You’ve probably heard about some of the amazing things your POS system can do, but did you know that you can actually leverage your analytics data to make better decisions about your business? From staffing more accurately to gaining a greater sense of overall awareness about how your business functions on a daily basis, here’s how you can leverage your POS data for greater business efficiency and growth.
Better Staffing Decisions
Staffing according to demand can be quite difficult with no solid information behind you. You’ll want to know what times of the day or week/month your store is busiest in order to staff appropriately, and inaccurate estimates can cause over-staffing. This makes for a lot of downtime, which only serves to cost your business money in the long-run.
Accurate staffing can be accomplished by simply looking at your daily sales numbers. Most POS software will break down the day into hourly sections, so you can effectively identify your busiest times of day, and make better-informed staffing decisions from there. Take a look at when downtime occurs as well, so you can craft a schedule with employee breaks or fewer staff on the clock around these times. Remember that the more productive your employees are, the more value you’re getting from the financial cost of labor.
Once you’ve got your staffing down to a science, you’ll likely notice a change in your monthly profits, as more accurate staffing is a serious money-saver.
More Focused Marketing
Tracking what your customers purchase from your store can help you create more accurate and focused marketing campaigns based on customer purchasing habits. Once you know your customers better, you’ll be able to send them focused promotions for their favorite items; thereby increasing the chances of them coming into the store to purchase more of those items.
The more focused your marketing efforts are, the more effective they’ll be overall. The best way to create super-effective marketing campaigns is to get to know your customer base. Pay attention to trends and habits in your customers, and make your promotions accessible to them. You can start a customer profile within your POS software and collect personal information, as well as link them to sales.
With more focused marketing efforts, you’ll see an increase in sales and even an improvement in customer relations. A customer who feels like you truly know them will feel much more comfortable in your store and is more likely to remain loyal to your brand.
Better-Informed Financial Decisions
When you’re looking to expand operations or pay down business debt, you’ll first want to take an in-depth look at your monthly financials. If you’re not making a profit, it can be much more difficult to make a financial plan and effectively pay down debt or finance growth. POS systems will provide you with all the information you need on your day-to-day and monthly operations.
You’ll be able to see gross and net profits, expenses, and much more with certain POS software. The more financial information you have access to, the better you’ll be able to make financial decisions. If you don’t know how much you’re making per month and where you’re losing money, how can you possibly hope to finance your business’s growth?
Remember that awareness is the greatest tool that any business owner has in their arsenal, particularly when it comes to finances. Don’t leave your finances to the wind; track sales with a modern POS system for incredible accuracy and ease-of-access.
Better Inventory Management
Inventory will be managed in real-time with most modern POS options, taking the pain out of manual counts and inaccuracies. Using your POS data, you can see which items sell the most, so you can keep them well-stocked and ready to go. Some POS systems will even send you notifications when stock is low, so you can order more before you run out. Other systems actually integrate with your ordering software; automatically ordering new stock when numbers run low.
Inventory management shouldn’t have to be a chore, which is why automating the process as much as possible with a POS system just makes sense. Your POS system will track sales, inventory, and even returns in real-time for maximum accuracy. Don’t leave something as vital as inventory to chance!
Greater Overall Awareness
Your POS system will provide you with a greater overall awareness of what’s going on in your business; from sales numbers to inventory management and staff scheduling. Awareness truly is the best tool you have available to you, and anything that can help increase your overall awareness is truly an asset to both you and your business.
The more you can focus on running your business rather than attending to tedious tasks like inventory management, the more your customers and your business will benefit. Remember that you need time to interact with customers, so certain tasks are best left to automation rather than spending countless hours on them!