managing of expiry, breakage, return, old products manually involve error which will lead to losses. Apart from it a retail store also needs to manage near expiry goods. With software in place, inventory will be managed with accuracy.

• Billing and Accounting: - Managing manually involves challenges like calculation on, various promotional offers, applying schemes, adjusting customer loyalty, offering discounts and managing taxes on different products, and accounting for transaction which involves sale on cash and card and purchases on cheque, DD, and handling a credit cycle. All this will be managed by the software solution; and not only that but also manages the credit days for different vendors, and shows the alert once the days exceed the credit limit.

Conclusion:-

Hope you have got insights of how a software solution manages all the complex tasks and works towards excellence. This is not only quick bust save a lot on time, money and energy. The initial cost for software may seems like a Cost, but this investment has higher long term returns.

Hope you liked the post, please share your comments.


RetailGraph Team

SoftWorld (India) Pvt. Ltd.
21, Sunder Market,
Near SMS Hospital, Jaipur-302004
Ph: +91-141-2577600 (5 Lines) * Fax: 2571882
Cust. Care Center: +91-141-2577603 (2 Lines)
Web : www.retailg.com

Transition to a Web Based Application

Hello,

Today’s story is a success story of RetailGraph which you are familiar of. Hope you remember the story of Mrs. Chopra and Simran, we have shared two stories about how they automated their store operations and have a controlled way of dealing with customers.

Refer the earlier post on http://retailgraph.blogspot.in/2013/06/retailgraph-software-for-apparels.html

As the time flies by Mr. Chopra has grown her business manifolds, with a humble beginning of only 1 small store now she has 8 huge stores across the county, and counting.

With RetailGraph all her operations were taken care of well, but still she is facing a challenge, yes challenge of accessibility of real time information from all the stores, and to able to calculate a consolidated P&L for her business.

With the existing setup software at every store, she still manages to get the store wise data and reports, but she again needs to perform an exercise to get consolidated figures for her business as a whole.

So she decided to discuss it up with the account manager assigned for her account with the challenges. The conversation and the solution were as below:

Mrs. Chopra: - Hello, I am Mrs chopra...

Acc. Mgr: - Hello, madam how are you.

Mrs Chopra: - Yes I am fine.

Acc. Mgr: - Yes please how can I help you.

Mrs. Chopra: - As you are aware I have 14 stores now and I am planning to open a couple of more in another month or so, this means a lot of travelling is involved for me to manage these stores and to open new ones. RetailGraph has helped a lot as far as independent stores are concern, but now i want to have a consolidated option available for me so that i have all the reports and analytics for my business in a real time basis, this was my purpose to call you to understand a solution to this concern of mine.

Acc. Mgr: - Yes please. I have understood your challenges in detail and the need to have a consolidated view of the information in real-time.

Mrs. Chopra: - Yes

Acc. Mgr: - In fact we have 2 solutions for you to choose from which are:-

1. RetailGraph consolidation: - same setup as you have but the Masters will be maintained at a single Location (HO) or the location you spend the maximum time, from there all the prices, categories etc can be pushed to other locations and consolidated reports and analytics can be received.

2. RetailGraph Web Module: - Everything will be on web and the username and password will be shared to the users, this will help you to get into the system any time from any place simply via an internet connection. In this module data will be on server, which you can host locally or can be put on a third party cloud.

And in future we are coming up with our Android module as well, which will have all the information available on you Android Mobile OR Tab.

Mrs. Chopra: - This is quite impressive, I am happy that I am associated with RetailGraph as my Garments Store Software. For now I will select the 2nd option of Web based Software solution, but tell me what about the data base how to maintain and manage it, currently in our existing decentralised working we have data locally maintained and backed up. Please explain how it will be managed if its all web based

Acc Mgr: - Yes sure. In Web based approach, we recommend to host your data with us or with a third party solution provider. This will ensure safety and security of data, many owner have the question in mind that will my data be secured with 3rd party or not, to which our answer is that your data will be most secured with them, as they are professionals and use tier 3 and tier 4 data centres to manage the data with high end encrypted security levels.

And to add on you can also assign area wise and region wise managers with certain rights so that they can view the data from their region only and you being at the top can view each and every detail along with analytics.

Mrs Chopra: - That’s some real insight; I understood, so let us start the transition to the web based module of RetailGraph. Thank You.

Acc. Mgr: - Thanks. Madam, we will initiate the transition process.

Conclusion:- We have solution to all your needs, We grow as you grow, RetailGraph works as standalone application, as online application with Consolidated and a complete online Application for businesses at advance level.


Hope you liked the post, please share your comments.

SoftWorld (India) Pvt. Ltd.
21, Sunder Market,
Near SMS Hospital, Jaipur-302004
Ph: +91-141-2577600 (5 Lines) * Fax: 2571882
Cust. Care Center: +91-141-2577603 (2 Lines)

Why Change is Important for a Software Solution ?

Why Change is Important for a Software Solution ?

The Only thing that is constant is change. Yes change is inevitable. 

In today blog post we will be share why change is important and how we change our software solutions.

We at SWIL make possibly every effort to keep up with the changing times and our experience of 20 years proves this.  

Our software products have catered to the requirements of different stakeholders in the supply chain including Retail Store, Chain of Stores, C&F and Distributors and the Parent or the Manufacturing Company.

In Software industry and especially which caters to the requirements of ever evolving Retail sector, where software is very crucial for business and operation, any change small or big it has to be planned well in advance for adaptation.

Change is always considered good, but unplanned change can do more harm than doing any good. SWIL is always working towards planned change and it is a planned activity which we follow religiously.

How we plan changes in our software solution:

1. With our planned review meeting and discussion with our marketing and customer care teams we get feedback's on new requirement and change request based on their interaction with the client.
2. The Change Requests are then evaluated by the Product Development team and further discussed on the feasibility and whether the features solve the purpose of a single client OR whether is it beneficial for a segment of clients catering to an entire industry. 
3. The Change request is then initiated to Development team and the phase includes
• Development
• Testing and 
• Released on finding it fully functional, released it with the new version of the software which may cover other such features as well OR only this feature if it’s unique to a client.
4. This updated version is then deployed at client end and the customer care team train the client and its operators about the changes in the version and how to use them.

To add on not only did we change our versions and work towards continuous improvement and customer satisfaction, but we also change the platforms, so that the products can work on different platforms giving customers the liberty to work on Windows, Web and Android.

Our Product RetailGraph which is the best software solution for retail stores and chains works on different platforms which include:

1. Desktop - Windows
2. Web
3. Mobile-Android

These applications are unique in their own way and cater to the needs of retailer. Desktops are no more a requirement, rather it has become need of the hour, without which a business suffers, similarly business application on Web and your phone is a requirement now which we have sensed and acted upon it, and going forward this will be a necessity.

Currently we have the same applications being used by different client on Window’s Desktop environment, Web Based Environment with Microsoft Azzure and also on Android.

We believe in continuous improvement, we change continuously. 

WE CHANGE AND EVOLVE WITH TECHNOLOGY AND SUGGEST THE SAME TO OUR CUSTOMERS 

Hope you liked the blog, please share your comments.

SoftWorld (India) Pvt. Ltd.
21, Sunder Market,
Near SMS Hospital, Jaipur-302004
Ph: +91-141-2577600 (5 Lines) * Fax: 2571882
Cust. Care Center: +91-141-2577603 (2 Lines)