Small, independent grocery retail leaders may get a leg up soon with some new tech crafted with them in mind.
San Francisco-based SpotOn, a software and payments provider, launched SpotOn Retail to enable small retailers, including grocers, to compete with big-box stores, according to a news release.
According an Oct. 15 SpotOn-commissioned Harris Poll, 72% of Americans would prefer to buy from an independent store rather than a national retailer if these stores were equally convenient and reliable.
The company’s integrated business management catalog for point-of-sale and ecommerce includes tools such as marketing and loyalty and fulfillment offerings such as curbside pick-up, same-day delivery and nationwide shipping.
SpotOn commissioned a new survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll among more than 2,000 U.S. adults, which found 78% of Americans would be more likely to purchase from a store offering both in-person and online purchase options over a store that offers only one purchase option, making a flexible, omnichannel solution vital to retail success.
“For small and mid-size businesses with storefronts, the idea of being able to offer buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS) and curbside pickup was traditionally reserved for larger retailers,” chief product officer Doron Friedman said in the release. “With SpotOn Retail, we are providing the small retailers the support and solutions they need to compete with the big box stores and making it easier for consumers to choose small businesses.”
Business isn’t slowing down.
Consumers spent a record $638 million at stores and restaurants in October, up 1.7% from September and 21% above pre pandemic levels, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, cited in the release.
To handle this business, SpotOn Retail connects many business tools: point-of-sale, eCommerce, stock management, marketing and review management, loyalty, local delivery, and nationwide shipping.
A business owner can determine all the necessary variables of a product or service and choose whether it’s available in-store, online, or both, and publish to his or her in-store, point-of-sale devices and eCommerce store from the dashboard. This means retailers can sell unlimited products and services from anywhere and sync all sales with real-time stock management, automatically reconciling stock count across locations, according to the release. The catalog gives retailers control over locations, sales channels, modes of shipping and delivery, as well as team member access, taxes, fees and discounts.
Harris Poll survey also revealed:
- 68% of Americans would prefer to buy holiday gifts from an independent store instead of a national retailer if they were delivered to their doorstep
- 40% of Americans say they would be more motivated to purchase from an independent retail over a larger, national retailer by the availability of “buy online, pickup in-store;”
- 56% of Americans say they regularly make unexpected purchases as a result of loyalty program offerings;
SpotOn Retail includes a new omnichannel point-of-sale system complete with handheld and counter hardware, as well as an eCommerce storefront, called SpotOn eCommerce. For clients that need a full website build, SpotOn will create a custom website and online store.
The SpotOn dashboard is included with SpotOn Retail, offering retailers access to digital marketing, review management, and reporting tools to run and grow their business through data-driven decisions. The marketing tools enable retailers to create an integrated campaign across email and social media, as well as digital coupons. The reporting tools help business owners get insights into sales, labor and stock to drive smarter decision-making to drive revenue.
Also built into the SpotOn Retail dashboard, a loyalty program will allow retailers to automatically enroll customers during checkout, create custom rewards, send automated email deals and increase sales with every check-in and redemption.