Point-of-sale systems (POSs) continue to advance, giving businesses greater control, flexibility, and intelligence. Traditional credit card readers and cash registers have given way to cloud and tablet-based POSs that offer more features than their predecessors and can store all transaction history and reports in one convenient location.
POS systems provide an efficient method for checking customers out efficiently. They can also track stock, collect contact details and generate sales reports. Modern POS systems feature automated checkout processes and inventory and sales monitoring. They are integrated with accounting programs for seamless operation.
Use point of sale (POS) software to manage brick-and-mortar and online sales channels more efficiently while keeping an eye on how POS systems have developed over time. Our article seeks to explore this aspect for business owners keen on learning how POS has advanced.
Point of Sale, or POS in business terminology, refers to the location and time at which a sale occurs. Not just cash registers are considered points of sale: online carts and checkouts, as well as payments made using mobile phones equipped with credit card readers or QR code payments from providers like PayPal, can all count towards this definition of purchase.
Sales taxes are calculated when purchases take place. Before making a decision, it's crucial that you clearly define your requirements and know which features are essential. Here are six features you should consider when searching for new point-of-sale software.
Some Essential Features Of Point-Of-Sale Software Covered In This Article Are:
Invoicing: Sell, Buy, Rent, and Repair
A point-of-sale system (POS) serves a crucial function: recording all transactions that have taken place at your shop. As customer wait times increase, recording sales quickly becomes essential - having software that efficiently scans products to sell is especially advantageous to retail businesses.
Some POS software provides merchants access to an expansive menu of billing transactions. Arion erp’s POS allows merchants, for instance, to keep tabs on sales, rentals, repairs, consignment product purchases from suppliers, and inventory transfers - among others - with just one system. You can define each type of transaction accordingly and manage billing accordingly.
Your Point-of-Sale system (POS) should register each sale bill as soon as the product has been sold and will manage your sales and purchase data to help estimate inventory more efficiently and reduce errors when tracking product inventory. With cloud POSs, you can also access invoices remotely - no longer have to visit your shop to access data; log onto your POS to view them. Some POSs provide automated emailing of invoices at the time of the transaction, providing visibility over all bills sent out - be they rent, purchase, rental, or any other transaction.
Outstanding Inventory Management
Cloud-based point-of-sale systems allow you to manage your stock in real-time and gain an accurate accounting of how many goods are in your inventory over a given period. When receiving orders, scan or enter each item for storage by the software - then it becomes much simpler knowing exactly how many there should be in inventory for each article; knowing whether that matches up with actual ownership (it could vary due to losses, theft, etc...). This provides insight into whether what was supposed to exist does due to losses/theft/miscount etc...
Inventory control with cloud-based POS systems becomes very straightforward, as you know what stock owners currently possess, without needing to conduct long and tedious manual inventory checks on an ongoing basis. With access to stock count reports and control over stock levels, it becomes very straightforward.
Customer Orders and Supplier Orders
At times, your customers may request you put aside products they want later for purchase, or there are no longer stocks of an item. Still, someone is very keen to acquire one despite a lack of stock available to purchase it - either of these actions would constitute placing a custom order. It must be written down as such on invoices to notify customers when that product becomes available in-store. This form of order allows your store to keep tabs on those interested and keep customers updated that said product has arrived for them.
This action takes the form of writing down customer details with enough contact info in case there ever needs to be updated notifications once available stock comes back into the store, allowing store employees time to arrange delivery once available stock becomes available again from manufacturers so as not to disappoint potential clients interested in purchasing it now available in store a customer order is placed, usually as mentioned on invoices when writing down customer information. Hence, they are alerted about when available stock arrives at the store.
Arion ERP’s POS makes creating customer orders simple: scan the product code and save it into their customer file in the order module. When available in your shop, clerks use this module to check availability; once there, employees use contact lists or phone the customer with news that their product has arrived and inform them before picking it up and finalizing the transaction to finalize the order.
Customer Satisfaction This function ensures customer satisfaction by helping the store meet the customer's needs and make purchases that exceed customer expectations, potentially increasing revenue for the company.
Supplier orders differ slightly from customer orders because they help store owners plan with suppliers to plan future orders more quickly. When your store runs out of products in its inventory, scan it into your computer system and directly provide the supplier with all relevant details (quantity, price, etc.) - quantities ordered and prices.
Once you've identified the products you're missing, all that remains is to complete an order transaction. If your supplier and you are integrated (via custom development with Arion ERP’S POS), they ought to receive and prepare it right away. Should anything change between now and when your order arrives, you have complete flexibility in editing or canceling it as you, please. Ordering will be easier thanks to POS software, as all supplier orders will be stored and ordered easily.
Integrated Supplier Purchases
A Point-of-Sale system (POS system) can record purchases made directly to suppliers for inventory management purposes and operational success. The shop's purchase can also be recorded directly in its POS system for easier tracking.
Inventory tracking will become more straightforward with a POS system that facilitates purchases with suppliers and allows purchases directly. With purchasing functionality built into it, purchasing orders with suppliers become much more streamlined, helping plan orders more accurately based on quantity needed and reduce inventory costs overall. Furthermore, having this POS allows stores to limit customer orders based on how much stock exists within their inventory.
Consistent and Customizable Reports
A Point-of-Sale system offers you reports on various accounting, sales, and inventory topics - providing an overall snapshot of a company's activities over a given timeframe and giving insight into its development. Reporting will become much simpler to create and analyze with a POS system, creating reports for multiple aspects of the company - sales, contacts, prices, purchases, inventories, etc. Having reports available across different departments will make monitoring progress easier while setting new objectives for stores.
Multi-store Management
Some POS systems allow for managing multiple stores from within a single software. Unfortunately, most single-store or single-location POS systems don't meet the specific needs of network stores such as franchises, buying groups, and corporate networks. With multi-store management - Arion erp’s POS provides such functionality - data can be managed effectively across each store. At the same time, inventory optimization occurs smoothly while meeting each store type's needs from one central location.
Multi-store management will drastically decrease your workload thanks to this function, which centers around one central account (Master or Head Office) that controls all other linked stores. Anytime an alteration is made at any shop connected to this central shop, all related ones also see changes as soon as it takes effect, making this feature especially helpful for franchises, buying groups, corporate chains, or those seeking to expand their networks.
So instead of individual store modifications individually, several can rely on one Master account, pushing out critical changes across their network. These six features of POS systems are of paramount importance. They must be present if your provider wants the POS to meet merchants' needs effectively. Without them, matching merchant requirements might prove challenging.
Six Functions Provide Several Business Advantages:
Time is Money
As fascinating as these features may be, what are their actual benefits in practice? In essence, point-of-sale systems will save time and increase revenue, with functions helping manage time better on other projects to increase profit and lower expenses while cutting workload significantly. One benefit for merchants, in particular, can be knowing current stock levels and sales stats at any moment; knowing them all automatically is invaluable for merchants.
Traditional cash registers can be costly, and maintenance is costly and frequently requires professional assistance and upkeep. By switching to cloud-based POS systems, costs are significantly decreased because the software can be installed onto a tablet or computer for easier accessibility and use.
Useful for Retail Stores
Retail businesses must be well-organized to be competitive in today's marketplace, making POS systems ideal tools. A POS can gather all relevant information in one central place while accessible anywhere via cloud technology.
With a Point-of-Sale (POS) system in the store, they can take advantage of additional functionalities to increase revenues - for instance, cross-selling, multi-store promotion management, standard network pricing, and advanced reporting are just some of the features a POS offers to increase store revenues and cut expenses. A POS is especially beneficial to small and mid sized companies looking to lower operating expenses by saving costs through reduced operational expenditures.
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Multi-store
Cloud-based POS systems can significantly benefit franchise location management. Centralizing multiple store POS features from one software can enable franchise owners to better meet each store's requirements while managing it as part of an overall franchise structure.
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Single Store
As the owner of one store, Arion ERP’S POS can help save time and money when choosing one cloud-based POS system to support it. By choosing Arion ERP’S POS as their provider for expanding future networks of stores, seeing how your business progresses becomes much more straightforward, as well as managing multiple stores at different types within networks.
Cloud-Based Point of Sale Security
Security is significant in businesses of all sizes; ensuring data collected remains accessible only to people within an organization is equally important. Your POS supplier's system and methods vary so much that its security ultimately relies on you based on personal preference and trust levels - whether that means using them is up to you.
How POS Systems Are Changing The Way Businesses Operate
POS systems now play a crucial role in the ecosystem of business operations, going beyond their original role of processing sales transactions. Arion ERP’s cloud-based restaurant POS systems enable restaurant managers and staff to split checks easily, quickly search items on the menu, monitor server performance, process both online and tableside orders quickly, report trends of voided or comped items for guests, monitor which menu items are doing exceptionally well, train new employees as needed and more.
Businesses can use Arion ERP readers and stands to transform iPads and smartphones into point-of-sale systems. These systems are known as retail mobile POS systems. Their first fully integrated system, Arion ERP Register, enables real-time sales tracking and inventory control management with customer directories built upon intuitive payment processing for intuitive payments from customers. Here are five ways POS systems are evolving and how your business can keep pace.
Shared Commerce
Business growth can be increased exponentially when operations move online. In the past, businesses had to manually import both results of e-commerce platforms and physical POS systems into spreadsheets or reporting software if they wanted a comprehensive report; with shared commerce POS systems, however, they can save plenty of time by automating this process.
Arion ERP's Point-of-Sale system is one of the premier solutions available for e-commerce businesses, linking seamlessly with iOS and Android app stores to track online and offline sales transactions. Instead of maintaining two separate inventory and payment systems, Arion ERP’s POS centralizes product and financial data into one streamlined dashboard for quick and easy rerunning of customer insight across two sales channels without running reports across different systems.
Mobile POS
Businesses should embrace mobile payments as the market shifts away from cash payments and customers increasingly turn towards using these forms of payment. Customers increasingly favor credit cards and mobile wallets over cash for payment purposes, and according to Finance Magnates, estimates that by 2025 approximately 75% of transactions will occur cashlessly.
Mobile Point-of-Sale systems allow businesses to accept credit card payments anywhere with internet connectivity while giving customers more autonomy in how and when to pay.
Businesses can handle complex equipment overhauls or staff training in order to begin accepting mobile payments, depending on their payment system of choice. Services such as PayPal use mobile credit card readers connected via Bluetooth with smartphones running the relevant apps; mobile wallet providers (Google Wallet, Visa Checkout, and Apple Pay), loyalty mobile apps like Starbucks Daily Deals allow customers to pay directly with smartphones themselves via barcode scanners or QR readers on screens; loyalty apps allow customers to pay with credit cards directly connected through smartphones themselves (Starbucks Daily Deals, etc...).
POS + CRM
New POS systems combine real-time transactions and CRM solutions for incredible sales growth and increased business revenues.
Existing Point of sale systems could only offer primary customer behavioral data (if at all). At the same time, integrated POS/CRM platforms allow businesses to identify which customers drive sales and which loyalty is worth investing in.
Arion ERP offers businesses an online CRM and invoicing software solution with its POS integration, enabling businesses to easily create client records, CRM tasks, and email marketing lists directly from their POS tills.
iPad POS solution with CRM capabilities demonstrates another great example. Businesses using it can collect customer information such as names, billing, and shipping addresses, email addresses, loyalty program membership details, and order histories through transactions processed at POS terminals. Arion ERP's software then organizes, syncs, and distributes that data across departments - sales marketing, customer support, and technical support to enhance the customer experience.
Big Data for SMBs
Big data isn't limited to large corporations with big budgets for intelligence. Smaller enterprises now have affordable access to powerful intelligence via POS systems. ARION erp’s is an advanced POS software tool tailored specifically for small businesses. It provides robust data-gathering and reporting features to give insight into how well their operations are doing. These reports cover inventory analysis, top-selling items, revenue/profit margin optimization, and staffing needs.
Arion ERP’s is an intelligent POS data intelligence solution for restaurants that streamlines operations through integrated technology systems that combine front-of-house, back-of-house, and guest-facing technology into one platform while offering real-time monitoring of sales, labor costs, food costs, and more with robust reporting capabilities. Arion ERP offers a point-of-sale system designed for salons equipped with an appointment scheduler. Clients can pay while sitting comfortably in their chairs while salon owners manage accounts for every staff member.
IoT and POS Security
The Internet of Things (IoT), - defined as the interconnectivity and communication among devices, networks, physical objects, and physical services via the Internet, such as refrigerators talking and smart homes) - makes it possible to link POS systems with front and back-end processes such as CRM, accounting, and inventory management processes, making POS vulnerable to hacks or data breaches.
Top 8 POS Trends of 2023
Cashless Payment Methods
One of the significant trends for 2023 POS systems is accommodating various payment methods that businesses must accept from customers. Cash and card are still popular; however, mobile wallets are becoming more prevalent; therefore, businesses need to ensure their POS system can easily accept these cashless forms of payments to ensure an effortless customer checkout experience for cashless payments.
Customer Experience Is Essential
Customer experience has become an ever-more-important component of retailing, necessitating point-of-sale (POS) systems to be designed with them in mind, providing fast, seamless checkout experiences explicitly tailored for each shopper. One way businesses could achieve this would be by using integrated customer loyalty programs that deliver real-time rewards or discounts directly into POS systems for an engaging shopping experience that brings customers back time after time.
Integration With Other Systems
Integral to any successful POS solution are integrations with other software solutions, such as ERP, accounting, and inventory management software solutions, to better assist businesses with running their operations more efficiently and with greater precision. Integrating e-commerce platforms will also be sought-after so businesses can manage offline and online sales from a single interface.
Mobile POS Systems
Mobile Point-of-Sale modules (mPOSs) will become even more prevalent in 2023, serving businesses that need to process transactions on the go, such as food trucks or pop-up shops, while providing customers an easier means of payment when cash or a credit card may be unavailable.
Use Data Analytics
Data analytics and reporting will continue to be key trends in POS systems in 2023 as businesses collect more customer and sales information; data analytics assist these businesses by producing reports to make better decisions using this information. POS systems that offer practical data analytics tools would become more in demand as businesses gain insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and inventory levels.
Artificial Intelligence and Automation
AI and machine learning will play an increasingly vital role in the future of POS systems. AI-enhanced systems would analyze customer data in real-time to help businesses provide tailored product recommendations and marketing messages; businesses could automate many manual processes like inventory management and order processing to free up staff for other duties.
Security is a Priority
Security will continue to be a top priority for retail businesses in 2023. POS systems must be designed with robust security measures to protect customer data and prevent fraud. This includes end-to-end encryption, multi-factor authentication, and real-time fraud detection.
Adopting New-Age Technology in POS Systems
2023's retail point-of-sale trends focus on offering customers an easy and personalized checkout experience, so businesses must invest in versatile POS systems capable of meeting modern business demands.
Arion ERP’s designs enterprise resource planning software and other cloud-based solutions, such as point of sale (POS) systems, that meet current trends to keep our customers up-to-date and increase their bottom lines. We pride ourselves on designing cutting-edge enterprise resource planning software as well as other cloud solutions like POS systems to stay ahead of the competition while increasing the bottom lines for their business.
Conclusion
Point-of-sale (POS) systems have evolved since their humble cash register beginnings. Nowadays, top POS software handles payments and features inventory management, customer data collection, and analytics - keeping businesses competitive by staying abreast of technology advancement. Get in touch with the best and most reliable POS software solution for your business need.
