Your point of sale system should come equipped with a wide range of capabilities. (Offering secure credit card processing is just the tip of the iceberg.) Here are just three of the ways to take fuller advantage of your POS system’s features.
Employ effective inventory management to boost purchases.
No doubt, you have visited a store in person or online with the express goal of buying a particular item that you were excited about. When you learned that it was out of stock, you were disappointed. So much so that you may even have purchased it somewhere else. This scenario happens constantly in the retail world. However, the frequency can be drastically reduced when you use the inventory monitoring and reporting tools in your point of sale system.
All you need is a barcode scanner and some time for initial setup. Once you’ve entered all of your products or services into the database, the system does the rest, keeping track of each sale. You can even set low-stock alerts so you’ll always have plenty of time to submit an order before you disappoint another customer.
People tend to opt to shop on websites or in physical stores where they can quickly and easily gain access to the items they want. Careful tracking of your inventory enables you to meet buyers’ needs in the moment.
Use customer relationship management (CRM) tools to target your marketing campaigns.
Your point of sale system can also be the hub of a customer-centered approach. Those buyers who opt in can provide data such as their email address in exchange for receiving occasional newsletters, exclusive coupons, and other promotions.
People like to feel special and cared about. If you use the information collected in your POS system judiciously, you can motivate buyers to provide positive feedback and testimonials. That’s organic, free advertising you can post on your website and social media. The result will likely be an influx of new customers eager to learn for themselves what all of the positive buzz is all about.
Harness your database to launch a customer loyalty program.
Getting that first sale from a buyer is a win, but the real long-term victory comes when that buyer returns for more. Launching a Customer Loyalty Program is one of the best ways to persuade customers to give you their repeat business.
Fortunately, your point of sale system takes all of the hard work out of maintaining this goldmine of information. Each time a purchase is made by one of your regular patrons, it is recorded. You can even send out emails that give information about how far the person is from the next loyalty level.
Once upon a time, a credit card terminal was nothing more than a combination of hardware and software used to transact credit card payments. These days, it’s a fully-loaded toolbox that can help you better manage your customers and run your business more profitability than ever before.
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