93% of all online experiences begin with a search engine

97% of all consumers search for local business online

It’s no wonder that in a recent Constant Contact survey, the majority of small businesses (SMBs) said it was “important for them to be found on major search sites, local search apps and directory sites.”

Local independent retailers who want to draw local consumers need to appear in the Google Snack Pack, which is a listing of the top 3 local business based on seo. Consumers typically do not look beyond these top 3 listings and perceive them as the best matches. For that reason, it’s crucial for local independent retailers to work on getting into the top 3.

As a SMB retailer who may not have a team, or a budget, to engage in local seo here are some things that you can do to connect your retail business to the cloud and improve your position.

Google My Business Page

Claim your Google My Business page. Make sure that your business name is descriptive and includes your business category. Make sure your phone number, address and website is correctly listed (if you don’t have a website; more on that later).

Update your Social Profiles

Make sure that your social profiles are all up to date and actively managed, verify that the business information on your social media pages, matches the google my business information.

Reviews

Manage your reviews on yelp and similar sites, thank those that give you good reviews it encourages others and respond to those who give you negative ones.

Product descriptions & Information

Get your website up, show product in stock with good descriptions. Most POS companies (including the free ones listed here) have integrations to allow you to quickly and easily launch an e-commerce site and display your product. Good descriptions are a seo goldmine.

These are just some quick tips to start you on the road to building your local seo. Imagine being at the coffee shop and doing a search for “shoe stores near me”. Would it make a difference to you to be in the top 3 results?

Everyday, consumers are constantly on the look-out for products that are new and sometimes old. With this in mind, merchants have to consistently update their inventory. This can be an extremely tedious task, especially if there are products going in and out of the store daily.

Managing inventory can be quite laborious, especially for small business owners as they would have to keep track of their products through maybe excel sheets. This can be quite exhausting since the merchant could be dealing with the inflow and outflow of products all at once. Organization of inventory is of ultimate significance because it helps calculate and keep track of the numerous point of sales that occur in a single day.

Keeping track of inventory for any small business retailer is a large single investment. Inventory management is crucial for small business POS because it helps the user understand which of their products are selling and which are not. With proper inventory management, the operator is allowed to keep their investment in a product at a minimum while providing a large range of options to their customer. Aside from keeping track of what products are selling and which are not, the merchant can also keep an eye out on the current retail trends at their POS. This can definitely aid in strategizing their small business more.

Currently, in order to help inventory management come at an ease for small business merchants, there are inventory softwares available, especially through the cloud. Using cloud inventory management software allows operators to see what is selling through multiple sources, such as in their brick & mortar stores, their web stores and mobile applications. Through this, users are able to manage and analyze their product mix from any location by using a secure software that can only be accessed by themselves!

One of the key aspects of retail cloud POS and inventory programs is to provide small business retailers with customer data that was inputted at the time the POS was established. Its secure inventory management software is able to collect customer data as well as everyday store activities that create an impact at small businesses. After collecting this information, the merchant can determine how he or she can better improve their sales and know what the current retail trend is.

Inventory management programs are critical for POS. If you are still managing inventory manually or through excel sheets, it is time for a new upgrade as times are certainly changing just as the inventory for your business.