How a point of sale (POS) system can benefit your business.

To the naive observer, operating a Retail business may appear simple: The merchant provides products that customers want, and they buy them. But as an entrepreneur, you know that numerous moving parts must interact smoothly to ensure seamless operations, happy buyers, and steady growth. Making full use of a modern point of sale system can help you achieve all of these objectives.

The POS system defined.

You see them every day in businesses of all sizes, but do you really know what makes up a POS system? In short, a POS system is a combination of hardware and software that facilitates credit and debit card transactions. Today’s systems also provide a host of additional features that help you run your business more efficiently. Today’s smart POS systems consist of some or all of the following components.

• POS computer, tablet, or touchscreen. The “brains” of your POS, this is the processing hub that runs all of your operations. It syncs with accessories like your cash drawer, receipt printer, and card readers.
• Keyboard and mouse. These combos often contain a built-in card reader and make it easy to enter data manually. You might instead opt for a touchscreen option.
• Barcode scanner. This peripheral helps you keep track of each piece of merchandise from the time it arrives in your warehouse until it leaves with a customer. Because the scanner syncs with the databases in your POS system, you can track inventory in real time while building buying histories specific to each shopper that can be used for marketing and customer relationships purposes.
• Display. This faces the customer and gives a preview of the total price to be paid. Many can also show custom messaging that advertises seasonal promotions or other incentives.
• External credit card reader. This is a must if your keyboard does not feature one or if you choose to accept mobile payments. Many modern readers are also equipped with the technology that allows them to accept contactless payments from customers’ smartphones or wearable devices.
• Cash drawer. This locked repository holds your bills and coins and often requires you to input a message from your POS computer or receipt printer to open it.
• Receipt printer. Your POS system should give buyers the option to have proof of purchase emailed to them. Although many will decide on this eco-friendly option, you still need a way to provide a paper version.
• Payment processing software. This suite of programs gives you all you need to communicate with the other actors in the payments process. For modern setups, it also contains a host of additional bells and whistles that enhance and streamline your overall operations.

Taking your business to the next level with a modern POS solution.

Now that you have a good idea of what makes up a modern POS system, you’re probably wondering how it could directly benefit your company. In short, if you accept payments other than cash, your brick-and-mortar or online store will experience significant gains when you upgrade to a multi-featured POS solution. Here are just some of the reasons.

• Better control of your back-office operations. Interacting with customers might be the most glamorous part of what you do, but it is equally vital to maintain a tight grasp on what happens behind the scenes. As the hub of your business, your POS system should integrate with each piece of software you use, including payroll and accounting solutions. Log into your software, and you should have immediate access to a dashboard showing every aspect of your operation in real time. That immediate access makes it a lot easier to be proactive when it comes to delegating tasks and work shifts, training staff, re-ordering products, and making intelligent sales forecasts.
• Nuanced relationships with your customers. Today’s POS systems are equipped with the potential to catapult your customer service into the stratosphere. That’s because they allow you to build and maintain a database of buyer demographics and other information that you can use to create a hyper-personalized, targeted shopping experience. These days, people want to be recognized as unique, communicated with on a regular basis with recommendations just for them, and rewarded for their loyalty. The POS customer database, in conjunction with a strong marketing and communications presence, allows you to give buyers exactly what they want without taking an inordinate amount of your time.
• Better employee relations. With the help of a modern POS system, you can say goodbye to disorganized schedules and confusion about overtime and vacations. Today’s systems enable you to set and email schedules to each worker and to make changes that are immediately forwarded to the affected team members. Furthermore, you can use the reporting feature to gauge each worker’s performance, providing instructive feedback, training, and rewards as the situation warrants. While your POS system will not remove the need for you to have a hands-on, door-open approach, it can automate many functions and make day-to-day operations more efficient.
• Intelligent forecasting. In the hustle and bustle of your ongoing chores, it can be a challenge to gather the information necessary to take a step back. Yet, this is the only way to make accurate long-term decisions about how you are going to evolve your store in the years to come. With the help of data from your POS solution, you can create reports and spreadsheets that shed light on your current production and show you trends that can help you make those all-important growth decisions. Instead of presenting your partners and investors with hunches and semi-educated guesses, smart POS systems allow you to wow them with clear, actionable data displays that will guide you intelligently toward your future.

Gone forever are the days when all you needed to do was to provide goods to your customers and accept their cash payments. Today’s Retail environment is complex and multi-faceted, involving a need for efficiency, security, personalization, and flexibility. As soon as you bring a fully functional POS system on board, you will see just how effective it is in helping you to achieve these essential goals.