POS Software Increases Profitability

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Maximizing sales can significantly impact profitability, especially if it’s done in such a way that your overheads remain practically the same. How can that be achieved? Easily. All it takes is a website. By creating a website to sell your products, alongside your brick-and-mortar store, you are gaining access to a massive pool of customers you may not have otherwise been able to reach. In fact, if your products can be shipped globally, there is absolutely no reason for you not to sell your goods all over the world.

Point Four Touch Point of Sale Till (Photo credit: Cyberslayer)

But many retailers shy away from putting up a website because they fear it would be like a second business they need to run, with all that entails from inventory control to other retail administration tasks. Well, this isn’t an issue with quality POS software because it features an integrated website management system, allowing you to synchronize everything so that the website basically runs itself, with stocks updating in real-time. In other words, your business will consist of online and offline stores that can be managed using the same system, giving you more free time to find other ways to improve profitability.

Another way you can maximize sales and improve profitability is by increasing your customer retention rate. We all know that repeat customers are more cost-effective than new customers and loyalty is a powerful thing when it comes to people parting with their money. But how can POS software help to increase the number of repeat customers? Simple. A good retail software system will provide you with all the tools to better understand your customers so you can make them irresistible offers.

Using a variety of methods, including branded loyalty cards, you will be able to capture the information of your customers as well as their purchasing habits. Using this data, a POS software system will be able to analyze customer behavior, allowing you to create irresistible offers and incentives that can be used to draw them back to the store.

POS Software to Reduce Costs

Increasing profitability is not just a matter of maximizing sales. Decreasing costs is also an important aspect and one of the biggest problem areas for many retailers is inventory management. It is rare for a retailer to be able to optimize their inventory and they often find they’ve spent too much money on excess inventory. Considering that inventory is the largest cost for a retail operation, it makes sense that the ability to manage it properly and ensure stocks are always at optimal levels will lead to lower costs and bigger profits.

Any good POS software will be able to help you with inventory management, as stocks are updated in real time and intelligent stock ordering systems analyze past data and make recommendations. Thus, you will constantly have optimal stock levels and save a lot of money because you will never have excess stock again.

In a highly competitive market, retailers need every edge they can get and POS software is one of the biggest advantages you can have over your competition as it allows you to streamline your operation. Higher efficiency implies lower costs, which in turn increases profitability and allows you more time with your customers, increasing customer loyalty.

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10 Benefits to help make Terrified Retailers make the Transition from Offline to Online

The retail world is full of battle hardened business men and women. This is because; retail business is one of the hardest to keep afloat especially with new entrants into the market on a frequent basis. These battle hardened business people tend to be set in their ways and some of them are more comfortable doing things the old way. Sometimes the old way is no way. Like all other businesses that are moving more into the internet age, retail businesses have not been left out. For those still standing in the peripherals too afraid to try, these few motivations may more them forward in a positive way. They include;

•  No major investment required in IT software – this is because some of the best point of sale software systems do not need any new software installation. They can be run using the already existing IT structure of the retail outlet. This makes the installation process less daunting for busy retail business owners who are more focused on increasing their bottom line.

• Easy training modules – these can be successfully completed at all levels of the retail business. This includes the new IT savvy employees and the older more cautious less IT conscious gurus. Adding new knowledge to their portfolio always makes employees feel empowered, motivated and well taken care of.

• Low maintenance – this software does not affect the elusive profit margin in many retail businesses. This is because, to keep their businesses competitive many retail owners need to cost their products very competitively in the hope that they will attract  larger customer numbers who will in turn build up the bottom line.

• No investing in new IT hardware – usually with most new automation projects there is a corresponding high investment in new hardware so as to keep the system running. Nowadays, many retail software solutions can be installed and operated on the existing IT infrastructure.

• High security – many good retail systems operate with very high levels of integrity. This means that, the chances of data getting corrupt are virtually nonexistent.

•  Immediately operational – the system, once installed can be used for all the retail outlets operations on a daily, weekly and monthly basis from that point forward. This makes work much easier and faster for both customers and employees.

• Fast sales – as with all automated systems processing times are heightened and this makes the retail business improve its capacity for handling many more customers at any given time.

• More visibility – this means that, the retail outlet becomes more accessible to an increasingly online business community. This added visibility can create more opportunities for doing more business.

• Improved management – many online retail systems allow retail owners more control over their overall operations. This is a great improvement for chains that cover different geographical locations. This helps top management plan out their mission and vision in terms of where they want their business to reach and when the right timing for this is appropriate.

• Accurate reporting – like all systems, data collection is crucial to creating accurate reports. The data that retail systems use is important in making informed decisions regarding the business on the ground. Glaring loop holes are also plugged and operations tightened for better efficiency.

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Edna Simms is a retail chain owner operating a robust point of sale software to make her business model more profitable. She also uses it to improve services for both her employees and customers alike.