Sure, digital transformation may be a buzzword you hear constantly thrown around these days. But as a military surplus/outdoor/tactical retail store owner, it’s an important term to familiarize yourself with. Defined by The Enterprisers Project as “The integration of digital technology into all areas of business, fundamentally changing how you operate and deliver value to customers,” taking the steps toward digital transformation is not only becoming necessary to thrive in the retail industry but to remain competitive. If you’ve been curious as to what all the hype is about and if it’s something you can actually use to improve your business, read on. 

Is digital transformation something that’s truly practical for your business?

The short answer is yes. Whether you’re a small mom-and-pop military surplus/outdoor/tactical retail store or a larger operation with multiple locations and complex logistics, digital transformation is a business strategy that’s almost guaranteed to help your business. As we’ll discuss, there are countless applications, which means you can leverage it for the exact needs of your business, using techniques that you need while skipping the rest. If you’re looking to make operations more efficient, automate repetitive tasks, provide a better customer experience, be more profitable and generally make things easier, digital transformation is the ticket. With that said, here are some specific applications that can help your business on many levels. 

An all-in-one POS system for streamlined inventory management

Technology has been an integral part of point-of-sale (POS) systems for a while now. But digital transformation is taking it to new heights. For example, you can use this technology to automatically update your inventory counts whenever a customer makes a purchase and automatically sync your data. Not only does this save you time, it helps ensure a consistently high level of accuracy so you’ll always know what your stock counts are and when to order more products. This also helps with accounting because all of the sales information can automatically be connected with QuickBooks or other accounting software. Also, you can use the data generated from your POS system to gain detailed insights into buying patterns so you can better predict customer behavior and optimize inventory levels. 

AI for chatbots and personalized product recommendations

It wasn’t that long ago that AI was a brand-new concept that was just bubbling beneath the tech surface. Now it’s ubiquitous and has spread its tentacles to nearly every part of every industry. One particular way this branch of digital transformation can be helpful to your business is to use AI to offer your online shoppers access to quality 24/7 customer service. The key word here is QUALITY. Today’s AI chatbots have evolved dramatically from what they were even a year ago. Now they can answer common customer questions around the clock and point customers to helpful, relevant resources to learn more about your products. Or if it’s not a question that a chatbot can answer, they can redirect customers to the appropriate team member. Also, AI chatbots are great at providing personalized product recommendations as well as suggesting upsells and cross-sells to maximize your average order value. All the while, they provide a fun, interactive way for customers to communicate with your business and constantly gather feedback that can be used to make your customer service more efficient. 

Social shopping

Social shopping, where consumers purchase directly through social media platforms, has grown exponentially in recent years. For perspective, Porch Group Media reports that “54% of social media users use social platforms to research products, 67% have bought products through social media, and 27% say they prefer to discover new products through social media over any other channel.” Another excellent way to leverage digital transformation is to allow your customers to buy directly through your social media accounts. Rather than promoting an item and forcing a shopper to click through to your website, you can save them a step, making things more convenient for shoppers while maximizing your conversion rate. And it’s not hard to do. Most major platforms like Facebook, X (formerly Twitter) and TikTok offer some form of social selling, allowing you to directly feature products. If you’re looking for more information on how to get started, HubSpot has a ton of great resources. 

Virtual try-ons with AR

While this application, admittedly, isn’t as practical as the others, I thought I’d mention it because 1) it has the potential to significantly raise your conversion rate on apparel, 2) it can lower your return rate and 3) it simply has “the cool factor.” If you sell military surplus/outdoor/tactical online apparel, you’ve likely been frustrated by the return rate. According to Radial, “Apparel accounts for 23% of online retail sales in the United States. It also has the highest rate of returns, with 26% of clothing and 18% of shoes returned.” Fortunately, cutting-edge augmented reality (AR) technology can drastically streamline online apparel and shoe shopping by allowing customers to virtually “try items on” from home. For example, shoppers can upload pictures of themselves and see exactly what they would look like with something like a military jacket or sweater. Or, they can try on something like combat boots virtually by pointing their phone’s camera at their feet and seeing what it looks like in real time. While this technology is still brand new and will take some time to fully materialize, there are tools available for small businesses right now, with Zakeke being one of the best options. 

A new era of shopping 

Many military surplus/outdoor/tactical retail store owners may be reluctant to get on board with “rewiring” their business through digital transformation, especially when there’s so much hype surrounding it. And that’s completely understandable. But at the end of the day, digital transformation is a process that can dramatically improve nearly all aspects of your operations and is fully customizable so you can use what’s truly beneficial and forget the rest.