The features of your digital business tools break down into two practical groups—the essentials, and the bells and the whistles. The first type are those you can’t work without, the features that solve the problem that needs fixing to begin with. The second group, however, are the features that impress your customers, make your working life easier, and improve your bottom line.
When it comes to a mobile POS app, there are three essential tasks your new solution has to perform:
- Take card and cash payments quickly
- Take card and cash payments securely
- Work without software and hardware costs
That core trio gives you enough flexibility and power to keep your business running on the go.
To realize the full potential of mobile point of sale, though, you need a solution that also packs these bells and whistles:
- Payment versatility
- SMS and email receipts
- Split tender options
- Tax support
- Catalog management
- Pricing flexibility
- Sales reports
The presence of these features takes your mobile business capabilities to the next level, giving you greater control and insight into your own operation. It is like packing the key business best practices into your go-anywhere platform.
A Smartphone Point of Sale
A mobile POS app turns your smartphone into a digital point of sale. The software runs from your phone and hardware consists of nothing more complicated than a card reader that can accept chip and PIN payments.
That’s all you need to take your business anywhere you can get a cell signal and to target the right customers wherever they may be—provided, of course, your app has the following essential features.
Take Card and Cash Payments Quickly
The point of having a mobile POS app is to smoothly, discreetly, and conveniently close the deal with any potential customer. Your solution should take no more fuss than a checkout at a bricks-and-mortar operation, and it should be easy to use so you can be on your feet in just a few minutes.
Delays and disruptions only give rise to missed opportunities, so it’s crucial to make sure your app works for you every time.
Take Card and Cash Payments Securely
The nature of mobile and limited businesses can mean there’s little time to build a profound relationship with shoppers. Instead, you need familiar and secure means of payment that reassure customers that you’re a professional with a genuine product. Your app should come with the same end-to-end encryption and authentication tech you’d get from a full-service POS system.
Work Without Software and Hardware Costs
Mobile POS apps are becoming increasingly common across the market with businesses of all sizes, and the leading ones are always free. There shouldn’t be any ongoing software fee or hardware costs—the leading app providers will give you a chip and PIN reader and usually meet their needs through a transaction fee or by encouraging you to consider a full-service arrangement as your business scales in size.
The low entry cost coupled with the security and convenience of a mobile solution should be enough to supply all the basics you need to start growing your business, but there is even more that can be achieved with a great mPOS.
7 Impressive Mobile POS App Features
Though the excitement these next features can bring may make them “bells and whistles,” they’re nonetheless impactful business tools. In the near future, they may even become the new “essentials” of mobile retail.
For now though, these options for smartphone point of sale are only present in the leading solutions.
1. Payment Versatility
Most of your transactions at venues such as markets and mobile opportunities will be covered by a simple cash or card solution. However, the best mobile POS apps cater to a wider range of preferred payment types including contactless and smartphone options such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Broadening the scope of your payment offerings means that no customer needs leave empty-handed.
2. SMS and Email Receipts
A solution that plays to both the convergence of the digital era and the continuing consumer preference toward greener options, electronic receipts are only going to become more popular in the near future.
Also, don’t overlook the value of capturing that extra layer of customer information and trust at the point of sale.
3. Split Tender Options
Similar to the provision of digital receipts, giving customers the option to split their payment types—typically between cash and card—enhances the shopping experience and makes it easier for people to spend on your products. Split tender options without a dedicated mobile POS app can lead to a nightmare of mixed books and half-recorded notes, so it’s best to stick with the digital version.
4. Tax Support
Managing an emerging, mobile, or limited business catalog can sometimes mean confusion when applying the necessary tax information. Many of the best mobile apps now support inclusive and add-on taxes at the item level to make sure everyone is aware of how the final price is made.
It’s an added level of professionalism that can reassure a new customer.
5. Catalog Management
Managing a limited catalog opens up plenty of opportunities to customize in pursuit of sales. A mobile POS app gives you the flexibility to add and alter items, to categorize for easy access, and to generally match the digital end of your business to the creative. If you’re going to scale-up your business you’ll need a more comprehensive POS solution, but in the meantime a mobile app can give you confidence that your ideas are matched by your accounting and inventory.
6. Pricing Flexibility
That same process of matching your creativity with your responsibilities can be extended to the pricing of goods. Your app should allow you to offer discounts, bundle items together, and clearly account for every service charge and tax add-on. It offers you a realistic, living view of the sales position, and gives you the chance to offer something unique to every potential sale.
7. Sales Reports
That “living inventory” is at the heart of what you stand to gain from a mobile POS app. Your smartphone, like most digital devices, is basically a high-powered calculator that excels at tracking and analyzing numbers. Bundle your sales to a single POS platform and you can generate sales reports at the end of every day to confirm exactly where your business is heading.
That’s the mobile POS advantage—it takes your business to another level of sophistication, security, and accountability.
Get a Mobile POS App that Delivers
The “bells and whistles” outlined above can help you build business confidence in the eyes of yourself and your customers. These digital niceties make yours a more complete operation, one that is as responsive and balanced as any chain store tethered to a specific point in space.
Going mobile doesn’t mean leaving the essentials of good business behind. The right solution brings all the best practices along for the ride. The POS solutions designed by talech are built to bring the best in business standards to your unique operation. We bend our expertise to your goals to apply an innovative POS solution that levels the playing field.
