Coffee shops face a unique set of challenges. In a highly competitive market, it’s important to stay sharp. When customers are making complicated modifications to an item, it’s easy to make a mistake in their order, which only leads to a frustrated customer, wasted product, and wasted time. Keeping customers loyal can be incredibly difficult with the many coffee shop options available. Labor management can be difficult whether you’re a big café or a small shop. On top of all that, you’re worried about how to increase sales. So how can you avoid these issues? The answer may lie in your coffee shop POS.
1. Reduce Order Errors
Coffee lovers can be a little particular about their specialty drinks. With the right coffee shop POS system, you’ll be able to enter their order before they can say “tall soy late with no whip and extra caramel.”
Coffee shop POS systems that include forced or optional modifiers take the spare steps out of adding extras. When a barista selects an item, a pre-made list of modifiers automatically appears. The barista can then select the appropriate modifications and quickly move to the next item. Forget the days of manually typing in specialty orders.
2. Incentivize Customers
Keep them coming to you (and not your competitors) with customer loyalty programs. Coffee shop POS systems can help you integrate a rewards or loyalty program to encourage customers to direct more of their purchases towards your business. Often customers will spend more with an incentive program, especially if they are close to achieving a greater reward.
Additionally, customer loyalty programs for coffee shop POS can provide valuable information on customer purchases. Track traffic, sales, and trends with ease and build more targeted marketing campaigns to drive future sales.
3. Manage Labor Effectively
Don’t fall short-handed during the morning coffee rush—manage your baristas more effectively with software that allows you to schedule employee shifts, track time, and attendance. With a coffee shop POS system, you’ll be able to more accurately schedule the right number of employees based on previous sales patterns.
A coffee shop POS system that includes time-and-attendance functions can make managing employee hours a breeze. Employees can clock in using a unique verification technique, like a fingerprint, which will prevent staff members from clocking in for their coworkers. This system can also prevent tardiness with programmable alerts when staff members clock in late and can prevent employees from clocking in after a pre-set grace period.
Coffee shop POS systems can also act as a natural theft deterrent. Prevent unauthorized parties from accessing money or customer information with built-in features that only allow authorized staff members access to cash drawers or POS terminals. Plus, some coffee shop POS systems can provide alerts when questionable transactions or conditions occur, so you won’t be blindsided by the realization that an employee is stealing.
4. Seize Upsell Opportunities
Upselling can feel unnatural to new employees, but a coffee shop POS system can make it easy. You’ll be able to display upsell suggestions and images that easily walk baristas through upselling. By prompting employees to make suggestions, you’ll be able to target one or a few products that you’re looking to increase sales on. Combine this feature with the employee tracking features of your coffee shop POS, and you’ll be able to track staff members who are successfully upselling and reward them for their efforts.
By capitalizing on your coffee shop POS system, you’ll be able to avoid order errors, increase customer loyalty, manage employees, and increase sales with upselling.
