Although today’s retailers will be familiar with point-of-sale (POS) systems, they have undergone some drastic changes over the years, so the retail EPOS system experts from Eurostop wanted to compile some important information for you here. Find out more below about POS systems, how they work, and their beneficial features.
What Exactly is a POS Transaction?
In the simplest of terms, a POS transaction occurs when money or another type of payment is exchanged for goods or services via a payment processing system compromising both software and hardware. Payment is made via a variety of methods including credit or debit card, (including contactless), cash, gift voucher as well as an increasing range of digital wallet options.
What Are the Procedures for Payment Processing?
Processing a POS payment is often broken down into three simple steps: authorisation, authentication, and settlement. Authorisation is required of course only when a customer uses cash-free payment methods and consists of the POS system communicating with your financial institution once a credit/debit card is inserted or a contactless payment method is registered. Once the transaction is registered as legitimate, it is then authenticated by the financial institution and credit is transferred to a retail establishment’s account. Lastly, the transaction is settled by generating a receipt with the POS system and the finalisation of the payment.
Specialised POS Systems
As mentioned previously, today’s best of breed POS systems are robust, feature rich and fully connected to your Head Office stock control solution or ERP system and POS estate. They cover:
Inventory Level Monitoring: A POS system can make it far more accurate, not to mention easier, to track and monitor your stock in store and ultimately across the business. This includes booking in stock or monitoring interbranch transfers, as well as deducting stock levels when you make a sale. Having accurate stock inventory information means that retailers are able to see what is really going on in the business and consequently be better placed to maintain the ideal level of stock for product lines and reorder at the levels at the correct time, according to demand. In addition, the correct business insights will allow the allocators and merchandising team to make the right decisions to grow the business.
Customer Loyalty Information Collection: Retail POS systems enable you to collect and store important customer information such as their preferences and personal purchase histories. This is particularly important for retailers who are focused on a customer centric approach where hyper-personalisation is key to engaging, keeping and growing a loyal customer base. ‘Knowing’ your customers and interacting with them as individuals can go a long way to differentiating your brand in an ever competitive retail landscape. This could either be in store or through targeted marketing campaigns.
Sell more, Upsell or Advanced Promotion Implementation: Having the right tools to empower your store associates really helps to provide excellent customer service and minimise the risk of a lost sale. An effective POS will not only process sales efficiently and accurately, but will also provide information such as product details and stock levels in store and elsewhere in your store portfolio. So if you have sold out of a popular item in a particular store, you will be able to find out where else it is available, or perhaps look at other upselling or cross selling opportunities.
An Omnichannel Experience: Leading EPOS solutions like the ones from Eurostop facilitate an omnichannel or unified commerce experience, connecting seamlessly with your CRM platform, sychronising with stock management solutions and assisting to provide a consistent customer experience across all stores and channels. Managing a multi store portfolio, not to mention marketplaces and online channels is a complex operation that requires a single view of stock. Furthermore, promotional campaigns or multiple promotions need to be managed reactively and consistently. Retailers will require the correct tech stack to setup and manage promotions across their customer touchpoints so that store associates know which ones are active and are able to process them accurately and efficiently and continue to delight loyal customers.
Contact us today for streamlined retail EPOS systems
Learn more about Eurostop’s advanced retail EPOS systems by contacting us online today or calling +44 (0) 20 8991 2700.
