POS System Updates & How They Are Affecting Businesses
POS System Updates & How They Are Affecting Businesses
Point-of-sale systems are becoming faster, better, and easier to operate. Today, your small business POS system can tell you how much money you have made and all the other small statistics you need to know to help your business run better and more efficiently. Systems such as Square have dashboards when you first log in to see your daily metrics. In a shortened version, you can see your sales, inventory lists, performance stats, and so much more. All of this information is customizable.
What products are you selling the most of? How much inventory do you have left and what are you sold out of? Was the promotion you ran successful? What can you do differently to change your customer’s experience for the better?
POS systems are capable of answering these questions. Now, all of your information can be accessed in one place via cloud-based and mobile POS systems. Today, these systems can even work hand in hand with your business website and analytical data. The questions you might have about what your customers are viewing and “thinking about” buying are now given to you through these analytics from your website’s system working with your POS and inventory systems. E-commerce website giant, Shopify, is an example of a site with the feature to look at what your customers are constantly adding to their cart and not buying. Why aren’t they buying this item? Would they buy it if you provided a small discount or free shipping maybe? Having access to these metrics can help you connect with your customer, build relationships, and know what they are looking for and why they are looking for it.
Website generators like Shopify can connect with your online POS system. For example, you can configure your Square Reader with your Shopify website and inventory system. “One e-commerce solution is Shopify’s POS system. It syncs with the Shopify app for iOS and Android to track both online and offline transactions. Instead of managing two sets of inventories and payment systems, the Shopify POS synchronizes and streamlines your financial and product information in a centralized dashboard. This way, you have quick and easy access to real-time data and customer insights across two sales channels, without the hassle of running reports on multiple systems” (Harrison, businessnewsdaily.com). Today, businesses don’t need a physical location to operate. A storefront, cash register, and computer are no longer required to make and complete a single sale for a business. All you need to operate a transaction for your e-commerce site is a mobile device, a mobile POS system card reader, and your business.