Operating a retail store is not a cake walk. You need to take care of the administration, management and marketing. You also need to keep a track of your sales, ensure that there’s enough stock in the inventory, monitor your employees and make monthly sales reports. Managing all these things might sound impossible to you, but not when you have an efficient POS system in place. The POS system ensures that all your operations are going in a uniform way. Retailers investing in this system are sure to succeed.
What is a POS system?
POS is short for Point of Sale. POS system is the place where a customer makes payment for the products or services purchased from your store. In simple terms, a customer is completing a point of sale transaction every time he makes a purchase from a particular store. With the growing demands, the latest point of sale software is going beyond credit card processing. It is helping the retailers incorporate mobile POS features, contactless payment options , ecommerce integration capabilities and much more. To help the customers, POS system recently came up with Point of Sale Financing, which assists the customers to purchase products on installments or credit basis.
Reasons to choose POS system for your business
Here are some of the reasons why you should choose point of sale system for your business.
To record sales
POS systems enable you, the retailer, to look at the past transactions and discover products that have been stuck on the shelf for a long time. You can even get information on products that are selling the most. This will help you in managing your inventory easily.
Inventory Management
Managing your inventory is time-consuming and expensive. It is also a digital form of nightmare for some retailers. There are a lot of products with multiple sizes, colors, volumes and other variations. With a POS system, you will get accurate data of your sales which will help you in determining the quantity of stock you possess for each product. POS solutions come with inventory capabilities. This can sync the stock levels as you make sales. You can also categorize the products by their name, brand, color, supplier code and other categorizations. An effective POS system will help you to track your product movements. This will help you in making smarter choices while purchasing new products.
Track real-time sales
With a POS system in place, you can access your back- office server when you are not in the store and get hold of all the happenings in your store. You can get access to real-time sales, profit after markup, number of sales made by each employee and many other specifications. You can manage your store from anywhere. Most POS systems come with customizations to allow you to choose the reports that you want to see from any part of the world.
Reporting
The key to run a successful business lies in having data at your fingertips. You need to have the right information about the sales, customer behaviour and product movement. All of this information will help you in making better decisions that impact your business. Any discrepancy in the information will impact your overall business. So, it is necessary for you to choose a POS system that will generate the reports you need. POS systems allow you to keep a close eye on your sales, profits and losses. Opt for a software that will generate accurate information about inventory, low stock, product performance, sales summaries. You will have access to all these reports no matter where you are. These insights will help you make necessary adjustments to maintain the profitability of your business.
Managing your customer
Most POS systems come with customer management features. This helps you in storing customer information and building their profile. You can know your top patron and reward them or offer some loyalty benefits. This will encourage other customers to spend more, thereby boosting your sales. All these features will lead you to higher engagement with your customers. The loyalty programs will make them repeat their purchases and make them come back to you.
Managing your employees
POS software reduces the time you spend on making schedules and working to enforce them. The modern POS system comes with clock functionality. This requires your employees to clock in and clock out on the POS terminal. This helps you to track their arrival and departure to work. It gives access to control measures to ensure that your employee identity is verified for clock-ins and to access your system.
Eliminates waiting time
Most of the customers are turned down by the huge queues at billing. Impatient customers abandon their carts and turn away from making any purchase. With incorporating a POS system in your store, no customer will now go away because of long waiting. The POS systeem makes your work much faster. They work faster than the manual cash registers. You can even have the possibility of using handheld and mobile devices. By using these, every corner of your store is accounted for and prevents customers from going through routine waiting near the payment counter. POS system is a time saving and cost- effective method. It ensures faster checkout experience for your customer, making them leave with a good impression on your brand.
Accounting made easy
POS systems help you in calculating your due sales tax based on the sales of your store. This will help you in paying your sales tax and keep track of your profits or losses.
Managing your finances
If you have incorporated the latest system of Point of Sale Financing, POS systems will come handy to manage your finances. You can manage your installment plans. This will help abolish the “put it on cuff” way of selling. You will know how much each customer owes you along with the due date.
Marketing
Promotions and discounts are the best ways to attract customers to your store. If your store runs sales promotions regularly, it gets easier for you when you have a POS system in place. A good POS system will support your sales and marketing efforts. Choose a POS system that makes it easier for you to implement offers and discounts instead of you slashing the prices manually.
Information for everyone
With a POS system in place, the customer, cashier and you will get more information about the sales. The customer benefits from the POS system as he gets an invoice on his every purchase. This helps him know what exactly he is purchasing. The cashier will have exact information of what they are registering. It gets faster and easier for them to register and run all the items. You, the retailer, will get hold of the information about the customers who are visiting your store and purchasing your products.
Nowadays, everyone is familiar with electronic gadgets. The workers you employ wouldn’t need much training to get accustomed to these devices. The POS system will increase the efficiency, accuracy and speed of your business, putting it on the path of success.
