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Ebeltoft Group advises retailers and suppliers to the retail sector
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Finally, it's all ready!
From selecting of retail space to designing and renovating the shop space, engaging with the suppliers for your goods to hiring suitable staff, this is it. Your shop is ready for the grand opening.
Wait, so where's the Point of Sale (POS) system? Without the POS system, how are you going to carry out the transaction? No doubt you can use a cash register, but a POS system is highly recommended as it has more features that can benefit the business owner.
Here, I will list out the 5 main factors to look out for when selecting a POS system.
(1) Space Requirements
Allocate sufficient space for your POS system to fit nicely with your checkout counter is one of the primary concerns even at the early stage of designing your shop layout.
You won't want your contractor to come down to meddle with your shop layout after the renovation has been completed, to realize that, there's no space allocated for your Point of Sale system.
(2) Hardware vs Software
Without doubt, both hardware and software make up the entire POS system. Often, retailers make the common mistake of buying the hardware then the software. This is a very big mistake. Reason being, software often has their own hardware requirements. If you were to get the hardware first, how would you know if the software is compatible with the hardware?
(3) Branding & Support
Next, with so many brands of POS out in the market, which particular one should you consider? For me, I will go for those companies which have a proven track record in the retail and food and beverage industries.
Besides that, availability of local support is also very important. You would not want to get a POS from a company where the on-site support will be available a couple of days later or longer. And if that company does not have any local presence in your country, it's even worst especially at times when you needed assistance badly.
An ideal support will be a company that has a 24x7 phone support via means like a help desk etc. With this, minor issues can be resolved straight away over the phone. Else the engineers can go to the client's site to resolve the issue.
(4) Features
Below are some of the common features of a POS system:
- Item creation and maintenance
- Discount creation and maintenance
- Various types of reports
- Payment media
- Item creation and maintenance
- Discount creation and maintenance
- Various types of reports
- Payment media
Besides the above mentioned, you have to consider whether you need remote monitoring of your POS while you are away or any rewards program for your loyal customers.
If you are opening a retail store for the first time, it would be good to check with your vendor to see if they have any add-on software(s) which can be integrated with your Point Of Sale system. So when you decided to expand and broaden your business, you will have no worries about those add-on software modules, which can bring your business to greater heights.
(5) Maintenance Cost
New POS system usually comes with one year warranty. If you encountered any difficulties, this warranty will come in handy as you can call for assistance.
However, do watch out for its limitations too. In a typical scenario, the POS vendor will only come down to solve your problem(s) the next business day, which is a common practice. Unless you uplift the warranty, you will not get immediate attention by your vendor, since they have other customers to attend to.
If you are new in retailing, I would suggest it's better to go for the warranty uplift. By doing so, quick response time is achievable especially in normal retail hours. You won't want your POS to 'hang' there while you are still in operation. Any delay will potentially affect the sales and even customer satisfaction.
Raymund Teong is a Point of Sale consultant, social media enthusiast, avid photographer who loves to run barefooted. He has provided consultancy work for numerous companies ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations.
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