There are many vendors, offering several different kinds of POS systems, for different sectors, that speed up the billing process as well as offer other immediate benefits, and ultimately can results in happier customers.

Related: The essential guide to point of sale (POS) systems – SmallBusiness.co.uk

The top five money-saving benefits offered by a good POS system

Preventing waste

A good POS system carries information about products, their prices and their quantities available in stock. However, it also stores manufacturing dates and expiry dates as well. For small businesses, this is a huge benefit as the business owner can determine just how many borderline goods they have.

To prevent waste and loss, storeowners can then sell these borderline items quickly through store promotional offers or two-for-one deals. Preventing waste is particularly true for time-specific industries like restaurants and food stores states Gbtpos. According to the NRA or the National Restaurant Association, food costs were the top challenge for restaurants. More than 25 per cent of restaurants stated that it was necessary to have an updated POS system that would help them plan a menu or prevent waste.

Of course, now using a POS system makes it easy to streamline the vendor ordering process, use borderline goods to plan a menu or plan a sale based on stored items, and help the business reduce waste and loss.

Mobilising operations

Vendors come up with innovative technology and software that makes billing faster points out Bematechus. In fact, mobile and tablet technology has drastically affected the retail industry. The improved mobility makes it possible to bill customers anywhere in the store and it promotes spot purchases and impulse buys. Multinational companies like McDonalds and Pizza Hut have already implemented tablet-based billing stations with credit card readers to speed up the billing process.

Now, smaller businesses, pop-up stores, and restaurants like the Alley 64 have moved over to wireless POS systems operated solely through tablets. In fact, Alley 64 managed to reduce their labor expenditure by $20,000, and reduced food costs by 1.5 per cent by streamlining the order process and reducing server errors.

Green benefits

Shifting from a traditional billing system to an environmentally sound technology POS system produces a huge amount of cost savings. Modern day billing systems are streamlined and are made with lightweight eco-friendly materials to promote a green environment. Modern POS systems also offer eco-friendly POS printers that compress data and print it on smaller-than-normal, ecologically friendly paper sheets.

On demand, printing is also available, in which customers can refuse small bills to reduce paper waste. Retailers are also offering signature capture pads that can validate transactions. Bills or receipts are then mailed to the customer’s email ID. Another interesting tweak is the use of rechargeable gift cards. Business owners can collect old gift cards, clear them, and recharge them repeatedly instead of printing new cards.

Customer data

Modern day POS systems can even gather customer data every time they visit the store. This is critical to the success of every business as customers form the lifeline of a business. When you know your customers, you can cater to their specific demands. You can streamline your advertising, promotional campaigns, weekly discount deals, and sales so that they appeal to as many customers as possible. Instead of wasting your money on useless sales, you, as the business owner, can actually target specific age groups or customer groups to ensure maximum sales.

Save staff time

This is probably the most apparent benefit of using a POS system says Speedlinesolutions. A comprehensive POS system can tally in-store goods, match them to goods stored in the warehouse, helps the store personnel to tally daily sales with daily sales receipts, etc. This saves store personnel time and money and it can free up their time to deal with customer service and sales. As the POS also manages inventory, it becomes very easy for the storeowner to track sales and stored goods from anywhere in the world. Business2community states that POS systems are completely online and authorised personnel can access them to order goods, stock the warehouse, request items to be delivered to the store from the warehouse, contact the vendor, and reorder high-demand goods.

As you can see, a good POS system is a wonderful addition to any business. POS systems are money savers by design but most people don’t realise just how many benefits are offered by a good system. Often they are underutilised as store personnel do not know how to operate every part of the POS.

To get maximum benefits from the system, it is necessary to train your staff and update your system regularly. However, switching your older billing system to a new POS system can demonstrate immediate benefits to your financial and ecological bottom line.

See also: The 9 best card readers for UK small businesses