8 benefits to upgrading your small business POS system

Every business needs an efficient way to record and track sales and transactions. Enter: a point of sale (POS) system. Not all POS systems are equal, though. Upgrading your POS system to a new version can help you increase sales, improve customer service, and better manage inventory and cash flow. 

As old POS systems like ledgers and spreadsheets become increasingly less effective, new point of sale technology continues to get smarter. The modern POS system comes with cloud-based software, user-friendly hardware (like credit card chip readers), and a host of helpful features, like inventory management reports, sales analytics, and integrations. Different types of POS software offer different benefits, but most modern POS systems can do the following: 

• Calculate payments for every transaction
• Record payment methods
• Save and store customer information
• Maintain inventory data
• Generate sales reports
• Track employee hours and sales

A new POS system can help you stay competitive, maximize sales, and better protect your customers from fraud. Keep reading for eight benefits of upgrading your POS system:

1. You can run a more efficient operation with a modern POS system 

If your business uses slow POS software or outdated hardware, you may be missing opportunities to score more sales or wow your customers. Upgrading your POS system, though, can facilitate payment processing and everyday tasks, saving you time and headaches. The new point of sale technology is faster, more detailed, and easier to use, so you won’t have to spend time learning a new system. 

Plus, with cloud-based POS software, you don’t have to rely on one piece of hardware to serve customers — you can conduct transactions and review sales activity from a variety of different devices, like your phone, laptop, or tablet.  

2. You can better manage inventory 

Managing inventory can be complicated, but a modern POS system can help you track inventory levels in real time. You can import thousands of products and corresponding product information from a single spreadsheet. Then, when you log into your new POS system, you can check the quantities of your stock, edit items, flag products for reordering, and set up low-stock alerts, so you’re always prepared. Regularly reviewing your inventory data can help you figure out how to adjust stock levels to maximize sales and improve inventory turnover. 

3. Upgrading your POS system can sharpen your sales strategy

POS systems that offer real-time reporting can change the way you conduct sales. Modern POS systems generate automatic sales reports you can access any time of the day from any device. The analytics can show you which items are most popular, which items sell slowly, when your business has high and low seasons, and how often customers take advantage of promotions. 

New point of sale technology also lets you track the sales patterns of specific products, view overall sales by season or week, or set filters to search for discounts, exchanges, or returns. Plus, you can view and compare your current sales numbers to those of the previous week, quarter, or year to see how much you’ve progressed. Having accurate, real-time sales data from a modern POS system is crucial to your business’ success: understanding what works and what doesn’t makes it easier to adjust your product offers, refine your sales strategy, and create promotions or packages.  

4. It integrates with your existing systems

Adopting new software may seem complicated, but certain POS systems can actually make the transition easier. The beauty of most modern POS systems is that they integrate with a variety of other platforms, like accounting, sales, marketing, and HR. 

Instead of bouncing between multiple systems, transferring company data, or setting up new profiles for employees, you can just sync your new POS system with the tools you already use to manage your business’ backend. That way, you can keep the systems that work well for your business, while managing everything from one central location. 

5. A new POS system reduces administrative work

Compared to an old POS system, a new one cuts down on paperwork and tedious administrative tasks, reducing the likelihood of errors and saving you and your employees time. You can send and track invoices easily, view your billing information in one place, and enable settings that automate certain tasks, like submitting instant orders to suppliers when you’re running low on certain items.  When there’s less administrative work to keep up with, you can focus on other areas of the business, like sales and customer service. 

6. Improves customer relationships

Upgrading your POS system is one of the best ways to improve the customer experience. A modern POS system can automatically add new customers to a directory, save their personal and financial information, and send them digital receipts. Clearly, all of these features make the transaction experience fast and easy. 

New point of sale technology can also generate customer profiles with key metrics. There, you can view a customer’s purchase history and see their preferred payment method. Plus, you can learn which products or services they gravitate toward, see how often they frequent your business, and discover which promotions or discounts they take advantage of.

Reviewing this information is key to understanding what your customers like and how you can provide better customer support. Plus, depending on the POS system you choose, you can add a loyalty rewards program for your customers. It’s a win-win: a loyalty program shows customers you care and incentivizes them to keep buying from you. 

7. It offers better security for you and your customers

As a business, it’s your responsibility to ensure your customers’ financial information is safe from fraud and data theft. You’re also required to comply with certain safety and security standards to protect the cardholder data — and a good POS system can help. 

Upgrading your POS system safeguards your company records, confidential financial details, and customer information by encrypting all your data. Modern POS systems also handle PCI compliance on your behalf. As a result, you don’t have to worry about audits, assessors, or changing safety requirements. Plus, your POS system syncs up with your inventory. Thus, you can more easily double-check that there are no losses or discrepancies in product count.

8. You can track employee work more easily

It can be difficult to evaluate employee performance when you don’t have access to the right data. But, upgrading your POS system can help. Certain POS software lets you manage your employees’ hours, sales, and key performance indicators. You can see when they clock in and out and how many sales they assist with. Additionally, you can see whether or not they’re meeting goals. 

This information gives you a better understanding of your employees’ performances. This, in turn, makes it easier to address issues in customer service or sales, keep your team accountable, and reward employees for their hard work.

Upgrading your POS system can transform the way you manage inventory, track sales, and connect with customers. If your current system is clunky, inefficient, or error-prone, it’s time to invest in a new point of sale technology — and equipment financing can help. Learn more about your options with Funding Circle. 

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