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Get your free copy06 January 2017, 06:42 AM
- EPOS systems are a necessary expense, but all too often businesses invest in cheaper, sub-par technology which cause problems later down the line. Following the release of his ultimate guide to getting your system right, Nigel Bogle, founder and CEO of Lakeland Computers, shares his top five things to consider before you invest
1 EPOS
Electronic Point Of Sale: Your till, basically. The funnel through which most of your bricks and mortar shop transactions will flow through. This is also the tool which will enable you to improve customer service and shopping experience. Timed promotions, integrated customer loyalty schemes, intelligent vouchers, gift cards, discount cards, account transactions. These are all bits of functionality which will allow you to sell more whilst making sure your customers’ expectations of value and experience are met.
2 WEIGHING
Whether you have integrated weighing at your checkout or simply at your serve-over counters, this is an area where quality matters. Make sure you look to tried and tested industry experts and get something which is genuinely linked to your back office system, otherwise you’ll spend years of your life making simple price changes in multiple places needlessly.
3 ELECTRONIC PAYMENTS
There are lots of options available now, with most credit/debit cards being chip and pin enabled and an absolute essential consideration for retailers in the food space. Think about your likely or actual average basket spend. If it’s under £30 then contactless should also be a serious consideration for customer convenience. Couple this with a solution that is fully integrated with your tills and you’ll be on your way to getting your customers through the checkout faster.
4 STOCK CONTROL
Think of all that money tied up in stock. Where’s it going? What’s selling? What’s not? How is your margin being affected by waste? If you don’t keep an eye on this, chances are you’ll be losing a lot of money.
5 REPORTING
Coupled with point 4. Get clear on what’s happening in your business by running some key reports regularly to keep abreast of areas that need attention. What do you sell most of? Are your suppliers earning their keep on your shelves? Are your departmental margins where they ought to be? A good reporting tool is an essential requirement. If you can also avail of operational support to help you interpret the figures then so much the better.
For the full guide produced by Lakeland Computers, visit lccs.co.uk/getting-epos-systems-right
Read the full feature on getting systems right in the latest issue of Speciality Food, free to download here.
