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Empowering Your Business to Move Beyond Traditional Point-of-Sale Station Limitations
Lean staffing is a reality for many independent retailers today. Yet many of these same businesses have point-of-sale (POS) systems that require an employee to physically be at a stationary terminal to check customers out, to look up product information, to perform other common tasks. This stationary approach to business is not only inconvenient and inefficient but can also contribute to a poor customer experience.
The limitations of fixed point-of-sale systems extend beyond the checkout process. For example, if an employee is doing physical inventory checks in one of your store aisles and a customer asks whether you have a particular item in stock, or needs more information on a product, with legacy POS systems your employee is required to physically go to a station to look up the requested details. This leaves your customer waiting while the employee makes the trek to the POS or back-office terminal, logs in, looks up the relevant specs, and returns to share this information with the customer. This process doesn’t provide the quick, seamless experience today’s shoppers expect.
How can retailers overcome the limitations of stationary POS systems? A good modern, cloud-based point-of-sale system with mobile POS capabilities can help address these challenges—while also delivering many additional benefits including more productive, happier employees and improved customer experiences.
Let’s explore how a robust mobile POS system helps improve retail operations.
According to the RSR Benchmark report Using Employee-Empowering Retail Technology to Create Exceptional Customer Experiences, SMB retailers want employees to be easier and more valuable for a customer to engage with—keeping shoppers interacting in person rather than consulting their mobile devices for information. Smart retailers can turn employees into brand ambassadors by providing them with the same information that customers have at their fingertips, but delivered in a more engaging, helpful way.
As the old saying goes, “Knowledge is power”—and empowering employees with easy access to the right information is one of the first ways that a mobile POS can enhance employee productivity. Consider the situation where a customer wants to know more about a particular product or wants to learn about the options related to a product. Is that customer more likely to buy the item(s) if your employee can answer their questions on the spot, or if your employee needs to run off to look up information in another location or ask someone else? Product knowledge and assisted selling are two capabilities retailers prioritize highly for their staff members; mobile POS technology is a key enabler of these skills, as indicated in the infographic below.
A mobile POS enables your employees to get customers the help they need, when and where they need it—a true win-win for everyone.
In addition to supporting direct customer interactions, a mobile POS extends an employee’s ability to be more productive and efficient in completing daily tasks from anywhere in your store. Some other examples of mobile POS capabilities include receiving and purchase order (PO) management, physical inventory management, shelf maintenance, and label printing.
For independent retailers, speed of transaction is an important part of an overall positive customer experience, but it is also relevant to store profitability—particularly in busy times. No retailer wants their customers waiting in long lines, getting frustrated and walking away—or worse yet, not returning—due to inefficiencies while checking out or seeking information. A mobile POS gives retailers the flexibility to add a POS to help in high-traffic times like the seasonal rush or during a special sale. With the mobile POS, employees can scan customer purchases, run credit cards using supported cell phones and Bluetooth pin pads, and deliver electronic or printed receipts.
Beyond the anticipated high-traffic times, which is a basic use case, when else might a mobile POS be beneficial? Creative promotional activities are great ways to engage customers, and a mobile POS can make it easy for the retailer to immediately complete the transaction during these events. For example, if you own a hardware store and want to have a sidewalk sale in front of your store, all you need is a data connection; from there, you can use your mobile POS to handle seamless, on-the-spot transactions as customers enter or exit your store. This convenience can increase the volume of transactions and level of interest during sidewalk or pop-up events.
We previously discussed the positive effects on productivity when employees have information readily available on a mobile POS. However, this benefit extends to empowering employees to quickly and confidently answer questions on products, pricing, and availability, increasing the chances that a customer will buy something. And with customer history also available in the mobile POS, the employee can easily make suggestions or let the customer know of promotions that can add extra value to their purchases.
A primary advantage that Independent SMB retailers have over big box retailers is customer service. Customers appreciate knowledgeable and accessible employees whom they can engage with on a personal level. However, as customer expectations continue to change and grow, independent retailers must adjust to keep their advantage.
Retail customers increasingly value convenience, which is one of the critical value-adds that mobile POS technology delivers. Nothing enhances the customer experience like helping shoppers avoid long checkout lines. Think about the lawn and garden center that gets busy on a Saturday afternoon during the spring season. Retailers with the ability to start checking out customers with a mobile POS during backups are sending customers the message that they value their time.
Expediting the customer checkout process is important, but that isn’t the only factor in improving checkout speed. Many of us have experienced firsthand an issue at checkout that requires a manager override. The traditional process was for the associate to call for the manager, who may be helping elsewhere in the store and not physically located near the POS station—as a result, we’re left standing there while the line of additional shoppers behind us gets longer, waiting for a manager to complete the override so we can finish our transaction. With mobile POS, in contrast, the manager can initiate an override wherever they are in the store so that the process is shortened—avoiding a long line and enhancing customer satisfaction.
The benefits customers experience thanks to mobile POS go beyond expedited checkout. In the RSR Benchmark report cited earlier, SMB retailers identified the biggest roadblocks customers face when seeking a positive shopping experience. Their top-three list is highly instructive: customers can’t find what they are looking for, can’t find help when they need it, and struggle with too much variance between what’s in the store vs. what’s online. The right mobile POS technology gives your workforce immediate access to critical information that can help overcome these challenges.
Employees will be able to view data that customers care about—including pricing, products, inventory availability, and even a customer’s information and purchase history. When you empower employees with data that provides immediate answers to customer questions, they have the necessary tools to enhance the customer interaction and perhaps drive greater sales. By using mobile POS technology to elevate the customer experience, independent retailers can create a personal connection with their customers that helps grow loyalty.
Independent retailers are constantly balancing staffing challenges with ever-increasing customer expectations. The traditional stationary POS with back-office stations echoes a past era of fewer shopping options and limited choices, making it difficult for retailers to excel in a data-driven landscape. A mobile POS plays a key role in enhancing employee productivity and efficiency, increasing sales, and improving the overall customer experience. Empowering employees with access to meaningful information helps your staff become vital brand ambassadors who can truly differentiate your store. Customers are quick to notice the difference a mobile POS makes, from having their questions answered to expedited checkout to seamless complementary product recommendations; more than just a nice-to-have feature, mobile POS is ready to help your business find success in modern retail.
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