How Retailers Can Go Cashless

For multi-chain retailers, managing day-to-day expenditure at the store-level is quite challenging. Everything from inventory levels, fixtures, and signage, to packaging, and point of sale service has to work in great tandem and it all comes down to the money used to run these interconnected processes. New- age expense management solutions can help you overcome these challenges.

- Varun Rathi

With the overwhelming development in the e-commerce market, the retail industry is always on its toes, keeping up with competition. The rivalry is simply fierce; businesses and brands are formulating new ways to stand out by creating value-added consumer experiences – both in-store and online. In this experience-driven world – on the forefront are speed, consistency and optimization; the elementary blocks that add up to a great customer experience.

Everything from inventory levels, fixtures, and signage, to packaging, and point of sale service has to work in great tandem and it all comes down to the money used to run these interconnected processes. Store staffneeds to have access to money at the right time to run all processes efficiently.

The curse of cash management in retail

For multi-chain retailers, managing day-to-day expenditure at the store-level is quite challenging. How often have you had an executive from the head-office physically visiting each store distributing cash, only to find out later that the sum he handed over was insufficient, causing further payment delays; or in excess, causing the money to just sit there idle for weeks.

There are three very basic but critical problems in this scenario:

1. The cost and time spent by an executive physically running around between stores

2. Lack of visibility of how much petty cash a particular store would require