How to Successfully Retain Customers in the Apparel & Footwear Industry

How to Successfully Retain Customers in the Apparel & Footwear Industry

It’s no doubt that this is a pretty challenging economic climate, regardless of what industry you’re in. But for Apparel & Footwear companies, you want to make sure you are able to satisfy your client base during these growing times. Your clients are the ones you count on to stay profitable, after all. This profitability is directly related to what Enterprise Resource System (ERP) you use. When most growing Apparel & Footwear companies look for an ERP system, they often think a solution like SAP is too complex and as a result choose a solution that is inadequate for their business, leading to inefficient process. The truth is – the more inefficient the processes, the harder it is to retain clients.

You know how essential it is to generate a unique buying experience that satisfies clients’ purchase requirements, thus convincing them to keep coming back. The challenge you will face, though, is the fact that in the Apparel & Footwear industry it can complex to manage a company with both retailers and individual requirements. You’ll often have to process enormous, high volume of order with unique specifications like color & style combinations. With SAP Business One and Third Wave Business Systems, you have the right ERP tools to satisfy clients’ purchase requirements and encourage them to keep coming back. Reduce time on the order-to-fulfillment process and more time on expanding your brand.

Ultimately, SAP Business One and Third Wave will enable you to create clients loyalty and drive your profits, while eliminating manual processes and keeping your staffing levels consistent. Here are a few strategies you can use to satisfy your customers in the Apparel & Footwear industry:

Anticipate What Clients Will Need & Want Before They Do:  This is the greatest way you can engage your client base. Business One enables you to analyze the buying patterns & behaviors of your clients who make routine purchases. In turn, you will be more proactive at driving sales while preventing those same clients from shopping around with your competitors. Additionally, anticipating what your clients may need & want can also help predict what their future requirements may be, based on the timing and frequency of their purchases. In the end, you can then offer them recommendations based on marketing profiles and target groups.

Which Clients Are Most Profitable?:  It’s crucial to your company’s success that you can examine when purchases were made, the frequency of orders, and the revenue generated from those orders. That way, you can segment your clients according to their value. Of course, this doesn’t mean that only high-revenue clients are valuable. A clients who buys less but requires no additional support may be just as profitable and valuable to you. By knowing the means of your profitability, you can cultivate positive relationships and use predictive modeling in SAP Business One to segment and cluster clients based on what behaviors you anticipate seeing.

Deliver Superior Support:  Without the ability to make and meet your promises for goods and services in a timely manner, you’ll most likely never be able to deliver superior customer support. When a client places an order, salespeople should be able to quickly analyze the product requirements and make accurate promises regarding the order quantities they can fulfill/promise. Since SAP Business One will integrate with your inventory and supply chain applications, you can easily create and manage client orders, generate quotes and proposals, check product availability, and track orders through the fulfillment process. With this supply chain visibility comes the ability to avoid missed promise dates and product misallocation while reducing stock outs. By knowing what is available to sell and what inventory you can promise to your clients, you’re able to meet your delivery commitments.

Maximize Client Lifetime Value: By using SAP Business One, you can be strategic and enhance the value that each client can deliver over the course of your business relationship. Isolate issues that drive up support costs by analyzing your clients’ interactions, giving you more insight into what processes need adjustments and eliminating the need for additional support.

Instantly increase client profitability while increasing your revenue. The overall benefits SAP Business One has for the Apparel & Footwear industry is insurmountable. By easily scaling up sales, maintaining a constant level of staffing, and being educated on what quantities of stock you can sell/promise, you will improve your overall margins.

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