Here we will discuss ways for businesses to reduce costs without
having to go the extremes of shortening hours, or firing people. Let us
begin.
Cost reductions:
1) Receipts: If your business has
regular customers, you can do one of two things with your receipts. The
first is establish an email receipt for you customers so that you need not have
to waste as much paper on a printed receipt (this can even be done through an
app, and provide price comparisons between fellow and competing stores).
Alternatively you can team up with the banks to have something similar to
an online receipt, but the bank will provide the itemized list on the
electronic bank statements. Both methods save tremendous amounts of
paper, and thus provide savings for the business.
2) Paperless records: In many cases,
business must keep track of sales and payroll. By using an electronic
record system, a business can reduce paper use, save space for more stock by
not having to file as much away or waste time doing so. These records can
literally keep track of everything and provide the most up to date inventory
records negating time and effort needed to check the inventory daily or weekly.
It is also possible for those same records to generate an order based on
past sales which can then be reviewed before sending it out.
3) Cheaper goods: A business owner needs
to be conscious of costs and thus get goods of quality from multiple sources
(this also prevents in demand items from going out of stock). As such,
establishing a network of places to buy from is essential. Alternatively,
with 3D printing, you need only the schematics and base materials of a good to
produce. Therefor you can print items that are simple to make and sell
like toys. Most costs come from the manufacturing process (ex: car parts
cost about 90% less when made with a 3D printer because labor and wasted
material costs are removed), and thus cheap goods become even cheaper, thus
making your business more competitive.
4) Eliminate brick and mortar: Costs
are also due to rent and property taxes. As such, if you can run your
business out of a cheaper location, like a show store, then you can mail out
the rest to the customers from whatever you do not keep on site.
5) Offer new services: It is
important to continuously offer new services that are demanded by customers.
By doing so, you can bring people into your place of business.
Older products that most people do not want can be sold at a discounted
price to make up for lost revenue while the newer items make up for the lost
profit.
Conclusion: These are just the base examples
that modern businesses with internet access and new technology can use.
Elimination of things like coupons issued by the store or switching them
to an account that can be used to buy coupons saves money as businesses need
not print them out on a regular basis. Even an electronic display to
automatically display price changes or more self-checkout systems can also
reduce costs and provide savings. Possibilities are endless, though as a
consequence, less people will need to be hired as a result of overall
efficiency. But, if these efficiencies are used to expand business, then
it negates that negatives and can even mean raises for current workers.
No comments:
Post a Comment