I am a concert junkie, and last Monday I received an e-mail announcing Ray LaMontagne tickets were going on sale Saturday. He is one of my favorites, so needless to say I was thrilled. I went on his website and saw the concert had a pre-sale the previous week, which had unfortunately ended. How did I not know about this? I subscribe to all the popular music and artist newsletters…still, I wasn’t alerted. I wish the venue would have sent an alert to all the subscribers announcing the limited-time presale. This would have certainly increased ticket sales and reinforced fan loyalty.
Instant gratification is defined as immediate satisfaction or having a direct, immediate experience. Many of us today are now getting accustomed to instant knowledge, thus we are having a difficult time waiting for answers or results. The same is true for retail operators, especially concerning the activities that are occurring within their stores. It can be difficult for operators to be in each of their stores on a consistent basis. Even if they are there 24/7, they are often pulled in 20 different directions. This fact often lends itself to having an operator miss both important details of activities occurring in their business that could potentially be fraudulent as well as miss opportunities to provide excellent customer service.
To react to the need for instant knowledge, this week Radiant Systems launched SmartAlerts™, a new mobile application within its CounterPoint Retail Point-of-Sale (POS) product suite. SmartAlerts analyzes POS transactions and inventory data to discover events that fall outside of set guidelines. SmartAlerts then sends real-time, actionable data in concise messages via SMS text and e-mail messages, giving the retailer tools to take immediate action.
It is important for retail operators to be proactive about fraud prevention. While some operators may take a look at reports at the end of a day or the end of a week, they now have the ability to learn about activities that are outside of the norm or about large purchases in real time. This helps them become more proactive about stopping fraudulent activity in its tracks as well as provide exceptional customer service. Just think about it. Wouldn’t it be great to find out if someone has made a large purchase immediately so that you can congratulate the sales rep or manager and communicate a special thanks to that customer? With more than 20 alerts to choose from, SmartAlerts has the ability to be the eyes and ears of a retail operator. They now have the ability to instantly monitor store activities that clearly affect their bottom line.
Just as I shared in my own personal experiences of wanting to receive ticket presale alerts automatically, I am proud to work for a company that continues to provide the most compelling retail management solution with innovative, easy to use, retail POS technology. I am excited about the launch of SmartAlerts, and I can’t wait to hear stories about how this product is going to impact the retail industry.
Watch a video highlighting one customer’s experience with SmartAlerts here.
Tags: CounterPoint, CounterPoint SmartAlerts, retail point of sale, retail POS, SmartAlerts
