Point of Sale: Expense or Investment?

When it comes to purchasing business tools such as point of sale systems, a lot of owners question the expense they need to make. According to the latest stats, over 70% of small businesses still use traditional cash registers or continue using pen and paper to handle their daily operations and customer service.

Though tried and true, it is already outdated and keeps them lagging behind. Relying on memory and written notes is time-consuming and leaves you prone to costly mistakes, affecting the bottom line.

In addition, additional studies indicate that small businesses which use modern point of sale systems actually increase revenue up to 50% over 5 years, which is a huge gain in profit. Adding a POS system takes day-to-day operations and automates them, thus freeing up time for managers and employees to hit the sales floor and provide customer service.

Let’s review why a POS system is an investment rather than an expense.

Organized Operations = Happier Customers

Defaqto Research has found that 55% of shoppers pay more for a better customer experience, which makes the case for giving customers the silver glove treatment as soon as they enter. With a retail POS system, store operations and data collection are performed automatically. This automation gives employees more time away from the counter and on the sales floor where the customer service experience begins.

These features include:

Business Reporting

It’s a no-brainer that employees are better used selling equipment rather than counting it behind the counter. A POS will actively track stock changes in real-time and relieve employees of this task.

A POS will provide real time reporting

Daily Reconciliation

It’s no secret that managers find this to be one of the most stressful tasks at closing time. A POS system handles the end-of-day register counts with full automation, taking the stress off managers and help them focus on other duties that drive profit.

Multi-store Support

Having an eagle-eye view across multiple locations is beyond useful. When using a POS cloud-based system, managers can monitor data and transactions across all active locations and dramatically cut down time on managing the operations.

Having an eagle-eye view across multiple locations is beyond useful.

We know that store operations are important, but they do not need to take time away from what matters most: customers. Service is always a top priority, because no customers = no business. Studies have shown that repeat customers are worth up to 10 times as much as their first purchase in a store. If a customer spends $200 their first time, leaving them with a positive experience will turn them into very profitable spenders.

No matter how well a business does, one lost customer is extremely costly. According to a recent study, 78% of customers will abandon a purchase due to lackluster customer service. American shoppers are a tough crowd (“The price is $1 more than I expected. I want to see your manager!”), but a POS system provides some much needed crowd control.

Never an Expense

According to a study by American Consumer Credit Counseling, less than 15% of shoppers use cash for purchases and over 80% of shopper spending in the USA is cashless. As much as we love handling and spending cash, waving your phone at a payment device is easier, faster and is appealing to customers. To stay competitive, businesses need to ditch their old cash till and get some wireless payment readers.

Though POS hardware looks pricey at first, the combination of great POS software with great hardware results in profits and savings from the benefits. Also, easing operation workload and headaches is something every business wants. These benefits come from:

EMV Compliance

We all love our credit cards, but customers always end up with an identity theft crisis here and there. EMV chips block you from responsibility for fraud, thus avoiding sudden losses to the bottom line from penalties.

Mobile Terminals

Smaller, convenient and inexpensive. Instead of having to by a specific computer and maintain other equipment that requires costly maintenance, you can use tablets or mobile POS devices such as Poynt.

Instead of having to by an expensive specific computer, you can use affordable mobile terminals such as Poynt.

Receipts

Why print out a receipt when you can just email one? Research shows that 90% of consumers prefer digital receipts over paper ones, so giving customers the convenience they demand will give them another reason to shop there. It also saves the business the stress of dealing with disorganized stacks of paper.

According to FierceRetail , 66% of shoppers are more likely to spend money with businesses using mobile technology. When ahead of the pack in terms of technology, shoppers usually take notice. Though it is important to be efficient and offer great service, having a trendy edge against competition definitely helps.

As we have outlined, a point of sale system is indeed an investment. Many of our customers confirm this claim and we encourage to contact us or even try eHopper POS for free.

To learn more about what a POS system provides to small businesses, check out our blog for new posts every week.