10 Must-Have Features For Your Point of Sale

Point of Sale software has become an essential part of many businesses today. POS systems have strengthened their position as an irreplaceable part of the sales process from retail to restaurants. Given the complete volume of sales transactions done every day, it doesn’t come as a surprise that point of sale software has become ubiquitous.

The competition in the point of sale software has certainly overwhelmed businesses. But if they know which features their ideal point of sale should have then, it should not be difficult to pick one.

Let’s analyze a few features that you will need in your point of sale software.

1. Multiple Payment Modes

In today’s world, credit cards are preferred over cash. Depending on the size of your business and the preferences of your clients, your ideal point of sale software should contain multiple payment modes. It should also accept mobile payments, just like credit, debit, or cash. Furthermore, you should be able to give your customers split payment options across different modes. Your POS software should facilitate these transactions seamlessly.

2. Mobile Access

The world is becoming mobile with every passing day. And your business should also be. Your point of sale should have mobile access as well. It allows you to move around at your store and score a sale anywhere. They won’t have to be restricted to the counters to attend to customers.

Hence, a point of sale that works on mobile will give you much more flexibility. Moreover, it will keep you on top of your sales target.

3. Digital Receipts

With eco-friendly practices becoming the new norm, you need to adapt to the trend and stay in the market. One solution for that is Digital Receipts. Your point of sale should send copies of the digital receipt to the customers.

In addition to this, it will also work as a CRM tool. It will save the customer’s data and other pertinent details. Thus, it makes it easier for your business to develop successful customer relationships while enhancing the customer experience.

4. Defined Permissions and User Accounts

Unless you are a one-person show, your business must have sales staff and managers. The point of sale software should allow you to make multiple user accounts who can individually access it through their unique password and ID.

If you have a sound system in place, you can keep track of each sale made, and your sales staff gives even the discounts. It will allow you to determine their productivity and whether or not they are meeting their sales goals. Also, it should be able to let you view their performance, helping you to see if they need additional training or not.

5. Inventory Management

Inventory is significant for any business. No point of sale software is worth your time if it does not help you manage your inventory efficiently. Unfortunately, you will have to purchase additional software for inventory management. Trust us; you don’t want that.

Your point of sale should consist of basic inventory systems such as integrated accounts, stock visibility, product variants, auto ordering, and much more. Just like a cell phone repair shop can’t do without having a comprehensive inventory management feature in their repair tracking pos software similarly, other businesses can’t do that as well.

For a more significant business with more than one store, other features such as barcode scanning, stock transfer, printing, etc., are also required. The point is that your POS should have inventory management capabilities that meet the needs of your business.

6. Tax Compliance

You need to have proper compliance with government directives and tax laws to remain above board. It makes auditing more accessible and more efficient. For businesses that have multiple locations, it should help them manage tax regulations of various states. Sales and other taxes that may be levied on several types of products will also be systematic.

7. Reporting 

Reporting is an essential component for all businesses. It should help track business performance across each department, be it marketing, finance, sales, or operations. So, for example, a good point of sale software should give employee reports, product reports, customer reports, or anything else your business might require. And it will help you get a 360-degree view of the organizations.

Most cloud-based points of sale provide flexible reporting that can be customized to meet the company’s needs. So, make sure your point of sale allows you to customize reports.

8. CRM Integration

One of the most significant advantages of a point of sale software is that it seamlessly captures the customer’s data with each sale. If your business uses an ERP or CRM software, which most likely it does, being part of the industry, your POS should be able to integrate with other CRM tools. In this way, the store managers can manage customer data easily, be it from the back-end or front–end.

9. Discount, Gift Cards, and Coupons

Coupons, Discount schemes, and gift cards make a good supplement for loyalty and promotional programs for businesses. Your point of sale should give easy-to-use functions regarding its features.

The software should calculate discounts and store price changes faster so that the customers don’t have to wait for long. Similarly, scanning and coupon generation should be easy. It will make checkout faster for both the cashier and the customer. In addition, if your point of sale can earn gift cards, you will get new organic customers, enhancing your sales.

10. Offline Mode

Your business may not be open 24/7, but the time it is functional, it has to work without any interruptions. Because interruptions can plague operations and your store needs to take adequate measures to fix that, particularly when it comes to POS.

For instance, you have a long line of customers waiting for checkout, but your internet is not working. In such a scenario, your point of sale should be able to generate receipts and process payments offline as well. The absence of this feature will cause problems for the customer and have a harmful impact on your business. To avoid such issues, your POS should provide a robust offline mode in addition to all the features mentioned above.

No matter what kind of business you have, it all comes down to meeting the customers’ needs. But with good tech comes good services and increased expectations. So to deal with these expectations and deliver exemplary customer services, invest in a good point of sale system. That’s the only thing that can help you grow and expand your business.