Often also known as a checkout counter, a point of sale is so much more than this. It's where sales actually happen, and that means optimising it to provide the smoothest and most effective experience possible is crucial. The good news is that there are 4 smart actions you can take to improve the POS experience for both you and your customers.
By Team Savant
Image: SumUp
Store Layout Optimisation
Part of optimising your point of sale in your retail store is ensuring you have a proper layout. Remember, you will need a clear traffic flow to the point of sale that customers can easily navigate without getting lost or confused. Your check-out area needs to be easily accessible, and customers should not need to walk past your best-selling products to get there. Remember, by the time they get to the point of sale, we want them to have found almost everything they are likely to be looking for.
Payment Option Variety
Part of the success of any retail store's point of sale is the ability to offer a variety of different payment options. While it used to be that cash only was typical, these days, many customers would be surprised by even a card machine asking them for their PIN. Instead, many expect contactless payments in the form of touching their cards, phones, or even smart watches to their POS.
Additionally, you can attract and retain more customers by enabling mobile wallets such as Apple Pay and Google Pay. Adding the ability to claim loyalty points every time customers make a payment should help you succeed with customer retention as well.
Although it is worth noting that payment reliability and safety are crucial here. What that means is customers will want the convenience of always being able to reliably pay, so choosing a payment provider that struggles with downtime during peak hours is a definite no-go. Similarly, customers will always want to trust the payment provider that you opt for, so choosing one that offers plenty of fraud protection and is well-regarded can be helpful.
Use Promotions and Discounts
You can also optimise your POS by making use of promotions and discounts in this area. Seasonal sales in particular can be useful here as they help to boost footfall as well as sales. However, before your promotions are successful, you will need clear, professional-looking signage that helps your customer understand the offer instantly on site.
This means not only getting your signage produced by an expert printer, but also assembling any displays with the proper materials like this acrylic glue, which will give you a professional finish. Indeed, when it comes to impulse buying, things need to be as perfect as possible to convince your customer to go ahead in the shortest possible time.
Customer Experience Focus
Remember that above all else, the point of sale is an experience for the customer. What this means is if you have a staff presence there, it should be friendly, and beyond hand offer fast support. It should also be an easy location to navigate to, and it can be a site where customers can offer feedback and comments as well.