How to eliminate bottlenecks at point of sale

Long lines and cumbersome checkout point of sales systems can throttle the number of sales a business can make in a day. Point of sale is the brick and mortar of retail, but if it's not up to scratch it can easily become a bottleneck, limiting a successful business' ability to grow simply because it can't handle the volume of customers.

While customer volumes versus daily transactions may seem like a numbers game, businesses struggling to eliminate bottlenecks at point of sale may find that choosing the right POS system can have a bigger impact than simply increasing staff and registers to cope with increased sales volume.

Sometimes, it's easier to do more with less.

Why more checkouts doesn't necessarily mean higher transaction volume

Adding more registers to cope with increasing customer volumes isn't the right approach when dealing with bottlenecks at point of sale. New registers require new personnel to operate them which only limits profitability (paying for more staff), while still remaining vulnerable to bottlenecks should the store ever be short-handed. 

Rather than personnel, technology is the underlying factor that determines the efficiency (or inefficiency) of a business's point of sale system. So how can retail stores leverage their POS systems to break down bottlenecks and unlock a greater level of growth?

Why the right POS system can break down bottlenecks

A point of sale system can be the let down for busy retail stores for two key reasons:

1. The POS technology isn't sophisticated enough to cope with transactional volumes
2. The system itself isn't robust enough for the environment it's housed in. 

For healthy eatery franchise Soul Origin, the customer transaction process was holding them back for both of the above reasons. Food and coffee spills were a constant hazard to the outdated registers that simply weren't able to meet the customer's needs, which limited the franchise's ability to grow.

Rather that adding more registers and paying more staff to man them, this cumbersome bottleneck was removed entirely by installing a robust, splash-proof retail system and POS software that could easily serve up to 240 customers per hour.

To top it off, a good point of sales system translates to a better customer experience, says IBM, which further enhances a business' opportunity to grow.

How to find the right POS solution for your business

Each business is different, so no two point of sales solutions will be exactly the same. It's essential that you take into account the unique needs of your business, which is why a managed service provider like LOOKUP.COM can help you take a step back and identify the right POS system for you.

To find out more, reach out to the team at LOOKUP.COM today.