Posts tagged ‘epos system’
Six ways EPoS can improve your business
You probably know the basics, at least, of what EPoS can achieve for your business, but do you know everything?
Did you know, for example, that there is software that will link to your suppliers, enabling you to track orders door to door and see where problems occur? Or that your customers could book a table in your restaurant directly from your website?
Improve Stock Control
It is the obvious place to start, but that’s because it is a crucial part of your business – too much stock and you are tying up cash, not enough and you lose not only that sale, but possibly all future sales with that customer as well.
The software available with electronic point of sale can help you maintain the correct stock holding, warn of low stock, allow for automatic re-ordering and give you immediate, real-time stock reports.
Your inventory management is enhanced: you can monitor trends through the day, week or season and identify slow and fast moving and most profitable lines; see if price or product changes affect sales of stock; and let customers know in advance if stock is low or out, via your staff or your website.
Integrate Sales Information
Save time with your accounting requirements. Link your tills directly into your accounting package and have constant, up-to-date information.
You will cut down on errors, save paperwork and improve your records for the accountant and the tax man.
EPoS also enables you to aggregate site specific sales with online sales. This means there is no confusion or delay between sales in different areas of your business causing problems for your staff and customers.
Work closely with your supply chain
Not only can you automate orders, you can link directly with your suppliers via hand-held devices that can track goods, monitor timings and any delays, report stock levels at the warehouse which might affect your purchasing decisions and keep track of delivery in real time.
Giving suppliers important information about your customer purchasing trends and marketing activity also helps them ensure they have the right products at the right time – they don’t want to lose a sale either.
Improve speed and accuracy
Because you are not entering the same information several times, there are great time savings to be made. Multiple user facilities, accurate pricing and integrated electronic payment processing help to reduce user error and speed up service at point of sale.
If necessary, price changes can be made quickly and easily and are immediately programmed across all your systems and at point of sale. With all this automated information at their fingertips, staff have more time to manage the customer experience and up-selling.
Reports are easy to print and give you valuable information which you can feed back into your business. These could be for accounting or cash-flow purposes or to check the effectiveness of marketing campaigns.
You get reduced human error and greater data integrity. Your customers also get improved information, instantly knowing stock levels, prices and offers.
Know your customer
The data you are capturing provides excellent marketing information: sales trends, performance of promotions, buying habits, average spends and timing of purchases and customer history for more personalised engagement.
It provides a great platform for testing new products, prices, offers and adds to your knowledge of your customers.
This helps you to make their experience better, protects you from the competition and helps profile potential new customers that you want to attract.
You can link to database software to keep in touch with your customers and update them on offers, news, events and why they should keep coming back to you.
Enhance the customer experience
Your customers want instant understanding of their needs, fast and accurate service at point of sale and to feel afterwards that they have made the right decision.
The more you know about your customer, the better you are able to serve them. It makes them feel special and speeds up the interaction as well as keeping them coming back. It is also good for referrals as they will tell their network about you.
We all want to receive good service by competent people who value our custom. Happy staff, accurate systems and customer knowledge help create that great customer experience that we all look for.
Imagine this – you run a restaurant; a customer goes to your website, books a table and pays a deposit direct from the site; they get a confirmation email and you have ensured you have stock of items they have ordered before.
They arrive a few minutes early on the night; you have the table ready for them and may even have a bottle of a wine you know they like on the table; you allot them the waiter they had last time; make recommendations throughout the night based on their history; offer some kind of promotion based on their repeat business.
Every new bit of info from this visit is now in the system; the check is sorted quickly and easily at the table; you invite them to events that might be relevant to them on the way out; they go home relaxed, happy and feeling loved; they have also spent a little bit more than last time, but have not even noticed it.
Whatever your business, this scenario is possible. It might be slightly idealised, and a good maitre’ d would ensure some of this happened anyway, but with the level of software currently available, integrated in to your EPoS system, you need leave nothing to chance.
So, if you want to save time and money, take some of the hassle out of your operation and improve your profit, make sure you are doing enough with your EPoS software – your business could depend on it.
Resolve mistakes and staff issues at the touch of a button
CCTV is mostly thought of in terms of security, but what if it could increase your profits as well?
Arguably, it does this already. If it is acting as a deterrent to crime, then it is saving you time and money. But what more can it do?
Resolving errors
If your CCTV system is connected to your Electronic Point of Sale system, you can pinpoint and replay the exact moment any given transaction was made. If customers argue they have been given the wrong change, if staff have made an error, all these issues can be resolved, quickly and easily.
Along with the video replay of the transaction, the details of the order also appear on screen, giving you minute by minute, accurate information. As well as by time, you can also search the digital recording by product, e.g. Latte or Steak.
Reducing crime
This level of detail, coupled with the ease of access, means you can check for staff problems. Have two lattes been ordered and paid for, but three served? If there are too many ‘no sale’ items on the cash registers, these can be checked on video to ensure there was no foul play.
This information can even be accessed remotely, via remote computer or Smart Phone, which means you can react instantly to problems, wherever you are.
Night Vision
The CCTV system offers wide angle dome units with zoom lens and automated night vision – this can activate when the light goes below a certain level.
Similarly, the cameras can be permanently on, or activated by motion sensor, with remote back up and easy download to disk or memory stick
Increase profits
With all this control, reducing errors and crime, you will gain valuable time during your day and make sure the money in the till at the end of each shift is what should be there.
It can also help to train staff and encourage correct behaviour in any that may be tempted to cheat the system. A proper CCTV system could not only pay for itself, but add extra efficiencies to your business to give you an even greater return.
All in all, a great boost to your bottom line and a lot less worry.
If you would like more information about CCTV and EPoS, contact Phil straight away on 0117 963 2200 – and start improving your business today!
Who is in control of your stock?
Is it you?
Do you have time to do an audit every day? Checking levels, out of date stock and compiling orders takes time.
Is it your customers?
Your customers can’t tell you too far in advance what they are going to need, just so that you can ensure you have the right supplies. The also rarely order the exact same item(s) each and every time.
Hand-Held EPoS: Why not let your customers make their own orders?
With hand-held epos there is no making your customer come to you, there are no hand-written scribbles on waiters’ pads to decipher and there is no confusion about what is and is not available.
Your staff can go straight to the customer with their waiters pad with your whole epos system at their fingertips.
The best service for your customer
Your customer orders in comfort and confidence – they can specify exactly what they want and how they want it without worrying about anything being lost in translation.
The waiter gets instant feedback on any additions, deletions or changes to the menu. They also have specials listed for easy recital, plus reminders for up-selling and promotions.
And your customer gets served quicker – your waiters do not need to leave the floor, enabling orders to be taken more quickly and service to remain uninterrupted. The order also gets to the kitchen or sommelier/bar faster and more legible, which speeds up service further.
If you can’t quite account for absolutely every eventuality in your programming, there is even a writing facility to take special requirements. Having talked earlier about legibility, here we are adding in a hand-written element. However, it is only for exceptions and may prove invaluable from time to time.
So, for a personal, speedy and more accurate service, why not have a look at a waiters pad? While you are not literally handing your customer the pad, you are giving a highly attentive and personal service that couldn’t be better even if your customers were doing it themselves.
Find out more about hand-held options here.