With an effective point of sale (POS) system for your business, you can greatly enhance the customer experience when they purchase items from your online store. While you may think that the POS system won’t make a difference and has no direct effect on business profit, it does make a drastic change in your sales.
With the help of software, transactions can be faster than before. Every brand can have its personalized POS system according to its features, payment methods, and functionalities.
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What is a POS System?
An eCommerce POS is a digital solution that builds a streamlined connection between your online platform and the POS system. It also routes funds to your bank account after every sale.
Normally, the term POS system refers to the cash register. But the modern version of it is software-based and can be used on any smartphone device. As an online business, you can serve your customers and take payment regardless of where you are, without needing a cash register.Â
How Does it Work?
Let’s start with the basics of how it works to help you understand better. It calculates the sum of the items that the customer has selected to buy. After this, the system processes the payment and modifies the inventory level to reflect sales.Â
Here are the steps of how the POS system works:
The Customer Selects the ProductsÂ
When a customer searches for a product in an online store, the staff can look for the inventory availability of certain products.
When you click the “add to cart” option, the store staff uses a barcode scanner to add products to the shopping cart. Now the latest point-of-sale systems also enable customers to scan items using a smartphone.
Calculates Total PriceÂ
Once the customer has successfully added the items to the shopping cart, the POS system calculates the total costs including tax and shipping fees. It also mentions each amount and asks for confirmation before proceeding with checkout.Â
Payment OptionsÂ
To complete the purchase of their products, customers are asked about what payment options they wish to choose. Payment options include cash, gift card, debit card, credit card, Google Pay, loyalty points, etc.Â
The Transaction is FinalizedÂ
When the payment is finalized, the sale is confirmed. Then the receipt of the transaction is emailed to the customer and the products are delivered.
Reasons to Get a POS System
Improve Work Efficiency
With a reliable POS system, you can increase your work productivity and finish important tasks on time. You can save time on paperwork, stock updating, accounting, tracking orders, and much more with a single solution.Â
This way, you can spend more time perfecting your products and creating quality content to improve the presence of your online website.Â
Manage Inventory
You can effectively manage inventory and check the updates in real time. A POS system also tells you what to stock and when is the best time to do so. It will also notify you when a certain product is running out of inventory.Â
Such software can also act as your business advisor by showing which products are most liked by the customers. You can also stock up on the products according to the season or day that is recommended by the software.Â
Offer Great Payment Experience
If customers find the payment option on your site confusing or slow, they would most likely not return to shop again. It also gives an impression of doubt and they might not end up trusting your site with their money.Â
With modern POS systems, you can offer most payment options like MasterCard, Bank Transfer, Visa card, Android pay, Apple pay, etc. With various payment methods, you can attract many types of customers.
Speed-Up Transactions
If we talk about how customers shop today, they are quite impatient. If one online shop does not respond properly and fast, the customers would most likely switch to another brand. With a reliable POS system, you can greatly decrease the transaction time and offer the convenience that online buyers are looking forward to.Â
Besides speed, it also reduces the chances of human error and stress caused by work overload. You can attend to more customers in a small period which increases your sales dramatically.Â
Receive Feedback for Improvement
With the help of a POS system, customers can rate and share their reviews on your products. Take your time to look at the reviews and make adjustments to your business when you receive a negative review.Â
While positive reviews will boost your confidence and keep you going further along in promoting your brand. However, when other customers search for reviews, they can decide whether to purchase from your brand or not.Â
Generate Accurate Sales Reports
You can generate accurate sales reports for your business with effective software. These reports usually provide the following details regarding sales:
- Best selling items
- Profit marginsÂ
- Stock StatusÂ
Manually input data has more chances of error and mistakes. With accurate data, you can successfully process future transactions.Â
Make Better Business Decisions
A POS system can help you make smart business decisions quickly. It does so by collecting data like customers, inventory, and sales that can serve as a useful resource for decision-making.Â
For example, when you look at the dales record, you can identify the most popular product. This way, you can stock up on these products and increase your sales.Â
Satisfy Your Customers
Satisfy your existing customers by offering incentives and customized offers. To do so, the POS system can track your loyal customers based on their history and offer them discounts. It can improve your brand image and help retain customers.
Attracting new customers should always be your goal, but it is equally important to focus on people who have previously spent money on your products.
Attracting new customers is an expensive strategy that cannot be implemented all the time. Do not underestimate the power of customer retention, as around 65% of business profits come from existing customers.
James is the head of marketing at Tamoco
