A crucial requirement for your retail business is an effective point-of-sale (POS) system. Seamless transaction processing with customers is essential, and a reliable POS system goes beyond that by seamlessly integrating online and in-store sales, efficiently managing inventory, and accurately recording sales tax. Some advanced systems can even assist in tracking payroll and employee hours. Additionally, these systems provide valuable data and analytics, offering insights into sales patterns, peak business hours, and popular shipping destinations. Choosing the best-suited system for your business depends on a range of factors.
Each retail business is unique and has different priorities. Here are some things you should consider when choosing a POS system for your retail business:
Your Business Needs
Think about where you are with your journey. At the start, you may need a simple system that’s straight out of the box. At a more advanced stage, you might need, for example, cross-location tracking.
You also need to consider your budget and inventory tracking needs. The latter can be quite different for a baker (who must track ingredients) or a furniture store (which is tracking high-value items).
Do you need the system to run offline? This might not be that important for a brick-and-mortar store in an urban area, but in rural areas it can be much more useful. If you routinely do trade shows, it becomes vital, as you never know whether you can trust a convention center or hotel’s wi-fi and it’s not impossible that you will end up trying to run a booth with no wi-fi and the cell relays in the convention center completely overloaded.
Integration
Most retail businesses these days don’t only sell in the store. Online transactions and shipping are part of how you stay afloat. Make sure you choose a system that integrates online and brick-and-mortar sales and that either includes, or integrates with, other software you need. A good POS system will include inventory tracking, updates on purchase orders and shipments, automated delivery routing, etc.
It should also integrate with your employee scheduling and payroll software to help you track when you might need extra people and adjust your staffing levels up or down based on actual sales and traffic in your store.
List the tools and software you are already using and ask the vendor how they handle each one. If you already have expensive hardware, choose a solution that works with it. Style integrates with Shopify, with PayPal, and with various financing options, etc.
Ease of Use
You want a system that your employees will pick up quickly. The less time and money spent on training, the better. It’s a good idea to choose a vendor that offers training, too, to make sure everyone gets up to speed quickly.
When somebody struggles with the POS system in front of a customer, it causes delays in checking out, resentment, and can impact your business as well as making your employee look bad. Make sure that you have everyone trained before implementation and that you work with supervisors to make sure they are super users who know how to help others.
Also make sure that it’s easy to build and add to your catalog of goods and services, and easy to enter items that aren’t on the list when needed. Choose a system that lets you do a bulk upload at the start, that lets you bundle things into packages, and that includes all the fields you need.
Scalability
Changing POS providers can be a pain; however, many businesses choose a small-scale, cheaper solution to start out, then find as they grow that they need to switch. Sometimes budget needs make this unavoidable. But choosing a provider that has plans to support businesses at all levels can save you a lot of difficulty and hassle when you realize you have outgrown your point-of-sale system; for example, you may realize that supporting a second location is either unworkable or hugely expensive with your “entry-level” POS system.
Payment Processing Options
Cash or card? The more payment processing options your POS system offers, the better! Supporting mobile wallets is nearly essential these days, as is support for PayPal, including in brick-and-mortar stores.
Make sure that your chosen system integrates with your merchant services account so you can seamlessly take credit cards. If your business is new, then look at the options they have. Make sure it integrates with Authorize.net, which has very solid credit card verification services, particularly if people are buying online.
You want your customers to be able to use their preferred payment option as much as possible.
Customer Support
Nightmare scenario – your POS system goes down on Black Friday. You probably don’t even want to think about it. Make sure that your POS provider offers good customer support and timely tech support. Checking reviews is often the best way to establish their reliability. Choose a provider who’s been around a while and has a good reputation, and great support!
Cost
Your budget is something you must consider. A great way to balance cost and scalability is to choose a provider that offers a customizable package. You can buy only the services you need and then add new ones as your company grows.
Customized solutions also help you pay only for the locations you have, as well as mobile service if needed. While it can seem cheaper in the short run to choose a cheaper, low feature system and then switch later, the time cost of switching can be substantial and it can result in double payment or downtime, so the cheapest option is to choose a flexible and scalable system.
Tailbase’s Style POS is exactly that flexible and scalable system. We provide customized training, high-quality customer support, major integrations, and a variety of features to help you grow. We specialize in furniture and electronics and have special features, such as service call management and shipment updates, to help you thrive. Contact us to find out how we can help you and book a demo today.