“Vaping” is becoming an increasingly popular alternative to smoking cigarettes, leading many entrepreneurs to open vape shops. But just because this practice appeals to consumers, doesn’t mean a vape shop will be an automatic success. Vape shop owners need to be proactive in making their business work, and it all starts with a vape shop POS system that includes the following four elements:
E-commerce capabilities.
Not all consumers who enjoy “vaping” are comfortable with, or like the idea of, shopping in stores for supplies and accessories. Some would rather do so online. Vape shop owners can—and should—tap into the lucrative e-commerce end of the market while simultaneously operating brick-and-mortar stores. The prerequisite: A vape shop POS system whose configuration accommodates transactions initiated in traditional storefronts as well as on e-commerce sites. Even vape shops that aren’t quite ready to set up an e-commerce now should choose a vape shop POS with e-commerce capabilities to save precious time when it’s the right moment to make the move.
Ability to handle a broad spectrum of products and accessories.
Maximizing vape shop sales means carrying the largest possible assortment of vape juice, in a wide range of nicotine levels, flavors, and bottle sizes. It also necessitates offering an ample variety of vaping accessories. For this reason, choose a vape shop POS system whose design enables easy tracking of these individual SKUs and simplifies the process of completing transactions in-store.
Ease of use.
Vape shop customers won’t remain customers for long if they’re forced to waste time at the front counter, waiting for cashiers to locate the products they want on the vape shop POS system. What’s more, cashiers don’t like grappling with increasingly long lines of customers who are visibly annoyed because it’s taking too long to ring up the sale of a particular flavor of vape juice in the right size container and nicotine level. An easy-to-use touchscreen or tablet-based vape shop POS system with a navigable interface and drill-down menus completely eliminates such problems by guiding employees through the list of available products in a logical manner. Any employee can then process each sale correctly without an in-depth knowledge of the vape shop POS system or the inventory sold in the store.
Easy, flexible, and smart inventory management.
As mentioned above, the vape shop POS should facilitate the tracking of individual SKUs. At the same time, it should allow for the tracking of bulk juice supplies. In addition, to ensure that vape shops have the right products available to customers, at the right time and in the right quantities, the vape shop POS should be configured to automatically generate re-orders when supplies are depleted to user-defined levels.
Ability to maintain and help to leverage customer information.
The more information vape shop owners can collect about their customers, the more they can engage them and cultivate their continued loyalty. The vape shop POS system should pave the way for collecting such information as contact details (which can be used to email or send written promotional information to customers) and purchase histories. Armed with ample vape shop POS data that specifies what customers have previously purchased from the store, vape shop owners and their employees can strengthen engagement and bolster sales by personalizing the shopping experience—for example, suggesting vaping equipment and different flavors or brands of vape juice based on any identified buying patterns.
While emerging regulations may change the way vape shops operate, vaping is a trend that’s here to stay. A vape shop POS system with the right features will go a long way towards success in this growing market.
