Why POS for Small Businesses is Vital for Success

Mobile POS for small businesses is one of the key, success-defining factors. Identifying the best mobile POS systems for your specific case allows you to make data-driven decisions. It's also helpful to accelerate business growth, increase revenue, improve efficiency, and decrease costs.

Mobile point of sale (mPOS) is an umbrella term that refers to the software and hardware components required to complete a sales transaction on the go. Often, the software is used together with mobile point of sale devices. These can include credit card readers, NFC payment terminals, barcode scanners, and cash drawers.

The vast majority of mPOS software vendors enable their systems on tablets and smartphones. They can be powered by both iOS and Android. Tablets are more sophisticated in terms of aesthetics and create a professional image for your store. Additionally, some of the best mobile POS systems like Square and Toast include a set of powerful and handy features. They offer analytical tools, customer data tools, inventory management, and various integrations that every business can utilize to great effect.

During the last couple of years, mobile POS systems have taken incredible leaps. This is especially true for small retailers and restaurant owners. These types of businesses need a way to differentiate themselves from the big market players and acquire new customers, mobile POS has been invaluable.

Benefits of POS for small businesses

Apart from serving as a modern and sleek solution compared to old and bulky cash registers, mobile point of sale software brings many benefits to the board. Here are the most prominent ones.

Cloud-based access

Some of the best mobile POS systems are hosted on the cloud. This eliminates the need for stationary servers, backup hard drives, and the IT experts. In short, mPOS cuts costs significantly. Most software vendors have a dedicated support team. In moments, they can assist your team with any software and hardware issues you come across. This includes importing customer data from an old POS system, integrating a new piece of hardware with the existing system, maintaining the security and integrity of business and client data, updating the software, etc.

Moreover, you’ll be able to access all the information you need on the go, as long as you have an internet connection. That being said, if you do decide to implement a mobile point of sale system, pay attention whether the software can run in offline mode.

This is essential since you need to make sure that your business runs smoothly 24/7. An accidental loss of connection can effect your business and your bottom line. For instance, Revel POS can be operated without an internet connection just the same. Once you regain access to the internet, all the sales information automatically synchronizes with the cloud servers. That way, you can make sure that no data will be lost.

For a small scale business, it doesn’t make sense to create and maintain a full-fetched infrastructure. The cloud-based design doesn’t limit your store’s or restaurant’s mobility in case there is a need to shift to a different location.

Live inventory management

Mobile POS for small businesses enables simplified and convenient access to your inventory. Salespeople can check the stock levels of all products without having to do anything manually. Everything happens automatically and is displayed on the screen of your smartphone, iPad, or Android tablet.

With mobile POS for small businesses, the sales team will have the option to check the whereabouts of a given product across all your stores. If a specific item isn’t available at one store, delivery can be arranged from the other. Finally, mPOS allows you to check when items will be available in the future if it's out of stock. Additionally, you can check all the corresponding details, such as sizes, quantities, colors, etc.

Elegance, simplicity, and speed

With the right mobile POS software and the corresponding hardware pieces, you can say goodbye to queues and long wait times. Close to all modern mPOS solutions can handle both swiped and chip cards. Moreover, some tools like LightSpeed make it easy to complete a transaction in any corner of your store through dedicated payments systems like Apple Pay and PayPal.

These benefits are twice as important for cases when quick and efficient service is equivalent to higher revenue like bars and nightclubs. When clients are having a good time, you don’t want to make them wait for their orders. Also, you want to make it as simple as possible to make payments. This increases the likelihood that they will return in the future. A dedicated mobile POS for small businesses with a focus on bars and restaurants offers supporting features like easy drink reordering to complement this strategy.

Last but not least, cutting edge technology has the power to impress customers. People like novelty and whenever it’s accompanied with convenience or pleasant surprises, it’s always exciting. Even if they never return to your store, they will tell their friends or post to social media. This equals free PR and advertising for your business.

Marketing and analytics

Mobile POS for small businesses allows you to capture client information right inside the app. Therefore, your marketing and analytics get a considerable boost. With traditional methods, you have no choice but to guess whether a given promotion or event will be successful. With traditional POS systems, there's no data to base your decisions upon.

However, the best mobile POS systems enable sellers to capture customer information directly from the app. This includes demographics, number of items purchased, home address in case of deliveries, the date and time of the sale, the frequency of purchase by the customer, and more.

This information can be used to generate detailed reports and learn more about your audience. Data can be filtered by customer type, gender, product category, purchasing frequency, etc. With this data, small businesses can perfect their marketing strategy.

Here's an example. If you notice a significant increase in the sales of jewelry among female tourists, there are a number of ways to capitalize on this:

• Craft a marketing campaign targeting females aged from 25 to 40. Offer a promo code that will get them a discount at your store.
• Accelerate the introduction of new pieces during tourism-friendly seasons, preferably the ones that go best with the most purchased items.
• Open a pop-up shop at a busy location for a couple of days, preferably far from your store’s location while achieving maximum exposure to your target group of people.

In addition to improving your marketing efficiency, you can also find the items that sell the least and remove them from the store altogether. Finally, digital receipts are a smart way to acquire the email addresses of your clients. Use these in a loyalty/membership program as well as to create personalized offers that people will find hard to refuse.

Conclusion

Mobile POS for small businesses has many real, tangible benefits and most business owners recognize them. If you’re looking to grow your business and differentiate yourself in the market, choosing the right POS system is one of the critical steps you need to take. With the best mobile POS systems, you’ll not only save a lot of time and money but also improve the understanding of your audience and position yourself as a tech-savvy brand, which is a great way to make customers remember you.