By this time, we hope that you are all acquainted with what a point-of-sale (POS) system is and how it benefits all types of businesses of all sizes. However, what makes a great POS experience seems to remain as vague as a coin at the bottom of a well. So, in today’s article, let’s go down to the very bottom of that well, and unveil 6 factors that enrich a POS experience for business owners.
Overview
User-friendly software and interface
In fact, one of the toughest obstacles making business owners hesitate to start adopting a POS system is the learning curve. And if you have to spend an enormous amount of time training your staff over and over again, it’s a high chance that your current POS system is not user-friendly enough.
The whole point of adopting a POS system is to create a smooth and seamless experience for not only your customers but also for your employees. That’s why a great POS experience is a must to ensure the positive attitude of your staff and proper customer service. This results in higher customer satisfaction ultimately.
A great POS experience is created by an easy-to-learn, easy-to-handle POS system with straightforward and meaningful software, a well-managed and handy interface, and appropriate hardware accompanied.
Additionally, a POS experience can be enriched by customization. By letting business operators customize their POS system, business operation management becomes easier, more flexible, and more intuitive, which helps save lots of time and money on getting used to the system. Some key features:
- Custom receipts
- Customized dashboard
- Custom sale note
- Customized quick key
High-speed transaction time
It is a fact that the speed of your transactions, or lack thereof, will have a huge impact on your business in many ways.
To customers, “long line” destroys their shopping experience as it is the second most common complaint of consumers against retailers. According to research, on average, the maximum acceptable amount of time that consumers are willing to wait in a line is 10 minutes. Your check-out takes more than 10 minutes? Your customers will abandon their shopping. To you as a business operator, long lines making your clerks frustrated, making poor customer service, and increasing human errors.
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Therefore, a high-speed transaction time, especially during the check-out process, is critical to ensure a smooth POS experience. And a fast and reliable POS system will help you make through your day at work at ease. Some POS features that facilitate a quick check-out process are:
- High-speed scanner and card processor
- Self check-out process
- Customized quick-key
- Digital receipts
- Search products quickly by name, ID, SKU, or barcode.
High-security level
Security has been a burning issue lately as we’ve all seen the news reports about retail fraud, beginning at the POS system. Fraud is a major issue in the US in particular, and it’s partly due to the lack of proper security measures built into many POS systems.
Is that getting on your nerves right now? Don’t worry! Nowadays with the innovation of technology, many POS providers are now developing better hardware and software features to address these concerns. You don’t have to be a security expert to choose a relatively secure POS solution. Here are some tips for you to choose a secure POS system for your business:
- Make sure that your system is PCI DSS compliant (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard)
- With new technologies like mobile wallets, look for a system that provides the hardware to accept these types of secure transactions
- Find a card company that enables you to accept EMV chip cards for added security
Find out more about some secure and transparent payment solutions providers here!
Real-time synchronization and Accurate data
Since a POS system is supposed to manage multiple stores and inventory simultaneously, real-time synchronization is particularly needed. Data from all of the different platforms need to be synchronized to ensure a proper POS experience. Technically, it is like this: when an order is placed, the stock level will be immediately deducted from the warehouse assigned to that store. Accordingly, the available quantity shown on your online platforms also changes, in real-time. By that, selling an already-out-of-stock product can be avoided.
Additionally, real-time and accurate reporting is also crucial to a meaningful POS experience. In the previous articles, we’ve talked about how real-time synchronization helps with multi-store management. However, if your reports don’t reflect the accurate information or your system doesn’t provide the data in real-time, then it’s not that useful. Particularly for cloud-based POS software, if it is tricky for you to access your data wherever and whenever you want, then it’s really not very beneficial to your business.
Omnichannel experience
In order to create an omnichannel experience in POS for both you, as business owners, and your customers, Click-and-Collect is a useful POS feature that allows buyers to buy online and pick-up in-store.
In terms of customers, click & collect helps them shorten their shopping time while actually having more time browsing around considering many different products. Particularly, when COVID-19 is putting human interaction at risk of spreading the virus, this feature creates an even more meaningful POS experience.
When it comes to business operators, this feature benefits them in more than one ways:
- The chance to upsell: when the customer actually comes into one of your shops to collect, they will be more inclined to buy extra goods.
- More online sales: many consumers love ordering via click & collect as it means they get their purchase quicker and at a time that suits them.
- Cost savings: offering a click & collect service is great for this as you will cut down your delivery costs.
Moreover, other features including refund and exchange also need to be flexible, such as customers can buy online and refund or exchange in-store.
Timely support
Even though we have all discussed why a POS system needs to be user-friendly in order to ensure a great POS experience, there will still be the time when you need support. It is a fact that most business owners fail to realize that when your business is in full swing, you will be spearing yourself too thin to have time to troubleshoot POS issues by yourself. Even worse, because once your business is built around a POS system and depends heavily on making sales, a POS problem is not a thing that you can put off until tomorrow.
Therefore, to be able to have a great POS experience, do find yourself a POS provider that offers 24/7 support. A decent POS solution company is the one who provides the right support, regardless of the day and time, regardless of whether you are a good old customer or a new user.
All-in-one POS software
User-friendly software and interface, high-speed transaction time, high-security level, real-time synchronization and accurate data, omnichannel experience, and timely support are the 6 factors that we believe to create a great POS experience for business operators.
We know what you’re thinking about. It must be perfect to have POS software that includes all of the above aspects. Well, we are right here! At ConnectPOS, we are proud to have all of the sources and abilities to provide you with one of the most technology-advanced cloud-based software for your too-good-to-be-true experience in POS. Contact us, or book a free trial for further assistance!