What is POS software? What does it do? POS stands for point-on-sale software. POS software can be defined as your advance register merged with a computer. With POS software, the store owners can input sales data, check inventory, and can also receive customer payments.
The tool does things that your conventional Brick and Mortar cash register can’t, like automating inventory restocking, online payment integration, mobile accessibility, and many more. Also, they are inexpensive and easy to use, which meets the requirements of most businesses out there regardless of their size.
The general type of POS software includes three main POS software. They are as follows:
Mobile Type POS: It offers options to control payment and inventory management. This type of POS tool is ideal for small business owners.
Terminal POS: Terminal POS can be used with the combination of hardware as well as software combination. This POS used with external devices such as barcode scanners and cash drawers. Most businesses that deal with huge amounts of inventories use this system.
Cloud-based POS: This is the most affordable, flexible and widely used POS tool. The cloud-based POS can be used anywhere with a computer or any other web-based system.
Key features of a POS system
Sales Reporting
In POS systems the sales numbers can be viewed from the dashboard. But the software also offers to generate detailed sales reports which contain the comparison from with the previously generated data.
Your POS system should be able to generate sales reports containing the retail cost of items, net profit, profit margin, and total gross margin
Customer Management
Customer satisfaction is your primary concern when running a store. The POS system should have the features to manage customer relationships to track all customer data. Using the purchase history of customer you can offer them personalized options when they visit your store again.
Targeted marketing campaigns can also be done when you have sufficient user data. To get the customer excited for new upcoming products some kind of loyalty rewards program can be started. With some of these features, you can turn a one-time buying customer to a long term customer which brings more business your way.
Inventory Management
As a store owner, you should have the updated data about your inventory at any given instant. It is useful that you have warehouse-like storage facilities; also you can open other branches at a different location in your city. This way the point of sale software can give you data as of how many items are there in your stock now and which items are needed to restock at any given store location.
Today with the help of machine learning your POS software can be trained to identify your most selling items so that it can automatically send an alert to the vendor for restocking them.
Employee management
Employees are the workforce behind running your store successfully. The point of sale software comes with functionalities using which you can track your employee’s progress and see who is the top performer in terms of sales.
Keeping track of employee performance can give you the top performers, while those with lower performance can be provided the necessary training or guidance required to enhance their skills. The POS software allows you to efficiently manage your employee’s time and optimize productivity by knowing what your employees are working on.
Some best POS available out there
Korona POS is a totally customizable POS software that offers a great customer experience. It offers a powerful ticketing system, extensive hardware integration, and CRM services. It is cloud-based which also provides security and can be accessed from anywhere in the world easily.
Bright Retail POS comes in an easy and clean design that enables you to understand it easily and fast without any hassle. It is designed to address the problems faced by small and big retailers. It also comes with the integration of Tally that can help you manage your accounting needs properly.
Vend can enable you to grow your business effortlessly and in every way possible. It offers you to add multiple users to the platform. With Vend, you can run customer transactions securely and also help you to keep your inventory updated.
ShopKeep is easy to use and intuitive. With shopkeep, you have the flexibility of accepting any type of payment that you want. Also, it can backup your real-time sales data in the cloud automatically so that you don’t lose any data.
Erply is a versatile cloud point of sale software that offers inventory management, detailed reports, and multi-store functionality. You can easily scale up your business with it as it is secure and flexible. It offers secure payments option built-in and serves many Fortune 500 companies.
Conclusion
If you are selling anything or running a store then it is a must for you to invest in a good point of sale software. As today the POS software doesn’t just offer sales tracking and inventory management they go beyond all these basic functionalities and offer you tracking your customer’s shopping activities. A point of sale software can make your life easier and business more efficient.