Immaterial of whether you are starting a new business in wholesale/ retail or planning to expand your present one, you need to have a POS system to enable better efficiency. Whether the size of the business is big or small, there are some features in a POS system that you must look for before finalizing the deal on it. Here are some of the most critical elements that you need to have.
Inventory Management One of the most extensive and time-consuming job in the retail industry is the maintenance of stocks. You cannot have a less quantity of a fast-moving stock or make a dead investment on a stock that hardly sells. This is possible only with a reliable inventory system and the barest minimum that software can give to a customer. It can also help in pushing out the slow-moving stocks. With an inventory system, you can be sure that the stocks are at the optimum level and there are no misses which may happen due to human error.
Purchase Management
The process of a purchase is a life cycle in itself, and this is unavoidable in any business. The method often includes: • Requesting an order • Order approval • Identifying supplier • Getting the Quotation • Negotiation • Finalization • Raise of Purchase order • Receiving the order • Raising the Invoice for the purchase. Each step is essential in the process of making a purchase, and hence it takes a lot of time and energy to complete it. An automated method can not only reduce the working hours considerably, but it can also be cost-effective.
Customer Relationship Management A customer is the primary asset that any company can get. They are not an option in any business; they are the main reason for it! Communicating with the customer is an essential aspect of developing any business. Hence the need for a reliable and trustworthy CRM system that can use the different communication systems like emails, phone calls, website, live chats, etc. to connect with the customer. This helps in understanding their needs as well. It is essential to know the purchase trends of each customer to give customized offers to them which will eventually lead to retaining them. On-time reminders and notifications will help in achieving this.
Quick Check out Process
Waiting in the billing queue is something that most customers dread of; they are even willing to spend an extra penny to skip the line. It is a complete surprise that why customers who are ready to spend hours shopping cannot wait in a queue for even a few minutes for billing. Hence, the time taken for an invoice has to be the most minimum possible immaterial of whether it is an online store or a physical store. The use of POS software can help you in speeding up the invoicing and printing as it uses automated barcodes.
Promotions & Offer Management It is a well-known fact that customers love discounts! The term in itself helps a business to attract new customers, increase their loyalty and even reach the sales goals. An ideal POS should be able to do this for you automatically, and the promotions or offers should contact the customer on time. The Promotion Management should be in such a way that it is easy for any authorized person to generate the necessary promotions and offers.
Returns & Exchanges Without the help of an automated system, managing the returns and exchanges becomes a tedious affair. As these are unavoidable in the retail industry, a POS system is required to handle this effectively.
Sales Reports & Analysis In order to understand the sales and to arrive at the areas of improvement needed, it is essential to have the sales reports and analytics done at frequent intervals. With a POS, it is easy to arrive at this data without the need for an IT team. Analyzing the low selling items and ordering them less and doing the reverse for high selling items is the smart way to make more profits for the business.
Handling Multiple Locations In case a business has more than one branch, pop-up store or franchise, then it becomes difficult to control them. The POS that has a capability to work in multiple locations will come in handy and save you a lot of time and money.
Secured Payments The security of any system is essential, that too when it comes to the finance, we need to be doubly careful. Security is an integral part of any POS as sensitive information like the credit or debit card number of the customer has to be protected from fraudsters. Even a single breach of the POS payment network can create a substantial loss for the business and its customers.
GST Once the GST was implemented, anyone and everyone is talking about it. The POS that you choose has to be ready to include GST as part of the billing.
Employee Management The employee is a mirror of the organization. It is highly essential to efficiently manage them so that they contribute positively towards the business. POS should support the complete end to end management right from attendance, roster, etc. so that the business benefits from it as it eases out the planning for shifts.