subject: Supermarket Pos - From Dreary To Deal [print this page] One of the very best investments you can make in your independent supermarket business is a state-of-the-art supermarket POS system.
But state-of-the-art doesn't necessarily mean over-the-top-ridiculously-expensive; it simply means ensuring you get a point of sale software system that is specifically designed for your particular market segment and has all the features and functionality required to take your supermarket or grocery store from ordinary to extraordinary.
So, whether you are considering the purchase of a supermarket business or already have one or a chain of supermarkets and you are thinking of upgrading your system, let's look at some of the amazing benefits you and your business will gain with the technological advantages of a supermarket POS system.
Your business would quickly have to put up the shutters without a steady and loyal customer base; probably more so than any other business, a supermarket relies on regular customers who know the staff by name and also know in which aisle they are bound to find the household supplies they are looking for.
As a manager or staff member, wouldn't it feel wonderful if you could scrap the incessant paper shuffling and pen pushing to focus more of your attention on satisfying the needs of new and existing customers?
That's the beauty of a supermarket point of sale system; it takes care of the paperwork and processing so you can take care of your customers!
And what's more, with additional time on your hands you can focus more energy on improving and expanding your business.
A supermarket POS system enables you to input the prices for every item in your store. Sure, that's a time consuming process when you first start out, although importing all your product data all at once, including prices is often possible. Once the products are in, changing prices is about all you need to do. Some suppliers even provide this information in a file which is easily imported into your POS system, eliminating the need to do this manually.
A computerised monitor and barcode scanner at the checkout reads the prices, records the details and the price of each item on the shopper docket, includes any special discounts or two-for-one offers and then tallies up the total.
Your customer can view each item as it's scanned in the system on the customer display screen and then has the choice of payment via cash, cheque or credit/debit cards. The POS software completes the transaction and your customer leaves happy and satisfied. Not only that, your checkout staff don't have to worry about trying to calculate discounts or changing prices for multi-buys all those tedious tasks are handled by the POS system.
Supermarket POS in the Back Office
Let's face it: one of the most laborious tasks for supermarket owners and managers is trying to keep track of stock, invoicing, suppliers, accounts, inventory and re-ordering.
A supermarket point of sale software system handles all the paperwork online. It will track each and every sale of a particular item as it passes through the checkout, so with a few clicks of the mouse you can view the quantity sold and quantity still in stock for all your products. You can view your stock-at-hand and see when stock is running low and reorder as needed.
Once you have confirmed the re-order list, you can email or fax the order to your supplier, or the software can electronically message your suppliers for fresh stock, if you have the correct supplier integration. This functionality applies whether you have one store or one hundred stores.
The point of sale system can also display a range of data to help you manage and improve margins and profit levels. For example, you can view data on the most profitable and popular brand of baby nappies so you can forward-plan accordingly. It can show you how many products were sold today, last week or last month.
With the multi-buy pricing feature, you can easily set up in-store discount promotions or a buy one get one free offer.
In addition, you can group your customers into different segments so that special discounts will automatically apply for, say, seniors or your regular.
A supermarket POS system reduces the day-to-day menial paperwork, leaving you free to focus on the more important things. What's more, it creates a positive and reassuring experience for your customers as well as promoting a less stressful experience for your staff. And isn't that a win-win-win situation for everyone?
