Leverage an expert to help you choose and buy a point of sale

When it comes to point of sale (POS) systems and technology solutions for SMBs, one size does not fit all.  A POS system built for the retail industry won’t translate well for a restaurant and vice versa. The same concept applies to the impact your POS has on the shopping, dining, and check out process for your customers, otherwise known as “the customer experience.” What enhances the customer experience for one set of customers may miss the mark for a different set. 

You may know your audience, but a good POS provider knows your audience AND the technology you need to deliver an outstanding customer experience. In this article we’ll review the ways that your POS reseller can help you perfect the customer experience.

When determining your particular technology needs, a good POS provider will take into account the size and type of business you operate, your target market, and your future goals. 

If you operate a restaurant, you’ll obviously want a restaurant specific POS system. But that only narrows down the choices to several hundred. The specific type of restaurant can narrow it down a bit more since systems that do well for quick service restaurants aren’t necessarily right for table service restaurants. But the real value a POS provider can offer is to go far beyond those basics to highlight things you may not have considered.

For example, in a table service restaurant the level of customer service the wait staff can provide depends partly on the number of terminals available and their proximity to the servers’ sections.  Three terminals may be sufficient for a given restaurant, whereas another restaurant serving the same number of customers may need additional terminals to accommodate a balcony or additional bar in order to provide similar quality service. If a server in your restaurant has to take 10 steps to every one of a server in another restaurant, your customer service will likely be inferior.

Likewise, in a retail operation, the quality of customer service can depend on the method used to check inventory.  Say a customer wants to know if a different size or color of an item that is not on the shelf is in stock in the back. One store is able to check on the availability of the item with a few keystrokes, but another has to go into the back and physically check on the availability.  The store with inventory at its fingertips is at an advantage when it comes to superior customer service.

But why buy a system that includes fancy inventory software if your inventory fits in a cabinet behind the counter? Your money might be better spent on adding mobile functionality depending on the demographics of your target market.

These are the types of variables that a good POS provider can walk you through to help you make the most out of your purchase and investment. A one size fits all system that you can purchase on the internet may cost less in the short term, but it will cost more in the long term when you account for the negative impact an unoptimized system has on the customer experience. 

If you don’t have a trusted POS provider you should get one.  Vantiv Integrated Payments works with the top POS providers in the industry and can pair you with one in your area that offers solutions for your business type. Just ask.