The Benefits of Data & Reporting with POS Systems

Data drives good business management. When you know precisely how much stock you move and what specific products your customers like, you can make informed decisions about where to go next.

Reporting on every area of the business used as dull as it was time-consuming. Nowadays, computer technology has made the very necessary task of data collection much easier.

POS systems not only automate much of the reporting process, they also bring it together in one place. The latest POS software can centralize your reports to make business evaluation easier and enable comparison between different data sets.

As such, a high-quality POS system is a must for any business owner that wants valuable insights about their company on demand. Here’s what you can learn about your business with POS data and reporting.

Inventory

Manual stocktakes are a thing of the past. Once your inventory is synchronized with incoming orders and outgoing customer transactions on your POS system, your stock will update on its own accord.

This not only saves hours of labor that could be used elsewhere, it also means that you get your inventory data in real time. Rather than wasting precious moments out in the back, you can give inquiring customers a direct answer about the availability of items not out on shelves.

With no lag between expected stock and the actual amount, you also become immediately aware of product shortages and can move decisively to offset these. Many POS systems can process automatic repurchases of low stock once it reaches a certain level.

POS software can also benefit your inventory management by reporting on slow-moving stock. This information may lead you to offer promotions, adjust product pricing, or rearrange displays within the store as a means to maintain cash inflow.

Products

The ability to monitor the performance of products is another key strength of POS systems.   When POS hardware is used to complete a transaction, the story doesn’t just end there. Information about the purchase, including the products and quantities, is logged and forms another wing of your business reporting. From this, valuable conclusions can be drawn.

This kind of data can give you the big picture of your business. For example, when are the seasonal peaks? What items are the best-sellers? Are there any high-growth areas in the business? The answers to these questions can help you to get even more out of your already successful products and also address any problem areas.

The more detail you attach to each product on your POS software, the richer the insights you will gain. Breaking products down into categories and subcategories will show you what’s going well in your business at an intricate level. By consulting this in-depth information and the macro-level data in your decision-making, you can make your product strategy infallible.

Customers

Customers as one big group generate key product performance data, but they’re also worthy of further scrutiny as individuals.

By gathering reports on a specific customer’s purchase history, you can develop an understanding of their product likes and dislikes, and, more broadly, why they come to you as a business. These insights can be used to enhance your Customer Relationship Management (CRM).

For instance, POS systems can be integrated with your email marketing strategy to send out personalized promotions to customers based on their typical purchases. This approach tends to result in a higher conversion rate than generic email communications. According to SmartHQ, 72% of consumers say they only engage with personalized marketing.

If demographic information is linked to your customers’ accounts, you’ll also be able to build useful data sets that facilitate audience segmentation. This could help you to identify new opportunity areas in the market to pursue.

Staff

Another area that POS systems can help you is with staff. Employees typically have to log in when using POS hardware, and this enables you to gather data about their activity and performance when on the job.

This may consist of productivity reporting by examining individual sales figures or number of transactions processed. These analytics can be used to reward top-performing employees and incentivize further hard work.

POS systems can also act as a safeguard against employee theft, which accounts for around 43% of inventory loss in US stores. The most recent software provides detailed reports for till counts whenever there is a shift change. As such, any inconsistencies will be immediately flagged up to management and can be dealt with accordingly.

Summary

Modern POS systems offer broad reporting solutions that can be applied to virtually all areas of your business. From inventory management and product performance to customer tracking and staff monitoring, the data gathered from your point of sale system can be used to boost efficiency and profitability in your business.

Don’t hesitate any longer—get free POS system quotes for your business today!