Time waits for no man, especially when you’re talking about standing in a queue to make a purchase. The last thing a customer wants is a lengthy transaction process that unravels their buying momentum.
As a retailer keeping up the pace and providing a fast and efficient conclusion to your customer’s shopping experience is essential. So what can you do to ensure a speedy transaction in your store?
1. It’s all in the details
Capturing the personal details of your customers for your loyalty programme can be a time-fraught exercise, especially if it is undertaken at the time of purchase. There is also a good chance the salesperson will make an error that could make you look inefficient, or mean your customers miss out on a reward. The customer is also unlikely to divulge private information in ear-shot of others – who wants to tell a 15-year-old weekend operator their birth date?!
The solution is to have an incentive for the customer to fill in their own details, in their own time. This could mean entering their information online at home, or providing kiosks instore.
When the incentive is set up right, the customer will take care to provide accurate details so they receive their rewards, and you benefit from a loyal customer.
2. Keep up with your customers
Consider taking the sales experience to your customers, by having POS options that enable you to move around and outside the store. By using a mobile POS system that can be used offline, you avoid getting ‘stuck’ at the counters.
In some retail environments being able to move about a store with POS functionality ‘in hand’ is a powerful selling tool, not to mention incredibly convenient for the customer. Imagine answering questions about your products on the spot, instead of having to return to the stationary counter.
3. Let the software do the hard work
Speed things up for your customers and staff by having a pricing and promotional engine capable of removing the need for almost all cases of manual pricing manipulation.
By minimising or eliminating manual discounting and price overrides, the POS process is smoother for your customers. For the salesperson, it reduces the error rate and ensures pricing is consistent throughout stores.
