3 Features to Look Out for In The Right Retail POS System
A point of sale (POS) system is not often spoken of in excited tones. After all, it’s nothing more than a way to collect money from clients. What more is there to say?
However, you should not underestimate the importance of finding the right retail POS system for your business. In retail, convenience is king and shoppers may actively avoid going to stores in which their preferred payment option is not offered.
Furthermore, with the right POS system, you’ll get multiple benefits for your business. Many systems come with some great additions that will save you time and money.
These are 3 features to look out for in the best retail POS system.
1) Fast refunding
For most businesses, refunds are a last resort. They mean that the customer is unhappy or the product is just not up to standard. In this case, making refunding a laborious process may be in your best interests (although you’d be better served staying on the customers’ good sides)!
However, there are businesses in which refunds are far more common, a part of the cycle itself. Gift shops, for example, may expect more returns than other outlets. Clothing stores also need fast refunding, especially when clothes are bought for other people without knowing their likes and sizes.
For these types of outlets, fast refunding is crucial. It is a major factor in the customer experience, and people will avoid shopping there if they know that the wrong fit will cause them a huge inconvenience.
2) Efficient inventory tracking
The days in which customers have to wait while a staff member searches in the back should be over. Unfortunately, in spite of current technology, many stores have incredibly inefficient means of tracking inventory. This causes problems for customer experience, as well as keeping up with stock.
If you’re running a restaurant, inventory tracking is an entirely different affair. But for most retail outlets, this is a feature that can be very useful in a POS system.
It shouldn’t be an archaic type of database or spreadsheet either. A good inventory tracking feature will be easy to search and organize, and make admin a lot less time-consuming.
3) E-invoicing
Receipts are another thing that should be confined to the past. The fact that we still find ourselves carrying around fragile slips of paper, either for our own accounting, for returns, or for recouping business expenses, is crazy. These receipts get lost or ruined easily and are bad for the environment.
Look for a POS system that has great e-invoicing capabilities. This way, you can send receipts straight to your customers’ inboxes without wasting paper and will give them a better experience. It also means you have an excuse to get their email addresses, which you can use for marketing purposes.
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