Every merchant knows that a retail POS system offers a multitude of advantages, from expediting transactions to generating a wealth of valuable, actionable data-packed reports and more. However, a retail POS system can also benefit your business in some unexpected ways. Let’s take a look at three of these.
- A retail POS system can take the hassles out of tax season.Even with the assistance of an accountant, tax season—and taxes in general, for that matter—is no fun for most business owners. In addition to sales tax, you need to track, file, and pay business income taxes, payroll taxes, miscellaneous state and local taxes, self-employment taxes, unemployment taxes—the list goes on. It’s enough to make your head spin.
How does a retail POS system stop the spinning? First off, a properly configured, properly used retail POS system can track many different factors that affect your taxes, including—but not limited to—employee hours worked, inventory purchased, sales tax collected, and monies received. When you or your accountant needs this information, it’s right at your fingertips.
Your retail POS system can also minimize tax season trauma if you integrate it with accounting software. Not only does integrated accounting software track the above-mentioned information (and more); it also collates the data into reports that can be used to make preparing and paying your taxes simpler for you and your tax professional alike.
- A retail POS system—especially an all-in-one with a small footprint—makes for a more ergonomically sound POS configuration. This, in turn, prevents problems that can have a negative impact on sales and profits.
An all-in-one retail POS system that features a scaled-down footprint doesn’t just fit anywhere. It also leaves ample room to display merchandise in an organized, aesthetically pleasing manner that encourages customers to make impulse purchases and buy more items than they had intended because they’re more inclined to really look at your assortment.
Additionally, employee comfort increases when your retail POS system doesn’t occupy a lot of space at the checkout counter and incorporates peripherals (e.g., bar code scanners, magnetic stripe readers) rather than using external ones. The higher employees’ comfort level when assisting customers and ringing up sales, and the more obstacle-free their environment, the faster they will be able to complete sales. Faster transaction processing means increased customer throughput and shorter waits at the POS—resulting in happier shoppers and the ability to up the daily sales volume.
As if this weren’t enough, the less clutter at the front counter, as enabled by an ergonomically sound retail POS system, the less likely employees will become so irritated that they make costly transaction errors and/or take out their frustration on customers, who may then decide to shop elsewhere. Either way, more money stays in your pocket, bolstering the bottom line.
- Line Busting, Enhanced Customer Service
Adding a rugged mobile POS element to your POS system serves as a line buster during high traffic periods, particularly during the holiday. Instead of allowing your customers to grow weary and irritable in your check-out queue, equip a few staff members with rugged mobile POS units to check people out while they wait in line. This will keep transactions moving quickly and painlessly, and your customers will leave your establishment happy and satisfied.
These are just a few of the surprise “gains” you can make from your retail POS system. Quite likely, there will be more to enjoy as technology evolves, so stay tuned.
