POS systems are designed to handle all aspects of grocery operations like keeping tabs on inventory, boost loyalty of the customers as well as stimulate sales with combo offers and customizable vouchers/coupons. Grocery point of sale systems are expected to provide such a variety of functions without compromising on the accuracy level or speed of checkout at the store.
The “must-have” or most important features for grocery POS software are as below
Control of Inventory: The analysis of inventory by POS software, gives inputs on trends, helping retailers to decide when to order fast-moving items and when to reduce orders for slower-moving SKUs. This enables proper management of available shelf space and budget. This close tracking and control of inventory in the store is essential for efficiency and profit of the store.
Unlimited Item Database: A retail grocery POS software should definitely offer an essentially unlimited item database. The database should also allow the users to filter and sort by category, department or vendor and be searchable from any POS screen. New products keep coming for sale every day and expanding into new product segments is an established method for growth in the business of grocery stores.
Hot Key Look Ups: Fast checkouts are essential in grocery retailing. To this end, sorting products by department and having hotkeys, for produce and non-barcoded items, allows even trainees, to easily place orders. Product pictures and Color-coding also help speed up checkout processes and simplify training of new joinees.
Coupons to Promote Sales: Festive seasons, stock clearance etc are reasons to drive up sales. Discounts and Special Offers will always give a push to sales among key customer segments. The coupons can be for specific items, whole categories, or a mix-and-match group of SKUs. A POS system should give retailers the ability to create coupons for offers available in the stores. Ads placed in newspapers or circulars can contain these coupons, featuring barcodes that are scanned at the checkout to avail these offers.
Creating Combo Offers: By combining items that go together and offering a combo pack with a discount, grocery retailers can upsell. To upsell, is to push high-margin items by bundling them with products that are known to drive sales. For example, flowers and chocolates make a good gift set for Valentine’s Day. Now, retail grocery POS systems provide a barcode or hotkey for the package, thereby simplifying the creation of these combo offers. A POS system can help recognize the combo even when the items are entered separately. This means it will apply the right discount during the checkout process and present you with a delighted customer.
Customer Loyalty Program: Analysis of customers purchasing patterns also provides important data on different customer segments and who is buying which items. This is helpful to design a customer loyalty program that allows grocery retailers to improve management of their inventories and boost sales as well as develop their customer database.
