How Can You Streamline the Checkout Process with a POS?
As a small business owner, your point of sale (POS) system determines how quickly and effectively you can serve your customers. Even the finest cashiers, baristas, and bartenders in the business can be hampered by a clumsy checkout process. So how do you get the most out of your checkout POS system in order to streamline the checkout process for employees and customer? This article offers some top tips.
How an Efficient POS System Helps Businesses
Small business owners can implement checkout process optimization by using a smart POS system. Getting the most out of a POS system makes life easier for employees and customers while helping you improve your bottom line.
Better Employee Workflows
During a typical transaction, the employee is responsible for inputting information into the POS system — by scanning an item, keying in a code, or selecting menu items on a touchscreen interface, for example. A great POS will be user-friendly on the employee side, shortening steps in the transaction process where possible. Desirable features might include barcode scanner integration, easy menu customization options, and a simplified refund process.
In short, a more efficient POS system allows the cashier to spend less time pushing buttons and more time attending to the customer and performing other tasks.
Smoother Customer Experience
When the employee rings up the goods being purchased, the customer has to wait. And wait. And wait. (Or so it can seem when the checkout process doesn’t go smoothly.) In other words, any streamlining of the process on the employee side benefits the customer by reducing waiting and frustration. This is important for any business, but especially places like coffee shops where the bottom line depends on how efficiently your staff can operate during peak hours.
But a modern POS system can benefit the customer in other ways, too. Some systems might offer a personalized service, including recommendations based on previous purchases, or allow the customer to quickly register their purchase with the business’s loyalty program.
Business Insights
21st century POS systems can be fully integrated with inventory management, online sales platforms, revenue reporting, and more.
These helpful features obviously benefit business owners, but they can also streamline the customer experience. For example, cashiers can immediately let customers know if a product or menu item is available at the moment of purchase. Alternatively, data from a customer’s purchase history can be used to serve that customer personalized offers.
The Restaurant Checkout Process
A powerful restaurant POS can streamline the customer ordering experience. Some features of advanced restaurant POS systems include:
Self-serve: SumUp POS will soon be complemented by SumUp Kiosk, a self-checkout kiosk that allows customers to key in their order by themselves. This can cut wait times by up to 50% while also allowing business to upsell with suggested menu items on the kiosk’s touchscreen.
Kitchen linkup: If a restaurant’s POS system is linked to a digital kitchen display system (KDS), kitchen staff can get started on an order the second it goes through the register. Latency between front of house and back of house is reduced, allowing guests to be served faster.
Order platform integration: Tools like SumUp POS offer POS integration with other services, including third-party ordering platforms like Grubhub and Uber Eats. Automatically registering orders from these platforms means restaurant staff don’t have to manage takeout orders themselves, letting on-site customers get served faster.
The Retail Checkout Process
Most retailers have an online presence to complement their brick-and-mortar store. In fact, some might take far more online orders than in-person orders. Because of this, customers now expect omni-channel shopping experiences in which their online and in-store purchases are grouped together.
That can mean earning points on a loyalty program across both channels or receiving personalized offers based on both types of purchase history. SumUp POS offers essential customer relationship management (CRM) tools to assist with these strategies. An effective retail POS can also help with inventory management, automatically syncing up transactions with inventory to prevent stockouts and overstocks.
The Salon Checkout Process
As a salon owner, you can use your POS to improve the client experience. With POS client relationship management tools, you can track a client’s service history and preferences in order to offer them personalized experiences. You can also use your POS system for scheduling and appointments, saving your clients time (and helping retention) as they can schedule their next appointment on the customer-facing terminal while paying for their haircut, manicure, or other service.
Finally, don’t forget to use your salon POS to sell products. A recent survey found that over 95% of salon clients buy skincare and haircare products outside the salon at third-party retailers. Use those CRM tools to send out personalized offers on products as well as services, using your salon expertise to grab a sale that might otherwise go to Amazon or a pharmacy.
Choosing the Right POS for Your Business
As a small business owner, you don’t have to think of your POS system as just another expense on the balance sheet. Instead, choose a POS that cuts down your workload by automating inventory management, performing CRM operations, and streamlining the checkout process. If you’d like to learn more, reach out to our experts today.
