Point-of-Sale (POS) systems are simple, yet incredibly effective technologies that literally revolutionized the food service industry. A robust, high-tech POS solution can bring innovation to your business, and positively affect your work environment is countless ways. A great POS system will save your customers and employees a lot of time, increase your revenues substantially, and save you a lot of money.
Newer POS systems jam-packed with features that can help you build long-lasting relations with your customers, improve your marketing strategies and collect data you can later analyze to optimize your business.
Let’s see the 4 most important ways a good POS technology can save you a lot of money.
#1. Knowledge is Power – The Importance of Big Data
To smoothly manage a business in the most efficient way possible, you need to know its strengths as well as its weaknesses. In order to do so, you need to have access to reliable data such as number, statistics and facts, rather than just rely on your instincts like many old-school shopkeepers still do. Collecting data can be a time-consuming process that may require a lot of effort, and sorting through all these numbers by hand is all but simple. The errors of sorting by hand may cost you a lot.
One of the best features of modern POS tech is the collection of all your business data such as:-
- sales by hour and type,
- number of customers,
- food and labor costs,
- items sold,
- discounts, and a lot more.
They give you access to the popular “Big Data,” allowing you to learn and understand about your numbers with a practical approach. POS can provide you with accessible reports that will streamline the process of sorting through your expenses and taxes, define your marketing strategies and plan your future promotions and deals. Knowing how well you performed according to some well-defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) will bring you one step closer towards reaching your goal.
#2. Improving Customer Experience – Making Them Happier
It’s hard to argue that happier customers make successful businesses, especially when you run a quick ticket business like a brewery or coffee shop. Some POS solution can substantially improve your customer experience with specifically-designed features. These features can also increase their engagement. Imagine if your restaurant guests could look at their order status in real time, make their reservations online and enjoy their waiting time while watching some food pictures.
Patrons in cafeterias may be enticed with charming menus that can be customized as needed. They can display your amazing food, an enthralling upsell or a convenient next-week-only promotion that may convince them to come back again.
If the POS is integrated with iPads and tablets, servers can take orders to customers on the spot, reducing mistakes and waiting time, turning more tables and improving the quality of the service. The quicker your service and the better your customer experience, the more likely a customer is going to come back. Loyalty programs and gift cards can be easily programmed with a few clicks, give you an easy method to strengthening your bond with your guests and expanding your brand exposure.
#3. Making Your Business More Efficient
Improving operational efficiency can save you a lot of money, and an advanced POS tech can help you smooth your everyday operations in a lot of different ways. Here are two quick examples of how a POS can help you run an eatery:
- Order speed and efficiency – a traditional order system requires your server to go to the table and physically write down everything after talking with the guest. An automated order can be sent by the guest instead by clicking on a table menu or can be done online instead of by phone, cutting down the time to a few minutes to just a few seconds. The easier the tickets are to read, the easier it is to achieve high success rates on orders. The more orders you can take and process correctly, the more money you can make.
- Order Accuracy – the more customers you have, the more hectic the workload can become. Servers must run back and forth, cooks may need to prepare dishes in a matter of minutes and eventually some mistake will happen. If you just avoid one mistake a day, and this error costs you $7, you’re saving more than $200 every month.
#4. Save money and environment by going green with technology:
Going green and saving cash have a direct relationship. Investing in technology that is environmentally sound is good for the business as well as the environment. These technologies are significantly effective in improving the productivity of day-to-day operations and they will help in saving a lot of money. The POS technologies provide businesses such as restaurants simple and easy ways of cutting cost. There is a lot of paper wasted during day-to-day operations of a restaurant. You can get rid of papers costs and paper waste by adopting better items.
The signature capture pads can help in completing a transaction from a credit card and the sending the receipt to the customer via email. It is efficient and does not require any paper. If you are offering gift cards to the clients then invest in rechargeable gift cards. They can be reloaded and used again and again. It will save you the trouble of printing new ones. You can also use the KDS system (Kitchen Display Systems) and it will save you the cost of kitchen receipts. These techniques are perfect for saving money without lowering the quality of the service that you are providing.
Conclusion:
As you can see, choosing the right POS for your retail or online store can help you save a lot of money – probably more than you even expect. Although many of these solutions require an upfront expense, they are very cheap in the long run, and their cost will pay itself as you watch the savings start to stack. As we rapidly move towards an era of full digitalization, possessing the right “tools of the trade” includes having the most advanced and reliable POS tech as well. It will provide the edge you need to succeed in this competitive world.
