How are your clients faring in Q3–and how successful will their current POS and payments solutions help them in Q4?
It’s back-to-school season, and parents are shopping based on class supply lists and what’s missing from their kids’ closets. But for retailers, the focus is different. The back-to-school season typically generates the second-highest spending annually after winter holiday shopping.
However, with increased inflation and a nearly 24% price increase on school supplies, shoppers will either look for more bargains or simply won’t invest as much this year. In fact, spending per child is projected to decrease 10% for 2023; it’s the first back-to-school season decline in nine years. While the forecast seems negative, solution providers should see it as an opportunity to help retailers reset their focus and maximize revenue.
Tips for back-to-school season 2023.
Trusted advisors can help retailers focus on consumer needs in critical areas, including the following.
- Necessities. Research shows customers will primarily set their sights on basic school supplies, like pens, pencils, paper, and binders. Wardrobe and technology purchases are estimated to fall 14%, compared to past years, while school supplies will jump 20%. Sales and special offers on classroom necessities could score more sales for retailers.
- Free shipping. It’s likely parents will spend a little more with a retailer to qualify for free shipping on their items. Retailers make more sales, consumers experience hassle-free online shopping, and may save some money on return shipping with a higher level of customer satisfaction as well.
- Easy and free returns. Along with the best bargains, busy families need convenience. Retailers should take a look at their return policies. Are they easy to understand? Are there too many “asterisks” regarding what can be exchanged or returned and when? Consumers want to know they can approach a store’s customer service desk with confidence or have the ability to print a mailing label themselves for easy returns via mail.
- Splurge opportunities. Solutions providers should remind retailers that six out of 10 parents will splurge for the right reason, such as buying their child a nostalgic lunchbox, the perfect first-day-of-school outfit, or another clothing item that elicits self-expression. Sharing this reminder with your clients can help them boot revenues or bundle items to move more merchandise.
How retailers can optimize customer experiences with payments.
Online sales have surged over the past several years, however, in-store shopping will continue its comeback during the 2023 back-to-school season. Solution providers can provide technology to optimize customer experiences in the various ways consumers engage, including the following.
- Offering tech solutions to increase efficiency. Due to an ongoing labor shortage and budget restraints, retailers could be operating with fewer employees. A solution provider can help execute tech platforms and tools to maintain efficient sales floors and warehouses.
- Focusing on customer service and customer experiences. From satisfied consumers to efficient operations and consistent sales, retailers can benefit from convenience-based platforms. Solution providers can guide clients to valuable options like self-service kiosks for orders, self-checkouts, and mobile point of sale (POS).
- Providing payment choices. A single payments platform that meets all of a retailer’s needs makes employee training and knowledge uniform across departments and locations. And when a payment solution can adapt to all types of payment methods, such as credit cards, debit cards, contactless payments, mobile wallets, unattended self-checkouts, or online payments for ecommerce orders, retailers may see increased revenues because customers have plenty of convenient payment options.
Make the most of the opportunity.
When your clients are in the thick of back-to-school season shopping, take note of gaps you see in their processes, customer experiences that have room for improvement, and the pain points they communicate to you. You can use that insight to help them optimize their IT and payments environments, particularly in the run-up to the holiday shopping season.
At a time when consumers are tightening their purse strings, help your clients capture every sale and finish out the year strong.
To learn more about point of sale (POS) and payments solutions retailers need in Q3 and Q4, contact us.
