The Invisible Side of Business: The Trades That Trade

21.11.2022 17:43

Trade automation expert at Torgsoft

працівники торгівлі

For stable and regular operation of a competitive trading business, a team of specialists is needed. They work on many tasks every day:

tell customers about the goods, show the assortment of the store,
bring customers to the store with the help of advertising,
select the range of goods for different target groups,
help to make a purchase and advise on all related issues,
deliver orders,
finally, they make sure that the product best meets the needs of customers.

The most famous of them are sellers and cashiers. Their work is visible and understandable. They are in constant contact with customers. Sellers are the bridge that connects the store with the client.

But the team has many other employees who mostly remain "behind the scenes" of the trading business. However, their work together helps the business to achieve specific sales goals, make a profit and have a positive image in the market. The "secret league" includes: SMM specialists, contextologists, analysts, designers, PR specialists, automation specialists, commodity experts, advertisers, etc.

What do these specialists do and why are they needed in the store?

Online store manager

Online store has become an indispensable tool of trade. In the conditions of war it became obvious: you can't take a regular store with you, and if the purchasing power of the local population falls, the profits from the store decrease proportionally.

Instead, the online store is always open, does not require constant expensive rent for the premises, without days off and holidays demonstrates the goods to millions of customers on the Internet. All information about the goods should be in the accounting program for the online store - for example, Torgsoft.

To manage an online store, you need a specialist - an online store manager.

Responsibilities of the online store manager:

support of the technical functioning of the site: timely payment for hosting, domain, monitoring the availability of the site, communication with technical support and developers,
filling in the product card in the accounting program - adding the correct product name, photos, articles, colors, sizes and other additional characteristics,
description of the product in the TradeSoft program - product functions and its capabilities,
setting the minimum and maximum balances of certain goods in the TradeSoft program so that they do not disappear from the assortment,
work with marketplaces Rozetka, Prom and others - support of correct synchronization, control of payment of subscription fees of marketplaces,
acceptance and processing of customer orders,
consultations and assistance with the choice of goods in the online chat of the online store, social networks,
holding online promotions,
duplication of product offers in Instagram, Facebook, Google business,
cooperation with designers and developers to display relevant graphic and interactive information on the site,
work and coordination of couriers,
analysis and reporting on sales, recommendations for filling and expanding the product range of the store,
analysis of prices on competitors' websites.

Many entrepreneurs do not dare to create an online store, because they believe that in addition to the additional costs (although it is actually an investment) for the creation and maintenance of an online store, all the work with "all this incomprehensible" will fall on the shoulders of the business owner.

That is why the work of an online store manager is underestimated, and many entrepreneurs still do not understand the value of such a specialist in the staff. Who understood, he already sells on the Internet.

Accountant

Commodity and financial control of business is impossible to imagine without technical means of trade automation. Entrepreneurs consider the introduction of a goods accounting system to be one of the factors of the store's success, so many install the program immediately when opening a store.

The computer and trade equipment work under the control of a single software to keep track of each type and unit of goods at all stages: receipt in the store or warehouse → distribution of goods by the trade network → sale and issuance of a check → work with returns → recalculation.

Also, the program is necessary for accounting of income, expenses, warehouse balances, utility bills, taxes, salaries to employees, analysis of the performance of the store or retail network. Most importantly, the accounting program is needed by the store owner to make correct and verified management decisions.

As a rule, an enterprise or store has one or more employees - accountants or administrators. These are the specialists who are the most competent in the work of the program - they can configure it, quickly find the necessary information, help sellers and suggest how, for example, to see the cash register report for the day. Most often, they are the ones who control operations in the accounting program: post goods, mark them, describe the characteristics of goods, etc.

Also, the duties of an accounting specialist include building a commodity hierarchy, that is, the distribution of goods in the program by brands, categories, types, characteristics.

If you are looking for a system for an accountant - choose the program for automation of accounting Torgsoft, as a comprehensive solution for managing trade, warehouse and production.

Commodity expert

As part of the invisible link of employees, this profession is the most traditional. It has existed since the beginning of the history of trade.

The duties of the commodity expert include providing the store with goods of the required quality and assortment at the best purchase prices.

Duties of the commodity expert:

forms the commodity and assortment needs of the store;
searches for suppliers, negotiates, concludes contracts for the supply of products;
maintains commodity-accompanying documentation;
sets margins, forms retail prices for goods;
controls warehouse stocks, conducts re-accounts and inventories;
controls the quality of goods, compliance with standards, carries out revaluation, write-off, return of goods;
monitors compliance with the requirements for storage and packaging of products;
prepares reports.

Merchandiser

Everyone is probably familiar with the situation when you came to the store for one product, but ended up buying much more or more expensive. Eyes run up, pulse accelerates, emotions take over.

Behind all this is the work of specialists - merchandisers. They are engaged in the presentation of goods, taking into account a number of factors: characteristics of the product, features of demand, its seasonality, and the specifics of decision-making by buyers.

The duties of merchandisers include control over the placement of trade, auxiliary and advertising equipment - racks, showcases, refrigerators, points for placing promotional materials, etc.

Merchandiser can be an employee of the store or a representative of the supplier company. In the second case, his task is to ensure a constant presence in the assortment and the most favorable conditions for the demonstration of the supplied goods.

Sales agent, company representative or intermediary

This is an employee of a manufacturing or distribution company who offers products to shops and large retail chains.

His task is to establish initial communication with the head or profile manager of the store and offer his product. Then he is responsible for the presentation of the product, the organization of the supply of a trial batch and, in case of demand, the conclusion of a long-term cooperation agreement. Subsequently, the sales agent monitors compliance with the terms of the contract, in particular, financial.

An important function of a sales representative is to work with the existing clientele. He visits partner stores, monitors the progress of sales, responds to complaints in a timely manner and settles disputes with the store. His/her duties also include maintaining interest in the brand, presentation of new products, thorough knowledge of the product range, and often maintaining commodity and financial documentation.

The most important professional qualities of a sales representative are social and business communication skills, ability to persuade, stress resistance.

Specialist in advertising, marketer

спеціаліст із реклами, маркетолог, діджитал-спеціалісти

The sphere of his competence includes: development, organization and conduct of regular and one-time advertising campaigns aimed at attracting new customers.

The main role of an advertising specialist is to spread the promotion or sale among a large number of potential buyers.

Various advertising platforms are used for this purpose: Media, Internet, outdoor and indoor advertising, audio advertising in the store, advertising in elevators, distribution of leaflets, etc.

Despite the fact that representatives of these professions do not contact directly with customers, they are represented in almost every store.

SMM-specialist

People receive a huge amount of information in social networks. How useful and necessary this information is is another question. On average, users spend 2.5 hours a day on Facebook, Instagram, Tik-Tok or Twitter.

Why does a store need regular work with social networks?

Firstly, social networks provide valuable information about customers, based on which you can make their portraits and conduct marketing testing.

Secondly, it is a powerful tool for attracting a new audience and increasing the number of purchases.

Promotion of a store or brand in social networks, as well as informing customers about the product and promotions is the responsibility of the SMM-manager (Social Media Manager).

Even if the business conducts exclusively offline sales, competent smm-promotion will help to significantly increase the customer flow.

Responsibilities of SMM-specialist:

market and target audience analysis;
development of sales strategy in social networks;
creation and maintenance of business pages of the company, increasing their audience;
content creation - texts, photos, videos, infographics, etc;
communication with subscribers;
checking and analyzing page statistics, increasing their efficiency.

Over the past five years, in addition to classic social networks, popular messengers have also actively joined the race for the consumer: Viber, Telegram, WhatsApp. For this function, companies often hire separate specialists - email marketers or direct managers.

An SMM specialist can share his work with a targetologist. This specialist deals exclusively with the analysis of the target audience and setting up advertising in social networks.

Contextologist

There is a joke in which a woman claims that the higher powers always respond to her requests and wishes. To confirm her words, she enthusiastically tells how exactly the products she was interested in just recently appear in ad units on various sites.

Of course, this is how it happens, but the woman, most likely, has never heard of contextual advertising.

Contextual advertising is online advertising that shows brand pages in search, taking into account the content, audience, location, time and other context of advertising.

These factors are tracked by search engines. In Ukraine, the most popular is Google. The corresponding service that provides advertising services is called Google Ads.

It is in Google Ads that contextologists work: they set up advertising campaigns of brands in accordance with the business objectives set by advertisers in order to promote certain products.

Contextual advertising will show in Google Ads even those ads that the user did not intend to search for. This is due to targeting - a system of selecting the right keywords. They best show the peculiarity of a certain target audience and its needs that the advertised product satisfies.

Remote or temporary workers

In addition to the above, there are also technical specialists who monitor the condition of refrigeration and climate equipment, lighting, water supply and heating systems, computer networks, automation systems. There are also security guards, drivers and forwarders.

To perform certain types of work, stores and retail chains may involve third-party specialists or contractors.

Specialist in zoning and planning of commercial premises

It is important for the store owner that the visitor goes through the entire sales area and sees all the product offers. To do this, shelves and counters should be placed conveniently for the buyer, with good visibility and in a clear order.

It is also important to achieve the maximum use of the potential of commercial equipment and each unit of retail space.

Designer

All external attributes of the store and the interface of the site should inspire customers to trust the brand, encourage them to buy, and improve their mood. Everything that surrounds the buyer is the competence of the designer.

The designer monitors the identity of the store's design: all external and internal elements of decor, signage, landscape design, as well as elements of the site should be professionally selected and executed in the same style.

A graphic designer, in particular, develops printed advertising products - leaflets, business cards, booklets, flyers for promotions, etc.

Promoter

This profession is also in demand in trade. No promotional campaign can do without people who distribute promotional printed products on the street to passers-by or visitors to shopping centers.

As a rule, promoters are hired to perform one-time tasks.

Therefore, globalization and the development of technology have a great impact on trade. Today, customers can buy almost any goods from anywhere in the world. But this advantage has its basis: it is achieved thanks to the work of a whole staff of employees, the existence of which few people guess.

Програма обліку товару для інтернет-магазинів, крамниць, торгових точок, складів та виробництва

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