Last updated on December 5th, 2023 at 07:40 pm
The best thing a good business owner can do is to always be looking for new ideas that will keep their brand relevant and ensure customers don’t turn away and look elsewhere. The world of business changes constantly, and if you’re not aware of those changes, you might get left behind, especially when you consider how many new businesses are being started every day.
Something that can easily be included within your business but that you might not have thought about is smart lockers. Let’s look more closely at these useful items and see how you can use them in your business to boost profits.
What Is A Smart Locker?
A smart locker is a simple device that can truly help your business. It is essentially a locker (or, more commonly, a bank of lockers) in which goods can be securely stored. A customer will order something, the business will put that item into a locker, and the customer will be sent a code. That code is then scanned or entered in the locker, at which point it opens, and the customer can take their items.
As said, it’s a simple concept, but it has changed the way some businesses are able to work for the better, and customers like the convenience and flexibility they can provide. There are actually a number of benefits to using these lockers for your business, and the following sections will go through some of them.
Reduced Labor Costs
One of the biggest expenses any business will have to factor in is labor costs. The more people you have to hire, the more of your profits will go to paying them, and not only do you have to pay for their salaries, but you also have to pay taxes on top of that. This means that as a small business, you might have to spend the majority of your profits on paying people.
Reducing labor costs can therefore be a smart move, but it’s not always possible; losing members of the workforce can mean a loss of efficiency and quality. It’s a difficult decision for a business owner to make.
Because smart lockers work on an automated process, it might be possible to reduce your labor costs in terms of your delivery and logistics service. Even if you simply reassign your team to other, more productive, or profitable areas of the business, you should still save money.
Improved Operations
The smarter and more efficiently your business can do what it needs to do, the happier your customers will be. If you can use smart lockers to streamline your delivery processes and even allow customers to collect their items on the same day as ordering them (which, for a small business, is not usually possible and will certainly help you stand out), you can boost your profits easily.
In other words, if you are offering a collection service to customers and you don’t have to be concerned with delivering to multiple addresses, your business can focus on creating the product itself without any distractions. This will offer a better end result which is delivered exactly as the customer wants it to be.
As well as being able to deliver goods in a more streamlined fashion, you can also add in a benefit for your employees, making them happier in the workplace. By installing commercial lockers on your premises, you are proving a secure place for employees to receive and store packages.
This might seem trivial and unnecessary to you but will be a nice gesture towards your staff. Instead of worrying about the parcel being delivered when they aren’t home and porch thieves getting important or expensive items, they are able to work without distractions knowing their parcel will be safe and ready for them to collect when the workday ends.
Easily Customizable
Branding is everything in business, and if it is connected to your company, you’ll want to put your branding on it where possible. With commercial lockers, you can do precisely this. Even if the lockers are in a central location (which is ideal if your store is not easily accessible – it means more people will be able to buy from you), you can ensure your branding is on them.
Not only will this mean that the customers coming to collect their items are one hundred percent sure they’re in the right place, but others who might simply be passing by will see that your company offers this collection service. Even if they don’t need to buy something from you right now, when they do, they’ll remember this convenient option you offer.
You can essentially use your outdoor lockers to help current customers and attract new ones. When it comes to cost-effective marketing, this could be one idea you’ve not considered so far, but it might be just the thing your business needs.
