A music store is a complex and multifaceted business.
The day-to-day operations of a retail music store can be overwhelming for even the most capable business owner. With both in-store and online product offerings to manage, and additional services like instrument rentals, it can be a lot to keep track of. This is especially true if you’re trying to manage all of this information with a pen and paper.
Here’s the good news: The days of tracking your business’ information manually are over. Now, an online music store management system can keep track of the data for you.
Also known as a point of sale (POS) system, these platforms keep all of your data in one place, including inventory counts, vendor catalogs, sales totals, rental and lesson information — plus so much more.
As technology advances, don’t let your business get left behind. In this blog, we’ll explore how an online music store management system can streamline operations for your music business.
Music stores are filled with high-end instruments and accessories, which makes it even more important to keep accurate inventory counts. Instead of constantly counting out items by hand, you can use an online music store management system to keep an accurate count for you.
Explore supplier catalogs right from the system — when you place orders, your inventory counts update automatically. Counts also update when sales occur, either in store or online, so you always know how many units you have of each instrument you’re selling. For products that sell consistently, you can even set an automatic reorder point. This feature causes the system to place an order to replenish your stock of an item when it drops below a certain point.
Digitizing this aspect of your business prevents both stockouts and excess inventory, allowing you to find the right balance of inventory to optimize turnover and profits. The system also helps you to improve your relationships with suppliers by giving you quick access to their entire product catalog, simplifying the process of ordering and delivery.
Related Read: Inventory Management Best Practices for Music Stores
An online music store management system gives you accurate sales data at the touch of a button. This data is important for managing finances, including understanding your profit margin and fulfilling tax obligations.
It’s also important for understanding consumer preferences. By understanding which musical instruments and accessories sell the best, business owners can make informed decisions about which products to offer to maximize profit.
Your point of sale platform can give you data presented in a variety of ways. Dashboards can be created to keep an eye on your key performance indicators (KPIs) in real time. This helps you see where you are in the present, and more accurately estimate where your numbers will be in the future — allowing you to adjust your strategy to increase your odds of future success.
To run a successful music store, you need to keep your customers coming in again and again — whether it’s to rent or buy a new instrument, try a new accessory, or get an instrument repaired.
Customer relationship management (CRM) is the practice of building a continued relationship with a customer, whether through digital communication, in-person interaction, or both, in order to build their loyalty to your brand and ensure their continued business.
Point of sale systems make this process easy by recording information about your customers that can help you better serve them. You can access a customer’s purchase history and contact information, and use automated marketing tools to send them discounts, special deals, and other promotions. After a purchase, you could send them a coupon for 20% off their next purchase, or a birthday discount. These offers motivate customers to make repeat purchases and keep your business top of mind.
By offering a loyalty program, you can further personalize your communications with customers by sending them updates on their loyalty points and progress towards rewards.
Related Read: A Guide to Search Marketing for Music Stores
The most basic function of a point of sale system is to process sales transactions. Being able to accept a variety of payment methods helps you provide a convenient shopping experience for your customers and maximize sales. Look for an all-in-one, cloud-based system that accommodates a variety of payment methods, including:
A point of sale system processes payments quickly and securely, and most platforms offer several options for payment methods.
Related Read: How To Grow Your Business With Music Shop Payment Processing
Renting out instruments is a great way to set up a recurring stream of income. Point of sale systems help you track your rental instruments so you always know what instruments you have available, where your instruments are, when they’re returning to your store, and what condition they’re in.
Music-specific POS solutions include rental scheduling software, which allows you to digitally set up rental contracts — this way, you have a record of the terms and conditions your customers agreed to.
You can even keep a record of a customer’s past rentals so you can send them personalized offers and updates. Rental payment schedules can be easily managed in the system with a variety of payment options.
Related Read: A Guide to Online Rental Software for Music Stores
Offering music lessons not only improves your bottom line, but it allows you to pass on skills to the next generation of musicians. While keeping track of multiple students’ schedules and progress on paper can be a hassle, an online music store management system automates this process. An integrated calendar keeps track of all of the lesson information so you can easily check who’s coming in, for what lesson, and when — all straight from the system.
Payments for lessons are also a breeze with a point of sale system. With automated invoicing and payment collections and flexible payment options, music store owners can keep the process simple for their students, making them more likely to continue with their lessons.
Related Read: Teaching Music Lessons at Music Shop Retail Stores: Bringing in Extra Income
In addition to the robust software provided by many point of sale systems, music-specific solutions partner with other organizations to provide supplemental software and features.
MusicShop360, a POS solution designed specifically for retail music stores, offers a variety of integrations. Reverb is a trusted music sales platform crafted by musicians that is used throughout the industry and is integrated with MusicShop360. Another integration is My Music Staff, a software designed for music lessons with customizable features that simplify this process.
These and other integrations expand the capabilities of online music store management systems and will open new doors for your music business.
An online music store management system, or an all-in-one point of sale system, automates processes that business owners have historically done by hand. These systems’ features save business owners time and money and simplify music store operations. These seven features significantly improve efficiency for music stores:
Investing in a reliable online music store management system will help your music store stay competitive in a continuously evolving market. By equipping your business with the right tools, you can lighten the load of your management responsibilities, maximize profits, and focus on sharing the joy of music.
MusicShop360’s cloud-based system offers all of these features and more. Specifically designed for music stores, the platform’s user-friendly interface keeps the data and tools you need all in one place. Contact us today to schedule a demo!