More customers – good sales and more happy customers – better sales.
In today’s competitive world of supermarkets, if the cash in-flow deteriorates, you better figure out what is wrong fast. The key to success here to boost sales is to provide the customer, an experience that he/she will cherish and talk about. This will ensure repeat business and also bring in new customers through referrals.
Here is are some Supermarket strategies and development ideas to increase sales.
1. Know your customer:
Make it a habit of giving your customers what they want, they will do business and buy from you. The services you provide should reflect your customers needs and wants. Think from your customer’s perspective; show, sell and say things that interest them, not just what interests you.
People respond best when they are offered various options to choose from. Train your salesmen to build a rapport with a customer and understand their needs and wants. Start using a good CRM to manage the purchase history of a customer. You can start suggesting products or giving options to customers while they are at the counter.
3. Reduce wait time at counters:
Long queues at billing counters are one of the biggest fears for every customer during peak hours and festive seasons.An effective queue buster, a mobile POS solution for the supermarketthat is powerful and efficient would be the need of the hour for every growing supermarket in the market.
4.Create combo packs:
Assembling/Bundling products together as a combined offering using the demand for the primary product to sell the secondary product.Eg: A promo pack of 3 soaps at 100 INR would sell better than 1 soap at 35 INR each.The impact of bundling as a kit can be powerful. It normally leads to higher engagement and a longer life cycle for the customer.
5. Update regular customers with offers:
Value a regular customer by giving them offers, loyalty points and notifying them ahead of a flash sale on their mobile phone.Reach out to customers via SMS and emails with your offers a week prior to a festival or their own birthday and anniversary. This makes it convenient for a customer to plan out a happy shopping experience.
6. Be Omni-Channel:
Gone are those days were driving customers to your store was a barrier in your sales. Your sales depend on the experience you deliver to your customers. Connect your customers from the physical to the digital world by providing a complete self-service shopping experience to a complete assisted shopping experience. Offer exposure of multiple channels to your customers. That exposure provides convenience for your customers to browse or buy in-store, on mobile, and offline. Such multi-channel needs to support all types of purchase behaviors from BOPIS (buy online and pick up in-store), ROPO (Research Online and Pickup offline), BIMBO (Browse In-store in mobile and buy online) ISU (Instore Pick-up, the traditional model) to BORIS (Buy online and Return in Store). Never make your customers wait long for deliveries, manage same-day deliveries, or faster delivery with your delivery platform. All such is possible with a friendly ERP that provides integrations to marketplaces, online-ordering, delivery platform, and payment backed up with comprehensive real-time inventory.
Everyone wants customer feedback, but many times we fail to do the best thing that gets a good feedback: Ask. Ask if your customer has everything they need or find out comments that they would like to share. If they hesitate, give them time to give you a genuine answer before you move on to a different activity or question.Get the best customer feedback solution which the leading supermarkets preferMyPulse – Get Customer Feedback.
Keep changing the location of popular items every month or quarter so that shoppers who are motivated to buy them will have to look for them. This is to make them pass by and notice other products, stimulating impulse buys. You will be surprised to see how an old product become popular again, just because you’ve moved it to a different shelf.
9. Stay updated about your inventory stocks:
All retail stores need to manage inventory. It is your money sitting on a shelf and represents a large portion of your business investment. The retailer who merely watches the store’s shelves can’t maintain a proper balance between the right amount of stocks and customer demand.Manage your business and Inventory on-the-go with WhatsNow, the best mobile solution that lets you carry your business in your pocket. And have complete control over your inventory with the GoSure to ensure the right stock, manage goods inward and ensure hassle-free stock picking in your store.
10. Go Digital:
The COVID-19 pandemic has been evident to go digital to sustain your business. As more and more shoppers are using their phones during their shopping experience to keep track of their grocery list, look up ingredients for recipes, and use digital coupons. In today’s digital world, with the emergence of wallets and cash cards, it’s high time for the shop-owners to step into the digital world and flow with the current trend. Digitized information of inventory and shelf stocks, cash, and accounts along with multiple payment options makes it an effortless check out for the shopper.
“It takes more brains and effort to file the taxes than it does to make the actual revenue” said a harried accountant working under a sincere tax compliant owner. Thankfully, since the advent of GST in India, tech firms and the Government are making filing taxes like Tax collected at source, Tax deducted at sources as easy as ABC.
“Tax collected at source (TCS)” whom we assume is a newcomer, has been in India for the past six decades. It has been widened to the sale of goods above a specific limit from Oct 1st 2020. Caution sellers! TCS tax filling can become a nightmare for you and your accountant if you chose the rough manual filing path. But do not worry because you are in the right place and at the right time. So keep calm and scroll down to become TCS compliant in the easiest way possible.
What is TCS (Tax collected at source) on sale of goods?
The Tax collected at source (TCS) has to be paid by the seller of goods which needs to be collected from the buyer at the time of sale. Cumulative TCS tax amount for the month should be paid to the Government on or before the 7th day of next month. The buyer of the goods can take a credit of the tax paid, in the same financial year. If in case the seller collects extra TCS amount, it can be claimed by the buyer.
What goods are covered under TCS and at what rate?
Like you saw above, TCS tax was launched 6 decades back. However, from OCT 1st 2020, it has to be collected on the sale of goods (electronics, auto parts, hardware, apparel, F&V etc…) to a purchaser exceeding Rs 50 Lakhs at the rate of 0.1% as per section 206C(H1). Surprise! TCS tax will not be collected for the transactions under the section 206C(H1) which involve TDS (Tax deducted at source).
How can retailers calculate TCS tax for sale on goods in a few clicks?
Assume, Ram enterprise has made a turn over of more than Rs 10 crores in the financial year 2019-2020, then they are supposed to collect TCS tax on sale of goods for financial year 2020-2021.
Will Ram enterprise collect TCS from every customer? No!
They will collect the TCS amount from a customer, say Laxman stores, only if Ram enterprise made sales above 50 lakhs to Laxman stores in the entire financial year 2020-2021. Now that we have understood the tax slab, let us get to work. Ram enterprise has made a sales bill of Rs 71,250 to Laxman stores and the total sales for the financial year to Laxman stores has already crossed 50 lakhs. In this case, the TCS will calculated at the rate of 0.075% (till march 31 2021, after that TCS rate will be 0.1%).
Ram enterprise will collect Rs 53.44 and pay it to the government. Laxman stores will make a credit entry of Rs 53.44 for the TCS paid.
TCS tax under GST for online sellers
Retailers who sell on e-commerce platforms like Amazon, Flipkart can stay carefree about TCS tax as these e-commerce guys will take care of it for you, although TCS will be deducted from your revenue. Let’s see how Kiran Electronics handles TCS under GST.
Kiran Electronics is a GST registered retailer who sells Samsung mobile phones on Flipkart. Now, he receives an order for Rs 50,000 inclusive of tax and commission. Assume, Flipkart charges Kiran a commission of Rs 400 for the sale. A deduction of 1% tax (TCS) on the amount will be made, including the money paid as commission Rs 400 and GST Rs 5357.14 (as GST rate on mobile phone is 12%). Thus, Flipkart would be deducting tax of Rs 500 which is 1% of the total sales invoice value.
TCS tax sounds easy, can it be managed easily too?
Whether you are a retailer or a supplier, you will have to pass a journal entry for recording TCS on sale of goods in your books. Let us consider you make 100s of sales bill in a month for which TCS needs to be collected.
1) Will you calculate TCS amount for each and every bill using a calculator? 2) Will you even know whether TCS should be calculated for Laxman enterprise or not? 3) Will you pass 100’s of Journal entries for TCS collection? Even if you miss one, you will end up becoming a non TCS compliant business.
If you have scrolled down this far, I would like you to read the title once again.
Yes, this time you got to keep calm and let the tech take care. The TCS process can be automated to an extent where all you got to do is only make TCS payment . Tech has the ability to calculate Tax collected at source for the respective party, pass a journal entry and showcase the cumulative TCS amount to be paid at the end of one month. It is time for you to step out of accounting processes and get yourselves busy making business decisions.
The year 2020 saw an acceleration in the adoption of technology. Businesses of all kinds upgraded themselves to be omnichannel and served the customers remotely. Logistics and supply chain played a crucial role in effective delivery. Even though some businesses were affected, Target, Best Buy, Walmart stayed open, digitally transformed to handle changes and growth, confidently expanded, adding new stores despite the pandemic.
Target’s CEO Brian Cornell believed in creating experiences both digital + physical even though a lot of businesses were steering online with a lesser focus on physical stores. Here are the top 5 lessons from Target’s quick, agile, response to the pandemic.
Turning stores to upgraded fulfillment centers
Stores had to upgrade themselves to support all types of ordering from in-store shopping, curbside pickup, online order be it website or app for same-day deliveries. There was a need to curate and enhance omnichannel experiences. Like BOPIS (buy online and pick up in-store), ROPO (Research Online and Pickup offline), BIMBO (Browse In-store in mobile and buy online) ISU (Instore or Curbside Pick-up, the traditional model) to BORIS (Buy online and Return in Store). To make the above happen, they converted their stores as fulfillment centers ensuring they quickly packed, generated invoices ready for quicker delivery. The last-mile delivery is the most crucial experience in the fulfillment journey. Stores had to tie-up with delivery partners or have their own delivery platform that provides cost-benefit, making them more efficient to perform faster and effective deliveries.
Importance of Speed and Self-checkout
The pandemic resulted in takeaway, pick-up, and delivery not just for food but for other essentials also. Stores had to limit the in-store traffic, minimize contact and ensure they shopped fast. Stores have to innovate continuously and adapt to changing market and consumer needs by introducing new experiences like Kiosks, Endless isle. With Endless Isle, businesses ensured that even though products were not currently available or on the display, consumers placed their orders for a future pick up or delivery. With speed and self-checkout options, cashless payments, contact less-delivery, Target ensured that they removed frictions in all the above user journeys to create a seamless shopping experience.
Shift to discretionary items, SO LESS BECOMES MORE!
Another Target’s success was from its unique multi-category portfolio. They continuously monitored this data adjusting them to the dynamic needs of the customers. The start of the pandemic saw a huge spike in medication, household essentials, disinfectants, a lot of products for cleaning, and in addition to basic food and groceries. They studied consumer behavior and were quickly able to add more discretionary items like printers, office essentials, food appliances where they saw a lot of food cooking and consumption at home. They adjusted the store space and allocated inventory based on the changing demands. The insights and data analytics brought a lot of confidence in making the right decisions. Accuracy, ease of use, and complete control of inventory are made possible with mobile apps for stock counting, GRN, stock-pick, etc.
Agility the need of the hour
In addition to data and analytics to stock the right items, stores of the 21st century need to re-imagine and re-design new generation digital native solutions. Employee experience saw a huge impact in delivering a delightful experience to consumers. They had to be empowered with the right tools, technologies. With digital jobs getting complex, training is essential. Businesses have to evolve and make solutions as simple and easy to use with minimal training.
Last but not the least, Employee and safety first
Target attributes its growth by ensuring they put a premium on employee safety. They metered the traffic and footfall over the entire pandemic, ensuring safety protocols were 100% followed. Business operations can be 100% digital but delivery is finally made by human today. It was important for businesses to take care of their employees, measure their experiences and keep them motivated.
Physical stores will continue to enhance the opportunity to grow and can deliver a superior experience to shoppers compared to other channels. Whether it is physical or online, creating delightful experiences for shoppers is the key ingredient to success. The future of POS will be a hybrid blend of the mobile, desktop where all the express checkout, online ordering will be done on mobiles with a hybrid cloud backend ERP systems. Whether it is a new market trend or a pandemic, businesses have to listen to consumers, market, and stay agile. “Success today requires the agility and drive to constantly re-think, reinvigorate, react and reinvent “
It’s not known who delivered covid to us. But covid sure has delivered one thing – home deliveries of our daily grocery needs!
Post covid, close to one-third of grocery stores has started home delivery service. Based on our survey, 80% of the online grocery businesses have experienced a stupendous 178% growth in their daily home deliveries!
This bounty has come with its own burden. Their plenty has resulted in online grocery delivery challenges. The surge has resulted in its own surfeit of snags.
The sudden upsurge in orders is leaving grocery stores confused as they find it difficult to manage the orders and maintain home deliveries which is already an un-organized process. Modern retail is left with the age-old problem – how to deliver the goods, literally!
Many are left facing 8 common challenges while performing online grocery home deliveries.
1. When an online grocery delivery is unsuccessful and the store has to redeliver, the extra costincurred is as much as effecting three new home deliveries
2. An online grocery store spends an average of 522 hours every year just doing manual accounting and reporting.
3. An average grocery delivery consumes 8 – 12 follow up calls every day to monitor delivery status, thus, taxing the manager’s time and the delivery boy’s efficiency.
4. The most voiced complaint about failed grocery deliveries is the seven-word decree ‘No one is at home to receive‘
5. The delivery boy spends an average of 192 hours every year making manual entries, for which he is, at worst, ill-equipped and, at best, disinterested in doing.
6. To make matters worse, the delivery boy is required to make 8 unnecessary calls daily to identify and verify the address and to make status updates.
7. To add misery to the madness, the customer is compelled to make an average of 3 calls to know his delivery status and guide the delivery boy home.
Despite going through all these troubles, oftentimes, the climax is tragic to the store; 41% of dissatisfied customers, even the ones who face just one late delivery, stop shopping at the store.
Sadly, while there are challenges, gladly, there are solutions. Gofrugal shows you, in three simple ways, the manner to manage your online grocery deliveries on your own – at low costs, increased efficiency and happy endings.
1. Let customers schedule their delivery slot on your app
With your online grocery app, you can deliver within a matter of hours which e-commerce apps take days to do. To perform convenient and successful online grocery deliveries, display delivery slots in your online ordering app and let customers book the slot. Letting consumers select their own delivery windows, increases the success of first-time delivery and eliminates the seven-word dreaded decree identified earlier.
You can also limit the number of orders per slot, resulting in streamlined operations, improved productivity and enhanced customer experience. Resulting in happy customers and happier shopping!
An online grocery store chain in Delhi, Vitasta farms, have offered this convenient mode of scheduling deliveries to their consumers on their grocery app. They have reduced the cost of order processing, streamlined the delivery process and improved customer satisfaction.
2. Upgrade omnichannel experience by adding a pick-up option
The store pick-up option is a success secret most stores fail to spot and start. Handling a high volume of orders is tough, especially when you are short of delivery staff. Deliveries get fraught with danger. With your own ordering app, you can offer a pick-up facility to customers who then can choose to pick up their order at your store.
A wholesale confectionery dealer in Andhra Pradesh, Jai Jalaram traders have managed the high volume of orders with pick-up facility and now enjoys 50% more productivity and happy customers who have liked this convenient mode of ordering.
Pro-tip: You can use the push notification feature in your OrderEasy app to let consumers know that your store is open for pick-up service.
3. Manage delivery logistics with a delivery management app
With your own delivery management system – GoDeliver – you can streamline your delivery process thanks to fail-proof automation and fail-proof deliveries. Resulting in satisfied customers and surging orders!
All in all, GoDeliver delivers…
1.50% increase in efficiency by automating outdated processes like manual entries in the delivery book, assigning deliveries, follow-ups, accounting and reporting etc.
2.30% faster deliveries with optimum route navigation and delivery slot features.
3.0 follow-ups for customers as they get real-time notifications on delivery status.
4.100% fool-proof system that offers complete control on cash flows and returns.
5.70% savings on money, time, efforts and labour resources.
Another grocery store, Kanchi supermarket have found the technology very simple and easy to learn and use. Their online grocery deliveries doubled and they were able to manage them without adding new employees for delivery. Their productivity increased as the number of calls to follow up on order and delivery reduced by 70%
Hundreds of grocery businesses have found OrderEasy and GoDeliver apps easy to learn, easier to use and easiest to eliminate all their online grocery delivery challenges and have converted the problematic pandemic into countless possibilities.
It doesn’t matter whether you already have an online ordering app or are planning to launch one. You must have a marketing strategy to promote your online grocery store app.
Sufficient research and a surfeit of statistics prove that, customers buy more when they spend more time while shopping. With the rising COVID tide, people tend to rush through stores trying to catch just a few things and letting COVID catch up with them. In the process, their purchase stutters and your sales suffers!
Don’t worry, relax… we have the perfect solution to vaccinate your sagging sales. Ask your customers not to come to your store!
Instead, let them shop from the comforts of their own living rooms, with your own OrderEasy app and make them shop to their heart’s content and have their orders delivered at the convenience of their doorsteps. A perfect win-win scenario, if ever there was one!
In a world where people literally live with their mobile phones and love to lead their lives with it, OrderEasy makes their shopping easy. And your life a whole lot better.
Promoting your online grocery business to customers is easy with these simple and economical marketing strategies. Learn how to promote online grocery store app to customers withGOFRUGAL OrderEasy! Here are a few tips.
Pick any marketing strategy that works for your online grocery business and watch it work wonders!
1) Design your own posters with free tools:
Advertisement posters are one of the most effective marketing strategy for online grocery business. There are free online tools available on the internet, tools like Canva to design attractive posters to promote your app using ready-made templates. Put up these posters in your grocery store premises, on the walls and over the counter. Bingo, you are on!
2) User QR code to provide easy access:
Use of QR code… a modern, trending and very effective marketing strategy and tool for any online grocery business. Studies say 4 out of 10 people get attracted to graphical ads and are willing to give it a try. Why don’t you too!? Make it easy for customers and passer-by to scan your QR codes with large codes printed on posters.
Add it on your invoice print, so your customers can see them, more importantly, use them, and most importantly, find it convenient to shop.
Post it on social media stories and posts
Your online QR code generator is just a search away on the internet.
Promote your online grocery store using GOFRUGAL Alert services, share your app links with your existing and potential customers. You can, of course, use third party SMS services too. This will help you put a word to your customers and help spread the message about your services. Sharing your app link makes it easy to reach your app and download it.
WhatsApp, the most commonly and widely used social media platform. You want to know how to promote online grocery store? Well, you can create a broadcast or a group and announce your online services to the world. In ‘WhatsApp Business’, you can set up your app link or web link as an auto response, divert your customer order resource from WhatsApp/SMS/call to your user-friendly OrderEasy app. Isn’t it a great marketing strategy for your online store?!
5) Create a social media profile:
Currently, the world holds their mobile phones and lives on social media for most of their day. So create your social media accounts and use this amazing platform to promote your online store. When you engage with consumers more, they engage in shopping even more. In your shop!
6) Inform walk-in customers while billing:
Mouth publicity, we don’t have to tell you how effective it can be, the world knows. Instruct your billing counter staff to educate walk-in customers about you OrderEasy app. And encourage them to use it next time for shopping & enjoy the doorstep delivery.
7) Member-gets-member:
Encourage customers who order from our app to add five customers to get 5% off on their next bill. Ask them to gang up for gifts. We are sure you will find it bang for buck!
Now that you have a clear idea on how to promote online grocery store, go ahead, choose an idea and make your customers order easy with OrderEasy!
Retailers have faced a knockdown by the Corona lockdown and the ensuing economic slowdown, but a rundown of their problems will make them realize it’s more a self-inflicted breakdown that can be easily shut down if they read this rundown!
With corona jingling and shoppers dwindling, retailers feel they have to bide their time and wait for their turn. While they can’t do much about the corona pandemic, they can self-medicate and cure an intrinsic illness that has been affecting their speed, efficiency, and customer experience.
This blog is about the manual manner in which retailers stock pick to serve their customers. Oblivious of modern automation solutions, retailers remain unmindful and continue to pursue, pick and pack their customer orders manually. With highways abound, many still travel the mud path. With sedans around, most ride the bullock cart. Put simply, when customer orders overflow, the hapless retailer is zapped searching for the item needle in his stock haystack!
Challenges faced by the retailers with manual order processing
Manual picking of stocks is time-consuming; not just for the staff to search and pick but also for the manager who has to supervise it
Searching and scratching the store racks to spot the right stock to pick, they collectively end up consuming more time, expending extra effort yet missing on-time delivery
Moreover, manual stock-picking warrants taking outmoded print-outs and encountering difficulties in the tracking of order status
Despite all the labour and the laboriousness it involves, the wrong item is delivered to the customer obliging the store to redeliver, thus costing more time, effort, and money
Notwithstanding all the time, toil, and troubles, the retailer ends up losing the unhappy customer
Why do retailers need GoSure StockPick?
It’s time retailers welcomed GoSure StockPick, a ground-breaking app from Gofrugal. An automated solution that automatically addresses your anxieties to ease your pain and breeze your deliveries. The app helps you perform paperless picking for accurate, highly efficient, and hassle-free processing.
Benefits of using GoSure StockPick app
Customer orders can be automatically assigned to the designated pickers’ mobile app, allowing them to pick and process the orders on time without any dependency. The supervisor need not be near to monitor the picker and can track the order status from anywhere. The scanning feature of the app and category-wise item listing helps pick the right items without the mess; thus, reducing the stress.
All in all, resulting in the picking of more orders per picker. And more profits per order!
No more papers and print-outs
No roaming and roving the store searching for the right products
No dependency on supervisor or manager’s presence and time
No more picking of the incorrect stock or the inaccurate item
Automate your stock pick and you can see the average time taken to complete an order comes down from 15 minutes to 5 minutes. And watch your customer’s happy experience quadruple, if not more!
With GoSure StockPick, you can make your pick easy, error-free, and hassle-free. You can reduce supervision, halve the work time yet double accuracy. Big retail brands have it. Small retailers need it. With GoSure StockPick, there won’t be any more slip, between the store and the pick!
So, don’t let manual stock pick meltdown your business, let down your prospects, and result in your comedown. Crackdown the problem by automating your stock pick to touchdown with GoSure and watch the countdown to your success begin!
Three out of four grocery shops are losing business. To the fourth one. You may be one of the three. This blog will show you how you can be the fourth. The winning one!
For retail grocery shops, procuring orders is just half the battle. It’s in their smooth processing where businesses are won or lost. Yet, three-fourths of grocery retailers fight with age-old techniques and antiquated technology, making it easy for them to lose and difficult for them to recover.
They continue to use old-style phone calls and no-good WhatsApp to take orders and end up taking more time and making more errors, thus ending up with unhappy customers who shift to the next retailer!
A recent Gofrugal study of retailers across India found six fundamental problems with the manual ordering system process. You may be encountering one or many, if not all of them yourself.
What are the Challenge of Traditional/Manual Order taking systems
1. Time-consuming
It takes 15 minutes, on average, to process an order due to multiple phone calls or WhatsApp messages to double-check on stock availability, selecting the right product quantity and delivery address. Manual punching of orders is giving a knock-out punch to many a retailer and his chances of serving his customers. Your shop staff don’t like it, your customers hate it and the only ones who are happy are your competitors when your customers shift to them!
2. Inefficiency
Despite multiple phone calls and manifold WhatsApp messages, grocers still cannot serve more than 25 orders a day due to the labour-intensive nature of the process. A process that wastes hours and misuses man-days. The time that could have been better spent satisfying your customers and making them shop more; with you!
3. Inaccuracy
Manual order-taking results in inputting incorrect products, inaccurate variants, imprecise customer details or inexact addresses. The Gofrugal study found that on average 2 out of 10 ordered items are wrongly delivered or not delivered at all.
The resultant disappointment leads to migraine problems and customer migration – to the next store!
4. Irritation
Phone and WhatsApp orders are bereft of transparency and the customer is left clueless about the delivery status and the expected delivery time. Needless to say, the customers are confused and are forced to call the store and the delivery salesman, multiple times. Leaving them irritated, to say the least.
5. Migration
7 out of your 10 customers, in the Gofrugal study, just don’t like the manual ordering system. As is wont with Indian customers, they don’t voice it loud and 3 of them stop shopping at the store that wants them to order manually. They just shift
to the store that offers convenient online ordering.
6. Revenue loss
All these and more result in not just reduced customer dissatisfaction but revenue loss as well. Not only do you lose a customer but you also face their wrath and their negative word of mouth. Checkout how much you are losing using the calculator
Advantages of using Online Ordering System
Smart retailers have found an easy way to overcome the above-mentioned problems and also thetop 8 challenges in home delivery. They let customers orders easy. With Gofrugal’s OrderEasy, that helps you launch your own branded online ordering app. Having it will help your business automate and streamline the most critical and customer-centric ordering processes, helping improve overall efficiency, enhanced customer satisfaction and increasing your ROI. Here are a few benefits to get you started…
1. Easy ordering
Consumers can download your branded app from the Playstore or App store and can conveniently shop from the comforts of their own homes. Just a matter of clicks to let them choose the items and choice of delivery slots. They can also track their order status and watch them traverse all the way to their doorstep!
A grocery store chain in Delhi, Vitasta farms, have offered this convenient mode of placing orders and scheduling deliveries to their consumers on their online ordering app and have streamlined the delivery process and improved customer satisfaction.
2. Improved productivity
The orders placed will be directly integrated with your Gofrugal POS and it takes less than a minute to convert the entire order into an invoice.
Jai Jalaram traders, a wholesale confectionery dealer in Andhra Pradesh saves a whopping 4 hours a day thanks to Gofrugal’s OrderEasy.
3. 100% accuracy
With your own branded online ordering app, your customers can select the products they want and the variants they wish without room for any manual errors. The customers get what they want – the right products – and you get what you want – more sales and happy customers.
A grocery store, Shree Kandhan Stores in Bangalore are now serving 100% accurate orders and winning happy customers with the help of their own online ordering app.
4. Enhanced orders
Gofrugal study further points out that an average online ordering app user processes 40% more orders compared to outdated manual phone calls and WhatsApp ordering. It also found out that the average purchase basket increased by a significant 33%.
All in all, resulting in healthy shopping for customers and happy sales for you!
It’s 2 years back or now!
Hundreds of business have automated their old fashioned phone call and WhatsApp ordering process with the help of OrderEasy. Holding to a manual order management process? Embrace automation without further delay with your online ordering app.You can either click on the below link to automate or prefer to continue losing with your punctured manual ordering system!
If you are a retailer, brace yourself for some bad news. 3 out of 10 customers have already shifted to your competitors’ online ordering apps. Winning them back isn’t going to be easy. The good news is, you still have a chance to win the other 7. This blog will show you how!
Reckless times, ravaging covid and resulting chaos have tied up customers to the only safest place in the world – their homes. While they still buy their products, they prefer to do them from the comforts of their own home sweet home. They do their shopping, by not being mobile, but sitting at home with their mobile. As a retailer, it’s time you took your store to your customers. It’s time you let them order online and order easy. It’s time you shifted to a robust and agile retail online ordering system from a manual ordering system. It’s time you knew how to choose the right one.
Top 7 Features Your Online Ordering App MUST Have
1. Create dynamic menus, colourful banners and personalized product recommendations
Once they register your app, customers wish to know your new arrivals, fast-moving products and recommended items so they can quietly navigate and quickly complete their shopping. A solution like OrderEasy, helps you customize your home screen with attractive banners, personalised product recommendations and attractive offers so your customers can shop seamlessly; and stay with you endlessly!
2. Display Real-time inventory
Your customer may be going online but, remember, they are still the same customer. They still like to shop the same way they did in your outlet – by first seeing what’s in stock. A Gofrugal study found that non-display of stocks leads to 20% inaccuracy in order fulfilment and customers just leave. An online ordering app should provide a unified omnichannel experience and display real-time inventory so customers can find it easy and shop easy.
Gofrugal OrderEasy can also create a sense of urgency by sending an alert when your stocks go below a certain number. Jai Jalaram Traders, an A.P retailer relished 100% accuracy in orders, thanks to OrderEasy, and enjoyed 100% growth in customers!
3.Pull the users with push notifications
To push your profits, you must push your customers; to you. A good online ordering app should enable you to send push notifications about new products, attractive offers and exclusive services. OrderEasy users enjoy 87% better engagement, 28% increase in conversions and 300% higher customer retention, thanks to this feature.
4. Let customers book their delivery slot
To perform convenient and successful online grocery deliveries, you should display delivery slots in the online ordering app and let customers book their convenient slot. With OrderEasy, you can also limit the number of orders per slot to streamline operations, improve productivity and enhance the customer experience. So, you can enjoy watching happy customers and their happier shopping!
Vitasta Farms, an online grocery chain in Delhi, uses OrderEasy and offers customers such convenience in scheduling deliveries on their app. They have reduced order processing costs, streamlined the delivery process and improved customer satisfaction.
Smart Tip: When you have a manpower shortage, you can simply disable the delivery option and enable the ‘Pick-up’ option and make customers come and pick their orders. Of course, you won’t find this feature anywhere else, but only in OrderEasy!
5. Accept multiple payment modes
Gone are those days when cash used to be the only mode of payment. In today’s fast-paced world, customers prefer the ease of online payments. With online payments, you can get a guaranteed order ensuring convenience and safety to your customers. So, empower your online app to enable online and offline payments; so, you get more orders and more money – both online and offline!
6.Provide a real-time order Tracking
Post the payment, your app should be able to inform the customers through notifications, SMS and in-app order history about the real-time order status and provide a Swiggy-like order tracking experience.
7. Offer an easy to use Progressive Web App (PWA)
With tens of apps vying for space on their mobiles, customers wonder if they should download one more. They prefer to experience a new app before making it their regular. Gofrugal presents you with a simpler solution. An easier and adaptable technology that every top e-commerce brand is using today – Progressive Web App that runs on a mobile browser and that can be accessed with a click; making it easy and convenient.
Online Ordering Apps are just that. They let customers order more, order easy and order at their convenience. A smart app like OrderEasy is equipped with all the online ordering system features and ensures you boost your sales, build loyalty, brighten your prospects and better your business.You will get the remaining 7 customers. And with luck, the first 3 too!
There are times when too much of a good thing becomes bad. Like having too many channels on TV and wondering which one to watch. Or like having too many apps in the mobile and wondering which one to keep; and which one to use!
Especially, your customers. We realize many of them are hesitant to have one app just for online grocery shopping, like in your case OrderEasy. They would rather use inefficient methods of online ordering, namely calling or messaging. These methods are inferior, ineffective and filled with errors and resultant headaches.
If downloading an app for online ordering is your customer’s problem, may we present you with a simpler solution. An easier and adaptable technology that’s so easy and convenient that every top e-commerce brand is using it today. Introducing OrderEasy PWA (Progressive Web App).
What is OrderEasy PWA?
It is an app interface that’s optimized for mobile browsers that works like a webpage and with the ease of an app, thus giving the advantages of both platforms. Imagine the times you opened a site like Flipkart on your mobile. It automatically loads the web app since it’s optimized for mobile phone browsers, making shopping easy. OrderEasy PWA offers the same easiness and breeziness as much as comfort and convenience to your customers when it comes to online ordering.
OrderEasy PWA doesn’t require a separate back-end. Launching a Web App is easier compared to launching a web page. The native app is referred to applications that you expect your users to return to every time they want to shop. PWA is no different.
Advantages of using OrderEasy PWA:
App-like lighter interface: Though it opens in a browser, it is an app, but with a faster interface
Convenient shopping experience: Easy-to-use interface makes it way more convenient for users to shop
No download required: You don’t have to install the PWA, it’s a URL. Plus, it consumes 80% less data and less memory on your device
Platform independent: It runs on both Android and iOS phone browsers
Easy to update, and promote: You can update a PWA in real time. And being just a link it becomes easy to promote it
Loads faster: Being easy to access, lightweight, and less memory consumption makes it faster to load/operate
Increased user adoption/Order conversion: Customers will have an additional platform to place orders
Safe and Secure: With the SSL certified sub-domain link (https://), your data is very safe and out of reach from any harmful entity
You may want to educate your customers about the ease of online ordering with OrderEasy PWA. Many retailers like you put up posters within their outlets, or had their staff educate about PWA to their customers have enjoyed increased usage of the online ordering app and enhanced patronage from their customers. Interestingly, retailers who offered a small incentive, in the form of a first-time order discount, saw many tens of customers shift to the new PWA form of online ordering.
One of the OrderEasy PWA users, Vitasta Farms, an online essential retail chain in Delhi, eliminated their manual order processing thanks to the OrderEasy web app. Now, more consumers explore the prices and experience the app without downloading it. As a result, there is a 30% increment in their online orders.
Amidst the pandemic collapse and chaos, Indian retailers and wholesalers have something to rejoice. The Union Government has announced revised guidelines by which retail and wholesale traders are now eligible to be registered as MSMEs. This move is set to benefit millions of retailers and wholesalers who can now get access to bank loans, priority sector lending and a host of other benefits.
MSMEs are the second-largest employment creator in India with the first being the mother of Indian employment – agriculture. According to the National Sample Survey 73rd round there are an estimated 6.30 crore MSMEs. They provide employment to 11 crore people in India (~27.5% of the total workforce) that is every fourth employed Indian is in a MSME. They contribute 30% to the GDP and account for 48% of exports. With the new Government notification, around 2.5 crore traders are to be added to the MSME list.
The Government’s move would be a major boost to small retailers and wholesalers, especially since this has been a request made by them since last year. Needless to say, retail and trade associations have welcomed the move. They feel it will enable traders to get access to much-needed capital having been impacted badly thanks to the covid pandemic. Several measures announced for the MSME sector over the past year will now be applicable to retail and wholesale traders as well. Confederation of All India Traders (CAIT) have welcomed the move.
Wholesale and retailers will now be eligible to avail various schemes announced for the MSMEs to get access to funds and tide over the covid19 impact. They can now avail of priority sector lending. As per the RBI’s guidelines, commercial banks should extend 40% of the total lending towards priority sector. Regional Rural Banks and small finance banks have to extend 75% of their total lending towards the priority sector.
They get a 2% interest reduction for all GST registered MSME on incremental credit. There is also an increase in interest rebate of 5% for exporters who receive loans in the pre-shipment and post-shipment. Central Public Sector Undertaking will make mandatory procurement of 25% from MSME. And there is good news for traders who are women. Out of the 25% mandatory, 3% is reserved for them.
They can resort to MSME Samadhan – A Portal created to file and report delay in payments beyond 45 days. The portal has been very helpful for many MSME suppliers to collect their overdue payments.
Also, retailers and wholesalers can enjoy registration in Udyam portal – the free, paperless online and instant registration portal. The Udyam portal provides a single-page registration, consumes less time, and simplifies the process of registering any enterprise under MSME category. Once registered, they are eligible for a host of benefits, like getting interest rate subsidy on bank loans, exemption under direct tax laws, concession in electricity bills etc. MSME’s are encouraged to get onboarded to the Government e-marketplace (GeM) portal through a simplified procedure by providing a button in the Udyam registration online form.
As is the case with life, the upsides have their downsides too. Adding 2.5 crore traders to an already bulging 6.3 crores is going to inflate problems to the sector and dilute MSMEs who have been crying for help.
Once retail and wholesale traders get included in the priority sector lending category under MSMEs, bankers may prefer to lend them rather than to small manufacturing units. MSMEs may claim traders don’t need as much funds as a manufacturing unit does. Now that the government has increased the pool, it should ensure the funding pool is increased as part of the finance budget since adding more MSME’s will require more support and hand-holding on growth funding.
The Government should set a policy of categorization of lending to various sectors in MSME. Manufacturing, Trading, Services can be allotted a clear percentage so there’s clarity and transparency. To boost equitable distribution, women entrepreneurs can be given preference as well.
The Government should also increase the percentage of purchases through CPSUs as there would now be an increase in the number of suppliers in the MSME sector. The Government should frame policies whereby a certain percentage of the purchases of companies and establishments is procured only from MSMEs.
Every coin has two sides, with the exception of the one Amitabh Bachchan used in Sholay. The move by the Government is going to have far-reaching ramifications. The coin has been tossed. Let’s hope it falls right for the benefit of retailers and wholesalers!
With Gofrugal digital solutions, MSME Retailers & Wholesalers can fall on the right side of the coin by managing their business operations with minimal staff, least skills and 100% accurate and reliable solutions.
Did all of us anticipate a global pandemic? Or did we all take preventive measures to safeguard ourselves as soon as the news about the pandemic broke out? No, we were very casual and did not consider the magnitude of the problem at hand. There are many business owners who are unaware of POS security in the first place. Or a similar situation happens with business owners who are aware of POS security and ransomware attacks but fail to secure their data with preventive measures. There is no better time to talk about POS cyber security than now, the whole October month being dedicated to #cybersecurityawareness.
So, What is POS Cyber Security in Simple Words?
POS security, or point-of-sale security, prevents cybercriminals from accessing electronic payment systems and stealing customers’ data. Not just that! POS cyber security helps you from ransomware attacks that block access to important business transaction data. Cyber security aims to reduce the risk of cyber attacks, malicious attacks, and ransomware attacks to protect against the unauthorized exploitation of systems, networks, and technologies. If your business involves extensive use of POS systems, it is important to be aware of POS system security to avoid massive attacks later.
However, do you know the logic behind all of us postponing preventive measures to fight ransomware? The answer is straightforward, ‘It will never happen to us.’ This statement is the faith that everyone has. But what if we tell you even our TN government has faced ransomware attacks? Yes, the Tamil Nadu Public Department faced a severe ransomware attack last month. And the suspect has demanded payment of 1,950 USD in cryptocurrency as a ransom for handing over the decryption code.
Let’s dig deeper into Ransomware attacks and how they impact POS system security. Ransomware is a type of malware (malicious software) used by cybercriminals. This virus blocks access to your system or encrypts your data unless you pay the demanded ransom money.
The number of organizations that paid ransom to retrieve their data increased from 26% in 2020 to 32% in 2021. And the two sectors that are affected the most are Retail and Distribution. We can go on and on about it, but the numbers only get more frightening.
Increase of Ransomware attacks on POS systems
Why Should Retailers and Distributors Have Point of Sale Security?
The risk for Retailers not being cautious of POS cyber security with ransomware attacks is more as they deal with large amounts of customers’ private information such as financial data, usernames, and passwords. If a retailer faces a ransomware attack, the consequences will be terrifying as the company will,
Incur significant financial losses
Pay more for increased IT help, legal assistance, and consumer credit protection
Offer compensation to repairs for affected customers.
Lose reputation, which is tremendous damage to companies through loss of consumer confidence
Encounter a hindrance to business continuity due to shutting down for fixing the error/manual billing
The Distribution sector itself includes inherent risks. Distribution companies tend to have large employee networks spread across different regions, working remotely — away from offices and the protection of on-site infrastructures. The Distribution industry is also fast becoming a target for ransomware hackers. And the stakes are higher for Distribution companies, too, as any cybercrime in this sector leads to
Data theft and the cost to revive it is not that affordable
Shipment theft and you end up losing all your goods
Damaged reputation and destroyed trust
Supply chain disruption and you end up losing productivity.
Now that we have sufficiently discussed how critical POS cybersecurity is to you, it is time to reveal that there are good preventive measures to keep your data safe. Yes, we are not going to let you go frightened. When we point out the mistakes, we ensure to offer you solutions as well.
Protection Against Ransomware – How to Protect POS System & Data from Cyber Attacks?
Don’t peep into unsafe links: No matter how tempting an unknown link, message, or website may look, maintain social distance. If you click on malicious links, there might be a high chance of the computer being infected.
Don’t download that email attachment: Ransomware find a way into your device through email attachments. Never open attachments that prompt you to malicious macros to help you view them.
Keep your programs and operating system up to date: MUST! Regularly updating programs and operating systems is like getting your booster shot for Covid vaccines. If you miss it, all that protection becomes null. Please get the latest security patches and perform updates, as this makes it harder for cybercriminals to exploit vulnerabilities in your programs.
Okay, we agree that it might be difficult for you to think about data POS security amidst your everyday business operations. But that does not mean you can ignore it, right? We have a solution for you –‘GoSecure.’
So, What Is GoSecure, and How Does It Help You with POS Security?
GoSecure is a cloud data backup more like a personal assistant to manage your data backup and recovery on the cloud. It’s a real-time Backup as a service (BaaS) that provides automatic data backup and recovery and protects from data loss due to virus attacks, especially ransomware attacks. Sounds very simple right? But it is a robust app from Gofrugal that has become a savior for POS security threats.
GoSecure offers advanced with POS Security
Let’s share a few real customer stories with you. One of our customers Gujarat who did not use GoSecure, faced a massive ransomware attack. Being one of the vast outlets, they lost nearly 35 GB of data which involved important transactions and data of his complete customer outstanding, inventory, etc. Oh, man! The shock, panic, and tedious process of retrieving data had a significant toll on him. With continuous efforts, after four days, a part of the data was recovered. But he had lost five days of sale by then and also other important customer information. Things would have been easier if he had GoSecure. All that he would have needed was 30 minutes to retrieve his data. GoSecure not just prevents data loss but also helps you recover data sooner when lost.
On the other hand, when Anfal Supermarket at Bhatkal, Karnataka, faced a massive ransomware attack six months ago, they were as chill as they would be chilling on vacation. With the help of GoSecure, their data was already safe on the cloud, and it was revived with no delay. Not just that. GoSecure helped them with automatic and frequent data backup processes. The business owner says, “If I have to describe GoSecure in my life, “tension-free” is my business!”. Learn more on why GoSecure is the proper POS cybersecurity for your business. Ooof! The horror is honest and gets terrifying with cybercriminals staying ahead of everyone. As we already said, it feels surreal unless it happens to us or someone closer to us. Don’t let your business turn out to be an example for someone to take cybersecurity seriously. GoSecure helps you stay ahead of cyber attacks and data loss. GoSure to GoSecure now! If you’re unsure how GoSecure can help you, get free personalized consultation now.
Of all perpetual problems a retailer faces, the one that frights him the most is the one he feels he can never solve. Or even if he attempts to, he presumes it will not help him solve completely. And even if he can complete it, he reasons it will never be accurate.
We are talking about the perpetual stock audit. A paradoxical puzzle that’s engulfed by enigma and a confusing conundrum that retailers feel is better left untouched. And makes him feel helpless and completely resigned to his fate!
The sad part is, it doesn’t have to be this way. The retailer doesn’t need to fear stock audits. The problem is not the stock audit in itself. It’s the method the retailer currently uses. A method that presumes fallacies, consumes time, and subsumes sufficient room for blunders and boo boos.
Take this small test, will you, with a straight yes or no answer.
Are you investing heavily in a quality barcode scanner just to perform stock audit?
Do you feel stock taking isn’t efficient if you don’t monitor it when it’s done?
Are you investing in reams of paper for an inventory audit?
Are you closing your store when you conduct year-end stock audit?
Are you spending way too much time in inventory reconciliation after counting? And still ending up being inaccurate?
If you answered in the affirmative to all these questions, it’s time to discard your antiquated and outdated stock audit system and embrace a new and easy way of stock auditing. For starters, here’s a story that you can empathize with. A story of a retailer who started like you and ended up happy!
Brace yourself for the story of Grace supermarket
For 25 years their stock auditing was a nightmare too. They had to count every piece, write it on paper and bring it to computers. All this had to be done after closing the stores and losing their sale. When they didn’t want to lose sales, they started doing it in the night, incurring extra costs and encountering staff burden.
They practiced stock audit, top to bottom, left to right, to ensure every shelf was covered. This activity took them all night to do. They wrote on paper and uploaded it in the system. While comparing the book stock with the physical stock, they found huge discrepancies. Sometimes even up to 20%. Comparing it with the lower profit margins they were earning, they wondered if they were in the right business at all.
They decided to use scanners. Instead of taking products from shelves to the table, scanners moved from tables to the shelves. They continued to count each item with a scanner instead of manually writing down. It was better, but not good enough. Their discrepancy rate was 10%. That’s when Grace decided to embrace a new way, a proper way. They bought GoSure StockTake!
What is GoSure StockTake?
GoSure is a stock-taking mobile application that, along with Gofrugal POS, helps you perform accurate and easy stock-taking on the go without interrupting billing operations and ensuring 100% complete inventory control. It removes your recurring nightmare of having to do a year-end stock audit. It’s simple to comprehend, easy to execute, and meticulous to boot. It doesn’t elaborate staff or enormous time and is as easy as saying A B C.
Here’s How
Frame a plan based on your and staff availability. It could be just an overnight affair or done over a few days, based on your comfort and convenience
Impart a simple and quick training to your staff; even your not-so-trained support staff would be more than sufficient to do stock taking, believe us!
Assign stock taker and inventory manager roles to concerned staff; you don’t need to assign a separate team or hire extra staff for this purpose
Schedule category against a day it has to be done for each employee, and GoSure StockTake automatically assigns those categories on that day to them
Assign stock take locations, with POS locations or create customized locations; no need to gather stocks in one place or to replenish them again in the gondola
Take stock with the in-built scanner and update it in seconds. Stock takers will not know the stock in the inventory which makes them count what is there rather than what should be there
Are some items without a barcode? Relax, the application allows you to update manually as well
Mark damaged and wasted items as you do stock audit to avoid confusion and mismatch
Bingo! Your complete inventory will be under your complete control! With 100% accuracy. And with 100% peace of mind!
If you still harbour doubts about mismatches with your book stock, you don’t need to. Just export reports based on variance, stock take location, and measure discrepancies instantly rather than spending time in recounting as application consolidates your data as and when stock entry is made. This way, you can spot missed products with pellucid reports, avoid pilferages and safeguard your investments.
Didn’t we say stock-taking would be as easy as saying A B C!
2021 saw good disruptions in Retail, with businesses optimizing their inventory and supply chain to ensure their fulfilment is immediate. They evolved to add fulfilment centres in their store to cater to new consumer needs like BOPIS (buy online and pick up in-store) or BORIS (Buy online and return in-store), curbside pick-up and same-day delivery.
Digital brings in opportunities to get new customers, repeat purchases with existing ones. In addition, increased efficiency with automation of store operations, empowered employees, reduced cost of managing operations and many others. The physical will continue to stay and evolve to the changing needs of consumers today. Here are the five trends that can accelerate their growth.
1. Technology is a must to provide omnichannel retailing
The pandemic had stressed the supply chain big-time. Retailers struggled to provide consistent experience while they kept introducing new channels like online, WhatsApp. There is a need for one single view of inventory to support all fulfilment options. Having consolidated inventory on all channels, Retailers can manage channel-wise pricing, suggested-selling easily. Product recommendations are introduced while browsing online, in price checkers at the store, at kiosk counters and even endless aisles so that they do not lose out on any order. By introducing an endless-aisle and recommendation engine, Retailers can upgrade from buy-stock-sell to sell-source-supply.
2. Q-commerce is the next big thing
Speed and convenience are becoming the two golden words for consumers giving rise to Q-commerce, the next generation commerce as the name suggests quick-commerce. It also means on-demand or rapid delivery and logistics for an improved last-mile experience. A delivery management mobile app builds a fool-proof Q-commerce system where businesses get complete control on delivery, delivery staff, cash flow and even returns. Complex processes like manual entries, delivery book, delivery tracking, manual accounting are eliminated, ensuring faster deliveries with optimum-route navigation capability.
3. Cloud is a catalyst to transform easily
Businesses of any size benefit from upgrading to the cloud as there is one version of the truth. Stakeholders have access to a single or source of data anywhere anytime. With cloud ERP, businesses can easily integrate and grow their businesses steadily. They can enjoy cloud elasticity for either scaling up or scaling down. With data being the fuel for businesses, they must protect and back up their data. Security will be the top 4 objectives in 2022. Cloud-based data backup and restore solutions are easy to set up, and data is automatically encrypted and synced in real-time for 100% business continuity.
4. Discovering the benefits of AI and ML
AI, ML and IoT are transforming the way a retailer does business. AI/ML can drive inventory control, predictive selling, demand forecasting, purchase automation, auto-reorder and real-time data insights for faster decision making. AI in the supply chain can help retailers enjoy efficiency as re-stocking happens automatically. It is calculated based on the demand for the product based on its sales history, seasonal trends, promotions and other parameters. Mobile apps for stock-audit, stock-refill, GRN and stock-pick use AI/ML to automate manual processes like what to audit, buy, re-stock when, how and thus determining optimal staff with no compromise to customer service. Importantly, IoT is used to detect pilferage, fraud and any security issues alerting the user with notification alerts immediately for proactive action.
5. Customer experience is Imperative
Physical stores will be re-designed, re-imagined to cater to the new normal adhering to the safety guidelines giving rise to self-checkout contactless interactions. With a single view of the customer, retailers can better assess, review and personalize the loyalty and marketing promotions, pricing, upselling/cross-selling, thus providing a seamless frictionless experience across all omnichannel touch-points. Pandemic has accelerated the innovations in Retail. It’s time traditional retailers put technology and innovation as the highest priority.
Are you someone who wants to wake up early every day but always snoozes the alarm, thinking you need more rest as you slept late the previous day? I’m that person. That’s where failure for the day starts. You don’t snooze the alarm alone but the productivity for the day. But I never knew the magic was not sleeping early at night, but quite the opposite. When Kumar Vembu addressed the gathering at MADITSSIA, Madurai, in his words, “You don’t have to sleep early to wake up early the next day. But you need to wake up early to automatically sleep early the same night”, I woke up. So did many business owners who understood where the change lies, in attitude followed by actions.
When I entered the room, all I heard was the sounds of murmuring business owners who had left an important day of their work to be at an event. But little did they know, they would never look at technology and business the same way again. Kumar Vembu, the CEO, Gofrugal, presided over an exciting session on November 19, 2021, at MADITSSIA (Madurai District Tiny & Small Scale Industries Association). He created awareness that investing in digital infrastructure will help small businesses expand and grow exponentially. The podium was filled with key members of Maditssia, including M.S. Sampath, President (Maditssia), Gnanasambandan, Secretary (Maditssia), Elangovan, VP Sales (Gofrugal), Kodeeswaran, VP (Maditssia), and Lakshmi Narayanan, Secretary (Maditssia).
Want to know more about digital adoption and how it could help your business? Yes! Good that you have woken up.
Digital infrastructure expands the market for small businesses
One of the main reasons companies thrive regardless of geography is the advancement of digital infrastructure. Or we can also say when you wake up to the advancements of digital technology; you can turn any geography into the Silicon Valley of your business. Digitalization of your business determines the expansion of your business and the brand’s presence. It’s the fisherman who decides where to fish. “You can decide to go fishing in a pond, lake, sea or even ocean. It all comes down to your attitude,” says Kumar Vembu, who has been fishing in the ocean of digital technology since 1992. Also, did you know who gets the best fish? The fisherman who fishes in the early hours of the day.
Retrospect on every digital technology that you use
All of us are digital consumers. Talk about waking up to new apps every day and using them! When we are digital consumers and business owners, it is essential to identify how we learn from it and apply it in our business. “Question yourself what technology has your business adopted in the last decade and how it has impacted in reducing the time, efforts, and money spent in completing an action in your business. This way, you check whether you’re facing losses more than profits, ” emphasized Kumar, who has been on the journey to create simple, affordable, and better digital solutions based on his experience as a digital consumer.
How can digital technology help SMBs?
“Technology is democratic, and it’s time business owners understand this,” said Kumar Vembu, who strives to make technology affordable for SMBs. Because when technology becomes affordable, it reduces your worries, errors, challenges and opens up your time for opportunities. It helps you invest time in growth, and when there is an investment in time, it yields sustainable results. When India woke up to the issues they were facing, they started fighting against the British, and then Democracy was born. Similarly, only when you wake up to the problems you face by not adopting digital technology, you will get freedom from redundant operational challenges and focus more on making productive decisions.
Seeing is believing, but the experience is truth
One cannot analyze Digital technology without experiencing it. It is easy to believe when you see it. But that’s not the ultimate truth. Kumar said, “Experience gives more connection and confidence in adapting to new technology,” and that’s why all of Gofrugal’s events start only after an experience session of our solutions. When the business owners experienced OrderEasy, an online ordering app, and EarnSmart, a sales force automation app for Distribution business, they knew they had woken up to what all their businesses could achieve by adopting technology. They also gained more confidence in adapting to it and started posting more questions about how well they could digitize their business for productivity.
Gofrugal stays ahead in digital technology
When it comes to offering digital technology to our customers, we stay ahead of the rest. Earlier this year, on March 24, the Ministry of Corporate Affairs (MCA) notified that starting April 1, 2021, companies must only use accounting software that has a feature to record traceability for transactions, creating logs of changes made to the books, and ensure that the audit trail feature cannot be disabled. But guess what? Gofrugal had already woken up 15 years ago and introduced the traceability feature to track every action of the users.
The Era of Digital Freedom
Digital technology encompasses the power to change human behaviour towards growth. It is a powerful tool to change discipline and an essential factor in working with self-respect. When you are allowed to choose the freedom to do what you want and how you want to do it, your entire business becomes easy, simple, seamless, streamlined, and successful. This is the era of digital freedom.
At the beginning of the event, 75% of the business owners did not have software in their business. But at the end of the event, more than 90% of them wanted to adopt digital technology and try digital solutions. That’s how technology can shape human attitudes and behaviour for the wellness of the business. Or should we say Digital Technology can even help you wake up early?
Just like me, many business owners went with the hope to wake up early tomorrow and conquer the day, eventually the world!
Covid is easing. How about your business? Have you made it easy for your customers to shop from you? Have you made it easy for your customers to order from you?
To cut a long story short, have you bought OrderEasy from Gofrugal? Tens of them sign up daily; hundreds use it happily; thousands have benefited more than they had planned for. The question is about you!
Here are ten reasons why you need OrderEasy to help your customers order easily, and importantly, order more!
Offer Management – Manage Customer Offers Better
Your customer offers impact your overall sales volume, be it online or offline. By applying offers and discounts, even slow-moving items can be moved easily. Offers in online stores have become a trend that encourages customers to buy more than they have planned for- Resulting in extra sales for you!
With OrderEasy, promo codes and offers from POS can be applied to the entire bill or to selected items with a limited or unlimited time limit. If you display products in an application, a customer will usually buy the products on the list, but when you showcase the offers in the application, the customer may buy products beyond their list to save money.
Recommendation Engine – Serves as Business Assistant
It is an AI feature that analyses your customers’ purchase history and interests and provides them with personalized suggestions based on the preferences they have expressed through their purchases. Customers will be able to explore all the items available in your store, which will lead to up-selling and cross-selling.
Customers will spend less time searching for products each time because more suggestions will make it easier for them to purchase. Customers explore many products while shopping offline. Through the recommendation engine, your customers will be able to conduct the same exploration, boosting sales by stimulating their wishes and needs.
Express delivery – Deliver as Quickly as Possible
We live in a fast-paced environment and businesses need to serve faster. Q commerce will be the future in this highly competitive environment. Build your customers’ trust by offering express delivery options to avail their emergency needs. Giving your customers a delightful and fast shopping experience with instant delivery allows them to stay loyal to your store.
Dashboard – Act as an Analytic Consultant
Having reports in an easily understandable manner will be one of the key steps to growing your business and monitoring your sales. Get all kinds of reports about your sales, customers, and products in your e-commerce store as a standard feature. You can spot weaknesses and strengths and adapt to boost your online sales.
You can also measure your performance without spending time on generating reports individually. If we run a business without monitoring the sales activity, our business will remain stagnant without any further growth. However, if we analyse and improve the activities, the results are sure to be encouraging and exciting.
Chatbot – A simple Way to Interact
It is mandatory to set up an avenue for your customers to reach the person working in the store whenever they have questions or issues. It’s a simple feature and easy for your customers to use, allowing them to send text messages, voice messages, and pictures. Keeping the calls down and coming directly to the shop to resolve issues saves you time as well as your customers.
It helps you obtain customer trust by providing an immediate solution. The customer will call you if some products have been incorrectly delivered or they are having issues getting their orders – thus saving time for both you and the customer.
Payment Integration – Transact Without Contact
Cash is passed, soon to be a relic of the past. Cards and UPI are increasingly becoming preferred payment methods. Even COD also became outdated in this covid situation. Razorpay and Paypal integration are readily available to you. To pay their bills instead of giving cash to delivery boys, customers can use UPI, such as Gpay, Paytm, Phonepe and Net banking with payment integration. As soon as your customers pay, you can close the bill during the checkout process, reducing the amount that is due on your delivery boys.
Multi-location – Efficient Inventory Management
Managing stocks exclusively for your online stores eliminates the risk of stock shortage between your offline and online customers. You can ship your online customers via the stock in your warehouse without having to go to your sales location, saving you time and increasing delivery speed. Online and offline customers can be satisfied by maintaining adequate and efficient inventory management. Imagine if 10 biscuits are available in your store and a customer who ordered all 10 online, and at the precise moment another customer picks the 10 from the shelf. It’s moments like these that can be avoided resulting in less conflicts and tension.
Delivery slot – Offer a Range of Options
You will be able to reach your customers on time if they give them the option of choosing flexible delivery timing. By choosing a slot for their delivery, customers will also be able to avoid being absent during the delivery of their order. To handle the orders efficiently and deliver them depending on the availability of delivery boys, you can limit the number of orders per slot. Delivering products on time will build trust with your customers so that they will continue to purchase from you.
App Builder and App Request – Do Without Dependencies
Data can be provided directly from the portal. No need to contact our team for assistance anymore. It can all be done by yourself now. You can choose your preferred colours, backgrounds and logos and upload them in the columns on the portal to get your app as you wish. With one click in the app request section, you can request a new version of the application without contacting the team members. This option saves you time and strain by doing without dependency with a full set of records.
Normally, if you want to build an application or request an application, you have to reach out to a person to get it done, which takes a lot of time and is also a 2-step process, but this option lets you directly do whatever needs to be done with the application yourself.
Bulk Image upload – Upload Many at Once
The time you spend uploading the images individually for your items in your online store will be reduced by this feature. Upload 1,000 items images with one click without having to recheck afterwards by optimizing the human resource. Improve the accuracy and efficiency of the image uploading process with its automation.
Uploading images one by one is prone to errors and plagued with problems. This feature will automatically upload all the images present in your online store in a single click by reading the item code.
There you are. Ten booster shots to vaccinate your business and inoculate your success!
Gofrugal’s OrderEasy will have even more exciting features in 2022. Take advantage of all these features to simplify your complicated online ordering management process and to become a market leader.
How to choose the right POS software for your business?
Investments bestow returns, expenses do not. POS is the investment that can bestow sales and profit to your business. Make the right investment! The POS market in India is so large, that they say, you can find one POS vendor in every street of India! Undelivered marketing promises can land you in a regretful POS adoption, thread of finance and business problems. Good homework can result in great scores. In the quest to find the right POS, research is a Business’ homework. Remember that only the right investment can fetch you good returns. I present this blog to all businesses and promise to give you the right checklist in 8 minutes.
1. Choosing the right POS
Your business needs can vary based on the scale, daily footfall count, outlet integrations et al. Your POS should reflect the platform that suits your needs.
You should choose On-Premise POS if, you need internet-free, single-time hardware investment and are not interested in paying for the remote storage, need customization and can afford to allocate dedicated time and resources for the patch or version updates owing to 24×7 operation.
You should choose Mobile POS if you need a sophisticated and handy device for billing that costs much less than setting up computer systems at each counter. Also, if you need POS systems that can be walked around the store for instant billing and eliminating crowding at the billing centre at different storeys.
You should choose Cloud POS if you need real-time data sync and continuous multi-outlet integration, all-time location-unbound access, zero hardware maintenance, real-time store statistics and data, storage scalability, stable net connection and continuous, real-time multi-outlet integration. Real-time data sync can make timely notifications, reports and business insights.
2. Does the POS automate operations to the tee?
Now that the POS platform has been chosen, it’s time to turn your attention to the features you need. Consolidating your operations manually and comprehending them to analyze profit and sales would be a nightmare. The POS should do that for you! With integrated departments, the question that you have to ask is Can the POS convert all data all data is precious if it can be converted into insights. , “Will the POS provide guidance in gaining insights from data?”
Are you looking at a POS with the statutory compliances of your country? A POS with integrated accounting software that records all the incoming and outgoing transactions and automates the bookkeeping. If the POS has integrations to the regulatory bodies of your region, you can eliminate error discrepancies in the filing, and consequently in the returns. Also, why invest in third-party software if the POS has integration with the regulatory portals (like GSTIN, VAT filing, etc.). Only a statutory compliant POS can eliminate the eleventh-hour chaos of allotting human resources to redo the accounts and get the accounts and sales tallied! The least resources and minimal skillset should be the result of your POS investment.
To track your inventory right, you have to sell items right. The reason why you must look for a POS that has minuscule-inventory management. Kits, assemblies, items for demo, store consumption stocks, damaged stocks and more. The POS should have features to track all these down for a solid tally between sales and accounts.
Businesses deal with the distributors and the consumers and managing operations on both sides can seem impossible unless you see a POS doing that. When you are buying a POS, ensure it can completely manage sales, purchases and accounts. Imagine your store shares sales quotations with many customers every day. And the customers reconnect to make the sales order? We cannot afford to ask the customer to mention again his or her requirements. This is where your POS should step in. The sales quotations can be c converted to sales orders and in turn to sales bills, delivery notes or return notes, etc.
Similarly, complete purchase management means that you can create purchase orders and go on to convert them to receipts, invoices and returns or even cancel purchase orders. For multi-outlet management, the POS should be able to transfer out and transfer in stock between branches, thereby integrating sales and purchase. A good POS should have user-friendly accounts management – receivables, payments and banking, all in one place.
Customers do come to return goods without the bill which they invariably lose. A good POS can help you here. Share bill download links via instant SMS notifications, reduce paper waste and save up to 38% of your investment on paper bills. Customers can download the bills in PDF as and when required.
3. Does the POS provide proactive support, weekly releases?
Guided implementation is essential for a flawless usage adoption of the POS for your employees. Smooth technology adoption by employees is obligatory for a happier employee experience and workplace.
Ask the POS provider for live chat and voice support for doubts and issues even at midnight. You should be able to raise your issues as tickets and be kept updated on the status. It is not supported if you just got to keep dialling a number in the hope of getting a doubt cleared or an issue getting fixed.
Don’t buy a static POS system – neither development nor support is provided. You are bound to regret it later. Choose a POS that is optimized regularly – technology-wise and in tune with changing market trends. Get a POS that was put just together to build the seller’s coffers but designed instead to build your business!
Static software is obsolete. Programs and interfaces have to be optimized with new tech releases in the software world. A POS that aims to be bug-free is constantly analysed for quality and degradation.
4. Can the POS plan, predict or pick from your data?
A good POS bakes data and bestows insights. What sells fast and what rots in the racks? Which supplier gave better discounts? Which customer brought in more sales? Which outlet produced the highest sales? Good POS helps you read between the lines. With such smart reports, you can choose products that are priority, suppliers who make you profitable, customers who bring you profits and outlets that are perfect. Ask the POS provider if the POS can derive insights from data.
5. How well-defined is your POS security?
Data, as they say, is the new oil. It’s imperative to ensure your proposed POS protects it at the access level hierarchy, authentication towards data access, ransomware attacks and backend security breaches. Scrutinizing accounting records for audits is reliant on your accounts data. Losing data can cost you dearly. ‘I never thought data loss would happen to me until it happened to me.’ said a sad owner of a Bangalore retail store. Backup POS data to the cloud as a proactive measure toward data loss.
Customizable access level hierarchies have to be set up in POS systems to allow limited access to specific roles/users. Stock transfers are vulnerable to pilferage and restricting stock transfer approval access to dedicated roles can limit the scope for theft. A good POS can help you establish physical security.
Software systems are built with security walls to prevent cyber-attacks. They follow paradigms that build security walls that defend your data against cyber-attacks, both at the backend and the frontend. At the backend, it is the strength of the code to ward off access to the data and code. At the frontend, it’s verification mechanisms like Captcha, Password and Biometric authentications that the POS can use for security.
6. Is the POS reliable and trusted?
Now that you know what to look for in your POS, how do you make sure the POS provider lives up to his words? That is where you need to perform a credibility check. Look for POS certifications. POS systems are certified on the efficiency of technology, ranking in the market, security of the product and so on. Check for the certification and badges that the POS provider has and the firms that have awarded them.
7. Does the POS have extensions for business excellence?
If you just wish to survive in business, any POS would suffice. But if wish to succeed and scale your business, you need a POS with business-boosting add-ons that push the sales margin, covering end-to-end operations.
To achieve or sustain success, a business needs to be given the right remedies at the right time. And for this, you should be alerted on your business’ audit, accounts, sales, stock-out, purchase, operations, security breaches and so on.
Avoid third person involvement between you and your business, change item prices on the go across your chain stores! Manage tasks at the store from anywhere, assign critical tasks to employees from the POS, get reports on fast-moving items and stock them up on your shelves and get notified of zero stocks and your daily business summary.
Customer impressions are of extreme importance and help in brand establishment. One bad review can spread like wildfire. Will the POS support customer feedback collection such that the feedback reaches you directly from their phone on what you can improve? Pennies make pounds. Pounds make you prosperous!
Your store cannot afford to wait for hours together waiting for a response from the support, because there is a lot to focus on. Make sure the POS provides anytime anywhere support and serves you with a reachable, responsive, track your tickets feature and keeps you updated on the status of the releases.
Personalize customer experience with product details from a simple scan and make your store their first choice. Reduce your investment in hiring and training sales.
Does your business take orders as messages? Do they send you the grocery list along with their address and there is chaos and confusion by the time the goods reach your customers?
You do not have to worry about all these if your POS has addons for solid management of supply. Give your own 24×7 online ordering app (within a matter of just 7 days) to your customers and let them order from anywhere with multi-language support, exact location tagging and flexible payment modes, with convenient pickup and delivery slots and real-time order progress updates.
Order processing can be automated with simple scanning for the stock pick with Order management software. Makes sure that the POS automates stock take and stock refill with stock count-based, timely system-generated tasks for employees and eliminates supervision. This saves your customers time!
Don’t lose your valuable customers for delayed deliveries due to manual delivery management. If the POS can automate delivery tasks to your employees, with easy location lagging and convenient cancellation, nothing can stop you from earning a profound customer base.
8. How flexible is the POS with your current ecosystem of tools?
POS is the endpoint of your customer’s interaction with you and that has to be the least chaotic task of their shopping. So, taking time at the billing counter to download bills from your billing application and uploading it to the POS, manually is not an option. What is the solution? Own a POS that Integrates and Automates! The POS should be flexible to work with third-party integrations for e-commerce, payment, and loyalty. Different customers, different cards, different modes of payment, the POS integrations should be a one-stop solution! Make sure that your POS supports banking integrations for error-free transactions and automated reconciliations. You don’t want to be caught napping here. Accounting and ERP and connected banking are all the right features you need.
Here’s the checklist for your POS shopping!
And ta-da! We already have the checklist! You have an immediate option that has been verified against this checklist and scores a 100/100! Gofrugal provides the POS in all possible platforms and surprisingly fitting editions, add-ons and integrations which can be cut to fit your business, just like you want it! Now, how do you trust us? Register for a demo session and experience what awaits your business success!
Business owners are perennially confronted with costs. Some veiled and some blatant. One such cost that harms their output is input cost – and one of them is inventory carrying cost. They would love to minimize this and resort it to the minimum, but the day-to-day challenges of tracking inventory accurately often let them down.
Managing inventory right begins with access to correct stock information, but this is difficult to accumulate. Small businesses, which cannot afford sophisticated tracking systems, are often forced to arrive at stock count based on visual estimates which invariably prove inaccurate or they have to close the stores to do stock audit which unvaryingly affects sales and staff productivity.
To manage inventory properly, it is essential to perform regular stock audits and make purchase decisions based on the audit. Inaccurate stock audits result in overstocking, leading to poor cash flows and financial loss. Moreover, a stock audit done during the end of the year is essential to reduce unwanted investment in stocks the next year. And if the stock count is unrealistic, it has a harmful impact on inventory and purchase decisions.
If you are one of those business owners who are unsure what to do, may we present GoSure – a mobile application for stock taking that’s easy to perform, efficient to run and effective to take stocks on the go – with real-time data sync, with least staff and, importantly, without the need to close the stores. Thus, business is unmolested and billing is undisturbed, resulting in 100% complete inventory control!
Unlike the chaos-ridden manual audit you can do stock take in your leisure time, without stress, without the need for extra staff and without extra time you were burdened with all along.
GoSure from Gofrugal, is a bag full of surprises and a bucketful of benefits. Respecting your time, here’s just five of them to arouse your curiosity and convince your mind.
1.Split and assign the task based on location
Various products purchased by outlets are kept in varying places in the outlet. It is hard to keep track of the products or their quantity. It becomes a real headache if a single person has to reach all the locations, to locate, track or pick up the same item from all the places. Yet, one cannot neglect it, as not keeping track of this will hamper the purchase process as missing the hidden inventory during the stock audit will result in improper stock purchase during reordering.
To overcome this challenge, we can divide the main location into multiple virtual locations using the ‘Stock Take Location master‘ within GoSure StockTake and assign the task of stock count to the employees based on individual locations. The sum of stock count for the same item from multiple locations gets added up and the total count is updated in the system.
Tip: “Divide the main location, add virtual locations, subtract the errors, multiply the efficiency”
2.Audit all variants of same item accurately
The items in the outlet need not be simple standard items alone. In some outlets, the items can be matrix items with different combinations of colours, sizes, lengths et al. For instance, a shirt is available in different colours and sizes.
During manual stock audit of matrix items, noting down the stock of matrix items is difficult as it is hard to know the combinations and some are invariably left out. Consider a matrix item like shirt. It’s available from S to L and from XL and XXL. Within sizes there are multiple colours too. If the stock count is inaccurate for any combination, there is an inventory carrying cost that’s added to the expense which affects cash flow and also potential damages in the item being idle for a long time.
GoSure StockTake, the stock taking app, simplifies managing matrix items by expecting us to create the parent item and it automatically creates the sub-item combinations with a click. This allows an easy and effective stock count for each combination separately.
Tip: “Counting complex Matrix items is now made simple“
3. Scan the barcodes seamlessly without any interruption
The traditional method of counting the stock by hand and recording them using pen and paper is both time-consuming and prone to discrepancies. If you are fed up doing stock count manually you will appreciate and welcome a method that eliminates duplicate data entry, reduces labour costs and removes errors.
With technology evolution, SKUs are easily identified by their unique barcodes. It is only prudent to embrace tech to manage inventory better.
Stock count made with GoSure is 100% accurate and reliable, with an option to mandate barcode scanning while counting stock by enabling ‘Scan only mode‘. Even by scanning the barcode at high speeds, the error rate remains less than a piffling 1 in 3 lakhs.
With barcodes, it’s much easier to implement a stock counting process where you count any amount of inventory, periodically, all through the year.
Put simply, the stock audit that was once a tiresome manual process done with pen and paper is now a fast and accurate marvel using inbuilt barcode scanning option with a mobile app.
Tip: “Count the stock with barcode scan, complete stock audit in shorter span“
4.Count the stocks correctly even during busy business hours
Businesses buzz during the day. Waiting for customers to leave the store, in order to close the store and perform a stock audit is as inane as it is unwarranted. And doing audit at the last moment, in a hurry, results in a plethora of errors. Even if the stock take is done manually during business hours, it results in confusion as there is no mechanism to track the live inventory information.
You may have faced a perplexing situation, wherein the stock count was done correctly yet there was a mismatch between system stock and actual stock. That’s because your customers may have picked those items within the time between doing the stock count and updating it in the system.
Relax, GoSure solves this problem as well. It has the ability to show the ‘Suspected Stock mismatch‘ that will show the difference in stock.
Tip: “Stay confident of your stock with Suspected stock mismatch“
5.Identify and correct missing stocks instantly in a click
Have you or your staff roamed around your store, looking for an item but were not able to find it? Maybe someone forgot to record the inward stock in the system. Or it was misplaced but never recorded. Maybe the item was stolen!
Whatever the reason, it’s a real challenge to identify items pending for audit during the manual stock audit, since they are placed at different locations and come in different batches. Tracking these items accurately and quickly is far beyond the competency of any human.
Even if the missing items are identified, updating the stock for these items is the next big mountain to climb. Going to individual items in the list and updating them is a lingering process.
These are simply solvable too. Solved swiftly by GoSure StockTake. You get the separate list of stock taken products and pending products for audit, by which you can update the stock of all the pending items with just a few clicks.
Tip: “Find the missing products with Pending products“
Maintaining sufficient stock to meet demand is important and so is the need to prevent stocking in surplus, to avoid happenings like product expiry, product damage and resultant losses. Businesses must strategize, strengthen the supply chain, and prepare well to meet the demand. This is possible only by maintaining perpetual inventory that allows you to order stock when necessary and ensure a healthy level of inventory.
GoSure StockTake can track and control your inventory in real-time, helping you make informed decisions on purchase / reorder and performing accurate and reliable stock take.
With GoSure, you can take stock of one thing for sure – no more headaches!
2021 was significant for Retailers across geographies for many reasons. The entire market opened up after a long time, and it was time everything came back to its feet. Now, we hardly remember how bad it was in 2020. But the transition in 2021 did not happen quickly. It required a lot of effort from everyone. From us too!
To help businesses with cutting-edge and competitive POS technology in 2021, Gofrugal’s RetailEasy on-premise POS team introduced many new features, integrations, and support. Here’s a quick recap on RetailEasy on-Premise POS’s most anticipated 21 releases of FY 2021.
Top 21 Releases of RetailEasy On-Premise POS in FY 2021
1) Manage Matrix categories easily!
With this release, we have enabled Matrix support on our WhatsNow application. With WhatsNow, business owners can access information anywhere, any time. What if we take it one step further where you get complete business information on every matrix product? And that’s what we did.
Now, retailers and garment industries can easily track sales, purchases, and complete business information for products with matrix categories. You can track matrix items from the stock selection to the checkout from the device in your hand.
2) Added layer of security for Chain Businesses
Now, HQ retail chain businesses can experience GoSecure’s support for protection against Ransomware viruses.
Research reveals that Supply Chain Management businesses are 71% more prone to ransomware attacks. The reason is because of the complex interconnectedness of their IT systems. Especially for an HQ where you manage centralized information of all the outlets, real-time Backup as a service (BaaS) such as GoSecure is a must.
When you have more outlets, real-time data sync in essential. Moreover, real-time data backup is a dire need of the hour. In case of a ransomware attack or hardware failure, your entire data is lost. Even if you can restore your transactions, chances are that your business data may vanish completely. Not all outlets can halt operations owing to the malfunctioning of one outlet. On the contrary, if your warehouse is affected, your business continuity goes for a toss. It is impossible to make vital business decisions without data, especially purchases.
But with GoSecure shielding the chain business now, you don’t have to worry about data loss. There is real-time data backup and retrieving the lost data takes less than 60 minutes. Experience no hindrance to business continuity with GoSecure!
3) Easy payments with Ezetap
Gofrugal introduces RetailEasy on-premise POS integration with EzeTap, a streamlined payment device for accepting card payments. Ezetap is powered by HDFC bank and is becoming very popular with business owners just like how Digital payments are becoming everyone’s favourite.
It’s an all-in-one POS device to receive any payment such as cash, cheque, debit/credit cards, UPI/QR-based payments, wallets, and remote payments via SMS pay. A comprehensive ERP such as RetailEasy integrated with Ezetap’s one-stop payment solution providing a frictionless shopping experience to customers is a dream come true! If you are an Ezetap user, this one must’ve been a cakewalk for you.
4) Gofrugal is now part of A to Z
Amazon offers retailers a marketplace to sell A to Z products, and Gofrugal provides A to Z solutions for retail business challenges from Kirana to an enterprise. With this integration, we have become the first ERP vendor integrated directly with Amazon.
This integration helps you eliminate the need for manual data entry between business systems by allowing you to sync orders, inventory, shipping updates, product and pricing, customer info, and more. You can also enjoy accurate order processing. It offers the power for businesses to track the performance of a product and customer. You can also track channel-wise performance via amazon, direct sales, and even your own app. With Amazon and the right POS together, retailers can synchronize order information, organize customer data, and automatically update information on warehouse inventory.
Ultimately, it’s easy to grow your online channel, and make sure your orders are correct and processed quickly.
5) Easy e-Commerce with Unicommerce
Unicommerce provides e-commerce enablement software for multichannel selling, inventory management, warehouse management, and omnichannel solutions. Now e-Commerce platforms enabled via Unicommerce can integrate with RetailEasy on-premise POS.
With this integration, businesses supported through the Unicommerce platform can have complete visibility over their orders, pricing, inventory, customer information, and sales order information in RetailEasy. With the solutions of Unicommerce integrated with RetailEasy, your eCommerce businesses can increase labour productivity, improve warehouse space utilization, allow inventory visibility and accuracy and enhance on-time shipments.
6) Be informed of minimum stock alerts
We’ve introduced a shorthand report in the sales bill screen for RetailEasy. If a product is about to reach minimum stock after a sale, a minimum stock alert pops up on the billing screen. So, the cashier or employee at the billing counter can inform the supervisor immediately about reordering.
Also, your employees at the billing counter can verify the stock report easily and purchase stock based on the report at the earliest opportunity. Basically, we have eased the decision-making process for your purchase. And, you will not lose customers due to uninformed out-of-stocks!
7) Enjoy the freedom to offer maximum discount to loyal customers
This release gives you the freedom to offer a maximum discount to loyal customers without hurting your profit margin. Is that even possible? We’ve made it possible. RetailEasy on-premise POS includes a significant master, ‘Profit margin-based slab-wise discount.’
Based on the profit margin received for different products, you can configure the discount percentage for that range. Create customer categories and map your profit margin to respective categories. If you have forgotten to add a customer, don’t worry. We offer a function key on the sales bill screen to offer the same discount on the spot. Now, you can enjoy end-to-end margin protection and provide good discounts to your loyal customers. Pharmacists and grocery business owners, thank us later!
8) Saudi Arabia’s e-Invoicing laws require it – we did it!
It’s Najah for Saudi Arabian retailers! Saudi Arabia’s new statutory law requires e-invoices to have QR scan codes for every transaction receipt. The QR code should include specific information about that transaction in the encrypted format. Gofrugal has implemented this requirement in its RetailEasy on-premise POS. Our Saudi Arabian retailers need not worry about paying the penalty or losing their license. As the next step of the enhancement, Gofrugal will also automate generating e-invoices and uploading them directly to the government’s portal.
9) Price level based offer management
During long billing hours, everyone gets a little crazy, especially during special occasions. But have you ended up in a situation where you regretted the offers you gave to customers? Did those offers bite your profit margin? We can feel you vigorously nodding. Calm down. Happy news! Now, enjoy price level-based offer management with RetailEasy on-premise POS.
Our POS restricts offers if the price level is applied on the billing screen. This avoids on-spot discounts during billing and ensures you don’t empty your pockets with more offers.
10) Secure business logins with multi-factor authentication
What if we say you can add an extra layer of security with just your mobile phone? Gofrugal introduces the ‘SmartAuth’ login, a multi-factor authentication login (MFA) ecosystem for RetailEasy POS users. Gofrugal becomes the World’s most secured POS/ERP solution for your business.
SmartAuth is a digital solution that offers an additional layer of security to RetailEasy POS users while logging in using OTP, fingerprint, or even QR code in case of being offline. With multi-factor authentication increases security with third parties and organizations. You can ensure that only the right person gets access to the relevant files. It’s an additional layer of security but without any extra cost or installation. All you need is a mobile phone and your ‘myGofrugal’ app to enable it.
11) Multi-location support for OrderEasy
Managing stocks exclusively for your online stores eliminates the risk of stock shortage between your offline and online customers. You can ship to your online customers via the stock in your warehouse without having to go to your sales location, saving you time and increasing delivery speed.
With this release, your online and offline customers can be satisfied by maintaining adequate and efficient inventory management. Imagine if 10 biscuits are available in your store and a customer who ordered all 10 online, and at the precise moment, another customer picks the 10 from the shelf. It’s moments like these that can be avoided resulting in fewer conflicts and tension.
12) A Multi-lingual Support for smart reports
Now, change your language option to ‘Multi-Language support’ and enjoy RetailEasy smart reports in your regional language. There is no need to access information only using ‘English’ as a default language. You can get all your product/customer names displayed in your regional language. Generate and print reports in the same language. If users encounter a language barrier, they take more time to work on a task. Conversely, if they can readily get the information they need in a language they clearly understand, the turnaround time decreases, and productivity increases. It also helps businesses expand the hiring pool by not restricting it to knowing English.
13) Integrated loyalty program with BlueOcktopus
Gofrugal’s RetailEasy on-premise POS integrates with BlueOcktopus. This Pune-based loyalty management platform is used by retailers across various categories to reward, engage and retain their customers. With this integration, retailers can access simplified data that help achieve business objectives of repeat purchases, higher spending, and an active transacting member base.
BlueOcktopus enables loyalty programs that develop customer engagement, marketing communication, loyalty, and reward management. With RetailEasy, you can offer a seamless shopping experience to customers and turn them into loyal customers. With BlueOcktopus loyalty programs, you can engage and retain those loyal customers. It is double damaka!
14) Support for serialized items in GRN App
GoSure’s GRN app helps streamline your purchase inwards with automated purchase order reconciliation and ensures that every entry is recorded correctly. Now, GRN users can experience Serialized item support in GRN App. Serialized items have a unique serial number. Now, while making a purchase inward, scanning the serialized item and uploading it to our POS is easy. We can track the serialized item throughout its product lifecycle, for example, warranty, service requirements, and expiry date.
GoSure GRN app users can also experience alphanumeric support. Now, business owners can use this for confidentiality purposes. Every number gets allotted an alphabet, and it will be the same across all reports and transactions. By doing this, you can hide the cost price from employees who are not supposed to be aware of it.
Also, parcel entries can be directly made using the GRN app. There is no need for manually entering the details into the POS anymore. With the GRN app, you can register the parcel entries. Mark every detail, including transportation, lorry number, and the weight of the parcel. This will help you identify a mismatch in goods between different packages.
15) GoBill Mobile Conversion for Pharmacy
Now, GoBill Mobile is ready for any pharmacy business. With this release, we have enabled Item-wise conversion for our pharmacy customers. With GoBill mobile, you can bill from any device in your hand, either android, IOS, or tablet.
Pharmacy Billing is one of the most crucial aspects of health care. The complex nature of pharmacy billing requires a comprehensive billing software that accommodates the nature of the health care industry and the items billed. It is also one of the areas where item-wise conversion happens very frequently. You can determine discounts, price level generic, and alternate to the prescribed dosage with item-wise conversion. So, with GoBill Mobile, you can have complete pharmacy billing support, including item-wise conversion, mobile billing, and tablet billing.
16) Franchisee returns support for expired items
The business relationship between a Franchisee and Franchisor is significant. One tiny error from the Franchise can affect the Franchisor’s brand reputation altogether, and a mistake from the Franchisor can impact a Franchise’s pockets heavily. This holds 100% true to purchase returns of expired items.
With this release, a Franchisee can raise purchase returns for expired items, and the same gets automatically reflected as sales return for the Franchisor. No one gets affected due to expiry items and hassles in the returns process. Since both Franchisee and Franchisor have these options enabled on their return screens, it is easier to complete the process and decide on the next steps.
17) TCS Integration with ManageEasy
One major hassle that a supplier and retailer face is TCS compliance. If it’s not streamlined, then it becomes difficult for the supplier as he pays the extra money from his pockets. But here’s the good news for Distributors and Retailers who use Gofrugal ERP. From this release, while making sales bill in GoFrugal ManageEasy, the TCS amount will be automatically reflected in the purchase screen of GoFrugal RetailEasy.
With this release, Retailers can avoid a manual entry of TCS every time; it will be completely automated. When TCS is not managed properly, there is more scope of cash locked between the supplier and buyer, leading to unwanted strain on the business. The supplier ends up paying the penalty, or you need more reconciliation tasks to sort out the discrepancy. Worse, you end up losing the trust of your suppliers. With this integration, you can avoid all of these challenges.
18) All POS print profiles available for GoBill Mobile
Our Mobile billing application GoBill Mobile also supports bill printing templates available in our Gofrugal POS. You can use any print profile template from POS through GoBill Mobile with printer size matching the POS and when connected via USB or Bluetooth.
Your billing counter doesn’t occupy your store’s space anymore. Especially when you need express checkouts, billing via a mobile application such as GoBill Mobile is more straightforward. With your brand logo on the bill, it is easier to create a brand identity for your store. When you have more print profile templates for billing, you can select the template based on your requirement and help your customers with a fast checkout.
19) Support for Wovvtech Mall manager
Retailers hosting shops in malls have to pay a specific cut to mall managers based on their overall sales. When there is a discrepancy in the data, the mall manager either charges more or creates unwanted tension between the retailer and the mall owner. This is where our release helps. We support updated ADSR ‘Wovvtech’ mall manager integration. At the end of the day, the sales and revenue data from our RetailEasy gets automatically updated in the mall manager solution. So, no discrepancy, and there is clear visibility of daily sales.
20) Replenishment Support with GoSure
Now, you can ensure 100% product availability to your customers with GoSure StockRefill. When your stock reaches the pre-defined minimum quantity in the specified racks, your staff gets notified immediately, and they can quickly refill. Based on the sale happening in real-time, a task notification gets triggered for the stock refiller to fetch the products from godown to refill the racks. Now, you will never lose a sale due to stock out.
21) Head Office now merges categories
Head office solution (HO), whose outlets are powered by RetailEasy, can use the category merge option. The outlets will have different categories for a product, and the master management team can have a separate category for the same product. In such a situation, merging sales information, inventory reports, and other transaction reports can be a Herculean task.
But this release simplifies the whole process. The category merge option merges different categories of the same product into one category. It also integrates the necessary sales information, reports, and customer information under one category.
Wow! We have reached the end. It has been a fantastic year for us developing new features and enhancements that will benefit our customers. Now, it’s your time to use these features and turn the rest of 2022 into a wonderful year!
The IPL season is back, and all are glued to the television every evening. It’s pure bliss to see your favorite players, teams, and captains give their heart and soul to lift the trophy. But can you guess the most anticipating moment in the tournament? Did you say lifting the cup? Not really. It’s the players’ auction! The team you build decides your victory. So, is your ERP! The factors that you consider while purchasing the ERP determine the success of your business! Are you ready to pick the playing eleven of your ERP team? Spin the toss, and let’s start!
Understanding the game and its rules is mandatory before you start picking your players. So, what is ERP?
ERP stands for Enterprise Resource Planning. ERP is a software widely used by organizations to manage day-to-day business activities, including accounting, procurement, project management, risk management, compliance management, supply chain operations, ordering, delivery, and reporting. A robust ERP system integrates all the core functions into a unified system that helps plan, budget, predict and report on an organization’s results.
Understanding current business requirements
Before you get into the match, the first and foremost thing to do is understand the game, rules, and regulations. You cannot win a game that you are unaware of. You must consider what your business needs before implementing an ERP. Ask yourself,
What do you want to gain after the implementation?
What are the problems that you want to solve?
What requirements should the ERP accomplish for you, your employees, and your business?
You cannot win a game that you don’t know, you cannot win your business unless you know what you want to win. Every business is specific, and so should be your ERP!
ERP that scores easily with Three Top Order Batsmen
Every match needs its Top Order Batsmen to ensure the team has the right start and progresses well. The first of your top-order batsmen should be ‘Automation’. If you’re manually comprehending the data and conducting your operations, then it’s only going to cost you more time and effort.
The ultimate requirement to get your scores hit peak is the right Inventory Management. Your ERP should help you
Match the customer demand and the supply of stocks
Prevent the loss of revenue by having the right stock in your store
Have good visibility over the stocks and fulfill the customer orders without fail
Empower sales force with 100% product availability and increase the revenue
Reduce the time and cost involved in stock audits by automating the process and having the complete inventory control
Identify and eliminate all the inefficiencies in the inventory with the help of real-time data
Do not let your ERP ignore Order Management and Delivery Management in the online shopping era. With the right ERP, you can nail stock take and refill with stock count-based, timely system-generated tasks for employees and eliminate supervision. This way, you save customers time and increase customers! Ensure your ERP automates and helps you with seamless Order Management.
Also, your ERP should help you manage peak hours and festive seasons efficiently by billing anywhere inside your store or when you are on the go with the fastest billing mechanism. An ERP that includes a Brilliant Cash handover system allows you to monitor cash flows counter-wise. Also, Sessions allow users to Log in and Log out with the manager’s control. Don’t miss even a penny of yours by tracking each transaction from your mobile POS machine.
ERP that paces and spins to get more customers and brand ambassadors!
Scoring in the match is good. But that is not the only thing you need to win the game. You have to ensure you don’t let your opponent’s team score. That’s why you need pacers and spinners! The ERP that you select should pace up the growth with the Purchase Management and Delivery Management. At the same time, it should spin the wheels of loyalty to build a strong brand presence.
Your ERP should help you achieve profits with the right Purchase Management software. With the help of Purchase Management, you can purchase the right products at the right time and price from the right place with a completely digitized purchase system. Let your Retail Purchase Order Management software make re-order decisions, not your suppliers. You can fix the re-order formula for each product or category based on the minimum/maximum stock, sales history, purchase history, purchase factor, and order frequency. This is the pacer you need to save runs!
It’s hard enough to get customers. Why would you lose the gained customer due to delayed deliveries? Your ERP should include a Delivery Management feature. Ensure and execute faster deliveries to your customers with an ERP that can automate delivery tasks to your employees, including easy location tagging and convenient cancellation. Wow! That’s an excellent swing that saved you with Q-Commerce.
You don’t want to lose customers. Of course! But you need your customers to stick to your brand and become brand ambassadors. Your ERP should empower you to provide offers and discounts to your customers on their entire bill without hurting your bottom line.
With an ERP that offers flexible loyalty programs based on points or amount, you can decide your equivalent redemption value to your customers’ loyalty points or amount on different slabs based on the margins you make from the products.
ERP that turns the game in your favor
Your system needs to be continuous and not discrete. If not, that adds to your employees’ confusion, creating a domino effect of missed opportunities and cross-purpose functions. Therefore, the most crucial all-rounder you need to pick up the game’s pace is how your ERP integrates all the data and offers you a comprehensive view in one place. Your ERP should be highly flexible and allow third-party integrations for e-commerce, payment, hosting, and loyalty. If your ERP is not a one-stop solution, you juggle between different tools, and imagine the chaos! Especially if your ERP does not score in the banking integrations, you can forfeit the game right now.
ERP that never lets your opponent breach Data security and privacy
Data is the new form of ultimate power. It’s like when the captain loses hope, the entire team fails. You cannot have your team losing hope if you want to win the game. But with data, it is not just hope but losing the entire game. Dig deeper and understand how your ERP provider is ready to offer authentication towards data access, protection against ransomware attacks, and data backup in case of security breaches. Bowlers try their best to stop the batsmen from scoring. But when they miss it out, the fielders try their best to do the same. That’s what your ERP should do! Especially with Inventory Management and customer data, pilferage cannot happen. An ERP should offer role-based access to its employees and ensure the right authority access to the right data. Though the skipper might do their best to halt the shot, it is not certain that it will halt. But with an ERP that has strong fielders like verification mechanisms including Captcha, Password, and Biometric and multifactor authentications, it is possible to stop the cyberattack ball. Still, if you lose data, your ERP should offer a data recovery mechanism to recover the lost data and make sure the match continues without losing hope!
ERP that has your back 24*7
You can have the perfect fielders. But be prepared for an unprecedented situation. What if your bowlers and fielders miss stopping the opponent’s batters? That’s why you need a wicketkeeper. Your ERP’s 24×7 support is like your “Wicket-keeper.” He is always there to protect the loose balls, no balls, and wide delivered by your employees while using the ERP.
The ERP that you choose should offer multiple support channels for you in any situation to solve the problem. Ask yourself if the ERP offers
Live chat with options to share images/audio notes to explain the process
Digital support with required materials to get help instantly
Ability to reach support from anywhere anytime without delay
Issue resolution with 24 hours of time
Staying updated with the status of the issues raised without follow-up
Your ERP should empower you to solve your problems or ask for the right help via the right channel.
ERP that can make decisions, just like a captain
As a business owner, you already have too many things on your plate to think about. It is not easy to make decisions, especially when your game is at stake. That’s why every game needs a captain who can decide for the entire team and still turn the winds of the game. Set your purchasing decisions in an auto-pilot mode with AI and ML-based purchase order management systems. Forecast and replenish using seasonal, perishables, private label production, and supplier lead time. Track supply chain discrepancies, get them fixed, and move from Buy -> Stock -> Sell to Sell -> Buy -> Stock mode. Spend the least time making a purchase or merchandising decisions with interactive conversation-based web and mobile apps. Your ERP should offer you BI Reports to increase your business awareness for improved focus on growth.
Get real-time insights to buy the right product, correct quantity, the right price, and the right time.
So, your ERP should be the captain of your team and not the other way around.
ERP that consults, coaches, and helps you win matches!
It’s easy for anyone to develop an ERP and implement it. But does it make the cut? Before choosing the ERP, do research and experience if your ERP provider listens to you. Choose an ERP provider who listens to you closely right from the start and includes you in every part of the product development and implementation. The ERP software provider who constantly checks with you for feedback and includes you in the road map discussion will understand your requirements realistically instead of shoving down your throat what they have built. If your coach does not listen, he will never know your strengths or weaknesses. It is impossible to bring out the best game without a coach who listens!
Woof! This is going to be an intense, nail-biting, and edge-of-the-seat match. Cricket matches are always uncertain with the wrong team. But don’t let your business be uncertain of its win. Gofrugal ERP includes the best playing eleven who have made it to our list after an intense selection process. With Gofrugal ERP, you will not just lift the trophy but will finish off in style for your entire customer crowd to remember. Come and join us for a friendly match!
Value a regular customer by giving them offers, loyalty points and notifying them ahead of a flash sale on their mobile phone. Reach out to customers via SMS and emails with your offers a week prior to a festival or their own birthday and anniversary. This makes it convenient for a customer to plan out a happy shopping experience.
