Dark Store Management as a Fulfilment Model to Revolutionize Retail Business
What is Dark Store Management?
Recent years have seen a vast increase in the trend of online shopping, compelling retailers to rethink their business strategy. The growing preference of customers for convenient and fast delivery has necessitated improvements in the shipping and delivery processes. Dark Store Management provides just the right solution for this.
Dark store management is the use of an existing brick-and-mortar location that has been shut down as a hub for fulfilment operations. These distribution outlets are known as Dark Stores. They are not open to consumers but cater exclusively to online orders only. However, hybrid solutions such as online ordering, pickup from a nearby store or any other convenient location, and shorter delivery times are possible.
Benefits of Dark stores
Use of the Dark Store Model offers several benefits to retailers such as improved stock distribution, more efficient delivery, wider delivery options, better inventory control and management, expansion of the product range and better management of perishable products. These are stores located in consumer dense locations and are therefore more conducive to faster delivery or pickup.
POS Software for Dark Store
A good inventory and order management software is a must for Dark store management. Wondersoft offers a robust POS software for inventory management. eShopaid is a cloud-based application from Wondersoft that helps retailers consolidate their inventory in a central location, optimize their supply chain and reduce delivery times, resulting in increased customer satisfaction and loyalty. eShopaid supports dynamic workflow-based order processing to fulfil the needs of various channels.
Of course retailers need to integrate the POS system with their existing e-commerce platform and other backend systems to streamline operations. Add-ons from Wondersoft such as the Smart Boss Mobile App, PromoEngine, and ERP connector help in the smooth running of various backend processes and ensure successful and optimized fulfilment operations for the benefit of both retailers and consumers.
Dark store management is thus the way forward for retailers to handle the increasing trend of online shopping today. Dark stores provide the best of both worlds – they lessen the hassle of managing a huge warehouse and bigger inventory and improve fulfilment operations through centralized management of inventories, supply chain and shipping operations.