Saturday afternoon. One person on the register, two on the floor, five people in line, and the phone is ringing with someone who wants to know if you carry the blue one in a size 8. Whoever answers walks to the back to check while the line at the register gets longer. Whoever doesn't answer loses a sale they will never hear about.
Cannon VoIP takes the routine off the floor. The phone menu answers hours and directions on its own, product questions ring the floor as a group with the manager behind them, a missed call gets a text back from the store's number, and "your order is ready" goes out as a text with a picture. Flat $34 per extension, month to month, with texting and transcription included and no regulatory fees.
The phone rings loudest when the store is busiest
Retail calls follow foot traffic: they peak on weekends, around holidays and during sales, exactly when nobody can step away. Most are short: hours, directions, the return policy, whether something is in stock or ready for pickup. They don't need a manager, but on a single line they all go to whoever is closest to the counter.
Owners with more than one store have it worse. Callers dial the wrong location, transfers mean reading out another number, and the holiday hours greeting gets updated at one store and forgotten at the other two.
What we set up for retail stores
Why stores switch to Cannon VoIP
Flat $34 per extension, month to month, with texting and transcription included and no regulatory fees. Add extensions for the holiday rush and remove them in January, with no contract to work around. The AI receptionist is $65 per month, or free with 10 or more users.
The store's number is on the Google listing, the bags and every receipt. It ports for $15 per line, usually next business day, with about two minutes of downtime. A chat bubble on your website, added with one line of code, catches shoppers who would rather type than call.
Within about an hour and a half of DFW Airport, on-site installation is free. Stores anywhere else get preconfigured phones shipped overnight that set themselves up when plugged in, and we support stores nationwide. Chains get volume discounts automatically at 25 extensions.
What a typical setup looks like
A typical store runs a counter phone, a stockroom or office phone, and the manager and owner on the mobile app, at $34 per extension. The menu offers hours and directions, the floor, and orders and returns. The floor group rings the counter and the stockroom, then the manager's app.
After close, hours play and the AI receptionist answers common questions and takes messages, which arrive in the manager's email with a transcript. The holiday calendar handles Thanksgiving and Christmas on its own, and the Snow Day status changes routing for every store at once.
Common questions from retail stores
Check your Google Business listing before you switch. Most retail calls start there, so make sure the number on it is the one you are porting and that the hours on it match the hours you set in the portal.
Keep your staff with the customers in front of them
Talk to us about menus, floor routing and pickup texts for your store.
Talk to us