POS Billing Software - What Your Small Business Needs From Retail Mass
by MaestroInfotech System Website Design Company BangaloreRetail
billing software is an important purchase for any
small business running a retail store. Selecting the right retail software can
make your business more efficient, increase sales, and improve customer
satisfaction. Whilst picking the wrong software can have just the opposite
effect. Slowing processes down, limiting the number of sales you can make and
causing your customers (and your staff) to become frustrated. So what factors
are important to consider when selecting your retail software?
On-premise or in the cloud?
You can choose to either host the
software yourself on your premises or access your software via an Internet
browser (in the cloud). The advantage of having it on site is that if something
goes wrong with the software then you can have immediate access to it in order
to fix it yourself. This however requires that you have a certain amount of
technological know-how as you will need to be able to perform any repairs
yourself, or hire someone to do it for you. When you buy billing software
that is on premise you normally pay an upfront fee with the option to pay for
ongoing support if you so choose. Additionally, you will have to buy hardware,
such as a server, for the software to run on, and a system for backing up your
data in case of hardware failure. The onus will be on you to both secure and
maintain your entire system, as well as to pay for and perform any upgrades of
the software that are required.
Choosing web-based software means
signing up to a SaaS (software as a service) model. This requires you to pay on
a monthly basis rather than the large upfront costs associated with on premise
software. Cloud software eliminates the need for you to purchase hardware,
secure your systems, run backups or perform upgrades. The software company will
do this for you. You are however reliant on a good Internet connection to be
able to access your systems so if you opt for this solution you must budget for
a high quality Internet package.
Inventory, accounts and CRM.
When selecting your retail
software is essential that you work out how the different areas of your
business will share data. The key systems you will need to receive data about
the products you are selling are your inventory (what products have been sold,
and how many you have left to sell), your accounts (how much did you sell your
products for, and how much profit have you made) and your CRM (who did you sell
the products too, and can you encourage them to buy from you again). If all
these systems are working in harmony then your business will be much more
efficient and you will start making more sales.
Ideally you want these three systems
working together, integrating separate packages can be costly and so buying a
pre integrated or all in one solution makes sense. Integrated retail
software removes the need for you to transfer data between multiple
software systems that may not necessarily be programmed in the same format.
This will save you a lot of time and will also mean that all you systems are
updated in real-time rather than waiting for you to do a data synchronisation
for them to be able to update. So you, or your staff, won't have to stay late
anymore doing stock takes or updating accounts. It's all done for you as it
happens.
Staff
Your staff is the people who will
need to use the retail
software to make sales. Make sure that you bear them in mind when you are
making the selection. Think about what will make their job easier. If your
staff are happy, then they will provide better service and this will make your
customers happy, which should ultimately result in more sales and higher
customer satisfaction.
Would it suit them better to have
portable tablets so they can make sales around the store? Would it be easier if
there were multiple tills for them to serve from so they aren't constantly
waiting for others to finish serving? Would giving them access to the stock
levels in the warehouse make their lives easier? Speak to your staff members
and work out what would really benefit them so you can choose the software
which best fits their needs.
Although remember what suits your
business too. Make sure that you can limit the amount of access your staff have
to your back-end systems. You may want to let them see stock levels but it's
unlikely you would want them nosing around your accounts. Select retail
software that works for you both.
What hardware will you need to
accompany it?
You'll no doubt need to buy some
hardware to go with your retail pos software.
If you opt for an on-premise solution you will need to buy a server, a firewall
and a backup facility as well as a secure cabinet to keep your equipment in.
For web-based software you will not need this equipment, just a secure and fast
Internet connection, but for either solution there will be some additional
hardware required. You will certainly need central cash till to keep cash
payments and credit receipts in it. This will need to be connected to your
retail software so that it is triggered to open when a sale is made.
All your products will also need to
be scanned by a barcode scanner to be picked up by the retail POS billing software.
You will need to invest in a few of these so staff will be able to make
multiple sales at the same time. Once a sale has been made you will then need
to provide a receipt, make sure you have a facility in your retail software to
hook up to thermal printer so that these receipts can be printed automatically.
Your company, your decision
All in all make sure that the
decision you make is the best one for your business. No two companies are the
same so it is important that you really understand what it is you're looking
for and don't just settle for the first solution to come your way. Take the
time to identify your needs and to research the market so you can find the best
retail software solution for your business. Many software products have the
option to try before you buy, so take the time to test some out before making
your final decision.
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Created on May 23rd 2018 06:37. Viewed 516 times.