Why Choose a Point of Sale System?

One statement I consistently hear new business owners say is "I don’t need a point of sale system, I’m just going to use a digital cash register.” This may seem like a savvy business decision, after all a PC based point of sale (POS) system including hardware and software will typically cost $1,500 - $4,000 while a basic digital cash register can cost as little as $200.  So the question is: what benefit does a business, especially a brand new- cash strapped business, receive that would justify spending all that money?

 

To answer that question let’s imagine you are opening a new business: a retail wine store.  A new business must very strategically answer two fundamental questions: what are we going to sell and who are we going to sell it to?  The answers to these questions many initially seem very simple: I will be selling wine to wine drinkers!  However, in order to be successful you must know what kinds of wine your business will sell, what the price points will be, how many wines you will sell and how many of each bottle you should keep in stock?

 

After a seemingly very successful first month in business your shelves will start to look a bit bare and you’ll know it’s time to reorder.  But which wines should you order and how many should you buy?  Consult your digital cash register and you will be lucky to find out how many of a particular bottle you sold in a given time period.  I say lucky because many digital cash registers simply don’t even possess this basic functionality.

 

On the contrary, a true point of sale system can act as your most trusted business advisor in this situation.  The POS system could, for example, easily tell you how many of each wine you sold, how much profit you made on each varietal and even who you sold them to.  Of equal importance, you will also be able to see which wines were not selling in that time period.  Because inventory is the largest expense for any retail business the misallocation of your money on inventory could quickly cripple your business.

 

On a particular day, in your new store, a man walks in and begins browsing your inventory.  You start a conversation with him and learn that he is a wine enthusiast, you recommend a couple of bottles to him and he happily buys over $150 worth of wine from you.  A great sale for your small business!  Consider this scenario and ask yourself: how important is it going to be to get this customer to come back in and buy more wine from you?  Obviously it is absolutely essential!  How could you be sure to capitalize on this customer and others like him?

 

A PC based point of sale system can help you accomplish this through an integrated customer tracking module.  Here you can track your customers by name, make notes on their preferences, record an email address and even your customer’s date of birth.  Now you know that this customer’s name is John Wilson and his favorite wines are Merlot and Chardonnay! You have an email address and mailing address that allows you to send him a coupon for 10% off for his birthday that is coming up next month.  In addition, you have a place to track each of John’s purchases. Therefore when a new variety of Merlot comes in you can email John letting him know what you have available.  Essentially, you can quickly figure out which of your customers you should contact inviting them back into your store for a guaranteed sale.

 

The next time John comes in the store you have a quick reference at your fingertips, you can greet John by name, ask him how he enjoyed the last Merlot he bought from you and suggest another product you know he’ll love. This is the kind of service that customer’s enjoy, tell their friends about and will keep them coming back. You have earned a loyal customer for life!  This essential business function is simply not possible with a digital cash register.  When investing in the future of your business ask yourself how quickly a legion of happy customers just like John would make the return on your investment of a point of sale system seem essential and the purchase of a $200 cash register a devastating business choice.

 

A fully integrated point of sale, inventory and customer tracking system, like DENALI from Cougar Mountain Software, offers quick access to the information business owners owners need to answer the critical questions.  The return on investment will more than pay for the initial cost many times over.