Efficient inventory management is vital for any retail business. A robust POS system should offer real-time inventory tracking, allowing you to monitor stock levels accurately. It should also provide features such as automated reordering, low stock alerts, and the ability to generate comprehensive inventory reports. These features help you avoid stockouts, optimize your purchasing decisions, and keep your customers satisfied.

To make informed business decisions, you need access to accurate sales data and analytics. A good POS system should offer detailed sales reports that provide insights into sales trends, top-selling items, and customer buying behavior. This information can help you identify opportunities for growth, tailor your marketing efforts, and optimize your product offerings.

Reporting is a back-end feature that captures a myriad of essential information, including sales transactions, profits and losses, returns, daily cash flow and customer satisfaction rates.

“There’s much greater intelligence around buyer behavior with these [POS] payment systems,” said Steve Lankler, senior vice president of marketing at Direct Capital. “It’s allowing merchants to get more control around buyer data. You start to layer on this new opportunity to understand who your customers are and build loyalty programs around them.”

One of the most beneficial POS features includes the consolidation of multiple, complex business workflows. With a focus on inventory management features, which is a core component in POS for retail stores, employees could view vendor information, inventory levels and fulfillment schedules all in the same section of the software.

Contacting a vendor about late deliveries and updating order forms can all be done in the system. There is no need to work with multiple programs or computer screens.

Some POS systems offer integration with messaging apps and CMS platforms. Such options are ideal for sharing data around various departments.

For instance, a member of the sales team could locate a specific transaction from the POS and share it with a marketing representative via a CMS. Using transactional data, the marketing department could reach out to the customer for a testimonial about a recent purchase.

Cloud-based POS systems with customer management features could help boost support for sales. For example, if your retail store is running a rewards program, all of the customer’s information (history of transactions, accrued points and etc.) are accessible with a few taps or clicks in the POS software.

Moreover, feedback from surveys may also help employees provide a personalized sales experience for fickle-minded individuals. Such data is easily retrievable and can be viewed discreetly while assisting a customer in the store. POS software also decreases risks associated with accepting returns and dispute resolution.

If your retail store is running a rewards program, all of the customer’s information (history of transactions, accrued points and etc.) are accessible with a few taps or clicks in the POS software.

Such systems keep track of a customer’s purchasing records, so if an individual returns an item without a receipt, workers in the store can validate the transaction properly. This is very effective against disputing false returns.

In addition to catering to customers, a POS system is also suitable for employee management. Some platforms provide the option for workers to clock in and out of their shifts, allowing supervisors to monitor punctuality in real-time. Supervisors do not have to wait for the end-of-the-day report to see who was late for work.

“This feature on electronic POS systems helps with coordinating a workforce labor plan and maintaining an already established budget. It also allows retailers to forecast labor plans and determine the best model for the business,” explained Emily Warren from Vision 33.

Instead of investing in a fleet of cash registers to ease bottlenecks during checkout, try a mobile POS system. With a tablet and other handheld checkout equipment, employees could interact with buyers around the store and complete sales transactions instantly. Customers would never need to wait in line, where they make last minute decisions about their selection of products.

With the rising threat of cybercrime, security should be a top priority. Ensure that your POS system supports secure payment processing, including EMV chip card readers and encryption protocols. It should also be Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI-DSS) compliant, safeguarding your customers' sensitive payment information.