Why merchants need technology

I've been a merchant in my past. So I can understand how a small business can be crunched in so many ways, in terms of time, money, and resources. You only need to talk to a small business owner to feel the strain. By the end of the day, so many things needed to be done that it almost makes your heart sink.

As a merchant who had a technology background, I somehow found the time to develop applications that would help me with my business. Applications that would help me with workflow, order management, customer communication, and even gift card distribution. I needed applications that all the staff could access, make adjustments, and communicate those adjustments to the relevant parties.

One of the biggest problems we faced was simple and honest errors. When you track orders with a clipboard tacked to a cork board, you're just asking for trouble. Someone calls in to make a change, that change is scribbled on a paper, and then it's forgotten. The customer is upset, and suddenly refunds are in order. As a merchant, I *hated* giving refunds for simple, avoidable errors. Because the products we made were difficult to produce, difficult to deliver, I felt our labor was wasted.

I'm sure any merchant out there will agree. Technology can help a company to avoid errors and increase efficiency, improve communication with customers, and keep you always informed about the status of your business. In my opinion, technology is the heartbeat of a business, which keeps products and services flowing.

Technology is not out of reach for merchants and small businesses. Technology that is truly useful. For example, we are offering our Digital Gift Card Manager application for FREE to merchants right now. If you want to avoid having to pay the credit card companies swipe fees and monthly fees and card fees, then you need this application. Customers will appreciate your green approach to helping reduce the amount of plastic in the environment. And with so many people on smartphones, it's easy for customers to find a digital gift card and present that to you when making purchases. Just go to http://www.coscient.com/merchant to get a free account. We'll set up a personalized secure portal and design a template with your branding for FREE.

E-commerce, email marketing, promotions, orders, all of these can be managed online to make your life easier. At CoScient, we can do this. Check out our website at http://www.coscient.com.