CRM software for the retail industry helps businesses track detailed information on customer behavior. Consumer habits are the best variables to watch when making decisions about marketing campaigns, sales strategies and customer-focused services. Retail CRM software gives companies a way to track the success or failure of their marketing campaigns when planning for the future.

Customer relationship management in retail can be a complicated process, but software makes it easier. And once employees learn to use a program, retail CRM can revolutionize a company's marketing strategies. CRM software for the retail industry education and training can come from:

1. CRM retail software companies that provide training opportunities for its retail CRM systems.

2. Tutorials that teach basic and advanced features of CRM programs.

3. Online courses that provide intensive training for CRM programs.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Get training for retail CRM programs from the companies that make the software

CRM software training can come from many sources, but the most comprehensive training often comes from the company that manufacturer. A software company can provide your business with experts who can teach employees the basics of the software and how to best utilize it in marketing campaigns.

I recommend: Infor provides training services for all its software products, including its CRM software. Escalate Retail offers both on-site classroom training and e-learning opportunities for its retail CRM software.

Find tutorials that teach you to use CRM in retail management

Tutorials are another way to learn about CRM management software. They can provide a self-guided approach to learning the program, or they can be integrated into a company's broader training materials. Tutorials can also help users navigate a title's advanced functions. They are often provided for free, either on the company's website or through its customer resources.

I recommend: Prophet provides tips and tutorials in flash video format. These tutorials cover many basic and advanced topics in the Prophet system. SalesJunction.com provides flash tutorials for its web-based CRM software.

Explore online training options for the CRM retail industry

If an in-house training session is not convenient, there are many software companies that provide intensive online training. These programs go more in-depth than a tutorial, and many companies provide certification to employees who finish the course.

I recommend: Right Now is a company that provides training online and regionally for its hosted CRM software programs. Aralco offers online training and educational resources for companies that purchase its CRM retail software.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  Many retail CRM solutions can be taught to employees in a day or two, so it is important to provide continuing education to your veteran employees. You should also implement refresher training sessions after the software is upgraded.

The customer is everything. CRM in retail industry software maximizes customer lifetime value. Most retailers spend the majority of their advertising dollar attracting new customers. Retail CRM systems keep customers coming back. When customers come to the store, they spend money and generate profits. It's that simple.

CRM and retail fit together perfectly. When it’s time to sell women’s swimsuits for the new season, go to your retail CRM software, find those customers who purchased swimsuits last season and send them a mailer advertising a special sale. When that customer is in the store for another purchase, retail CRM solutions alert the sales clerk to remind the customer of the sale on swimsuits.

When you have an excess of inventory, CRM software retail programs give you the ability to find and contact the customers who buy those products. Find retail CRM software that will:

1. Track customer buying behavior using retail CRM programs.

2. Utilize CRM retail to maximize and prolong customer purchases and profitability over time.

3. Target sales efforts to attract new customers that are similar to your most profitable customers.

4. CRM software for the retail Industry allows you to maximize return and minimize loss on your inventory investments.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Define your needs for retail CRM software

Determine if you need to use CRM retail software to manage complaints or to track customer buying habits. Analyze your sales staff and customer interaction and decide if you wish to build and maintain relationships between salespeople and customers.

I recommend: Look at CRM Software for an overview of what CRM provides. This is the first step. CRM Guru Blog and Elite CRM Software are also great source of general information on CRM.

Learn what you already know about CRM in retail

Before you decide what data to use in your retail CRM system, you must determine what data is available and where it comes from. Do you have a POS system that already is capturing data? Learn how to add that historical data to your new retail CRM system so you will hit the ground running.

I recommend: Pay a visit to eSalesTrack and learn what kinds of information you want to keep. Then look at your POS system and see what you already have.

Make a plan for how to use CRM in retail management

Decide if your current staff has the knowledge and skill sets to effectively install and use a retail CRM software package. Name a project leader and empower that person to make the process work.

I recommend: Salesboom provides an outline to use as a functionality planning base.

Tips & Tactics

Helpful advice for making the most of this Guide

• •  CRM retail software will likely cause changes in the way you run your business. Changes will be made in marketing, sales, purchasing, and operations. Be sure you are ready and committed to change before making the leap to CRM.

CRM is a set of processes that a business uses to organize and track information about its customers in order to retain high-value customers. CRM software provides the integration and management of these processes between different departments within a retail company. It also uses customer information to create effective marketing strategies by identifying customers with common traits, such as demographics and purchasing history. This allows the retailer to send marketing information that is more likely to interest each customer.

Action Steps
The best contacts and resources to help you get it done

Retail intelligence

Retail intelligence refers to information that allows a retail business to improve its understanding of its commercial context. CRM software for retailers routinely uses retail intelligence in many different ways.

I recommend: SAS is an industry leader in CRM software and provides a summary of the uses for retail intelligence.

Front office

Front office generally refers to business functions, such as sales, that involve direct interaction with the customer. Back office functions, such as accounting, do not typically require direct interaction with the customer. However, in the context of retail CRM, the term 'front office' also may refer to software that integrates front and back office applications.

I recommend: CRM Today provides an analysis of the efforts to integrate front office applications with back office applications.

Opportunity management

Opportunity management is the process of identifying and managing the optimum strategy for making a sale. This is a common capability of retail CRM software.

I recommend: Intuitive Manufacturing Systems describes opportunity management in a retail CRM setting and also summarizes the capabilities of an opportunity management module.

Target Account Selling (TAS)

TAS provides a repeatable methodology for making structured sales efforts. Retail CRM software commonly automates sales related activities, such as TAS.

I recommend: The TAS Group provides a definition of TAS and describes some the functions that this methodology includes.

Customer-centric

The term 'customer-centric' is used to describe a software, strategy or tool that puts the customer's needs ahead of the purveyor's needs. This term is becoming increasingly common in the CRM industry.

I recommend: DestinationCRM.com offers a detailed discussion of the term "customer-centric" as it relates to retail CRM software.

Business Process Management (BPM)

BPM is the coordination of the applications, people and technologies that comprise a business process. A retail CRM solution should use BPM effectively in order to improve customer satisfaction.

I recommend: BPM Enterprise defines and discusses the integration of BPM and CRM for retail businesses. It also summarizes what the integration of BPM and CRM does and why it is important.