Common Backend Issues With In-Store Selling Platforms

Retail has never faced such an upheaval. eCommerce sales have hit record numbers. Now, the pressure has turned to retail stores. Can they match the sophisticated, high-tech experience that modern online shops offer?

That’s where in-store selling platforms become a fundamental necessity for your business.

These retail selling platforms will integrate the new with the old. That gives you advanced point of sale technology and a seamless experience for customers, whether browsing your physical store or searching online.

But before you embark on this new project, get to know some of the common backend issues businesses face when adopting this technology. And discover how our expert support can help you avoid these problems.

Implementation

Perhaps you have yet to install an in-store selling platform for your business.

Before you embark on this ambitious project, it helps to have experts on hand (like our team) to ensure you set up the platform’s backend correctly from the outset.

That will help you avoid costly problems in the future, such as missing functionality, poor integrations between systems, and instability on your platform.

We can help you define what you need from your in-store selling technology and design a robust, fit-for-purpose solution.

Duplicate Product Listings

Duplicate product listings on your sales platform are difficult for store owners because they often go unnoticed. You might only realize you have the issue after a customer spots it.

The first step to remedying this problem is to have the capability of running custom queries in your selling platform to audit all your live listings in your store.

That type of report will help you spot any duplicates. After that, you’ll need the support of a technical team to trace that problem and see if it started through human error or a coding issue.

Our team at Red Iron can help you troubleshoot that sort of issue and stop it from happening again in the future.

Integration With Your Website

Customers want more from the modern in-store shopping experience. They want seamless integration between what they see in the store and what they see on your website.

If they browse online to discover a product in stock, they don’t want the disappointment of heading to your store to find you’ve sold out.

So one of the most common challenges when setting up the backend of your in-store selling background is ensuring you integrate it entirely with your e-Commerce database.

That means it stays in sync when you do the setup and beyond. You can find out more about the work we do with our customers to integrate their commerce solutions by clicking here.

No Monitoring

Suppose your in-store selling platform is down or running an error just at the point where you’ve run a prominent marketing promotion.

You have record numbers of customers waiting to buy from you. Still, you face broken technology that lets you down at the eleventh hour.

That’s why effective monitoring is so important.

Monitoring will give you immediate alerts about any critical problem on the system. It will also help you monitor the system to preempt future issues, for example, by keeping tabs on the platform’s stability.

Our team understands how to set up the proper monitoring for your in-store selling platforms. We will also advise on the metrics you’ll need to monitor to help keep your sales system running smoothly.

Security

Your selling platform needs to have the most advanced security to protect your business and customers from threats like hacking and theft.

All that happens in the backend of the selling platform. You will need someone to audit the security setup to flag any vulnerabilities and fix any security issues before your system is up and running.

There’s also a compliance angle to this. Stores using in-selling platforms must ensure that all the payments setup complies with local laws governing financial information such as credit card numbers.

Poor Network Connectivity

In-store technology relies heavily on network connectivity. Slow or broken connections can frustrate customers and could even cost you a lost sale if the customer cannot wait for a remedy.

Monitoring is your first step to flagging a potential network issue, either an unusually slow connection or early signs that the connection is dropping out.

But there are other steps to take, including testing and upgrading systems to the latest technology to ensure you get the most reliable in-store experience.

Dealing With Legacy Technology

Legacy systems can create integration weaknesses and reliability problems. Your best plan of action, when faced with legacy technology, is to embark on a complete modernization across your entire system.

Without the proper support, that can become a costly task for many business owners.

Legacy systems need a team like ours to evaluate what you have in place.

We can help advise you on building the technology to replace these systems. We used a phased approach to ensure a smooth transition while helping to get your in-store solution future-proofed.

Lack of Customer Data

Complete, accurate, and current data about your customers is what you need to grow your business and deliver an excellent experience, and support your marketing efforts.

So you’ll want to ensure that you set up your in-store selling platform to record data about your customer accurately.

There are a couple of challenges here.

First, you’ll want to know what customer to set up. You’ll also want to figure out the right way to capture it from your customers. Finally, you’ll need to know how to make sure your information is in line with data protection laws.

That means examining the backend of the selling platform to see what customer information on currently stored and how to optimize it for your business.

Succeeding With Selling Platforms

Cutting-edge selling platforms can be transformational for any store, but only when implemented correctly. That means having smooth integrations, a seamless experience, and reliable technology.

Don’t face that challenge alone. Our expert team can put their selling platform knowledge to work, helping you create the right technical solution for your business.

Why not get in touch with our team to talk through your needs and discover first-hand how our services and solutions can help your business?