If you’re a mid-size to large retailer with on-premise POS, you’ve almost certainly considered whether you should move to Cloud POS. If you’ve decided on Cloud, you’re probably wondering whether to make the change now, or wait a little longer. Here we explain 5 key shifts in the retail market that you can’t afford to ignore as you make your decision. These trends are rapidly rendering on-premise POS obsolete and putting Cloud POS ahead in the race.

So if you’re still using on-premise POS, read on to understand why now is the time to make your move to Cloud POS.

Retailers around the world have switched to iVend Cloud POS.  Find out how they’re benefitting from making the move.

Expectations have shifted – for customers, and for staff. Customers expect omnichannel retail, with the same seamless experience across online, mobile and in-store. For your staff, real-time data is the key to being able to make sound, data-driven decisions – decisions that give you a competitive edge.

Both of these demands are most effectively achieved with a cloud POS system – which delivers synchronised, real-time inventory, pricing, promotions and customer loyalty data.

Stores are changing – new formats, different venues, stores outside the store, and pop ups. This has led to the growth of mobile POS, which allows retailers the flexibility to respond to rapidly evolving customer demands.

Even within the traditional store, mobile POS devices are used by associates to serve customers in the aisle, not just at a fixed checkout counter.

Cloud POS is the best approach for mobile, because it gives access to systems from anywhere there is an internet connection. This enables service at the customer’s side, anywhere inside or outside the four walls of the store. It empowers retailers to effect rapid rollouts on wireless devices, and fast scaling without heavy infrastructure or local servers.

Another important trend is increasing costs – particularly of labor and equipment, leading to retailers needing to streamline expenditure wherever they can. With on-premise POS, the cost of IT staff can be high – retailers need specialist skills to procure and manage the hardware, to rollout and maintain the software, and cyber security experts to safeguard the systems.

Servers and storage purchases require upfront capital expenditure, and retailers have to buy more than they actually need at the time of purchase, in order to have the capacity for expansion.

This trend is driving retailers to consider Cloud POS systems for greater efficiency:

• Reduced IT team, or staff redeployed on other projects.
• No expensive in-house hardware.
• Sophisticated, enterprise grade cyber security is built into Cloud POS software.
• Cloud POS is purchased on a ‘pay as you use’ basis, with the capacity to scale on demand.
• Operational, not capital expenditure, freeing up cash for growth projects.

One of the biggest trends in retail in recent years is the explosion of data, and its use to power Artificial Intelligence and Automation applications , such as AI-powered predictive re-stocking, and hyper-personalized offers and promotions.

Cloud POS is better positioned to leverage this data explosion and to integrate with AI and automation ecosystems:

One of the key market shifts in recent years has been the significantly greater reliability and speed of networks. In the past, the argument put forward by many retailers for having on-premise POS was that they didn’t want to be entirely reliant on a network. If the network failed, they reasoned, their business would be compromised. Whereas on-premise was seen to offer greater availability.

More reliable networks have made Cloud POS a viable reality for many retailers who would not have considered it in the past.

The combined impact of these 5 trends – real-time retail, flexibility, efficiency, AI and more reliable networks – have encouraged many retailers to move to Cloud POS. Cloud is clearly winning in the race with on-prem.

But a straight battle between Cloud and on-prem is not the full story. Within the world of Cloud POS there are two ‘flavours’:

• ☁️✨ There’s the ‘pure-play’ Cloud POS – POS that is based 100% in the Cloud. 
• 🌥️🔄 Then there’s hybrid Cloud POS. Hybrid Cloud is linked to trend number 5. Because whilst networks are infinitely more reliable, issues do still happen sometimes.

The choice of On-premise, Cloud or Hybrid Cloud POS is an important decision, and one which will shape the future of your retail business. So when making your decision, you can’t afford to ignore the trends that are changing the face of retail technology.

Book your free demo of iVend’s world leading hybrid Cloud POS system now.