Best Retail POS Software For Your Retail Store

Table of Contents

What is a POS System for Retail Business?

For any retail business, POS or Point-of-Sale is basically the chief point where your customers pay you back for your services. It is the area where all transactions are made by the customers. A retail POS system enables the computer to capture the amount that has to be paid by the customer, calculates it as per the company’s standards and generates the final invoice. It also houses the various payment options provided by the retail business to make the payment.

The function of retail point of sale systems is not limited to making payments and generating receipts. They are also used to handle all returns and exchange of goods. In short, it is basically the part which handles all sorts of transactions between the service provider and the customer.

A regular small business retail POS system usually contains cash register, receipt printer, cash drawer, computer, barcode scanner, credit and debit card machines, conveyor belt, weighing scale, automated ID scanner and customer pin pad device. Depending upon the variety of the POS system, there are some add-on components like touch-screen signature pad and automated customer ID scanners that are also included in a retail POS system.

How a Point of Sale System Can Help Small Retailers

The retail sector is experiencing a boom all over the globe and one asset that can help any small retailer expand their business instantly is an effective retail point of sale system. This super productive platform helps to streamline all operational functions and allows for the complete automation of sales analytics reporting.

The retail is industry is provoked by a number of diverse challenges and it is a tough field for any company to gain a competitive advantage. Getting the best pos system for small retail stores is a strategic decision for your organization, and it augments sales processes, administrative tasks, and inventory management in a structured manner.

There is no doubt that a retail pos software provides great benefits to small businesspersons and retailers – let us have a detailed look at some unique advantages of retail pos software:

1. Extended Payment Capability – One of the greatest advantageous points of retail pos software is that it augments small retailers to strengthen their payment capability through accepting different modes or channels of payment. Modern retail point of sale systems facilitate contactless transfer, card payment, and mobile wallets, thereby enhancing speed and agility of transactions. The best part about accepting various methods of payments is that it keeps your revenue streams steady along with enhancing customer satisfaction.
2. Advanced Reporting and Analytics – Sophisticated pos sales systems have a multitude of reporting options that can track sales, profits, expenses and customer details in real-time. With the advent of cloud POS solutions, retailers can access a centralized repository of sales data at any point in time to make better data-driven business decisions. Important key performance indicators of your retail store such as sales levels, stock turnover, average customer sales and historical trends can also be monitored for better organizational performance and effectivity.
3. Simplified Accounting and Billing – Managing the accounting practices and billing in the complex retail sector is not an easy task. A retail pos system can help your managers streamline accounting processes, and import important financial data directly from your accounting software. It keeps a regular and timely record of all bills, invoices, and payments – thereby boosting up the accuracy of monetary transactions and reducing the overall time or labor required for the billing function. Investing in a retail point of sale system is surely a smart idea for any small retail-based startup or company, as it can lead to a wave of positive transformation.
4. Faster and Superior Service – Keeping customers happy and satisfied is the topmost priority in today’s competitive world. Retail pos software is a real boon for any organization and a sure shot solution to provide a faster checkout process for your loyal clients. They do not need to get frustrated in long queues, as retail pos systems provide them with an exceptional and fast customer experience by providing fast service with a high level of accuracy, flexibility, and structure. So keep your patrons satisfied by getting the best pos system for small retail stores and witness a dramatic upturn in your overall profitability.
5. Better Stock Management – Retail point of sale systems are a marvel of technology and contain advanced inventory management modules that can handle a range of diverse stock-keeping activities. It keeps a record of inventory in the real-time and triggers off alerts in case of any product shortage – ensuring there is a steady supply of the required inventory at all times. The entire stock keeping process becomes highly automated and mechanized through retail pos software platforms, thereby minimizing human error and pushing up overall output levels.

How To Use A POS System For Retail Businesses:

A retail pos software can change the dynamics of any retail business as they come power packed with useful features and innovations. These novel solutions allow retailers to spend less time on manual administrative tasks, and they can focus their time and energy on critical business decisions.

The software market space has a variety of highly customizable retail pos systems- it is vital for any company to assess its unique business requirements before deciding to go in for the best pos system for small retail stores. Here are a few factors that may help you to understand how to use a POS system for your budding retail business:

1. Online Management – Make sure that your retail pos software can be used online and manage e-commerce transactions to grow your business. Your websites and online pages are a rich source of customer orders, and the flexibility of a retail pos system that offers online sales management is a blessing for any firm.
2. Omni Channel Experience – The current retail landscape motivates many businesses to adopt a multimodal channel approach such as both an online store and a physical store to maximize the sales pipeline. Your retail pos software will be able to augment sales on a multitude of platforms, enhancing operational efficiency and workflow management in the long run.
3. Detailed Receipts – Retail pos systems have the ability to provide more detailed receipts with a complete minimization of any chance of human error. Important aspects such as loyalty reward points, special offers or schemes, return policy can be integrated with billing and receipts to keep the transactions smooth and streamlined – thereby propelling business revenue.
4. Data Security – It is important to get the best pos system for small retail stores through a credible or reliable service vendor who will provide complete after-sales service and support. All sensitive data should be secure, and there should be encryption, password protection, and firewalls to ensure that security norms are not breached.
5. Employee Management – An additional aspect of the retail pos software is that they can also be used as a specialized managerial tool and reward criteria for the organizational workforce. This helps to build up team collaboration, employee engagement and improves the workplace culture or environment.

Retail point of sales systems can make your startup or small business more cost-focused, drive better sales insights and push up revenues at a rapid pace – it is the fastest way to keep your bottom line profits escalating in the corporate arena.

Retail POS System Features

Choosing the right POS system for retail store can be a daunting task. While a right retail POS system will help you to streamline your entire retail business, any wrong choice will make you fall into a pit of chaos and difficulties.

Here are the few key features that everyone should look for before buying any small business retail POS systems.

1. Easy and Fast Check Out – This feature of your retail point of sale systems allows you to speed up your transaction process. Easy check-out helps you to build a strong customer relationship.
2. Robust Inventory Management – Inventory management is one of the most difficult tasks for any retail business. No matter what business you own, you are going to have extensive inventories. Maintaining them can be easy with the help of inventory management feature of your POS system for retail store. You can do it without much of efforts as it automatically tracks the items which have been sold and update you regarding the new purchases.
3. Customized Invoice Generation – This feature of your retail POS software helps you to generate customized invoices and sales receipts easily and accurately. Invoice generation is one of the most essential tasks for any retail business. With the help of this feature, you can easily provide your customers with a detailed sales invoice with all the information mentioned in it.
4. Easy and Secure Customer Data Storage – Customer data is the most efficient and powerful tool for any retail business. This feature of your POS system for retail helps you to handle it with ease and security. With its help, you can easily import and export your customer data and use it wisely to increase your business.
5. Sales Report Preparation – This feature of your retail POS system helps you to prepare easy yet impressive sales reports every month. Preparing sales reports for your retail store is important as it gives you an insight of your sales figures.
6. Customer Management – For any business, the customer is the king. This application tracks the previous transaction history of a particular customer and helps you in identifying your valuable customers. With the help of this feature, CRM is easy and prompt.

Types of POS Systems for Retail Businesses

There are basically three types of retail POS system available on the market.

1. Cloud-based POS - Cloud-based retail POS systems are mobile apps that allow you to handle your retail activities anywhere and anytime. It is basically an on-the-go retail POS system which is easy to use and highly accessible. If you don’t have a huge retail store then this type of POS is your best bet as it is easy to operate and comes with few added benefits. Majority of small business retail POS systems provide you with a free card reader which you can carry along.
2. All-inclusive POS - This sort of retail POS software comes with all application in one system, thus helping you to streamline your entire business process. Starting from accepting payments to preparing a detailed business report, this retail point of sale system handles all with full efficiency. As they are highly robust and perform each action quickly and accurately, they are the ideal POS system for a retail store. One of the major traits of this type of retail point of sale system is that they can be easily customized to meet all your needs.
3. EVM Chip Readers - These types of retail POS software are relatively new as compared to other counterparts. In the year 2015, the trend to switch the credit cards with EMV chips got famous amongst the customers as it was an easy and safe way to make a transaction. To accommodate this new payment method, retail owners started using EVM chip readers in their retail point of sale systems. They are a boon for retailers as they also provide protection against any fraudulent activities.

How to Choose a Retail POS system for your Small or Large Business?

In today’s competitive markets, it is imperative to invest in a good retail pos system to streamline business practices, regulate cash flows, and monitor inventory. Retail point of sale systems can prove to be a real business asset for any small to large sized organization as they provide a great return on investment and enhance the customer experience. 

Getting a POS system for retail stores is a requisite and can have a massively positive impact on your bottom line results. Here are some important factors to keep in mind before choosing small business retail POS software solutions:

• Ease of Use: The top POS retail systems are user-friendly and require no specific technical expertise. This makes them easily usable and all your team members can adopt them for better functionality.
• State-of-the-Art Features: Make sure that your small business retail POS system has innovative and novel features that handle all your critical business requirements. Most modern cloud-based retail point of sale systems can manage customer relationship management, inventory tracking, accounting, billing and invoicing processes.
• Flexibility: Small business POS retail systems are flexible and advanced enough to support a number of diverse business software applications. All existing ERP and accounting systems can also be integrated with POS systems for retail stores – thereby keeping the whole process smooth and compatible.
• Support: You will lose valuable time, money and effort if your best retail POS software solution stops working or breaks down. Your service provider should be trustworthy and give regular support service to maintain the POS software for better longevity and optimum usage.
• Security: The top retail POS system small business keeps all important customer data in a central and unified repository, ensuring the highest standards of safety and security. There is no risk of loss, theft, or misappropriation of this vital business information as retail point of sale systems have various internal passwords and data encryption.

There is no doubt that investing in small business cloud retail POS software solutions is one of the best decisions you can take for your organization. It minimizes human error, automates operations, ensures employee performance, and augments seamless retail workflows. So get a top online retail POS system small business to witness a radical transformation of your business profitability and increase customer satisfaction to the greatest heights!