Tag: Mobile POS

Empowering Retail Mobility with Mobile POS Software: Enhancing Sales and Customer Experience

Posted on by Omprasad Devadiga

Today’s retail environment requires mobility to succeed. Retailers must fulfil the expectations of their customers, who want the freedom to buy whenever and however they like. Retailers may empower their staff members and enhance customer experience using mobile POS software.

The Following Are Some Advantages Of Utilising Mobile Pos Software:

Increased sales:

By enabling staff to accept payments anywhere in the business, mobile POS software can aid companies in boosting sales. This can free up cashiers at the front of the business to concentrate on serving customers. Retailers who want to track sales data in real time and make educated decisions regarding inventory and promotions can benefit from mobile POS software.

Improved customer experience:

Mobile POS software can help retailers improve the customer experience by providing a more personalised shopping experience. Employees can use mobile POS software to look up product information, recommend products, and process payments. This can help customers feel more valued and appreciated.

Reduced costs:

Mobile POS software can help retailers lower costs by eliminating the need for traditional cash registers. Mobile POS software can also help retailers save money on labor costs by allowing employees to work from anywhere in the store.

Mobile POS software is a great option if you’re looking for a way to empower your employees and improve the customer experience. Many different mobile POS software solutions are available, so you can find one that fulfils your specific needs.

Choosing the Best Mobile POS Software to Use

A mobile point of sale (POS) software solution is crucial for businesses trying to optimise their operations and improve the customer experience in today’s hectic retail climate. With so many options available, it’s crucial for shops to carefully evaluate a few things before choosing the best mobile POS software for their unique requirements. The following are important things to bear in mind:

Store Size and Layout:

The kind of mobile POS software you should select depends a lot on the size and layout of your store. Consider whether you operate a tiny boutique, a sizable retail space, or a pop-up store. In order to accommodate the necessary checkout points and meet the layout of your store, a mobile POS software system should be scaleable and adaptable.

Product Types:

Different companies offer a range of goods, from groceries and electronics to apparel and accessories. Make sure the mobile POS software you use can handle the exact products you offer. It should manage variants like sizes and colours and various pricing structures and effectively track inventories.

Integration Capabilities:

It’s critical to pick a simple mobile POS software solution to link with other retail systems to streamline operations and get a comprehensive view of your organisation. Real-time inventory tracking and automatic product replenishment are made possible by integration with inventory management software. You may track consumer information and deliver individualised experiences by integrating with customer relationship management (CRM) software.

Ease of Use:

A user-friendly interface is essential when choosing a mobile POS software solution. Your staff members should be able to learn the system quickly and do jobs effectively. Look for layouts that can be customised, easy-to-use functions, and intuitive navigation. The programme should have a low learning curve to reduce training time and ensure efficient operations even during peak usage.

Updates and Support:

Take into account the degree of support offered by the programme manufacturer. Do they provide technical support and troubleshooting? Do they provide frequent updates to fix any bugs or security flaws? Strong customer service guarantees that any problems may be fixed quickly, minimising inconveniences to your business.

Conclusion:

Choosing the best mobile POS software necessitates carefully taking into account variables, including the store size, product types, employee management, budget, integration capabilities, the convenience of use, and support. Increase operational effectiveness, enhance customer experiences, and spur growth in your retail business by weighing these variables and choosing a solution that matches your unique business needs.

ETP Mobile POS software is a valuable tool that can aid merchants in enhancing productivity, customer satisfaction, and sales. Retailers may empower their staff members and give consumers a smooth and convenient shopping experience.

How Does Mobile POS (mPOS) make the Modern Retailer’s Life Easy

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ETP Blog - How Does Mobile POS (mPOS) make the Modern Retailer’s Life Easy

The grueling responsibility of running a retail business efficiently can be made manageable by using a robust and dynamic Mobile POS (MPOS) system. Mobile POS solutions allow retailers and merchants to access POS functionalities on iOS or Android devices. These solutions turn any smartphone, tablet, or wireless device into a powerful, modern-day system that performs the functions of a cash register or electronic POS terminal wirelessly. The correct MPOS system will also help you keep track of sales and customer information, boost employee productivity, and offer a seamless customer experience and service. A capable mPOS system can help retailers in taking their brand or company to the next level in the near future.

A Mobile POS system, also known as a Mobility Retail Solution, works on a tablet or handheld device that is either iOS or Android enabled. It is cloud-based, which means that all the data captured by the device is automatically backed up and saved online. Its advantages in terms of customer service (queue busting, ensuring safe distancing in the stores) and the speed with which it records data and monitors transactions can just not be ignored any longer. Most significantly, it aids in comprehending complex data, allowing business owners to solve issues and tailor their strategies for long-term success.

This blog will help you understand how mobile POS systems can make a retailer’s life easier.

Inventory management

Terrible inventory management is without a doubt bad for retail businesses. After all, it is your stock that attracts customers to your store. With inventory issues across stores and across channels such as stock out and pilferage becoming all too typical these days, it’s clear that retailers need to improve their inventory tracking and management system.

During peak sales periods such as the festive season especially, it is common to see empty shelves and frustrated shoppers. Store staff is unable to replenish the stock on the shelves in time and that leads to unfulfilled sales which leaves the shoppers unsatisfied as they feel they made a wasted trip down to the store. With the endless aisle feature, stores are no longer limited by their shelf space. With the Endless Aisle Item Search functionality, you can easily list your entire inventory across stores and at warehouses online in a single screen and empower your store staff to offer suggestions to in-store shoppers for goods that are not on the shelves and allow them to choose from the entire inventory available.

You can thus monitor your transactions against your existing stocks without breaking a sweat using an MPOS system. This real-time accounting provides you with a realistic picture of the status of your inventory. And, because your MPOS can manage and sort goods by categories, tags, and serial numbers, you can track supply fluctuations and determine which ones need to be replaced.

Provide great customer experience

When it comes to providing an outstanding customer experience, cloud-based mobile point of sale gives your associates more time with their customers. It makes them happy by removing the difficulties they experience when dealing with technology that doesn’t work or isn’t doing its job effectively.

Your employees will give superior service, and your customers will be able to check out on the spot using a mobile point of sale. Your store staff can scan the merchandise anywhere in-store, hold the bill if needed, offer line discounts during the checkout process, and collect the payment to enable queue busting at the store. This improves customer satisfaction, which leads to increased and/or repeat sales. You’ll be able to provide that desired shopping experience by providing your efficient employees with great tools.

Better Analytics Leads to Better Decisions

This is where some of MPOS’s most outstanding features come into play. MPOS includes a robust reporting system that can provide you with real-time or near-real-time sales data. You may usually filter by date, product ID, customer, and other factors in addition to just totaling transactions. These tools allow you to delve deep into your data to determine what is selling and what isn’t, and how to adjust your strategy accordingly.

Digital Receipts

Your customers now expect digital receipts in addition to contactless payments. They are seen as safer, more reliable, and more convenient once again. Offering digital receipts is a highly successful technique to acquire your consumers’ email addresses, adding to your marketing database.

 

Following are 4 main reasons to upgrade to a mobile POS (mPOS) solution:

  1. mPOS solutions are time-saving: They are easy to set up and can be used anywhere along with requiring minimal counter space.
  2. Optimized and Secure checkouts: Intelligent mPOS solutions offer integrations with various payment gateways and loyalty programs, encouraging clients to manage and use their rewards or loyalty points during future purchases.
  3. Cloud integration is standard on mPOS systems as it reduces the requirement for on-site data storage by business owners.
  4. With an mPOS, sales associates can service consumers quickly, reducing queues and turnaround times. By providing prompt and courteous service to customers, has boosted sales and interactions.

 

A fast and secure mPOS solution such as the ETP Mobile Store solution allows you to handle all of the above and more from a single screen. Furthermore, when running your business from the cloud, it’s simple to adapt services and extend capabilities as your company expands and your customers’ needs change. Mobile point-of-sale systems provide a well-organized, quick, and anywhere checkout, allowing store staff to handle clients swiftly. A robust Retail Mobile POS solution also enables a variety of contactless payment choices.

ETP’s Mobile POS solution seamlessly integrates and offers user-friendly experiences. It can also help you scale your business, be more responsive to customer requests, and forecast your revenue. Its unique value proposition is its ability to continuously offer enterprise-grade Omni-channel retail solutions to its clients while also forging decade-long strategic collaborations and partnerships.

The Essentials of a Good Point of Sales System

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Omni channel Retail software | The Essentials of a Good Point of Sales System

 

The Point of Sale is the cornerstone of any retail business. From recording customer data to analyzing sales, the use cases for Point of Sales machines are growing year on year.

Today we take a look at the most important features of a Point of Sales Software System

  • Multiple Payment Method

 Payment methods presented at checkout will impact how the customer feels about the purchasing experience. POS systems that accept multiple payment methods are hence a vital tool in providing customers with a better experience

  • Integratable with Omni-channel

An omni-channel experience empowers users to personalize their own experience. The customer has the control to access the products, services, and support options on demand. It is thus integral that your POS System is integratable with omni-channel.

Omni-channel POS systems allow for the integration of customer loyalty programs which Improves profits and increase sales

  • Customer History Attached to each Profile

Point of Sales systems must be able to manage large databases. This helps in creating a sales strategy and also while launching a loyalty program

  • Retail Mobility Solutions

Mobile POS systems can enable in-store mobility. This can be a major advantage to retailers and provide customers with a seamless shopping experience

Retailers must adopt a Point of Sale System that manages all aspects of the business, integrating online and offline sales while providing the user with a seamless shopping experience. 

Also Read: Omni-Channel Technology Solutions For Your Retail Business

 

The 3 important ways POS data can be used

Posted on by admin

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The modern day point-of-sale (POS) has evolved to become more than just a transaction processing tool. Technology has advanced since the original cash till, and today, the POS has business benefiting features that retailers can really use across processes. Let’s focus on one of the most important benefits of the POS which provides value in intelligence and decision making – data collection.

While most retailers over the last few years have started collecting data at the POS, it’s those who are actually processing this data in the right way and drawing insights to enhance their businesses are getting ahead in the retail arena. Below are 3 important aspects of POS data and how it can be used.

Inventory And Stock Optimization:

When the POS is used to record data about inventory, it enables retailers to stay on top of stock levels thus making it easier to track items — from ordering through the point of sale (and even returns). This further aids in better inventory forecasting, purchasing, and this is also useful in retail marketing decisions. Some modern retail POS software provide some important features related to inventory such as conducting inventory counts, managing returns, automating re-order points, checking stock levels at stores, among others. Analyzing the inventory data collected at the POS can enable retailers to have the right product at the right time.

Enhancing Customer Experience:

The POS software can be used to collect customer information while registering customers, look-up already registered customers, capture their feedback, track the frequency of their visit to the store, and also monitor their ticket size, the kind and quantity of products they generally purchase. All this data can be processed to draw powerful insights to analyze shopper behavior and their buying patterns thus allowing retailers to personalize customer experience along with having the right inventory at the store. Further, the information can also be fed-back to the store-staff at the POS to enable cross/up selling. Also, having the inventory data will allow the store associates to proactively let shoppers know about the availability of certain products. These efforts can enhance the overall customer experience.

Improving Staff Performance:

The POS software can be used to collect data related to sales staff. Some of the valuable metrics in addition to total sales could be basket size in-terms of price and quantity, walk-ins converted to registered customers, customers issue resolutions, and so on. The data can then be processed to learn about employee performance and understand the areas where improvements are required in terms of training and also recognizing the achievements of the store employees. In addition to this, factoring in the staff to sales ratio is an essential parameter to decide about the staffing needs for the store.

Also Read: What Retailers Need To Understand About The Omni-Channel Customer Experience

3 essential ways to make the checkout experience better

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Retail is generally an emotion-driven industry. In order to keep customers happy and loyal, retailers need to consistently promote positive emotion and reduce negative emotion at each and every touch-point in the customer’s shopping journey. Over the last few years, there has been a rise in investment and innovation, with efforts to improve nearly every aspect of the retail shopping journey. One of the most important and critical aspects of the overall shopping experience has been the checkout and even today many retailers are losing out on sales due to a poor checkout experience.

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Here are 3 tips on how to make the check-out experience better

Strike the right balance between data collection and checkout time
The point of sale is a great location and resource for data collection. However, while asking customers for details, too many questions can be a let-down, time consuming and will adversely affect the checkout experience. Having said that, retailers’ must not limit their insight potential at this important touch point in order to keep the line moving. Hence the right balance needs to be struck whereby there is no compromise on both fronts. Data collection and seamless checkout need not be mutually exclusive. Allowing customers to initiate the checkout process for a particular product on the retail brand’s mobile app when they get in line, or even when they enter the store, is one surefire technique that will improve the experience. Another good technique is allowing customers to finish their shopping and seeking their details at a later stage through digital mediums at their own convenience.

Use mobile POS to bust the queues
Another highly successful technique to improve the checkout experience at the store is using mobile POS (point-of-sale). A number of retailers have already used and reaped the benefits of mobile POS. The mobile POS is a powerful tool that will allow to drastically reduce the time per customer by scanning the products while the customer shops followed by billing, thus avoiding the need for customers to even enter the queue in cases where the payment mode is not cash. Thus retailers experiencing a higher number of footfalls at the store and more turnover or looking to handle large queues, especially during peak hours and shopping seasons, the mobile POS system is a definite savior. Also, mobile POS can be used as a tool to capture customer data on the go, consequently reducing wait times while billing. This will certainly improve the checkout experience at the store and prevent ‘lost sale’ situations.

Enable omni-channel integration for seamless operations
Focusing only on the store checkout experience in this day and age is just not enough. The checkout experience has to be seamless, convenient and fast, no matter which channel the customer decides to purchase from. And this can be achieved with the right omnichannel integration of previously disparate systems and processes. Having a truly omni-channel driven retail business will facilitate the seamless transfer of data regarding customers, products, inventory and so on, between the various systems including the point of sale system at the store. This enables auto population of customer data during thus negating the need to capture data during repeat purchases, or allows access to uniform product information such as pricing and availability across channels. Thus the customer can shop from wherever they want to, whenever they want to, quickly and seamlessly.

With the help of the right technology – a combination of both hardware and software, retailers can improve their business processes while creating better and seamless experiences at the time of checkout.

Trends that can change the game for retail in future

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It is that time of the year where retail takes the forefront, courtesy the festive and holiday shopping extravaganza created by retail brands to entice shoppers and ring in more sales. And as the year draws to a close with the buzz around the New Year’s curtain raiser, it is time for retailers to peek into the crystal ball of the future and get a preview of the trends that could prove to be the game-changers in the year 2018 and beyond.

Predictions of what lies ahead for retail in 2018 are already doing the rounds and it is no surprise that Artificial Intelligence (AI), Virtual & Augmented Reality i.e. VR and AR, Internet of Things or IoT, self-checkouts, drone based delivery, and so on, would appear in most lists. The fact of the matter is that these technologies have already begun impacting the retail sector and 2018 will see this impact intensifying multifold. As such, retail businesses must look to invest in some or all of them if necessary to keep up with the trend.

Having said that, going into 2018 most retailers will still need to work on some extremely vital aspects as these will not be mere trends but rather a necessity and benchmarks for customers to pick and choose the brands they would like to associate themselves with.

The 3 important aspects are:

Omni-channel: The top priority for most retailers will be to streamline their businesses in-order to offer a unified omni-channel customer experience. So whether it is adding new channels or  integrating systems, operations, processes or handling supply-chain and omni-channel fulfillment or providing features like click-and-collect & endless aisle, retailers must get it right in omni-channel retail using the right omni-channel retail solutions.

Mobility: Based on the data from the major shopping events in 2017, mobile proved to be a force to reckon with. As mobile shopping has become a new norm, retailers looking to ‘omni-channelize’ their businesses need to integrate this channel seamlessly. Other aspects of mobility such as mobile payments and mobile POS systems would continue to be essential technologies that retailers would need to keenly invest in.

Analytics: The power of big-data analytics is something every industry has recognized and so is the case with retail. However going into 2018, analytics will have to be woven into the fabric of the retail business through the right technology to enable retailers to take important business and strategic decisions as well has help in planning promotions, providing personalization and planning seasons ahead.

Like in 2017, even in the New Year, retail will be customer-driven. Retailers must realize and appreciate the importance of focusing on the customer rather than the products, the channels and other aspects. As such, customer-centricity must run deep down in the DNA of their business to have a Happy and Prosperous New Year 2018!

Conversion Rate Optimization in Physical Retail

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Like online retailers, brick-and-mortar retailers need to focus more of their efforts on converting the store traffic that they receive. In today’s retail environment, no retail business can afford to fritter away their store traffic – it should be treated as a valuable, non-renewable resource. Conversion rate optimization (CRO) when effectively applied, can be the difference between delivering positive same-store sales or not.

Here are some statistics that shed light on the conversion rate scenario of brick-and-mortar stores:

Physical stores have a higher conversion rate than online

Conversion rates vary considerably across retail categories, but they also vary significantly within the same chain as a result of variations in store format, geographical location, product mix, inventory levels, and most importantly, store personnel who serve the shoppers. The reality is, each and every brick-and-mortar store is unique and in order to optimize conversion rates, these unique characteristics need to be considered.

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Impact of Click & Collect on Conversion Rate

Customers expect a seamless experience regardless of how they engage with a retailer and these expectations are blurring the lines between online and physical stores. Concepts such as Click and Collect are impacting store traffic patterns and conversion rates.

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At the store depicted here, the store traffic counts went up from 10 to 12 after the implementation of omni-channel retail solutions that enabled Click & Collect, sometimes also referred to as Buy Online, Pick-up In-Store (BOPIS) functionality.

Since three of the 12 traffic counts generated were ‘pre-converted’ i.e., already purchased online and came to the store to pick-up their purchase; they didn’t generate a sales transaction. If we don’t track that Click & Collect transaction and factor it into our conversion rates, then the only thing that we will conclude is that our conversion rates have dropped from 50% to 42% in this example.

Reasons why in-store shoppers didn’t convert

The most cited reasons why in-store shoppers didn’t purchase are:

  1. They could not find anyone to help them; and
  2. They did not want to wait in a queue at check-out.
  3. They could not find what they were looking for or the preferred item was out-of-stock.

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This draws attention to the impact in-store staff have on conversion rates. Getting the store teams engaged and encouraging them to apply insights from traffic and conversion analytics can play a winning role in driving the conversion rates at the store.

Solutions such as mobile POS, self-checkouts can address the long wait-time at the checkout counters by enabling effective queue busting at the store.

The merchandising and product availability challenges can be countered by deploying omni-channel features such as endless aisle.

In conclusion, modern day retailers need to implement innovative software solutions that allow them to transform their business in to omni-channel as well as equip them with the power of capturing and analyzing data across channels. This will help them boost the conversion rates at the brick-and-mortar store.

Source: http://www.retailwire.com/public/sponsors/headcount/assets/HeadCount-Conversion-Rate-Optimization-2017.pdf

5 Festive things retailers should do to relish a successful shopping season.

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It’s time for the festive holiday season once again, and for a retailer, this should only mean one thing: it is time to ramp up the planning and implementation of processes. The festive season is the biggest shopping period of the year, and for many retail businesses, festive shopping can be the opportunity to really boost their sales. It goes without saying that retail owners will do their best to rise to the occasion and add that extra bling to their business. In-order to help retail companies ring in higher festive shopping sales, here are a few simple things that need to be done.

1.Festive displays –

Ensuring the displays, those at the window and in-store, shop layouts, online websites, and mobile apps are aligned with the theme of the festive season, and are attention grabbing, enticing consumers to at least take a look. Once they peek, the merchandising and product displays should be able to hook the shoppers and lure them to take further actions. At the brick-and-mortar store level, elements like lights, signage, and props can be used whereas on e-commerce sites and mobile apps, color theme, banners and images can be used to bring that festive look.

2.Festive merchandise –

Merchandise and products need to have the flavor of the festive season. As such, having limited edition merchandise for the festive season or running attractive offers on certain merchandise exclusively during the festive season is sure to spike interest amongst shoppers. In some cases, even planning and arrangement of merchandise on the shelves with some festive touch can be good enough for consumers to notice.

3.Festive inventory –

To ensure that shoppers are able to get the desired products in their preferred quantities and time-frames that they are looking for as well as to reduce the out of stock situations, retail owners must plan their festive inventories right. Not only that, they should keep a track of the stock turnover and order new inventory accordingly, keeping it ready to replenish stocks without delays. In some cases, it may be advisable to have additional stocks in order to avert no stock situations. Using techniques like ‘endless aisle’, retailers can avert lost sale situations when the inventory is not obtainable at the store.

4.Festive support –

If retailers are expecting shoppers to pour in large numbers especially during peak and rush hours, they need to hire additional staff not only at the store, but also at the call center or online support to handle such situations. This would ensure that adequate number of associates are available to assist customers in such situations. In addition to this, having extra point-of-sale (POS) counters for check-out, using handled/mobile POS devices for billing can help forestall long queues. Also, retail owners should manage their websites and apps well so that they load and update quickly despite heavy traffic. All this will ensure that shoppers experience no lags and reduced wait times warding off situations of cart abandonment.

5.Festive offers –

In the festive season, shoppers look forward most for the umpteen discounts and promotions that retail brands offer. Festive discounts and promotions are a norm now and most of the retailers run various marketing campaigns to attract customers. Thus, it is important for retail businesses to offer more relevant and personalized promotions that will entice shoppers. Using cross-selling and up-selling techniques would further benefit both customers and retailers.

Omni-channel success: Weaving omni-channel into the fabric of the retail organization

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Omni-channel success

As the systems and processes are in silos, it is very difficult for retail businesses to deliver a truly satisfying customer experience. Retailers need to rely not only on technology but also on processes to enable omni-channel. In the midst of this evolution, retailers cannot afford to sit back when it comes to transforming their business to omni-channel, as the technologies that were cutting-edge last year could be obsolete soon.

Instead of carrying on with ad hoc systems and processes, retailers need to adopt a holistic approach to make their business omni-channel. Regardless of the channel used by a shopper to make a purchase, retail systems and processes should enable a smooth transaction experience. In other words, the systems and processes must be well integrated to help retailers support a channel-agnostic order and experience.

Necessarily, retailers need to develop new techniques and processes in this new omni-channel world:

  • Having a single view of the customer across all channels to be able to offer timely and relevant promotions
  • Initiating the best possible omni-channel fulfillment decision intelligently, at the moment of the sale to make maximum profit
  • Planning for and managing inventory right and ensuring it is in the right place at the right time
  • Communicating the details of multiple shipments clearly when fulfilling a single order
  • Monitoring performance when shipping from a store, just as when shipping from a centralized warehouse

Needless to say, investing hundreds of thousands of dollars in technology that will be outdated in a year or two will be counter-productive for the business. Instead, retail owners must scale their investments and protect against obsolescence. Retailers require the ability to determine the technology that has a staying power when it comes to omni-channel, some of them being mobile POS, mobile wallet, omni-channel order management, queue busting and so on.