What do a shoe store, a chippy, a Michelin-starred restaurant, and a corner grocery store all have in common?

On the surface, they might seem worlds apart, but here’s what they all share: the need for efficiency, accurate transactions, and (most importantly) happy customers. That might seem like a tall order, but it’s all achievable with an electronic point of sale (EPOS) till system.

You might think an EPOS system only allows your business to process credit and debit cards, but in fact your EPOS is actually at the beating heart of your business. Here are four reasons why your business—no matter what type—needs an EPOS till system.

1) Inventory Management

Whether you’re a retailer or a restaurant, you have products that you store and sell. And that means it’s essential to track your inventory. You need to know how much or how many products or ingredients you have in stock, so you can reorder as needed. You need to also be able to analyse which products are selling—and which aren’t—so you can ensure you’re not ordering items that just sit on the shelves or spoil (if you sell food). Frequently, inventory tracking requires manual labour that’s highly prone to mistakes, which can get costly.

An EPOS till system, though, can automate and manage inventory tracking for you. It can send you alerts when you’re running low on key items, and you can even set up an autoreplenish system to order items when they hit a pre-defined threshold. This ensures that you always have the products or ingredients your business needs to successfully operate.

2) Customer Experience

A common adage in business is that it’s easier to sell to existing customers than to acquire new ones. It’s therefore essential to ask: “What keeps customers coming back to my business?” And 9/10 times, it’ll be because of the customer experience.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, your customer experience is the overall perception and feeling customers get when interacting with your business. Every touchpoint, including browsing products, making a purchase, receiving service as well as post-purchase support all contribute to the customer experience. A positive customer experience often includes convenience, efficiency, personalization, and a sense of being valued.

So how does your EPOS till system contribute to creating a positive customer experience? For one, it’ll help you streamline the entire customer experience. Whether it’s checking someone out at a sales counter, taking online reservations, or letting someone order from a kiosk, your EPOS till system can make the entire customer experience smooth and intuitive. What’s more, your EPOS system can also run a loyalty program, rewarding customers with discounts, special sales, or other enticements to patronize your business repeatedly. 

3) Unlocking Key Business Insights

The most efficient and profitable businesses today are data driven. That means they collect data on nearly every aspect of their business, including (but not limited to), their customers’ behaviour, which items are selling (and which ones aren’t), average order/purchase values, etc. Businesses can analyse these data points to make better decisions about their business, such as what items to stock more of and what to discontinue, which employees are selling the most, and others.

Collecting this data manually is nearly impossible, and even if you’re using a spreadsheet, it’s likely you’re missing key information. That’s where an EPOS till system comes in. They can capture this data in real time, as well as provide data insights in real time. So you always know what’s happening in your business, and you can easily figure out how to grow your bottom line.

4) Integrating and Scaling

While a full-featured EPOS till system has a lot to offer, it’s likely you will still need other software to run your business. The best EPOS systems offer a wide range of integrations with other software suites, such as accounting software.

What’s more, they can scale as your business does without a lot of fuss. Moving to a new location? No need to start from scratch; it’s easy to add additional terminals or tills to an existing location. Adding more products or menu items? Not a problem; you can upload your new SKUs or other items to your EPOS till system quickly and easily. Hiring more staff? Not only can you easily input them to your system, but Everything EPOS offers hands-on training.

Running a retail shop, restaurant, or even a takeaway can be a complex headache. But it also doesn’t have to be. Talk to one of our EPOS system experts who recommend an EPOS till system that will fit your business needs.