Five ways a smart terminal can lead to comprehensive sales reporting.

Not so long ago, the humble card reader performed one job: Read the data on a buyer’s plastic card to transact the payments customers made. However, today’s technology has transformed yesterday’s “dumb” terminals into feature-rich point of sale solutions that can revolutionize the way you do business.

1. Smart terminals consolidate all of your payment methods.

Modern buyers want a wide array of choices when it comes to how they pay. Options include old-school magnetic stripe, EMV, ordering by phone with the help of the merchant’s virtual terminal, contactless payments made possible with the use of near-field communication (NFC) technology, and recurring billing solutions.

Regardless of what type of payment is processed, today’s smart terminals can seamlessly record it. As a result, you can refer to this information if necessary should any questions ever arise in the future about the transaction.

Without your smart terminal’s ability to streamline, this wide range of payment choices might lead to confusion and inaccuracy when it comes to bookkeeping. However, your system is perfectly equipped for the task and can generate comprehensive, clear reports with just a few clicks.

2. Smart terminals can help with inventory management.

When your finger is on the pulse of your inventory at every stage from the initial order to the final sale, you can order intelligently and keep costs down. As a direct result, you can expect happy customers who return because they know you have what they want in stock.

Your smart terminal can connect to peripherals such as barcode scanners which make keeping track of exact product counts a breeze. As soon as a piece of merchandise arrives, it can be scanned, with its progress tracked throughout its journey into your customer’s hands. Armed with this information about everything you sell, you always know exactly what you have and what you need in real time.

Thanks to the database you’ll create, you can take a snapshot of your stock counts whenever the need arises.

The reports your smart terminal helps you create can give you vital data about product sales: which items are flying off the shelves, which are holding their own, and which are failing to sell. Having this information at your disposal will enable you to more effectively evaluate your stock, provide training to staff where needed, update your website or store layout to enhance the sales of lagging merchandise, and even jump-start new and more effective marketing campaigns.

3. Smart terminals help you visualize data.

Even the most intelligent among us can find data interpretation difficult and boring. Thanks to your smart terminal, you can create graphical representations of your data that are more user-friendly.

When you and your staff have a better grasp on the substance of the data in the reports your system generates, you will be able to communicate it to vital stakeholders such as current and potential investors and executives.

With the help of today’s smart terminals, even a technological novice can generate reports that can express sophisticated employee, sales, inventory, and financial information in numerous ways that go beyond standard graphs and tables.

4. Smart terminals offer deeper customer insights.

Being in tune with your buyers is one of the most effective ways to chart the course for the future of your business. After all, when you understand what customers want, you can take steps to provide it — sometimes even before they know they have a particular desire.

Whenever someone makes a purchase from the smart terminal in your store or online, your system can keep track of valuable information that you can make use of later. This includes buyers’ contact specifics, buying histories, the number of visits they have made, demographic information such as dates of birth, and even details about their hobbies and interests.

The customer facts stored in your smart terminal can be a gold mine of helpful insights that will enable you to take your customer journey to the next level. Increasingly, people are demanding a curated shopping journey that is highly personalized. Additionally, you can boost your store’s quality once you have access to intel that reveals who your most loyal customers are, how and where they like to shop in your store or on your website, their favorite times to buy, and what products they love the most.

Furthermore, you will have a much clearer idea of how to craft marketing campaigns that tap into your customers’ needs and wants. You will even gain insights on how to expand your audience to extend your reach and make your brand even more widely known.

Finally, you always need to keep your eye on your bottom line. With the aid of your smart terminal, you can easily see how much it is costing you to attract new visitors who eventually buy products and become regular customers.

5. Smart terminals can process employee data.

There is no substitute for direct contact and personal relationships with your staff. However, your smart terminal can provide you with additional, quantitative details that surpass anything you can do on your own.

Thanks to its integration with your point of sale system and other business software, your smart terminal provides numerous facts about your workers. These include each person’s net sales, discounts offered, tips, taxes, and voids. There is no longer any guesswork when it comes to those day-to-day details.

After you have obtained this vital data about each worker’s performance, you can use it to inform future decisions. In addition, you will be able to recognize who your most productive and talented workers are, as well as who may require extra support and training. When you make it a priority to care for your staff, recognize their accomplishments, and assist them proactively when they are struggling, the rewards will be numerous, including higher morale, longer job retention, and a positive attitude that will be passed on to your customers.

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