Your storefront point of sale is the final line of communication between you and your customer—your last chance to make the best possible impression. As a result, any POS method you choose will be a huge determining factor in capturing the hearts of repeat shoppers and cultivating a healthy bottom line.
We believe that, in today’s market, a multi-functional digital POS is one of the quickest routes to enhancing your customer service and, ultimately, strengthening your brand reputation.
Here are five reasons why.
1. The purchase process gets a whole lot easier.
“I love it when a register breaks down or the barcode scanner refuses to scan and I have to wait to make my purchase.”
Said no one ever.
In fact, as Forbes.com’s Nitin Mangtani astutely points out: “The very concept of ‘waiting’ to pay for merchandise goes against every aspirational trend in retail.”
No customer wants to wait. And you certainly don’t want them to have to wait either.
One way a comprehensive POS system can keep your customers smiling is by maintaining a continuity of operations—that is, facilitating easy transactions that move things along with minimal hiccups and little to no wait time. Features such as barcode scanning and mobile cash registry offer partial solutions to the problems of long lines and/or purchases that take forever…but scanners can prove faulty, and mobile POS systems often rely on sketchy network connections.
What to do if you’re looking for a contingency plan? Employ Erply POS service software, which opts for programmable Quick Select keys rather than barcodes and safeguards against network outages by conveniently switching to offline mode whenever the Wi-Fi goes down.
Offer a streamlined shopping experience with Erply’s Quick Select keys.
With Quick Select, you’ll be able to tailor your POS interface to your inventory by creating unique cashier buttons for your items, thereby avoiding those dreaded customer interactions in which your scanner hardware goes bust and a staff member has to type in a ten-digit bar code while the shopper stands by. And with the automatic offline mode, you’ll never again have to worry about testing your customers’ patience while you desperately contact your ISP to try and re-establish network service. Thanks to these in-built conveniences, you can pretty much count on smooth sailing from purchase to purchase—and that’s something every customer can appreciate.
2. You’ll be able to implement insightful incentives.
POS services that provide detailed reporting on customer information are great…but what do you do with all that data once you have it in hand?
A service such as Erply’s lets you put your consumer knowledge to good use with its built-in loyalty program—a customizable feature that allows you to collect repeat-customer purchase info and designate reward points for VIP shoppers when they reach certain spending milestones. Erply likewise stores customer data for future reference, giving you the ability to search individuals and their purchase histories. Once you have these reports at your fingertips, you can utilize the big-picture info to help infuse your business with a personal touch. If you notice a regular shopper buys the same item every two weeks, why not offer him a quarterly coupon on the product to reward his brand fidelity? If you discover a customer spends at least $200 a month at your store, why not provide her with a loyalty card that will give her automatic discounts for every $100? These are just a few of the capabilities you can activate when you use an Erply POS system. Customer insight always breeds better business, and Erply’s many reward tools help you transform that insight into actionable results such as generating sales incentives and establishing a long-standing consumer base.
Erply’s fully customizable Loyalty Program encourages your customers to come back, while you learn more about them.
3. There’ll be more employee-to-customer interfacing—and less red tape.
As great as loyalty programs built on aggregated customer data may be, the best POS systems are the ones that give you business oversight as well as consumer insight. When your floor staff has access to up-to-the-minute info on your products and supply levels, employees stand a better chance of keeping customers engaged and landing a sale. Why? Because inventory oversight can cut back on behind-the-scenes busywork, free up staff time and divert attention to the consumer.
POS inventory management features like those that come standard with Erply make for what marketing blog Business 2 Community calls a “more efficient” organization. Got a customer with a question about an out-of-stock item? Erply POS software lets cashiers review product supply status at the touch of a button. Have a shopper who insists on getting a product in their hands by the end of the day? Erply allows employees to check stock across various locations and point customers toward the nearest company store that can meet their needs. No need be anxious about losing a sale while your floor staff rushes to contact management regarding inventory stats on a specific piece of merchandise. No more concerns about asking a customer to come back in a week or two because you simply don’t have that special item on the shelf at the moment. Employees will have fewer demands on their time, and customers will get what they want when they want it. How often does software give you satisfaction on both sides?
Use Erply’s Stock & Price lookup function to quickly view product information and stock levels at the POS.
4. Your staff will thank you.
While we’re on the subject of employee satisfaction, consider this: A staff that feels supported by its company infrastructure is a staff that feels less stressed at work and treats its customers with kindness and respect.
Obviously, the golden rule of any employee-to-customer interaction is for the staff member to remain as polite as possible and not bring their personal frustrations with them to the cash register. But, hey. Things happen. POS systems can falter during an evening rush, and employees can feel overwhelmed. Stock information may not be completely up-to-date, leading to a tense encounter with an impatient customer. All of these minor annoyances make it harder for your representatives to do their job—and harder for them to maintain a positive attitude during each transaction.
A well-designed, easily-navigated POS can help keep frustrations at a minimum and help keep your staff feeling energized and motivated, customer after customer. Functions included with Erply such as Quick Select and inventory assessment can allow employees to conduct business as seamlessly and painlessly as possible, meaning they’ll be more inclined to give your customers the attentive care they deserve. Plus Erply POS features like sales suggestion and product photo integration will streamline the selling process and perhaps inspire your team to rack up more daily purchases and/or upsell where appropriate.
5. You’ll be up with the times.
Nothing’s more embarrassing for a retailer than a POS system that’s out of date. (Okay, maybe there are a few things that are more embarrassing, but you get the gist.) If your business a) only accepts cash, b) employs a noisy and cumbersome register from circa 1975 or c) doesn’t engage with customers on a digital scale, you’re probably already a step (or three) behind. Any POS system worth its salt will give you the tools you need to stay current and offer a shopping experience that feels comfortably contemporary. Erply’s software is compatible with multiple credit cards, lets you store customer signatures electronically and can send e-mail receipts to any eco-conscious consumers who’d like one. And, as mentioned before, Erply POS also integrates with mobile devices like the iPad so employees can process purchases from anywhere on the floor—a nifty way to signal your customers that you’ve kept on top of the latest trends and yet another method of improving your company’s approachability factor. A staff member who carries their POS with them and greats customers face to face comes across as a lot more friendly than a mildly bored cashier stuck behind a counter.
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