As a retailer, it can be hard to calculate ROI on your IT-investments – but only if you just focus on making money. In many other ways, your IT-investments could perhaps be one of your business’ greatest sources of profit.
Investments could be difficult to measure
While it is hard to measure in concrete numbers, money is not the only thing you should think of when updating your IT-technology. When a store is, for example, implementing a lot of self-service solutions, it might not be possible to immediately conclude that installation of these has generated more sales. However, these types of investments are not only a way to save time and increase in-store productivity. Mostly, self-service solutions are a way to improve service for your customers – and their perception of service is of course also hard to put out in numbers.
Don’t compete with prices – create better service
At the same time, it is important to keep in mind where you stand relative to your competitors. Acquiring clerks today is difficult for almost every store, and it is also challenging to compete with product prices.
Instead, you will need to put more effort into creating a greater customer experience, making your customers choose your store over someone else’s. With self-service checkouts and other types of new technology that create better solutions for the customers, you will need to keep your IT investments up to speed and meet important trends – but most of all, you will increase efficiency.
If you don’t keep your IT park updated and invest in new technology at the appropriate time, in the end you will lose customers. Because they will choose the store that gives them the better service – and more than anything, IT today is about service.
Curious about how to prepare for the future with better IT investments? Download our guide “IT’s role in the store of the future”, and read more about how to meet customer expectations and reduce their effort.
