What Is A Retail POS System, and how Does It Work?
The retail point of sales (POS) system is a tool that empowers your retail staff to deliver excellent service to customers while building loyalty and providing insight into how your business operates.
The point of sales system known as the POS consists of two components:
- Software: POS software is the operating system you use to manage your physical stores. The software helps manage your store activity like inventory, sales, reporting and accounting, time & attendance, employee management, and customer loyalty.
- The Hardware: This consists of all the physical devices integrated with the software for daily operations – the pos all in one touchscreen terminal, the receipt printer, the cash drawer, and the barcode scanner.
The Retail Pos has two main data storage types:
- On-premise: This is called the onsite pos that Store data on the server at your business place. Access is within your physical location.
- Cloud-Based: This is called the cloud or web-based POS, and transaction data gets stored in the cloud. In this setup type, the retail software can get accessed anywhere, and updates are automatic. There are also options to run an offline mode in case of internet downtime.
- The Omnichannel POS: This kind of POS refers to an all-in-one solution. All of your channels such as your website, your social media, and other Omnichannel feature are integrated to ensure a smooth running of both your offline and online business. Hence, some features include data centralization, eCommerce integration, marketing, and promotions.
How does the retail POS work?
The point of sales system (retail POS) allows you to accept payments from customers on items bought in three simple steps.
- scan the barcode on a product,
- Search for it on your sales screen;
- then accept payment using whichever payment processing platform is attached to your system.
Some Operational functions of a retail POS include:
- Payment processing: You configure your POS solution to accept payments through multiple means.
- Data Entry: Entry of the master information into the POS System – customers, suppliers, and items.
- Inventory Management: Deducting the amount in your inventory after a transaction, as well as other complex inventory management exercises.
- Order History: Your store order history is the complete record of orders, past and current. It includes shipping, delivery, and payment details. Your retail pos system stores all your data safely in the cloud or on your server for future reference.
- End-of day: The End of Day (EOD) process gets done on each of your POS terminals before balancing and posting to your accounts. This process ensures your database displays up-to-date activities from stock to payments.
Benefits of a retail POS System
There are several benefits of having a retail pos system. Some of which include;
1. Convenience: Retail software allows you to automate the bulk of your tasks that are ordinarily time-consuming. Tasks such as reporting, inventory update, recording payroll, billing, processing customer’s information, etc.
2. Accuracy: Retail software ensures accuracy throughout your entire operation with real-time data. For instance, inventory counting conducted manually is susceptible to errors, but with a retail solution, such risk becomes eliminated.
3. Real-Time accessibility: Retail software hands you the complete tool to control your store and warehouse at any time and anywhere. With real-time access to back-office functions, retailers can instantly identify out-of-stock items and reorder them. Automated reminders are enabled for out-of-order items, helping to avoid downtime and keep the store up and running at all times.
4. Improved customer experience: Retail software automates all manual tasks and frees up your valuable time to engage better and serve customers.
If you need more info on how to decide on a solution that works, you can speak to an expert at Yanot Consultants. Send an email to solutions@yanot.ng to fix a meeting for a one-on-one discussion.
