There’s one important fact about point of sale (POS) systems that grocery store operations shouldn’t miss: POS systems aren’t all the same. There are a lot of POS systems on the market, but not all POS software and hardware was developed with grocery stores in mind. Many POS solutions won’t have the features you need to operate as efficiently and profitably as you can.
When you’re shopping around for the best grocery store POS system for your business, take a close look at the POS software and hardware to make sure you’re making the best investment.
The Best Grocery Store POS System Software Features
POS software should be all about helping you do things more efficiently — so you can save money — and providing great customer service — so you can make money. Any POS system will let a merchant total a sale, add taxes, accept payment and print a receipt. But the POS systems designed for grocery stores do much more:
- Inventory management: Grocery stores have large inventories and carry products with a growing number of varieties. Many products you sell also have a short shelf life. The best grocery store POS systems have inventory management that allows you to keep track of stock and monitor quantities and expiration. It can also make sure you know when it’s time to order so you don’t run out of the in-demand items your customers want like ingredients for Gooey Butter Cake or St. Louis-style pizza.
- Scale integration: Grocery store POS systems also need to let you integrate scales so you can sell items by weight and maintain an accurate inventory of the items you purchase in bulk. Accurate scales ensure that your custom is paying a fair price and you aren’t losing money due to inaccurate measurements.
- Loyalty program: Grocery stores are fiercely competitive. If your store is located near our office, you want to earn every customers’ loyalty in Manchester, Winchester, Twin Oaks, or Ballwin — and keep it. A loyalty program is a great way to reward your regular customers and keep them coming back to earn points and receive discounts. In addition, a grocery store POS system with an integrated loyalty program can provide you with data that helps you understand your customers better, which can help you run more effective promotions and increase sales.
- Coupon acceptance: It’s a deal-breaker if a POS system doesn’t easily accept manufacturer and store coupons. The best grocery store POS systems have this feature.
- Integrates with a payment solution: Your POS system also has to give you the ability to accept all types of payment — including credit cards, debit cards, checks, and EBT — quickly and securely.
The Best Grocery Store POS System Hardware Features
Grocery stores also need the right POS hardware to operate effectively. Touchscreens are a must for fast checkout — your customers won’t want to wait while cashiers use keys to find the items they need.
You also need to invest in hardware that will last, even when you use it in a sometimes-harsh store environment. The best grocery POS system hardware will be water-resistant so it keeps working even if a plastic drink bottle pops open at the checkout. Another advantage is choosing a POS terminal that’s fanless and has a solid state drive (SSD), so there are no moving parts. That means there’s less chance that you’ll need to call for service if a case of vegetable cans bumps the terminal, and there’s no fan to pull in dust that can damage internal components.
Choose a POS System with User-Friendly Features
If you find a grocery store POS system that checks all the boxes on your list, the next step is to try it. It won’t be of much value if it’s too difficult for your team to use, especially if your store has a high rate of employee turnover, and you’re always training new cashiers. Screens should give employees the information they need, when they need it — graphic items buttons can help cashiers find items more easily. They shouldn’t have to spend time (and delay customers) by searching through screens to find mangoes or avocados before they weigh them.
Settling for a POS system that doesn’t equip your business with the right tools is settling for less efficiency and less profitability. Don’t compromise. Insist on using the best grocery store POS system to give your business the best chance for success.
Have questions? PlazSales can help! Contact us today.
To help pizzeria owners, pizza point of sale (pizza pos) is more than just a cash register or adding machine — it’s a hub where you can manage your entire business.
Pizza shops have long managed their business in the traditional, manual manner. Much like pizza itself, why stray too far from what has worked? This may mean using pen and paper to order ingredients, taking down orders over the phone. You may be using a non-integrated payment system to swipe credit cards. But that means workflows that take extra time through a shift and at the end of the day. Modern customers want the convenience of online ordering and payment. And like customers always have, they still expect prompt service and their food served warm and tasty as ever.
With Pizza POS, you can streamline your operations to reduce waste. It’s a win for everyone: The more efficiency you can build into your business, the more successful you will be at keeping your customers and employees happier.
Pizza POS Features
Point of sale systems for pizzerias are unique among those for other restaurants and businesses because pizzerias are a different kind of operation. Pizzas are almost endlessly customizable in a way that other restaurants are not expected to deal with. How big of a pie does a customer want? Which certain toppings only go on which certain halves? It’s easy for a mix-up or misunderstanding to occur when relaying these orders verbally and recording them manually. Better to have a system that is designed and optimized for these specific kinds of orders.
Pizza POS systems need to give your business these capabilities:
- Modify options for size and toppings on pizzas. When the menu changes, the system can easily adapt as well.
- Inventory management that lets you know exactly what you have, how much you use, so you never run out of ingredients while reducing food waste.
- Online ordering to suit busy customers’ schedules and for added convenience.
- Delivery management to provide your delivery drivers with directions and constant traffic updates to get them where they need to be on time. You can also let your customers know when their delivery is dispatched so they aren’t left guessing.
- Loyalty program features to keep your customers coming back by rewarding them for doing so. The right pizza POS system will allow you to digitally manage your customer accounts and rewards with ease.
- Customer relationship management (CRM) that allows you to optimize your sales and marketing campaigns, forecast future sales, and automate simple digital features to leave your staff more time for complex tasks.
- Integrated payments — no longer take that extra time at the end of the day to do your payment reports.
- Offline mode for business continuity, even if your network connection is interrupted
- Reporting that provides you with visibility into what your customers are ordering, their preferred methods of payment, the times the rush comes in, and track labor hours and employee performance.
Just What You Ordered
In this day and age, pizzerias face steep competition and small profit margins. To keep operating while making a profit, you need the ability to operate efficiently and build a base of loyal customers. When it comes to optimizing your business, in all specifics unique to pizzerias, pizza POS can help.
To learn more about point of sale systems that help pizzerias run efficiently and profitably, contact PlazSales.
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