One of the most crucial investments that your small business will ever make is a POS system. Unlike traditional cash registers, a POS system is able to efficiently control cash flow, track inventory, and streamline other business processes. POS systems also offer pertinent data that your small business needs in order to enhance customer experience and to improve return on investment.
The key to a successful modern business is choosing the right POS system. With so many options on the market, it can be a little tough to figure out which system is best for your company. Here are 6 tips to choose the best small business POS software.
1. Know your business needs
Most POS software offers the ability to track sales, inventory, and even employee performance. But, before you choose a POS system, you need to be well aware of what your business needs. For instance, if you own a retail store, you’ll want a system that offers product lookup and quick keys. For food-based businesses, the ability to split payments and add tips is a must.
Other advanced features that all small businesses can benefit from include:
- Customer-facing display
- Mobile registers
- Barcode support
- Searchable customer database
By taking the time to figure out your business needs, you can ensure that you’re choosing the best system for your employees and your customers.
2. Flexibility
You don’t want to purchase a POS system that isn’t able to accommodate new technologies and software in the future. A quality POS system should be flexible and advanced enough to support some of today’s leading software applications. This means you want a system that accepts the latest and greatest, such as mobile-based payment.
By choosing to use dynamic POS software, you not only save a lot of hassle and frustration, but you also save money. If you choose to spend minimal dollars on an outdated POS system, you’ll find yourself needing to upgrade the system in just a few years. While it may be more expensive upfront, find a flexible and dynamic system that you can use for a long time.
3. Usability
One of the most important factors to consider when choosing a POS system is usability. You don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on a system that’s confusing to use. In order for a POS system to benefit your business, you need buy-in from all of your stakeholders, and this includes your employees.
While you want a POS system that’s dynamic and extremely advanced, it also needs to be well-designed from a user perspective. Take the time to test the system and check out the vendors live demo. By seeing the system live in action, you can get an up close and personal look at how the system works, how it looks, and whether or not it’s easy to understand.
4. Get employee input
As a business owner, your opinion is what ultimately matters. But, if you want to satisfy your employees and get their buy-in early on in the process, it’s important to ask them for input. Let them test a few different POS systems, or take the time to view live demos together. Ask employees what they like about each system. Let them get a feel for what they’ll be using and how the system can make their day-to-day work a little easier.
5. Support
No one plans for their POS system to malfunction or to not work at all, but the fact is that technology has a way of breaking at the most inopportune times. When your POS system is down, you’re losing money and impacting customer experience and satisfaction.
To ensure you’re covered, find a POS system that offers around the clock support. This way if the system stops working at 6 am right before your shop opens, you have someone you can reach out to for assistance in getting the system back up and running.
You’ll also want to choose a POS system vendor that offers assistance with setting up the system. This way you can have peace of mind that everything is correctly set up from the get-go.
6. Avoid the one-size-fits-all POS system
While there are many products that can be designed to be broad enough to suit all business types, a POS system isn’t one of them. The fact is that the business world is extremely diverse and no two businesses are the same.
You want to find a POS system that tailors to your business industry. This way you can have access to all of the features and functionality that you need to streamline processes and improve customer experience.
It’s also important to remember that a one-size-fits-all system isn’t going to offer you a high return on investment. Odds are it won’t have all of the features that you need, which means you aren’t getting the best buy for your business dollars.
Conclusion
Picking POS software isn’t a decision to make lightly. Take the time to research all of the options available to you, and be well aware of what features you need from a POS system in order for it to greatly benefit your business.