The answer is a definite yes. When looking at POS software and checkout speed, it is easy to see why so many businesses are making the transition to a more automated system. You can improve your customer experience by reducing their wait time, allowing more control over the payment process, and making sure patrons leave your store with a smile every time they come in.
Easy to Train, Easy to Use
Don’t you just hate it when you go to the store to buy a gallon of milk, only to spend five minutes at checkout because the cashier can’t seem to figure out how to ring you up? Maybe they have to go get the manager to help them figure it out. Maybe they had so much trouble they got locked out and need to wait three minutes, do a little dance, and enter an override code along with a DNA sample before they can ring you up.
This is not the way your POS should operate, and the right one will be intuitive and simple to use. Good software will make it a snap to train your employees, and they won’t have to go looking for a manager to help them when they get caught with an issue.
Barcode Scanners vs. Manual Entry
POS software often comes with barcode capabilities, which will obviously make things much faster in the checkout line. No more searching for the right item in a list or entering a bunch of codes. Spare your customers time and yourself carpal tunnel with POS software that allows you to scan your items instead of entering them manually.
Accept Any Form of Payment
This is a big one. Have you ever gone to one of those discount grocery stores that have all sorts of specialty and international food items for a ridiculously low price? Or maybe crafts are your thing. Those discount stores are the same deal. You can’t control yourself, and so you end up with a cart filled to the brim with exciting items you are itching to get home and try.
It takes forever at checkout to ring everything up, and you proudly get your wallet ready to pay for all the stuff you got at an amazing price. Then you hear, “Sorry, we don’t accept X card.” Do not let this happen to your customers. Make their experience as fast and convenient as possible by accepting whatever form of payment they are expecting to give you.
Virtual Wallets
Have you ever had the previous scenario happen to you, only when you reach for your wallet, you realize you left it by the front door? Save your customers the embarrassment and inconvenience of having to go back home and get their wallet while their veggie burgers melt in a “hold” cart next to the customer service desk.
Let them pay from their phone instead, with apps like PayPal and Google Wallet. These apps are a recent development in payment technology that is sure to change the landscape of the checkout process in the future.
Contactless Pay
Another way payments are changing is through contactless payment transactions. This is the new, more secure way of using your credit card to make a payment. Instead of transmitting your credit card information, a one-time code is shared which authorizes the transaction.
Once that code has been used, it is no longer valid. This usually goes faster than a swipe or a dip, and is less wear and tear on the card as well.
Take Checkout to the Floor
Help your customers feel like they have more control over their time, by letting them sign up for a spot in line through a mobile app or tablets placed throughout the store. They can continue shopping until an employee comes to them to check out. With a modern POS system, you are more mobile than you are with a cash register, so you can take payments wherever your customers are.
Customize Pricing
Picture this: You have found the most amazing speakers for half off, and the cashier rings them up as being full price. You say something, and they disappear into the back for a few minutes. They come back, tap the screen a few times, then disappear again. Starting to remind you of the craft store incident? You can avoid this frustration for your customers by setting your POS to recognize special promotions and pricing.
Maybe you want to run a sale but do not want that one aggressive bargain hunter to wipe out your entire inventory of windshield wipers only to resell them on Amazon for a markup. With POS software, you can set limits on the number of items that can be purchased at the promotional price, establish a minimum amount that must be spent before the discount kicks in, or enter any other parameters you want, to make sure you get the maximum effect of any promotions you run.
Store Customer Information
When your customers come into your store on a regular or even semi-regular basis, they like to be remembered. Enter their information into your system and never forget them again. Checkout will be faster when you do not have to enter personal information, payment, or product preferences, every single time. You can even boost your relationships with your customers through exclusive loyalty programs supported through your software.
