A retail POS system should not be a solitary component in your IT infrastructure. Rather, it should be seen as a retail hub that absorbs data from each of your departments and informs a wide range of your processes and operations. With the right type of POS system in place, it’s possible to streamline and automate a number of cumbersome processes all while enhancing management and the customer experience. In order to function as a true retail hub, however, your POS needs the right features.
1. CRM Integration
Every transaction completed by a customer buys tells you something valuable about their preferences and habits. A
POS system that integrates with a CRM empowers retailers to collect this valuable customer data and leverage it to deliver more customized and accommodating experiences.
2. Inventory Management
When retailers gain a top-down view of what is entering and exiting individual stores — along with the location of individual items within global supply chains — it becomes much less time-consuming and labor-intensive to
manage inventory with perfect precision throughout the purchase journey.
3. Accounting and Reconciliation
Accounting is so closely linked with inventory and sales that it makes sense to rely on your POS platform to manage deposits, purchases, and RMAs. This ensures that key accounts are kept up to date and accurate regardless of how widely inventory is being sold.
4. Widget Options
Every retailer has unique needs for their retail hub. A POS solution that promises to be one-size-fits-all is bound to disappoint. On the other hand, one that includes a vast widget library designed to enhance communication, collaboration, productivity, and efficiency is better suited to meet the unique needs of individual retailers.
5. Reporting and analytics capabilities
Pulling and analyzing data from a number of sources can be a huge time commitment. When these functions are available automatically through a POS system, retailers can run reports quickly and easily, and have total confidence in the results.
6. HR Functions
As a retailer, sales are important but people will always be your greatest asset. By integrating
HR tools with other POS features, you can rest assured that you will always have the right staff in the right place at the right time.
7. Intranet
Any effective software hub should also facilitate communication and collaboration — that’s where an integrated intranet comes in. An intranet platform gives staff the opportunity to contribute their own ideas, share knowledge across the company, and find key resources. If accessible via the POS system, staff have a single place to turn for everything they need.
8. Marketing Outputs
A centralized retail hub is essential when designing an omnichannel experience—one that accepts inputs and outputs from a myriad of sources. Once software silos have been broken down, retailers are free to connect with customers exactly when, where, and how those customers want.
Retailers like Samsung rely on iQmetrix to perfect POS. Instead of assuming that your current system is sufficient, reach out to our experts to explore the potential of POS.
Photo Credits: Shutterstock / Champion studio
