The rise of mobile apps has enabled many businesses to simplify their client-facing operations. Retail sales are at an all-time high, reaching pre-pandemic levels. To manage each customer’s needs, employees are required to use best-in-class software solutions.

Retailers are on the lookout for new tools and solutions to ease the pressure off their customer services, particularly in retail transactions.

However, that’s not all. A retail store could significantly benefit from investing in point of sale software (POS) for data management related to product information, catalog segmentation, prices and discounts management, pricing, and so much more.

A POS Solution benefits retail employees and customers by mitigating common retail problems and allowing the digital transformation of retail management in a few easy steps.

Using old, outdated POS Solutions can neutralize business wins faster than anyone can imagine. It is important to understand the common problems faced by retail stores that use outdated POS.

Here is a list of some of these problems:

• Manual reporting: Installing a POS with manual reporting lead to inaccuracies and erroneous projections. Using such POS solutions is detrimental to the future of your business.
• Non-compatibility with existing ERP and automation: POS-related problems for retail employees arise due to non-compatibility with ERP software. Incompetent integrations also lead to failures during automation which further dents revenue projection for retail businesses.
• POS security: The retail industry was among the top businesses that suffered the most from ransomware attacks. There was nearly a 90% increase in the number of cyberattacks on retail in 2021 compared to 2020. Data security and compliance issues most affect POS enhancements. Further, attackers are taking full advantage of these vulnerabilities. Secured POS software reduces the chances of cyber-attacks significantly.
• Lack of mobile interface: Mobile-led businesses prefer to operate user interfaces that can manage all aspects of retail business, such as catalog information, payments, invoice processing, cloud billing, and bookkeeping. A POS solution that has a mobile interface also drives greater customer satisfaction.
• Poor user experience: To design a strategy for inventory management and boost customer loyalty, retail stores require greater control over their user experiences. Only a handful of apps like QueueBuster offer high-end designs to complete sales and revenue processing workflows for retail businesses.

Key Capabilities to Meet Ever-Changing Customer Expectations in Retail

Companies could be spending thousands on their POS software yet lacking the kind of facilities they need to ace the competition. To establish an omnichannel customer experience with POS systems, retail players require key capabilities in their software solutions.

To help such retail stores, let us identify the top cloud POS software solutions for retail stores in modern retail journeys.

Integrated Payments With Cardless/ Touchless Facilities

By the end of 2027, nearly 1936.5 million users would be onboarded to mobile POS payment platforms. Businesses could rely on a wide array of integrated payment solutions powered by intuitive POS software.

These solutions provide customer-centric checkout options with user-friendly displays, one-touch digital push buttons, and AI-based payment confirmation processes. These can be integrated to make payments easier via physical notes or currencies, coins, credit or debit cards, and digital banking options such as internet transactions, etc.

Automated Data-Entry

Manual data entry could cost businesses $1; data entry error correction costs $10. This 10x increase in costs can be prevented by adopting automated data entry software with AI and RPA capabilities.

The retail industry still depends on a large volume of manual data entry. Manual data entry is not only a slow, error-prone step in retail data management but is also riddled with security issues that can take down a business. Employees who rely on manual data entry must type data into spreadsheets, ERP workbooks, and other business-specific apps, resulting in tiredness and dissatisfaction. That is why manual data entry in the retail industry must be shown the door immediately.

Automation in retail POS management can help alleviate the pain points commonly associated with OCR scanning, barcode reading, and form processing. POS solutions with automated image processing and text analytics capabilities enable data entry seamlessly.

Mobile Technology

Mobile-assisted POS can offer almost the same level of customer experience to store visitors as an online shopping app or website.

Mobile commerce has transformed every business, including retail. Arming employees in retail stores with mobile technology can reduce customer churn with faster resolutions to inquiries and FAQs.

According to a study, 42% of retail employees used mobile-assisted selling to improve revenue generation; 67% accessed tablets and smartphones to view inventories, and almost the same percentage for product information management. With app-assisted inventory and POS management, retail stores can also track employee performance and how they influenced sales at different parts of the customer journey.

Integrated CRM For Sales Intelligence

Modern problems need innovative solutions. That is why advanced POS software should have a simple and effective line of integration with your existing customer relationship management (CRM) software. This integration allows retail stores to evaluate how marketing and sales campaigns are generating customer traffic, driving engagements, and pushing sales with conversions at the stores.

CRM-enabled POS integration improves service quality and overall NPS by enabling real-time feedback, customer data capturing, and segmenting shoppers into groups and sub-groups that influence sales. These data points can be used for sales monitoring, which can be further refined for offering discounts as part of various novel gift cards and customer loyalty programs.

Order Management With Innovative Retailing

The convergence of new retailing strategies such as Buy Online Pickup In-Store, Buy Online, and Buy Now Pay Later have opened new avenues for POS management. Order management can no longer be tackled using obsolete tools. To deliver tailor-made experiences for each touchpoint, POS users require advanced inventory management solutions that generate on-spot barcodes for handling small and large volumes of goods.

Conclusion

It is impossible to think of a future in retail without POS software. A POS solution armed with all the latest capabilities helps retail businesses stay competitive and generate a tremendous volume of sales using real-time analytics, omnichannel communication, and exceptional customer experience management.

Are you ready to explore the next-gen POS software? Try QueueBuster today by booking a demo.