As a retail business owner, the Point of Sales (POS) system is one of the most important parts of your business. The system ensures your business wheels run smoothly.
If you have already implemented a POS system in your retail business, that’s a good thing! But if you haven’t and are looking for how the POS system can make your business run better, you are reading the article!
This time we will explain what makes the POS system an inseparable part of your retail business. Let’s start with the first one:
Record sales
The POS application main function is to record sales. Since it is integrated with the cash register, you and your staff must learn how to use it. Generally, recording sales with POS system follow these steps:
Checkout
POS software can speed up the purchase process on the cash registry thanks to the barcode scan system. Simply point the scanner at the barcode on the item and the system will recognize the item. Then adjust the item quantities as your customer requested. Finally, input the data to create a receipt.
Applying discount
Another convenience of using a POS system is when you run a discount. The system will automatically detect whether the item purchased by the customer is being discounted or not. Just like the checkout process, just scan the item barcode and the system will identify how much discount applied on the item.
Payment
If the manual payment method only allows cash payments, the POS system is more flexible, such as the use of debit cards and credit cards. POS software also allows other unique payment methods such as:
- Buy now, pay later – also know as paid installments. This method is increasingly popular among retail businesses in 2019
- Layby/layaway – the customer deposits a number of funds that can be used for future purchases
- Loyalty program – by making a purchase, customers get rewards in the form of vouchers/points that can be used for purchases
Inventory managing using a POS system
Retail business is closely related to inventory management. That’s why a lot of retail businesses that using POS system also using inventory management system at the same time. Some retail businesses even require their POS systems also equipped with several features such as:
Multi-store inventory management
This feature is crucial for retail businesses that have more than one store. With centralized inventory management, you can control your products movement from one location. This way you can avoid inaccurate inventory data between branches and warehouses.
Another advantage of this feature is that you can avoid stock aging. For example, product A does not sell well in branch 1, resulting in a stock buildup. But in branch 2, product A is sold out pretty quickly. With the multi-store inventory management, you can get this information quickly to immediately move product A from branch 1 to branch 2.
Multi-channel inventory management
In 2019, there are a lot of retail businesses starts to sell their merchandise online. Although it helps the sales, quite often this step ends up in difficulties to stock synchronizing. You certainly don’t want to sell unavailable items to your customer, right?
This feature also provides your customer with options while shopping. Options such as buying online, or pick-up in store to eliminate shipping costs.
Stock-taking gets easier
This feature is helpful for those who have large warehouses and thousands of inventory. With the POS system, carry out stock-taking is easier. With a few clicks, the inventory data can be displayed within seconds.
Re-order points
Re-order points are POS system feature that sets the “safety-stock” level in your warehouse. The system will alert you when the safety level is approached. In this way, you can avoid the occurrence of out-of-stock ever happen in your business.
Manage your customers
The customer is king. As a “servant”, you must know what is your king needs, right? This is why a lot of retail business owners adds CRM feature in their POS systems. With CRM, you can get to know your customers better by doing the following ways:
Record customer data
Customer data is a gold mine in the eyes of retail business owners! Data such as contact info and shopping history are important. You can use this data to offer the latest variants of products that your customers have purchased.
Create customer groups
This feature allows you to customize your promotional messages based on customer preferences. For example, you can group VIP customers to get a sample of your latest product.
Loyalty programs
Ten loyal customers are more valuable than 100 new buyers. Therefore, there is no harm in pampering your loyal customers with loyalty programs, such as special discounts, buy 1 free 1 and so on.
Easier reports making
From the features mentioned above, it is clear that the POS system provides such complete sales and stock inventory data. These data make your report more comprehensive and detailed.
If you are looking for a correct POS system for your company, consider the following features before implementing it:
Items availability
If you need to know how many items are available in the store as soon as possible, this particular feature is a must in your POS system.
Low stock notification
This feature will notify you if there an item that is almost out of stock. To avoid out-of-stock events, the system will remind you to immediately restock your inventory.
Product performance
You certainly want to know which of your products are selling well and which are not. With the POS system, you can find out the performance of each product, where the product is selling well and which are not. You can make adjustments if you need. For example, re-ordering goods that sell well or hold promotions for goods that are slow moving.
Sales History
This report provides information about your successful sales in a period of time. Armed with this, you can find out whether your sales have made a profit for you or the other way around.
The possibility of integration with other systems
As mentioned earlier, the POS system is closely related to other aspects of your retail business, ranging from inventory management to customer management. But you also need to consider the possibility to integrate your POS system with others, such as accounting systems or purchasing systems.
Integration of various systems (if done correctly), will make your business grows faster. Consult your POS system vendor for this problem. Systems integration will make your company data move smoothly from one system to another.