You already have a POS system in place right now. So, why should you switch. That’s a good question. A lot of companies put off upgrading their system because what they have appears to work. But, if you look closer, “what works” may not be enough.
Con: Before discussing the positives, there is one major con to upgrading your system. You have to change everything you’re doing right now. You will also need to get a wireless service provider if you don’t already have one.
There’s also the cost – it’s a few thousand dollars to get set up in some cases.
Pro: It’s cheaper than your old system. To balance out the disadvantage of having to pay for an entirely new system, the upshot is that the cost is a lot less than a traditional system which costs about $20,000 to install. You also don’t have to pay the same licensing fees with a cloud-based system.
That’s because these systems are usually structured on a monthly pay cycle. So, instead of buying an annual license, you pay monthly for the service. For example, when you purchase a Vend iPad POS system, you don’t have to pay for anything upfront except for the equipment (i.e. an iPad, a cash register, and a receipt printer). The installation is as easy as connecting your iPad to your wireless router. There’s no wires to run and no hardware that needs to be permanently installed on-site.
Your fees are charged monthly. In some cases, you can get free monthly service (depending on the size of your company). In most cases, you pay a nominal monthly charge for processing credit card transactions.
Pro: Till reconciliation is automatic. Since everything is electronic, the receipts and the till will always match up. There’s no special protocol or procedure that you have to do at the end of the night. That makes closing up shop a lot easier and faster. It also means that you can optimize employee hours so that you don’t have to pay for work that doesn’t need to be done. You can either stay open longer and rack up more sales or you can close up shop earlier.
Pro: Inventory tracking. Inventory trackers aren’t new, but they’re an expensive add-on that most businesses don’t use effectively or at all. With a mobile POS system, inventory tracking is usually built right in so that you can know, in real-time, where you stand with inventory.
This is really helpful if you have a high turnover on some products and a low turnover on others. Let’s say you sell out of a particular item really quickly every month, but another product usually stays on the shelf for a while – it has a more random turnover rate. Your POS system can help you see lagging sales on products so you can push those when needed and also restock before inventory gets dangerously low.
Pro: You can go to trade shows now. Maybe you’ve never been to a special event or a trade show before. If you have, you know what a pain it can be. You have to lug around special payment processing equipment. Sometimes, you have to take just a cash box and only accept cash – that alienates a large segment of the population and kills sales. With a mobile POS, you can attend gun shows, farmer’s markets, stadium events, and only bring your iPad and a cash box with you. That’s all you need.
Pro: You can go paperless. So many people are going paperless today. You can be one of them. Not only does it simplify your life, it saves you money (you spend less on register paper).
Pro: Your business can track sales and marketing initiatives. Many businesses – most businesses – are terrible at tracking sales and marketing initiatives. Did those Groupons work? What about the coupons and discounts last month? You got a bump in sales, but what was the exact ROI on that campaign? You don’t know. You can’t know – until now.
Usually, with marketing and sales tracking, you need to buy expensive and sophisticated software. Mobile POS systems, however, give you this feature as standard. It’s pretty amazing, actually.
Now, you can run promotions and see what the effect is on individual SKUs. This will then allow you to optimize future sales and discounts so that you can maximize profits. For example, use loss leaders more efficiently to boost overall sales and increase net profits. Without an electronic sales and marketing tracking system, you’d be more or less guessing at how well your marketing is working.
