Touchscreen POS technology is becoming increasingly popular among merchants of all types and sizes—and it’s no wonder. Such technology offers a host of benefits, notably the potential to decrease operating expenditures while simultaneously bolstering productivity. Let’s take a look at how this happens.
Touchscreen POS technology yields fast access to features, speeding up customer service.
With touchscreen technology in place, employees have immediate access to all the features needed to ring up sales and process payments of any kind (i.e., cash, check, credit card, and debit card). There’s no switching back and forth between different peripherals. The upshot: Transactions are completed in a timelier manner, and customers are out the door faster.
Touchscreen hardware has a similar effect when it serves as the basis of self-checkout kiosk applications. Whether in a store or a quick-service restaurant, giving customers the option to handle their own transactions (and in dining applications, order their food) shortens queues at the “regular” point of sale. Wait times are consequently reduced, leading to better customer service.
Touchscreen technology increases users’ comfort and eliminates errors.
As we noted above, touchscreen technology integrates everything that’s required to execute sales transactions and puts it in a single place. The easier these elements are to find, the more comfortable employees will be—they won’t be forced to keep looking around for different buttons, icons, peripherals, etc. The easier it is for associates to locate what they need, the more comfortable they will be using the POS system in general—and the less likely they will be to make errors that may take several minutes to correct and have the potential to quash productivity while simultaneously having a negative impact on customer service.
Touchscreen technology reduces training and other operational costs.
The intuitive, user-friendly nature of touchscreen POS technology makes it easy to learn, minimizing training time and related expenditures. In certain installations, such as self-checkout and self-ordering kiosks, a touchscreen POS configuration eliminates the need for one or more employees, thereby decreasing overall labor costs.
Touchscreen technology paves the way for space optimization.
Most, if not all touchscreen POS systems feature a sleek ergonomic design, with integrated peripherals (e.g., bar code scanners and magnetic stripe readers) and displays that can be mounted above the counter within employees’ line of vision. This ergonomic design allows merchants to pack big POS power into small spaces—without creating a cluttered look at the front counter. Additionally, employees can handle payment acceptance without feeling excessively cramped. The icing on the cake: Any space saved by using touchscreen POS technology can be earmarked for small, attractive displays of impulse items (edible or otherwise).
Touchscreen POS systems are resistant to damage, preventing accidents.
Touchscreen POS hardware is highly durable. This is especially true of capacitive touchscreen POS systems, in which the touchscreen component comprises two layers of glass. The glass isn’t easily pierced or cracked, so there are fewer worries about accidents and their aftermath.
These are just a few of the advantages retailers and foodservice operators can bring to their businesses by replacing traditional equipment with touchscreen POS technology. We promise that once you’ve seen these advantages for yourself, you’ll never choose to be without touchscreen POS technology—and instead ensure that it’s always at your fingertips and those of your employees.
