For any business owner in the retail, service or F&B industry can benefit greatly from a POS system in place. A point-of-sale system is a great piece of software and hardware that can bring everything under one roof when it comes to business management.
There’s a lot that comes with business management in these industry types whether it’s managing inventory of your stock or keeping track of the data and drafting reports. This is all relevant and necessary to any business big or small and incorporating the right POS system can really help with that.
But how does it benefit your business? Here are six reasons why every retail business needs a trustworthy POS system this year.
Cloud is the future and how you should run a business
With 94% of enterprises already using a cloud service, cloud computing, and management is where the future is going and with a POS system, you can join the masses who are utilizing this type of technology to their advantage.
A cloud-based system stores its data on the internet and so the amount of data you can store is limitless. It’s not like you’ve got a set amount of space that you can use, which can often be restrictive and cause a stunt in your company’s growth.
A cloud-based POS system stores its data stored on the Internet, which means that it can be accessed anytime, anywhere. This is a great thing, particularly for small business owners who need that flexibility to check stock or to monitor the productivity of your employees. There’s a lot that can integrate and connect with these systems in order to bring everything together.
The cloud is certainly one that is growing in popularity and that is being used in these POS systems to provide access to businesses that need remote access. Remote access, as we have all learned from the pandemic, has been a life-saver for many businesses across the globe. Did you know that around 46.6% of people in employment in the UK, did some work from home remotely? It’s certainly a similar case from other parts of the world too.
Saves time and money to spend elsewhere
Time and money are two things that are critical for a business owner, specifically for small business owners and start-ups. When it’s limited, you want to be careful and cautious with how you spend it. A POS system is a highly sought after software and hardware to implement because it means you can just pay for the one system and get everything you need with it.
It’s something that doesn’t need a huge amount of training. That can often be both a draining point when it comes to your budgets and time that staff have available to train, and be trained. With a POS system, some of its features include speeding up checkout processes that can be essential during peak hours and will ultimately drive more sales.
There’s also the ability to monitor and track your staff as well as the finances for the businesses. This one is important because having the right data and knowledge can help you make informed decisions that will benefit the company, rather than hinder it. The more right decisions made, the more growth and success you’re likely to have, right?
A POS system not only saves time and money but it can also help prevent any waste or loss when it comes to your stock. This in turn is going to help you save money if you run a business that sells seasonal or perishable goods.
Assists with inventory management
For any retail or F&B business, the management of inventory is important because it ensures that stock is ordered as and when it needs to be. It prevents over-ordering or under-ordering and ultimately disappointing your customers, which you don’t want to happen.
Statistics show that only 63% of retail businesses’ inventory is accurate. That means there’s a lot of room for error and a POS system can help ensure that percentage is a lot higher. Data is king when it comes to managing your inventory because it also helps improve communication between your staff, the suppliers, distributors and everyone else involved in the supply chain itself.
Having real-time data can provide useful insights and depending on the system you choose, this could include your peak and off-peak hours, alerting you to low stock and showing what stock is selling well and what isn’t. All this information can help you to make smart decisions when it comes to the wellbeing of the business both in it’s financial success and overall growth.
Inventory management can often be a challenge with bigger companies that have thousands of SKUs but with a POS system, the capacity for inventory is unlimited. A POS system can also do the following:
- Organises products into categories.
- Helps manage stock take and stock return.
- Centralises your product catalogue.
- Audit trails.
All these features can help better manage the inventory for your business, no matter what industry you’re in.
Employee management and workplace satisfaction
It’s not just the products that are important when it comes to your POS system and neither is it just about sales and collecting data. One of the great benefits that come with a point of sale system is employee management.
There can often be difficulty in making sure that every employee is, in fact, pulling their weight and not coasting on the back of other employees’ hard work. This can be easily monitored and managed via this system, whether it’s checking who has processed the most tables or served the most people during a shift.
Not only does it help with keeping everyone in check, it also provides a better workplace experience and satisfaction. Keeping your staff happy is important for business and when you’re taking the time to ensure everyone is being treated fairly, it creates loyalty amongst the workforce.
Also, there are plenty of companies in these industries where being on site with your employees is not always available. Having a cloud-based, remote system can help monitor and keep track from afar. Typical employee features in these systems can include:
Shift feature
This requires employees to check-in and out, just like the traditional clock card machines. It’s usually done though with a pin nowadays and can be a good way of tracking working hours.
Sales feature
This one lets you see what has sold during their shift or perhaps their total amount of sales taken for the day.
Top-performing stats
Seeing as you get all this data, you can also find the top-performing staff members and as such, reward them for their efforts.
Rewards can incentivize not only the staff who receive them but those around them. If they see management or their employers handing out rewards, they’re going to hopefully work harder to receive the same.
Creates customer loyalty
Customer loyalty and satisfaction are just as important as that of your employees. With food and beverage industries, retail and servicing, they all have one thing in common – they’re all customer-facing. So when it comes to customer experience, it’s one that needs to be constantly improved upon.
A POS system can make everything a lot more seamless when it comes to processing orders and payments in general. There’s nothing more frustrating than experiencing issues at the checkout as a customer. It can often leave the customer with a not so great impression of the company in general.
PwC found that when surveying 15,000 consumers, 1 in 3 of them said that they’d leave a brand they love after one bad experience. With that being said, there’s a lot of pressure to get it right the first time, especially when it’s new customers that are being introduced to the brand for the first time.
6. New options for sales and payment channels
A POS system can provide you with ew sales but also payment channels through ewallet and ecommerce, for example. The digital age is shifting again and we’re now seeing progression in cryptocurrency and cashless payments. Paper and coins are now becoming a thing of the past!
Ecommerce is also something to take advantage of, especially with so many people being online too. The ecommerce industry is thriving and in the US alone, ecommerce sales for the first quarter of 2021 totals an eye-watering $196.7 billion.
Whether you’re a small business running a fine-dining restaurant to a fashion retailer start-up, a POS system can do wonders for managing everything in one place from sales to inventory and employee management.
A POS system is a worthwhile investment for the future of any business in the industries mentioned above, so why not implement one and give your business the software it needs to expand and grow. There are plenty of point of sale systems available on the market right now and each offers a different service and features, so be sure to do your research before making a decision on which one is right for you.