For many customers, modern point of sale, or pos, software is all to do with a sophisticated image for a particular business, with cool touch screen and excellent colour graphics. But for the business owner, this type of software really does make running a business much easier.
Point of sale is the point at which a customer is making a purchase, which basically means at the cash register and, with the benefit of modern software, the capabilities of a register are now far greater than they used to be. Where once orders were jotted down and passed on, sales order software allows customers to order at the register and have the order immediately received by the relevant personnel. But that is just one way that electronic point of sale, or epos, solutions are making life easier. Here are three others.
Stock Control
Traditionally, a chore that few employees were eager to take on, regular stock taking meant hours of counting products in the stock room and on shop shelves. It was not just a matter of jotting figures into a designated file, but also calculating the total value per range, and overall.
Modern point of sale software allows detailed stock taking to be done as sales are made, with the consequential change to the stock automatically calculated. This means that an accurate latest stock figure is always available. What is more, the system can also calculate figures from online and mail order sales.
Of course, regular physical checks should also be made for security reasons, since the system will only be able to calculate a new stock figure from actual sales.
Customer Services
The quality of service that customers receive is vital to the survival of any business. Not only do customers expect to be shown respect, they also expect to be attended to quickly and with the minimum of fuss. For this reason, speed and clarity are hugely important factors.
Thanks to modern software, however, this can be easily achieved. Take for example a customer who is looking for a specific type of winter coat from a medium sized clothing shop chain. While the customer can accept her branch does not have the particular coat at the moment, she would like to know if it can be got and when.
A staff member can consult the register and access stock records to see if a nearby branch has the particular item in the size and colour desired. If so, the item can be reserved and an arrangement to have it sent over can be made. If not, then the central warehouse can be checked and, perhaps, an order made.
In essence, the customer can be attended to and provided an answer in the most efficient and professional manner possible, enhancing the service of the shop, and ensuring the customer is impressed and will return.
This efficiency can also be achieved in relation to product returns, and the management of promotions, with special sale prices included in a centralised pricing system, thus ensuring a multi store business can achieve price consistency.
Human Error
The bane of business owners in every sector, human error can prove extremely costly, with entries at the till sometimes incorrect. A cafe employee might serve a large cappuccino to a customer but accidently charge for a regular Americano. The loss may only be small but over a period of time, if mistakes are common, small losses can become more significant.
One of the advantages of epos solutions is that the risk of errors is reduced to the absolute minimum. Large touch screens allow the employee to touch an image, so there is no need to remember the price or search for the written product name on a till key. The fact is, an employee, even when quite busy, can more easily see and touch the image of a cappuccino than have to think and search for the correct key.
The convenience that modern pos software brings to a business is clear to see, reducing human error, enhancing the quality of service to customers and ensuring an accurate management of stock is maintained at an instant.
Along with the other software available as part of a complete retail package, such as mail order processing and sales order software, many of the hard chores are streamlined and complex calculations simplified, thereby allowing business owners the freedom to concentrate on other essential aspects.
Sarah Shore writes for Sparkstone Technology. For online ecommerce websites, Sparkstone provides POS software and in retail stores, Sparkstone provides a full set of EPOS solutions. Their range includes sales order software, with one piece of software designed to work with one or many EPOS systems.
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