POS, for those that don’t know, means Point of Sale – that moment when your customer actually pays for the goods or services you have provided.
But modern POS systems can do way more than merely acting like an old-fashioned till. The majority of transactions these days require little more than the beep of a barcode scanner and a tap of the card – something that could in theory be done with just a smartphone. But your POS can do so much more than just process sales. It can add huge value to your retail operation; here are a few examples of how.
Helps you answer your customers’ queries more effectively
We’ve seen it said that nowadays, POS may be better served standing for ‘Point of Service’ rather than ‘Point of Sale.’ Such is the shift in the role it plays as a customer service tool, rather than a tool for just processing transactions.
With a huge increase in buying products online, modern consumers are used to having a huge wealth of information available to them as they consider making a purchase. In a retail environment, you couldn’t expect every member of staff to have that in-depth knowledge about every item you sell. But, that information is readily available just a click or swipe away on your POS system. Giving you easily accessible answers to any questions your customers may have.
Solves your product availability issues
How many times have you missed out on a sale because you didn’t have a product in stock, or couldn’t be sure when an item was due to be back in stock? Having product listings and stock management bundled in with your POS software resolves these issues.
A good example of this is in fashion retail. If a customer comes to the counter with an item asking whether you have it available in their size, gone are the days when you’d have to disappear to a stock room at the back of the store to frantically search, while leaving the customer waiting. Heaven-forbid you then come back empty handed leaving the customer potentially feeling like you have wasted precious moments of their time.
Your sales personnel can now find out if it’s in stock almost instantly. And if it isn’t, you could see whether it was available at a different branch, if you have any, or how long it would take to arrive from the supplier/manufacturer – all via a few clicks of your POS!
Helps your customers spend more!
Again, this happens online all the time. You add an item to your basket and the online shop recommends other items that compliment that item or shows you items other people have bought at the same time. Your POS system can be set-up to offer similar recommendations. Either showing the customer the items, if you have a rear-facing display, or with prompts to your sales personnel.
Having in-depth product information at your fingertips via your POS can help you to accurately cross-sell and up-sell item recommendations to the right people at the right time, increasing your turnover and profit!
Looking for some further advice? We’d be happy to help! Please call us on 01299 488031 or email us via info@tills-direct.com.
With thanks as ever, to Aures for their help with this article.
