The Ultimate Guide To Finding A Scalable POS

Every retailer’s goal is to grow. Retailers of all kinds and sizes want their businesses to flourish, whether it’s a mom-and-pop shop establishing a second site across town or a big-box chain with hundreds of locations. Point of sale (POS) systems take care of a lot of the hard work when it comes to growing operations. However, not all POS systems are made equal. Some point of sale systems are equipped with important features that prepare stores for development and expansion – which is often referred to as a scalable POS. Here is the ultimate guide on how to find a scalable POS for any business.

What is a scalable POS?

Before jumping into the definition, let’s look at the current POS market. In reality, many POS platforms were designed in a “walled garden” style. Truly scalable POS, on the other hand, allows merchants to customize and change it to their preference as needed. 

Every store is unique, and while off-the-shelf POS software strives to accommodate all, many businesses require some amount of customization to fully manage the nuances of their sector, whether it’s the optical industry or the restaurant industry. True scalability allows you to accomplish whatever you want with your POS.

Benefits of a scalable POS

Scale up and down easily

A decent scalable point-of-sale system is meant to enable you to expand your business as well as your client base. For example, increased foot traffic necessitates the installation of more terminals. When you have scalability in your point of sale, you can add terminals quickly and easily. Even for a tablet-based point of sale, it should not require any downtime for installation. A good scalable POS can help stores scale up and down easily like that.

Make changes based on business needs

Successful businesses hardly stay still, instead, they look for ways to renew and renovate the operations. The scalability of your point of sale system is crucial for more than simply expanding your business’s physical footprint and adding more locations. When it comes to responding to industry developments and pleasing customers, it’s an important factor. Scalability also includes adaptable inventory, services, and products features.

For these reasons, a scalable POS system must be able to handle data expansion (and even decrease) with ease. A POS system’s ultimate objective should be to enhance efficiency while allowing you to alter and add features as your business needs evolve. If you decide to expand your business, you should be able to access and develop data in real-time from any place. 

Cater to customers’ ever-changing demands 

As your business grows, adding more terminals will substantially improve your capacity to deliver exceptional service to your consumers. These will aid in improving staff speed and accuracy, allowing them to better satisfy the demands of your consumers.

Consumers in modern days look for a complex but enjoyable experience. In fact, research has shown that up to 59% of customers have higher expectations for customer service compared to the previous year. 

It can be a mobile shopping experience, in which all clients have to do is scrolling and making contactless payments. In other cases, it can also be an omnichannel journey that connects online and offline shopping locations. A scalable POS should be able to facilitate you in these processes. If you are looking for a POS like this, check out ConnectPOS and learn about how this system operates for 14 days without any extra fee.

What you should look for in a scalable POS?

Now that you know the benefits of a scalable POS for both businesses and consumers, what are the tips when looking for a decent one? Here are the 3 points that every scalable POS should have in modern days:

Cloud-based data storage

Cloud storage is an important part of a scalable POS nowadays, with real-time inventory updates being the top priority. With this feature, you can keep an exact count of what you have on hand at all times. The POS system can also immediately update the stock level every time an order is placed online. This function is beneficial for businesses with multiple locations. If you want a more powerful system, backorders, refunds, and drop shipments should all be tracked using cloud-based POS systems. 

Third-party extensions

Although point of sale systems can provide useful tools for different departments of your business, there is no one-size-fits-all model. Therefore, a scalable POS should allow merchants to add third-party extensions based on their needs, instead of limiting them to only built-in features. For example, a small business is growing fast and would like to have an extensive loyalty management tool that integrates with customer data. If they own a scalable POS that accepts third-party extensions, they can easily install a Reward Points System. 

Many POS providers on the market nowadays, such as ConnectPOS, Lightspeed or Vend, have a list of integrations to choose from. They can range from loyalty management to ERP and payment gateways. 

Customizable options

Another factor that you should look for in a POS is customizable options. As stated before, there is no POS that can fit every business. Therefore, having customization in POS features can make sure that you receive the tool that fits your situation.

Make sure the retail point of sale software you choose is customizable to get the most out of your investment over time. To put it another way, be sure it can be adjusted to meet your company’s demands. Changing receipt templates or dashboards, for example, should be readily accommodated by a scalable retail POS software package. Its setup should accept the additional capabilities and features when companies need adjustments.

Wrapping up

When looking for a scalable POS, make sure the program satisfies your current needs while also being feature-rich enough to suit your future needs. You should choose a POS system that will allow you to create a single, strong retail management system, setting your company for growth and competition in a fast-changing industry. If ConnectPOS is on the list of your interests, don’t hesitate to contact us for more information!