POS Software: Multichannel Management Reduces Lost Sales

Multichannel retailers with growing businesses often can't devote significant time or resources to keeping various inventories, order statuses, customer databases, and other sales information up to date. As a result, customers sometimes find out after placing an order that the desired items are out of stock or on back order.

That was the challenge Huron Scuba faced. The retailer is a full-service scuba and dive shop selling diving and snorkeling equipment, high-performance apparel, and accessories out of its store in Ann Arbor, MI. It also accepts orders by phone, its iSnorkel.com Web site, and Amazon.com. Huron Scuba's in-store POS system tracked inventory levels and customer histories, exchanging order data with its Web site, but Amazon content was maintained separately. This meant that orders originating from Amazon had to be entered manually into both the POS and the stand-alone shipping systems.

Order processing was a full-time job for two people, and inventory information often was not up to date. Online sales were being cancelled when customers found out that an item was out of stock. In addition, product updates were made manually to each channel, leading to delays before new products were listed, as well as poor synchronization of product images, descriptions, and pricing.