I have a little experience in retail management. I can't speak to #2 because I didn't deal with suppliers. I can however tell you that my fortune 500 employers had #1 and #3 in place already; these are basics that every retail software must have, these features will not sell your software.
In the companies I worked for, middle managers liked using terminal-style tools and see most upgrades as a huge waste of money. Your system better do something pretty good to get the attention of some of these guys (and you better be able to illustrate it in saved wages). I'm young (under 30) and I felt this way, too. These guys are smart and they know their business.
Now from a software designer's standpoint, the tools they use are terrible. There is a huge opportunity to improve them in too many ways to enumerate here. However, this article just covers the necessities retail software needs to be functional. Most retailers who have POS systems more sophisticated than a register from Staples will have this stuff already.
True, but they are ideas worth pursuing, no? What you say just means that you'll need to do more research than just this blog post to get yourself started.
Oh yea, lots of room for improvement. In my experience, the concrete suggestions (for niche 1 and 3) aren't necessarily potential niches, but starting points to build more powerful software.
I should note, there is probably a huge opportunity to bring IT services to "mom and pop" style operations. But it needs to be dirt cheap or they won't be able to afford it. Lots of these people are struggling as it is and won't see a direct increase in sales as a result of new software.
In the companies I worked for, middle managers liked using terminal-style tools and see most upgrades as a huge waste of money. Your system better do something pretty good to get the attention of some of these guys (and you better be able to illustrate it in saved wages). I'm young (under 30) and I felt this way, too. These guys are smart and they know their business.
Now from a software designer's standpoint, the tools they use are terrible. There is a huge opportunity to improve them in too many ways to enumerate here. However, this article just covers the necessities retail software needs to be functional. Most retailers who have POS systems more sophisticated than a register from Staples will have this stuff already.