A guide to the features and benefits you should consider when choosing a point of sale (POS) system
Setting up a successful customer experience means implementing tools that make the purchasing process fast and easy, and one essential technology for that today is the point of sale (POS) system. The best of these will even contribute to greater employee satisfaction and increased visibility into product and sales data.
With the right POS system in place, all the parts of your business function better together. The POS is connected to steps both before and after the moment a customer makes a purchase, tying it all together with the transaction. This includes sales, inventory tracking, administrative tasks, customer engagement and management, and more.
4 reasons you need a POS system
Consider these benefits of finding the right POS system for your business, and make sure you take the time to choose a solution that’s perfect for your needs.
1. Customer satisfaction
Today’s customers want their buying experiences to be simple and straightforward. Speed is always important when simplifying processes, and with a POS system in place, each purchase runs faster. This increases customer satisfaction and shows that your business cares about making their lives easier.
2. Automation
With features like a barcode scanner, the checkout process is automated and instantly pulls all necessary and accurate information about a product with one scan. This improves efficiency while ensuring accuracy.
3. Competitive edge
When your business finds the right POS system, it gives you a competitive edge. According to data from Software Advice, 56 percent of single-store retailers still aren’t using a POS system, so this a huge opportunity for you to stand out from the competition.
4. Analytics and tracking
Being able to gather and analyze business data is essential for retailers. This includes sales data and reports, product tracking, and inventory data. These numbers help you make fact-based business decisions that will support business growth.
Choosing the right POS system
There are important considerations to keep in mind when choosing a POS system for your business. If you’re not sure where to start, first think through where the business is currently. For example, how new is your business? Are you expanding your offerings? Are you still currently using a cash register? This helps you figure out exactly what you need in a new system.
Also, try asking your community about the POS systems they’ve implemented and what their experience has been like. Check out what other businesses in your industry and niche are doing.
This will give you a list of priorities to consider when looking for the right POS system, including whether the tool can:
- Integrate well with your current software and systems
- Keep counts on products in an easily digestible manner
- Track inventory across locations
- Track and monitor customer purchase history
- Gather customer data like basic demographics
- Provide a simple solution with clear enhancements to current processes
Don’t forget that the benefits for you and your employees are also important considerations for choosing the right software. The POS system should make it simpler for workers, as well as customers, to complete sales transactions so both sides will benefit from shorter wait times. Find a solution that is simple for employees to implement, and doesn’t require a big learning curve. Setting up the new system and daily use should be intuitive and not require much extra intervention.
Another consideration is whether or not you want a cloud-based POS solution. Cloud-based systems are often automatically updated, ensuring that your software is always evolving and keeping up with the latest enhancements. Updates are often free of charge with cloud-based systems, and you can access the data they collect from anywhere, anytime.
Gone are the days of the cash register being the centerpiece of checkout for retailers. You need a POS system that will streamline transactions and provide additional data about products and sales to help make decisions for the future that keep your business on the path to growth.
Even though implementing new technology in your business can be daunting, failing to choose the right POS system means you won’t have the competitive edge you need in today’s marketplace. That means missing out on the benefits of simplifying transactions and streamlining information sharing.
To learn more about how a POS system can help your business, talk to our experts at UNISOL International. We provide product distribution and turnkey deployment of just about every type of business technology, including security cameras, servers and storage systems, and POS systems that will fit into your business’s current practices while increasing efficiency. Contact us today to get started.