There are several basic operational rules when you’re running a retail business, although there might be slight variations depending on what you’re selling. The day-to-day running of a retail outlet has its challenges that the business owner or management needs to overcome. However, if they do not have the right tools to help or assist with the outlet’s operations, the difficulties are more significant and time-consuming. This article will look at a tool – the retail POS System – that can assist with many of the tasks associated with running a retail business. Specifically, we will discuss five essential components of such software, so please keep reading.
Multi-Channel Support for Billing and Invoicing Should be one of the Retail POS System’s Benefits
Quick and efficient generation of itemized billing and invoices that includes a breakdown of charges for each item and the tax that has been charged is the primary reason that POS systems were invented. Of course, there are many other retail POS system benefits, and we will look into those later on, but this is like the origin story for such a system. Before the advent of such software, people would manually take notes at the cash counter and later go on over everything to calculate taxes and update the inventory ledger; however, that is a thing of the past. Now not only can you have multiple cash-counters running the same point-of-sale system that is syncing all the transactions and storing them for data retrieval at a later time, but you can also use it to handle transactions on your website. That essentially means you don’t need a separate system or additional resources to take incoming web orders; they can be managed by the same person working the cash counter through a single interface such as SalesPush.
Should Have the Option to Increase Functionality through add-ons Such as an HRM Feature
Remember we said something about discussing the benefits of a modern-day POS system? The ability to offer more functionality than a point-of-sale software was initially intended for, has become a crucial feature. We will elaborate this using a feature that the SalesPush POS provides, and that is HRM functionality. In a retail operation, the staff plays a critical role, and knowing who is present and who is not is vital. Besides that, efficiently managing the leaves of the employees goes a long way in calculating their payroll and keeping them happy. You would expect these functions from a dedicated HRM system; however, advanced point-of-sale systems can offer this functionality at a lower price. We have mentioned this as essential because it saves the owner money since otherwise they would need to get an HRM dedicated system, which would cost a lot.
No POS System is Complete Without Inventory Management Functionality
Another retail business-critical feature that a POS must have is managing inventory and automating the process to some extent. In retrospect, when items were brought into a retail outlet, at least two people would be working on updating the inventory ledger. One would check the items, and another would note down the details in a log. This entire process was quite time-consuming, not to mention labour-intensive – if you had a large shop, you would need to assign more people to get the work done. However, now with advanced point-of-sale systems, you can upload your entire inventory data in a few minutes.
Furthermore, you can then categorize the items and further classify them according to brand, sub-type, weight, color, price, among other factors. You can also note down the physical location of the item in the system. Suppose you run a clothing outlet and someone asks if you have a GAP t-shirt in red color size XXL, you could look it up via the search function and tell them that it’s on the 2nd floor, 3rd aisle, and 4th rack. How is that for making things easy for your customer? So, having these features is essential for the excellent performance of any retail outlet.
CRM Functionality and Integration Options to Help with Marketing
Being able to store the customers’ details with their consent is a powerful feature. Such functionalities within POS systems are crucial for the long-term running of a retail business. Modern-day point-of-sale systems like SalesPush provide integration options with sites like MailChimp and others. So if you are running a promotion or a marketing campaign, you need to have a way to reach out to your existing customer base. That is precisely what the POS system can do; it syncs with MailChimp allowing you to send bulk emails from there to your customers.
The POS Software must Have Report Generation Capability
Report generation is a crucial feature for making informed business decisions. It’s through reports you can tell if your retail business is prospering or it needs tweaking. The POS software with a built-in reporting feature can offer you such insight through the data stored in it. You can pull up sales reports for any duration with a few clicks since the point-of-sale system was implemented. You can divide it up according to retail outlets if you have more than one and website sales. Furthermore, you can check inventory reports to give you an idea of your slow-moving and fast-moving products. Using this data, you can make informed decisions to increase the profitability of your retail operations.
SalesPush is an advanced retail business-centric point-of-sale system. Being cloud-based, it doesn’t require you to have specialized equipment. You can access it through any device with a browser and Internet access. It has all the features mentioned above and more, and if you are looking for the perfect POS solution, please speak to our sales representatives for more details.