Build Retail Operations, Brand Image, and CX with POS

If you still think of your POS terminal as just a place to handle sales transactions, you may be missing out on the power of POS to engineer your retail operations and elevate the in-store customer experience. Because every aspect of your store matters to today’s shoppers, it’s important to understand how POS can impact consumers and their decision to purchase with you — or your competition.

Building Your Brand Image

Customer-facing POS formats have become almost standard in many progressive urban retailers. Beyond the enticing cost-benefit ratio, tablet- or smartphone-based POS is extremely customer-friendly and intuitive for the demographic they’re catering to. Millennial customers, likely city-dwellers, already use this type of technology in their personal lives and are comfortable with it in stores. Tapping through touchscreens and scribbling a signature with their finger on-screen are nothing new for many consumers, which means that a sleek, high-tech POS not only improves your retail operations but also strengthens the relationship between the brand and the shopper.

Beyond the functionality it provides, a modern POS platform can convey what you want your retail brand image to be. Customers who appreciate the seamlessness of a cutting-edge POS transaction, from customized emailed receipts to the ease of including a tip or signing up for a loyalty platform, will respond positively to your store experience and likely spread the word among friends and family.

Your POS System at Work

Even when you aren’t using it to ring up a sale, your POS system can be working hard for your retail operations. With a few customizations, you can program your customer-facing POS to display images of new products, notifications about promotions and special offers, details of upcoming in-store events, and information on loyalty club benefits.  This is one great, straightforward way to maximize your POS investment: ensure you use it as a simple and engaging marketing tool that can catch a shopper’s eye when she walks by.

What’s more, consider deploying additional store technology such as beacons to further leverage your POS marketing capabilities and push relevant messages to shoppers on their personal mobile devices. The right alert delivered at the right time in the right place can be a powerful motivator on the path to purchase.

A Tool for All Channels

Today’s POS systems must be able to help manage your retail operations in multiple channels. Shoppers are completely uninterested in the nuances of what terms like “omnichannel” mean — all they know is that whether they’re shopping in your store or on your website, they’re simply shopping with your retail brand and want a consistent, recognizable experience no matter what.

Use your POS system to help a customer find on your eCommerce a product that may be out of stock in your store. This kind of save-the-sale capability can boost customer satisfaction and keep shoppers from looking for products elsewhere. What’s more, turn the wealth of data you collect in your POS into an opportunity to deliver personalized offers and experiences tailor-made for each shopper, or groups of similar shoppers, based on purchase history, preferences and more. Customers increasingly expect retailers to “know” them and treat them like the unique individuals they are.

Automate to Excel

Also consider how your POS system can elevate retail operations by automating time-intensive processes for employees. From managing work orders, returns, backorders, sales product and layaway plans, your POS can save valuable time for employees, freeing them to focus on serving customers and attending to essential retail operations.

Have you fully unleashed the power of your POS? It’s one of your most important investments, so be sure to take advantage of customization capabilities that can maximize your POS’ contributions to your retail operations and your brand image.

Evaluate whether your POS is fully capable of helping you build your retail operations, brand image and the customer experience you offer with our free online assessment, in partnerships with Retail Touchpoints: Are your Store Systems Stuck in the Dark Ages?