When starting out with a business, retailers spend a lot of time into figuring out methods to generate more sales for their business. This is only the right thing to do because generating sales is a mean to sustain the business. Besides that, gaining more revenue will also allow the business to expand. However, in the process of generating more sales how do retailers ensure that the process is secure, convenient and reliable?
It is important to acknowledge that consumers purchases are very important towards sustaining a business. What’s more important is to have a customer coming back to your business so that you do not have to spend more on acquiring new customers. Research shows that it is cheaper to keep a customer rather than searching for a new one. This is why the systems that are in place to assist the sales process must be taken care of.
How can the POS system help your business?
This is where the POS system comes into play. Owning the right point of sale systems will allow you to conduct sale transactions and handle a number of activities around the sales. Walmart uses the SUSE Linux Enterprise Point of Service (SLEPOS) as their POS system to manage their complex supply chains. You can also track your customers behaviours through the POS system in place. Besides, a POS system will also assist you in cases of exchanges or return of any items.
The term POS system is no longer something foreign for retailers. This is because there are many POS system providers out there. However, with so many choices to choose from, how do you make the right choice for a POS system suitable for your business?
Are you ready to find out how you can select the right POS system for your business? Read on to find out our 3 best pointers on how you can evaluate the best POS system for your business.
- Price
A POS system is very much affordable even if you are a first time retail or no. In the past decade, a POS system was not affordable for small business owners because it was very expensive. However, thanks to the innovation of the software as a service model, reasonably priced option POS systems are available and affordable to any business owner. However, for every quality affordable POS system available in the market, there are also many mediocre and less than satisfactory system.
Let’s talk about the pricing of a POS system. The pricing is important because it is a very easy way to identify a poor POS system is through it’s pricing. You should expect a competitive and straightforward pricing from your POS providers. You can expect to receive a contract from your POS providers because this can help you save a lot of money over the years but it is not mandatory. Any POS providers that makes its contracts mandatory should be a red flag. Remember, you are not obligated to take up any of the contracts. You can just walk away and find another provider to work with.
- Reporting
Now let’s get deeper into analysing what a POS system can do for you. Ultimately, you want a POS inventory system that will allow you to analyse the data that it receives. Besides, you will also need to analyse the employee and inventory management. An ideal POS system should allow you to revolutionize your business through the data analysis that you do through the information available in the system. However, not all sales reporting are reliable.
Besides the usual sales transaction report, you will can generate several type of reports such as top selling items, inventory and these information must be categorised according to date range and also customer activity. Another feature of POS system that you must expect is being able to check the sales of your stores regardless of where you are. This means that even if you are on vacation, you can access the data of the POS system such as net sales, average sales value and the total number of customers through your mobile devices.
- User-friendly
POS system must be easy to set up and simple for you to use. The process of setting up the POS system should take only minutes and not take up hours. While the initial use of the POS system will require you and your staff to learn how to configure it, it should not be a difficult process. It should have an interface that is easy for your employees to configure and it is convenient to use. Overall, avoid using a POS system that you feel is overwhelming for yourself or your employees. Ultimately, it should be easy for your employees to input any data in it and the tasks that you wish to accomplish should be relatively easy to do.