5 POS Realities Every Retailer Must Face

Retailing without a point of sale is like flying a kite without a string. You need a location where you meet the customer face to face to take of the details of the transaction. The reality, however, is that the point of sale has changed. It’s moved. And retailers must move with it.

Here are five realities of today’s point of sale that every retailer needs to come to grips with:

1. The point of sale has gone mobile – The customer no longer has to walk to the front of your store to check out, make a purchase, and “have a nice day.” The checkout can take place anywhere within the store thanks to mobile POS. And the best part about the mobile point of sale is that it can be just as personable as the traditional point of sale.
2. POS can be personalized – Last century’s retailers had a cookie-cutter point-of-sale experience for every customer. The customer carried their merchandise to the counter, the clerk rung it up, took the money, said “have a nice day,” and smiled at the next customer in line. Thanks to modern technology, every customer can have a unique point-of-sale experience.
3. Product look up is in real time – In days past, retailers could look up a product at the point-of-sale terminal, but they had to physically check the shelves to see if the product was there. That’s because the POS system updated the product counts, but there was a delay as the data was processed. At today’s point of sale, you can look up a product and know if it’s on the shelf because the updates take place in real time.
4. Flexible payment options – Gone are the days when customers had three payment options (cash, check, or charge). Today’s customer expects to be able to pay in a variety of ways. That can include debit card, loyalty cards, gift certificates, and non-traditional payment processors like Square and Stripe. Keep your payment options flexible so you can meet all of your customers’ needs.
5. Back-office integration – Today’s POS can be integrated into your entire operation. That means better product and price management, employee compensation, and more efficient accounting procedures.

The POS terminal is no longer just a place to ring up sales and collect customer data. It is an integrated database that informs your entire retail operation. Thus choose the right point of sale software like ChainDrive.