Today’s modern consumer expects the in-store experience to provide the same convenience and flexibility of the online shopping experience. Nowadays, retailers miss out on an estimated $1 trillion in in-store sales because they don’t have the products customers are interested in. A modern POS empowers sales associates to save the sale by giving them a 360-degree view of inventory. As a result, they can sell inventory from any location or distribution center. And the right POS doesn’t just enable endless aisle by providing real-time access to enterprise-wide inventory, it lets sales associates place orders from inventory across your retail network with flexible shipping and pickup options powered by split fulfillment.
Many retailers lose sales or frustrate loyal customers when their inventory and fulfillment logistics aren’t unified or flexible. Or they drive shoppers to competitors when orders aren’t fulfilled in ways that cater to their on-the-go lifestyles. Only with a POS that shares customer data with an order management system or an ecommerce platform that is powered by the same underlying unified commerce tech, can retailers truly deliver seamless experiences from end-to-end.
The result?
Happier customers who can not only purchase products where and when they want, but receive them anywhere and anytime as well.
What Are the Results of Endless Aisle and Split Fulfillment?
Endless aisle and split fulfillment can help you offer the same convenience and flexibility of online shopping. And, if you power your retail experience with a solution like Kibo POS, you stand to attain a number of business results.
Rescue More Sales
Shoppers are used to having access to many product options online. With the best point of sale systems, they can get that same variety of choice in-store, even when an item they want isn’t in stock at that location. With endless aisle, associates (or store kiosks), can access all inventory and use split fulfillment to ensure all items can be sourced to customers when needed.
Deliver Orders Faster
Don’t make customers wait until items are all in stock at the same fulfillment center. With split fulfillment, orders can ship from multiple locations or at different times to get customers their orders more quickly.
Cater to On-The-Go Customers
With flexible fulfillment, stores can easily configure individual orders to ship-to-store, ‘buy now, pick up later,’ or ship-to-home. It’s also easy to add extra features like white-glove delivery or ‘assemble at store, deliver to home.’
Perhaps a customer has a camping trip this weekend and can’t wait two weeks for home delivery. But another store has the item needed for their trip, and can be set aside for them en route to their destination with split fulfillment.
Split fulfillment is also a handy way for customers to shop for themselves and for others. They can walk out the door with a candle set for themselves, and have another shipped as a gift cross-country.
Inform Customers With Personalized Updates
With unified POS, it’s easy to provide email or SMS messaging with updates on the status of a split order.
Meet Rising Contactless Fulfillment Habits
POS allows a store to easily serve as the fulfillment end for online orders or orders from other stores. Additionally, it makes offering BOPIS and curbside fulfillment easier. Offering contactless fulfillment options also allows you to respond to accelerated customer expectations. And with split fulfillment, those contactless fulfillment options can be integrated into the order management process.
