If you haven’t updated your cash management system in a while, you might be missing out on features that could help you streamline your business and avoid the headaches of tracking your sales and inventory manually. Cash management systems have come a long way in recent years, and new point of sale (POS) systems allow you to do so much more than just logging transactions. Curious about what exactly new POS systems can do for you, and why they might be worth the additional cost? Here are three things a modern POS system can do that your cash register can’t.
1. Inventory management
Rather than simply recording a transaction of a product sale and leaving you to do the math of where it puts your inventory, new POS systems include inventory management tools to automate the process of keeping track of what you have in stock. New systems not only allow you to manage your product catalog in one central place, but you can easily track your costs and profit margins, set up alerts for when inventory is running low and create customizable and in-depth reports that can show how everything from individual products to whole departments are doing with sales. If you sell both in-store and online, a POS system can make managing your inventory and tracking sales much easier by integrating the revenue streams.
2. Mobile capability
Over the past few years, mobile POS has taken off, allowing sales associates armed with phones and tablets to assist and check out customers from any location in a store. Mobile POS systems allow your associates to meet customers where they are on the floor. Not only can this make the actual point of sale more efficient by removing the build-up of long lines, it also fosters more one-on-one interaction between your sales staff and customers. Armed with a tablet featuring all of your products — including variations in colorways, fabrics and sizes that you might not have displayed on the showroom floor — you can better help customers navigate your product offerings and avoid showrooming at the same time. When it comes time to process the sale, your customer will appreciate not having to head to a different part of the showroom or step into a line.
3. Customer management
Many new POS systems have built-in customer databases so you can track what they’ve purchased, how often they visit and how much they spend with you. Regardless of if they’ve purchased online or in-store, you can follow each customer’s purchase history. With customer data organized in one place, you can better market to individuals based on their purchase history with personalized messaging and targeted product promotions. You can also manage your gift cards and loyalty programs through your POS system so you don’t need to keep track of them manually or through yet another system. Additionally, rather than keeping a spreadsheet somewhere full of customer emails that you update whenever you get the chance, you can export your email list from your POS system to help streamline your email marketing process and make sure you’re not missing anyone in your subscriber list.
What tools do you use for cash and inventory management? Let us know in the comments!
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