5 Reasons Every Retailer Needs to Be Using an Integrated POS

Retailers are among the busiest professionals – with a to-do-list that’s never ending and inventory that’s always rotating. Understandably, merchants get busy and as a result, sometimes overlook valuable ways to strengthen their business. Among them? Introducing a point-of-sale system to their store. Whether it’s due to lack of time, lack of interest or lack of knowledge, a POS system should be at the top of every retailer’s to-do-list if it already isn’t a part of their store operations.

To help understand the value of using an integrated POS for your store, consider the five reasons below:

1. POS can save you and your employees time.

From speeding up the check-out process to reducing time when it comes to inventory management to more easily reviewing customer details, POS saves businesses time – plain and simple. Unfortunately, many merchants shy away from implementing a POS into their stores in fear that it will take time to get it up and running, but this misconception is one that retailers should overlook in anticipation that POS will quickly give them more time and less headaches. A learning curve may be necessary, but using a strong POS will only enhance a store’s operations while opening up time, as well.

2. POS offers a clear understanding of your inventory investments.

Can you confidently say what your best-selling items have been over the last year? What about your worst? How about your highest margin items? And lowest margin sales? When using a POS, you can run reports that will offer clear insight on what’s selling, what’s not, what days are the busiest, what days are the slowest and so much more. As a merchant, it’s likely you have a pulse on what’s happening within your store by observation alone… but these firm, black and white reports will allow you to more accurately review and manage your business so that you can make stronger buying decisions while strengthening your overall store operations, as well. As the saying goes, numbers don’t lie and when using a POS system you will be able to clearly see the truth about your store.   

3. POS helps increase efficiency within your store operations.

Managing inventory can get tedious… unless you have the right systems in place to help do this. When using a POS system, stores can reduce the time spent on manually tracking inventory sold, new deliveries and other inventory details that are essential to manage as a merchant. Additionally, a POS such as Brightpearl’s can streamline your online sales, in-store sales, purchasing, CRM, financials and of course, inventory, in a single system. This brings incredible ease to busy merchants that then opens time for them do the other things on their to-do-list such as tending to customers, managing their marketing and strengthening sales.

4. POS allows you to strengthen customer management.

Unless you target a small audience of consumers that you know each by name and can count with your two hands, it’s vital that you benefit from a system that can help you manage and support your customer relationships. From increasing consumer loyalty to tracking what customers have previously purchased to enhancing ongoing customer communication, the right POS can support you in your CRM goals. The only catch? You need to get up and running with a POS to bring this support to life.

5. POS helps eliminate human error.

Even the greatest professionals can make grand mistakes… by accident, of course. Keeping this in mind, do you trust that your current inventory management and customer care processes are accurately handled by yourself and your team? The reality is that humans are prone to error, yet automated systems such as a POS can help eliminate these often costly mistakes.  This is particularly important for retailers that have multiple people helping to manage inventory and customers… which, as it turns out, is nearly every retailer that services customers. Due to the unavoidable chance of human error happening from time to time… or way too often… consider how POS can help eliminate this for your business. 

Finally, when you factor in the value of time and money for yourself and your business, why not also factor in the idea of gaining more of both? When using a POS, you will be better able to clearly see what your business is doing, not doing and the opportunities it has for future growth and revenue. Along the way? You may just be able to finally take that day off you’ve been hoping for thanks to having a trusted POS join your business.