Excitement is building around the high-tech, innovative POS technologies that are emerging for retail businesses. Driven by consumer demand, retail POS cloud-based solutions have rapidly drawn ahead of legacy and on-premise POS platforms in the battle to stay in step with modern technology. This means that previously unobtainable POS technology is now at the fingertips of any retail store owner.
Before diving in with both feet, it is important to develop an understanding of the wide range of cloud-based POS options that are now available. With the challenges of COVID-19 restrictions still in place for most retailers, you must balance the way you typically do business with the ability to adapt to situations such as this. You must also develop knowledge of the differences between cloud-based POS systems and the traditional cash register setup.
Do Scenarios Exist Where Traditional POS is the Best Retail Fit?
This is usually one of the first questions to emerge from the minds of small to mid-sized retail store owners, and typically comes from a place of concern from a cost or a complexity perspective. It is important to note that while the legacy POS register configuration has the advantage of being a decades-old, tried-and-true approach; it is simply not sustainable to stay the course in lieu of modern POS technology.
The modern business world moves too fast to remain reliant on a technical platform that heavily relies on manual processes to function correctly. Maintaining paper ledgers or computerized spreadsheets can only function with legacy POS registers through the use of manual inputs. Smaller retails can’t afford to lose out on key data analytics or the simplification that a cloud-based POS solution can provide to managing inventory and customer relationships.
Simplification of Order and Inventory Management
One of the most attractive and vitally important areas where a cloud-based POS platform delivers a high-tech punch is in product management. Long gone are the days of running into a dimly lit backroom and performing manual product checks among dusty storage shelves. A cloud-based POS solution allows you to scan products into your inventory directly as they arrive, and includes the ability to create barcodes and print them on any printer.
A cloud-based POS system safely stores this information in the cloud and gives you the ability to easily and quickly access all of your inventory data. The advanced data management that comes with an innovative POS platform allows you to simplify product listings by allowing you to use product variations with ease. This speeds up the checkout process and allows staff to effortlessly search through all of your products in real-time, further simplifying your inventory management processes.
Using a POS-provided app, you can quickly fill orders and monitor ordering status all with a few simple finger taps, and without having to be present in your store. Next-gen reporting gives you real-time monitoring of products as they flow across your business. The cloud-based aspect of your new POS system allows you to achieve a high level of customer-facing inventory transparency and opens the doors to the development of a multichannel retail approach.
Cloud-Based POS Provides Seamless Sync Across all Channels
Managing and tracking data across multiple devices would only be possible in a multi-device, cloud-based POS environment. The seamless ability to synchronize data across all devices and business areas presents you with exciting, game-changing opportunities. An order placed online can be packaged in your storeroom by one associate, while another creates and prints a shipping barcode in the front of the store.
This ability, along with the flexible and next-gen features that are brought into your business by a cloud-based POS solution, makes it possible to efficiently run and manage a multichannel environment. Engaging your customers with a multichannel approach will drive sales and deliver increased sales conversions, while the data gathered provides you with improved insights into the desires of your customer base.
The ability of your POS devices to store and share data locally, even if you lose your connection to the internet, allows you to still accept payments and orders in an offline mode. The data gathered remains highly accurate, and gets uploaded to the cloud for safekeeping as soon as internet connectivity is restored. This means that you can continue to provide a high level of customer service, regardless of infrastructure interruptions.
Proactive Management of the Customer Experience
Something that legacy POS registers cannot deliver is the ability to help retail owners develop an attractive shopping experience. Cloud-based POS solutions deliver cutting-edge options to retailers that create stunning effects when presented to customers. By tapping into the same technology that the modern consumer is driving to new levels, you can create a multichannel shopping experience that provokes a jaw-dropping response to your store.
Sleek and sophisticated hardware options, such as tablet-based POS terminals, give you a visually pleasing tone-setting interaction right from the start. Staff can move around the store with a customer, easily answering questions by instant product lookups. Armed with POS app equipped smart devices, your sales staff will be able to place special orders or check out a customer, without leaving their side in an aisle.
The broadened range of accepted payment options, purchase and ordering tracking, and an inviting online presence, all serve to bring the customer shopping experience into a new decade. A next-gen POS platform can also offer you a way to automatically track and manage physical and digital gift card balances, manage store credit, and allow a customer to request an online exchange or refund easily and securely through your app-based presence.
The Future of Retail POS Cloud-Based Solutions Have Arrived
Retail technology has oftentimes been at the cusp of emerging technologies. The modern consumer continues to drive forward technical achievements in POS software that has brought to light some very exciting options for retailers of any size. These new features provide benefits to retailers that cannot be achieved by using legacy POS technology, while opening the doors to exciting new business options, such as multichannel operations.
Upgrading your retail POS solution to a cloud-based platform introduces exciting new options to promote your brand while building an attention-grabbing shopping experience. Moving to the latest technology will not only give you the modern options you need to maximize profits but will save you money through a high ROI. Now is the time to take your retail business into a new decade of technology and functionality.
The importance of developing an in-depth understanding of which retail POS cloud-based functionalities you need is what talech is here to help you achieve. We help you to select and align the right mix of cloud-based POS features to help you in developing a forward-thinking strategy that sets you apart from the rest. Contact us today for a free demo and more information on how to bring cutting-edge technology to your customers.
