Inventory management and accurate stockroom information are taking a more critical role than ever in how managers view the health of their business operations and sales. In the past, reporting on front-end activities always gained the most attention about the key metrics that matter most to revenues, but analytical reporting has dramatically expanded. Now, managers have access to much more detailed information about how products move through the entire chain of a store, from the time a barcode gets assigned to the time it sells.
Enhanced inventory tracking is becoming increasingly crucial to salons, restaurants, bars, and retail spaces. Knowledge truly is power when it comes to running a business, and learning more about your stockroom with the data tracking capabilities for inventory enabled by cloud-based POS software solutions can help you streamline your operations. Here are the 10 features of an optimal store inventory tracker to be on the lookout for as you consider integrating this aspect of point of sale into your business strategy.
1. Barcode Creation and Label Printing
So many boutique salons and retail shops have to rely on the manufacturers’ barcodes and numbers to track inventory and enter in sales. Stores operate with a mix of various bar codes, SKUs, and product IDs to ring up sales for customers. Sure, you improvise where you have to, but when you have a mix of product IDs in your inventory, you know little about how well product sales are performing in comparison. A great POS will help keep all this straight so you don’t have to even think about it.
2. Real-Time Inventory Tracking
Do you have multiple registers in one store? How about multiple locations? Real-time inventory tracking resolves the challenge of having stale stockroom data. When inventory levels are updated instantaneously, your employees no longer have to guess what’s in stock. Once a product is sold, the item count adjusts immediately. When employees process a new shipment, inventory values increase with each item barcode they scan.
3. Integrated eCommerce
Not many years ago, eCommerce was an expensive endeavor for any size business, and you needed to hire a consultant. Not anymore. Now, cloud-based POS solutions integrate eCommerce capabilities. Online and in-store inventory are synonymous. As your products fly off the shelf, inventory balances are automatically adjusted when you connect your POS system with a website eCommerce plug-in.
4. Bundling for Groups of Items
Companies that create or resell products in-house can benefit from this feature. When you create that t-shirt of those hats for promotional purposes, wouldn’t it be nice to bundle them into sub-categories for inventory tracking? Create classes of products that make organizing store inventory simple.
5. POS Product Details
Take the guesswork out of making upsells at the cash register when your associates can pull up product details on the customer-facing display (CFD). It is more comfortable to show shoppers than try and describe the uniqueness of each of the products that you sell. You can now upload images and descriptions of products you have in stock that you don’t have room for on the showroom floor.
6. Variable Pricing Options
Want to reduce management workload? Try building in pricing features that give your associates the permissions they need to adjust pricing based on tiers. BOGO and customer loyalty accounts, for example, automatically generate variable pricing options for cashiers at the POS.
7. Layaway (Inventory Hold)
Present more flexible opportunities to your customers who want to make purchases. When customers make a deposit, you can hold items in inventory for the time that you set. You don’t need to be a big box store to reintroduce the store layaway. During economically challenging times, customers will appreciate you giving them a new sales promo option.
8. Inventory Level Reporting
Analyzing inventory levels can be a time-consuming activity if you don’t have an efficient and automated method in place. Luckily, cloud-based POS systems for iPad already have all analytical features with the reports you need built-in. Chances of you not recognizing slow product turnover and dead stock do decrease. Keep tighter controls on how inventory budgets are getting used. Improve your cashflows while reallocating funds for products you know will sell well.
9. Sales Data Reporting
It’s hard to discuss inventory for very long before venturing onto the topic of sales. Sales data and inventory data are both equally crucial among best practices in business operations management. Sales data has a lot to do with what it costs to stock inventory. In all fairness, you should always know the value of your stockrooms. Inventory and supply chain are driving factors in how you sell (displays), what you sell, and the products you choose for promotional discounts.
10. Easy-to-View Charts and Graphs
Inventory data must be accessible. The accepted way for most purposes is charts and graphs that are easy to produce and view. Whether you plan to use visuals for business meetings or general management, you will save a lot of time when the data-appropriate graphs are already paired with the kind of report you need.
A dedicated POS company like talech will have spent countless hours making sure a full range of inventory functionality is an integrated feature of their POS systems, ensuring affordable solutions for businesses of all industries that need a scalable, customizable, and secure POS platform. Choose talech to make inventory data analysis a critical part of your business planning.
It is crucial that the point of sale software you choose comes with an integrated store inventory tracker. The experienced consultants at talech will take the time to examine your business and will recommend the perfect blend of technology to address your inventory control requirements. Reach out to us today to sign up for a demo and to learn more about how talech can be your valued POS partner.
