CRM Software for the Retail Industry Key Terms

Find key terms for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software in the retail industry

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.

 

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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.
Try: 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.

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