Retail Trends

Three Features of POS Software that Increase Efficiency

3 min read

The key to successfully implementing POS software is picking a system that best fits your retail business. For example, if you have legacy POS hardware in your stores, you may want a solution that allows you to extend the lifetime of that technology while at the same time makes it easy to add new functionalities – mobile payments for example.

Or you may be fortunate enough to be in a position to buy new POS terminals, in which case you can choose to deploy cost-effective consumer technologies such as tablets, PCs and mobile phones. You need a POS solution that is easy to use and will work the same way irrespective of the underlying technologies.

Ultimately, the goal is to improve the customer experience at the very end of the buyer’s journey by making it easy to finalize a purchase.  Even if you make it easy to locate a product and have store staff on hand to answer queries,  if there are significant hiccups right when they’re about to pay, that can be enough to stop a slightly skeptical customer from completing a purchase.

Here, we’re going to break down three important features of POS software that increase efficiency regardless of what system you choose.

1. Mobile-enabled
Having a mobile-enabled POS solution is essential today as it means sales associates can complete transactions and help customers access information anywhere on the sales floor. So if they want to avoid waiting in a long line, they can, which helps to increase productivity and reduce stress on cashiers – especially during busy holiday seasons.

Mobile POS solutions offer customers an omnichannel experience wherever they’re being assisted in the store. Think about what Apple Stores do. Instead of waiting on line, an agent comes right to you with a tablet or phone in hand with a card reader attached. You can have products shipped, buy them on the spot, and have receipts send directly to your email. This lets sales assoicates work with more people faster and bounce around the store instead of being stuck behind a counter all day.

2. Employee and Inventory Management
Good employee management capabilities are necessary to track employee attendance and, if they are paid commision, to accurately calculate commisions based on the sales achieved by each employee. This imformation can then be automatically transferred to your payroll system.

Enterprise-wide inventory visibility is an essential POS feature if you if you want to optimize inventory levels and reduce the costs associated with obsolete or stranded inventory.

If you’re consistently ordering too much of a product that doesn’t sell, you’re just wasting money. A solution like Openbravo’s helps you gain greater control and accuracy of your in-store inventory management activities, minimize stock-out situations and manage store replenishment with a powerful alerts system that informs you about stock levels in real-time.

To help you gain better visibility of your inventory across all your stores and warehouses, you can leverage the mobile inventory management functionality to manage in-store stock movements or physical inventory.

3. Sales Reporting and Analytics
Good sales reporting and analytics are an absolute essential if you are to  run a successful retail business today.

You can see how well certain products are selling, which is particularly important if you sell seasonal items or are looking to determine what the latest trends are.

With the  analytics and reporting functionality built into Openbravo, you can measure store productivity,  do cash-up analysis or discount analysis, and provide your store managers with faster access to key performance indicators directly in their customizable workspace.

The Final Word
Retail businesses have to pay attention to every step of the buyer’s journey.

If it’s not easy to finalize a purchase, it can quickly turn off a customer who is in a hurry . It’s imperative to offer a superior customer experience for your customers and the right POS software helps make it possible.

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