The Features POS Solutions Cannot Do Without
The choices for POS solutions are seemingly endless, and to the uninitiated, they can seem overwhelming. In reality, those attributes that differentiate true POS solutions from glorified cash registers are actually fairly basic. To prove it, we have created our list of The Five Habits for Highly Effective POS Solutions.
- Master Inventory. Highly-effective POS software helps you maintain and conquer your inventory. That means it’s not just another spreadsheet. You need to define what you have in stock, what you have on order, what you have allocated for special orders and so much more.
- Customer Clarity. We live in a data-driven society. Large retailers buy and sell customer data as part of normal business. On a daily basis, your current customers are being contacted by other retailers, competing retailers, web retailers, and so on. They are all competing for their precious consumer dollars. Highly effective point of sale software provides you data on who shops in your store and what they buy. It then gives you the ability to contact them based on that data and entice them to revisit your store.
- Pricing and Promotions. Highly effective POS systems have the capability for dynamic pricing and promotions to allow you to create programs that fit your customers and your business. Combined with advanced inventory control, this feature allows you to specifically target your clients or your inventory during promotions. A lot of less-advanced systems seriously limit this capability.
- Analytics and Reporting. Data-driven retailers succeed. Competition is too tight to simply go by your gut. Advanced reporting allows you to construct reports that help you understand sales, spot trends, and make the proper business decisions.
- E-commerce. A robust e-commerce integration with a reputable platform is what characterizes quality point of sale systems. The ability to virtually operate your online store from your brick-and-mortar-POS turns two jobs into one.
Whether you’re shopping for POS systems for the first time or are interested in switching, take these five suggestions, and compare models. You’ll be much happier in the end if you know your point of sale software can function at a necessary and advanced level.