Retail POS: How Point of Sale Opportunities Can go to Work for You

Each time you let a customer walk out your doors without collecting every bit of data possible, there is a wasted opportunity to better your business and climb to the top of your retail game!

Why? For a moment, let's consider data from point of sale (POS) transactions to be somewhat like rich soil to your business. The transaction contains all the data you need to know to make your business competitive and strong, but if you do not mine what is there and allow the details to "nourish" your decision-making and your marketing options, you lose out on all it has to offer. Just like a plant, your business can wither or flourish based on the conditions it is exposed to and the attention it is given - why wouldn't you mine the soil for inherent resources?

Leading edge retailers recognize (and regularly learn from and use) the numerous advantages present at the POS, and what the data captured by retail POS software and hardware can do for them. They know the data collected and reports generated from that data can improve tasks such as: customer tracking, inventory reporting, ordering, employee tracking and scheduling, accurate pricing, advertising, accounts payable and receivable, general ledger, markdowns and pricing, vendor interaction, and more. A good retail POS system can also be set up to interface with a back office accounting program, or an e-commerce site.

Running a few reports can tell you:

• What items sell together, and can be up-sold
• When your peak sales times are (hours, days, months, etc.)
• What your fast sellers are
• What inventory is dragging down your profits
• Who your typical customer is, and how to reach your best customers
• If you are under-staffed or over-staffed

A perfect choice for any kind of business, from a gift shop to a grocery store or sporting goods store, a point of sale system offers numerous options for customizing to fit your specific size and retail needs. Space-saving touch screens are perfect for smaller operations, while hardware models with a keyboard are available as well - it's really up to you and your budget. Additional hardware includes: credit card and ATM card readers, bar code scanners and printers and digital customer displays, among other options.

Most POS applications for retail will run on a Windows platform, so in many cases there aren't big adjustments needed to get going, and are easy to learn and to teach others how to use - especially touch screen POS monitors.

Retail POS systems can also maintain data to help you easily set up a customer loyalty program to reward those great customers. On the other end of the spectrum, customer tracking also can help you identify customers who could use a little incentive to start shopping with you again. E-mail and postcard mailing lists are simple to set up, and great marketing tools!

The advantages a retail POS system can offer you are too many to cover here, but we would be pleased to tell you more specifically how it can benefit your individual needs - just give us a call at (734) 453-9200!