You might know how to use your POS system, but do you know how to use it to its fullest extent? If you’re paying for software, you’ll want to get the most from it that you possibly can to maximize your investment. A POS system in a retail environment can help advance your business, improve sales, and even bridge the gap between you and your customers.
Leveraging POS tech starts with knowing the potential of your system. Let’s take a closer look at what POS systems can do for retailers, and how you can leverage your system to improve your retail space.
Are You Using Your Reports?
Most POS systems have the ability to generate detailed reports on hourly, daily, monthly, weekly, and yearly sales. These reports will tell you exactly how much money you’re bringing in, as well as the number of products or services you’re selling on any given day. Many business owners aren’t aware of this fact, or simply don’t use their reports, and this is a grievous error.
These reports can help you make better decisions about staffing, which products need to come off the shelves, and what products or services you should be putting effort into promoting.
The more insight you have into how your business functions, the more informed you’ll be when it comes time to make big decisions.
If your POS system is connected to your eCommerce site, you’ll also have access to valuable analytics data from your site as well. Connecting the two (physical store and eCommerce) makes inventory counts easier and more accurate, and gives you a more complete picture of the business’s functionality.
Collect Customer Information
We live in the digital age, which means that marketing has changed drastically. As the internet becomes an integral part of modern life, retailers have shifted how they reach their customers, starting at the point of sale.
POS systems allow you to collect information during your sale, such as names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc. This personal information is secured in the POS software, and from there, you can track the products each customer buys individually.
Essentially, you’re using your POS system to get to know your customers on a more personal level.
This will reflect in your service, and your customers will most certainly appreciate a more personal approach to your customer service. Simple things like knowing customers on a first-name basis can make them feel more at ease in your store and more likely to make a purchase from a brand they personally trust.
Streamline Your Store and Checkout Process
Does your retail space suffer from long lines and an excruciating checkout process? This could actually be costing you a lot more business than you think. Retailers lose billions in revenue every year because of long lines in their stores! Don’t be one of those billions; leverage your POS system to streamline the store and make checkout twice as fast.
The best POS system is a mobile one. That is, you can use it on a mobile device such as a tablet. This eliminates (or reduces) the need for static cash registers, checkout counters, and cashiers.
Your employees will be freer to walk the sales floor and interact with your customers, your store will have more open space, and those pesky lines will be a thing of the past.
Make Employees More Familiar With Products
Memorizing products can be a daunting task for a new employee, but with an expansive and detailed digital catalog within your POS interface, they’ll have access to all of the information they could possibly need about products and services. Customers trust an employee a lot more when they know what they’re talking about!
Your POS system keeps the product catalog organized, and with the touch of a button, you can navigate to any of your products or services, edit prices and descriptions, and add or delete products right at the terminal. Convenient, easy to use, and powerful; that’s the POS system of today!
Better Inventory Tracking
Inventory can quickly become a nightmare for an unorganized retail store, but with a POS system, your inventory will be tracked in real-time for the most accurate counts at any given time of the day. Forget manual counts that take hours and are full of mistakes. Ditch your old inventory software that doesn’t integrate with your cash management system; the two are combined into a single system with a POS.
Conclusion
The debate of whether or not your retail store needs a POS system is now over. Yes, you do need one if you want to keep up with or surpass your competitors. Some business owners are reluctant to jump into the POS world, but it’s a leap you won’t regret. You’ll be more organized, connected to customers, and aware of how your business functions, and that’s peace of mind you can’t buy.