Businesses are increasingly using technology to streamline
their business operations and improve the customer experience. Electronic Point
of Sale (EPOS) technology is affording small businesses across the globe the
tools they need to compete against the corporate competition that dominates our
high streets. We’ve come a long way from the clunky, glorified calculators of
the past. Today’s EPOS has the potential to revolutionise the way your business
runs, offering plenty more benefits than simply somewhere to stash the cash!
Insight
One of the key benefits of EPOS is its capacity to measure
and manage business activity in a way that allows you to make insight-driven
changes. By building up a clear and accurate view of your business performance,
you can set about improving it.
Visibility: There are hundreds of reports available that can
be tailored to measure a vast array of information from margins, inventory and
sales.
Spot trends: These analytic reports will allow you to spot
trends hourly, monthly or seasonally. This will allow you to dedicate the
resource you need when you need them, such as having more staff on shift
between 6pm and 8pm, or knowing you need to stock extra sun cream in June.
Know what your customers want: Knowing your most popular
stock items allow you to discontinue unpopular items, or push surplus stock.
You can also see what certain customers are buying and target push promotions
to their email or mobile device.
Time
Many business owners testify to never having enough time in
the day to do everything required for the betterment of their business. Many
admin tasks associated with running a business, such as inventory management,
accounting and staffing, are mandatory, mundane and time-consuming. EPOS
systems have the capacity to automate features, reducing the time spent faffing
in spreadsheets and more time running your business.
Queue management: Advantage and disadvantage of EPOSsystems have the capacity to reduce the average transaction time. This cuts
queues, reduces wait times and improves customer satisfaction.
Staff Training: EPOS software interfaces vary from different
providers. Systems offering a clean uncluttered interface with intuitive, user-friendly
functions are best suited to fast-paced industries such as hospitality and
retail. Your staff are your front-line users so they have to be happy with the
functionality of the system in order to remain engaged and immersed in your
selling processes. A simple system ensures your staff can be operational,
serving customers and taking payments in a matter of minutes.
Better use of time: Employees who would usually be stuck in
the back with a clipboard, or counting cash in the office are freed up for a
better use of their time, serving your customers. More people to serve means
fewer frustrated walkouts, more time building rapport and an improved customer
experience.
Money
The additional insight afforded by an innovative EPOS system
will allow you to manage your finances with ease. With a clear view of incoming
revenue and outgoing costs, spotting opportunities for savings is easy.
Inventory Management: Inventory management is the bedrock of
good business. Poor stock management impedes cash flow, risks wastage,
shrinkage and can easily be taken advantage of by unscrupulous staff. Running
out of stock is also a huge blow to customer satisfaction, making you look
ill-prepared and unprofessional. EPOS not only eliminates the need for
time-consuming stock takes, it also eliminates the human error involved with
them. When stock is running low, the system can order more, ensuring you never
run out. Anomalous data can also flag up employee theft, which costs the retail
and hospitality sector millions in revenue each year.
Marketing: No longer restricted to the realm of print and
radio, marketing can be a cost-effective way of gaining new customers,
retaining old ones and raising brand awareness. By integrating your EPOS with
marketing software you can send out direct email campaigns to your customer
base alerting them to events and offers, with a view to boosting revenue. This
can be done via email newsletters, push promotions via text or by developing
your own integrated app.
Staffing: Staffing costs are some of a business's biggest
expenses. By accurately tracking footfall you can forecast when your busiest
times of day, allowing you to rota on staff accordingly. This ensures you are
only paying for the employees you need, when you need them, cutting costs
associated by an inflated staff bill.
Customer Retention
The age of internet shopping has seen consumers becoming
increasingly disloyal. EPOS systems facilitate a number of ways in which to
promote buying behaviours, keep customers coming back and reward loyalty, much
in the same way large corporations do.
Loyalty programmes: By offering your customers branded
loyalty cards or the opportunity to earn points and promotions via an app on
their phone, you incentivise repeat business. This is also a prime opportunity
to collect customer data for marketing purposes, meaning you can tailor offers
and promotions to specific individuals.
Improved customer experience: Better inventory management
systems empower staff to answer customer queries in a matter of moments, not to
mention the queue cutting capabilities. This helps ensure customers never
abandon a purchase.
Connect your on and offline stores: By linking your
e-commerce store with your physical operations you can ensure you never run out
of stock, risking complaints, and reputational damage.
Employee engagement
Your employees are your first point of contact and your
brand ambassadors. Giving them the best tools for their job, facilitating great
customer service and incentivising staff to perform, boosts profitability.
Incentivise top performers: The sales metrics allow you to
decipher who sold, what, when and how often. By identifying top performers you
can reward and celebrate staff who exceed targets. By championing this
behavior you can encourage a healthy sense of competition among your workforce
and encourage them to push themselves, fueling the growth of your business.
User-friendly: Equipping staff with a simple, user-friendly
interface mean staff need minimal training and can be up and running in less
than 15 minutes. An intuitive system means the average transaction time is
reduced, allowing your staff to serve more customers.
More time serving customers: EPOS reduces the amount of time
your staff have to dedicate to tedious admin tasks. Less time on inventory
management or cashing the till there’s more time dedicated to helping customers
or meeting training needs.
Questions?
If you have any questions or would like more information on
how EPOS could benefit your business, get in touch with our specialist EPOS
consultants by calling 0800 2 945 945. They'd be happy to talk you through any
queries you may have or arrange to call you back at a time convenient to you.
