As a company owner or manager, you cannot be at the sales counter at all times. Observing customer and employee behavior, however, helps you understand productivity. Old-fashioned cash registers and outdated credit card machines slow the checkout process, deterring eager customers. Adding a POS system to the front counter gives you an accurate view of productivity and how it can be improved through transaction histories.
Customers Are Like Waves
Depending on the industry, customer purchases come in waves. For example, peak lunchtime hours are typically between 11am and 2pm on weekdays for popular restaurants. A lull in sales occurs between 2pm and 4pm, however. Using time-stamped POS transaction reports, you can analyze your busiest periods on weekdays and weekends. With that information, you arrange work schedules to cover the customer load. Paying four employees to cover an empty restaurant at 3pm is simply wasteful spending. POS systems give you the power to know your customers' habits and prepare for them accurately.
Sales Trends
POS systems also provide management with knowledge on sales trends. Popular manufacturers or particular items may be in high demand. Understanding which items fly off of shelves tells management that inventory levels should be high at all times with these products. Running out of popular products forces customers to look elsewhere for their purchase.
Employee Performance
With each sale marked with a time-stamp, you know if employees are productive or idle. For example, cash register A has as many customers in line as cash register B. Register A, however, is not reporting as many transactions compared to register B. The employee operating register A is not working as efficiently as their co-worker. Management can use this information to solve productivity problems. It is possible that the employee is working hard, but does not understand the system. You can work with the employee to increase transactions and boost profits.
Serve Customers Faster
POS systems serving industries that have counter service, including furniture pick-up windows or fast food restaurants, need a rapid way to pull inventory from a back room. A POS system designed with a remote printer can easily increase productivity. For example, a counter employee requests four chairs and a dining table through the POS system. A printer in the warehouse prints the list, and workers collect the items for delivery at the front counter. In the past, workers may have physically walked in the back to request the items or called them out over a loudspeaker. POS systems streamline the process considerably.
POS systems increase productivity within customer service and employee performance. It also provides a window into sales trends and daily customer movement for better service everyday. Boost your bottom line with a POS system today.