5 Must-Have Features For The Best POS Software

POS software has become a must even for the smallest single-shop retailers. The retailer gains some positive reputation and also saves on a lot of efforts and time managing the stock and sales using the software. There are many POS software available in the market and here’s a guide to choosing the one with 5 of the most important features any POS software must have. These are the basic requirements considering how most of the retails generally work. If your company has got any other specific way of running or retailing, you can talk to your software provider who’s closest to what you are doing and ask for customization to suit your requirements.

1. Faster Billing

That’s the basic requirement for any POS software. It must help you bill the products easily and also update the inventory and accounting modules if those are available. POS software usually allows the user to integrate with a barcode scanner that scans the barcode attached to the product and fetches the details including the price from the software’s database. It also will have a printer attached using which the retailer prints out the retail invoice and hands it over to the buyer. If you are doing online sales, make sure you are able to print out the required invoice formats that help you ship the product.

2. Inventory Management

Among the most important aspects of POS software after billing is inventory management. A good inventory system that comes with your POS makes the POS more reliable and usable. You can check the inventory of the items in demand in real-time, analyze the sales over a period of time and plan your purchases accordingly. You can also get various analytics on what sells more to which locations or during a particular season and the like. Some POS also come with integrated purchase systems that send automatic order emails to the respective suppliers through the software.

3. Customer Data

CRM or Customer Relations Management is an important aspect of all retail businesses. Since you are dealing with your customers directly, if you are able to take good care of your frequent customers, they will remain your loyal customers for longer periods and also bring in more referrals with their happy reviews. You can also offer special discounts or schemes to regular customers which will make them happier. You can use the data for sending special mailers and newsletters to your esteemed customers informing them of latest product additions and new store premises opening.

4. Reporting and Analytics

Any digital data is useful when you can draw meaningful reports and analytics from them. Real-time sales data and accounting reports or profitability reports are the best ways to make sure you stay on the right track. Any downward trends should be alerted immediately which you can tackle immediately by analyzing the reasons and taking corrective actions. Analytical reports such as items that sell more, mapping the customer or locations to the sales and similar other data that can help you concentrate more on the weaker locations or sections to improve your position there can be a great help to boost your sales.

5. Mobility

Mobility matters these days, as people prefer to buy on the go. Most of the people prefer to place their orders while they are traveling by bus or train which you should be able to fulfill on the go too. Time matters a lot and people do not have time to wait for order confirmation. If you have the POS app on your mobile, you can process the orders as and when you receive them which make your customer happier and satisfied. Even if you are out of town, your mobile POS app will make sure your orders can be processed from anywhere at any time.

These are just the basic requirements. Competitive POS software vendors are coming up with content management and many other marketing techniques integrated into the POS software making it a full-fledged retail solution. Some POS software also has Employee Management integrated for the retailers with many employees and multiple locations. Catering to global retailing solutions is what many of the POS vendors are aiming for currently since most of the retailers are venturing into e-commerce solutions to reach out to more customers worldwide. Finally, what’s right for you? Consider your audience and consider your retail needs. This can help you narrow in on the right POS for your unique business.