Strategic Seasonal Peak Management Through POS Innovations

Seasonal peaks are often make-or-break for both small businesses and major corporations. Most revenue is generated in these periods, but they’re also highly competitive and stressful. Planning is essential.

The latest POS systems can help your business respond to seasonal demand effectively. Traditionally, these machines could only process payments. Now, they store these purchases as valuable data that can be used to make key business decisions, such as when preparing for seasonal fluctuations.

Whether your business activity spikes on Black Friday, the Christmas period or some other point in the year, here’s how POS systems can help your peaks go smoothly.

Demand Forecasting

Forecasting customer demand is the first step when preparing for a seasonal peak. This is a process of identifying the most popular products so that your inventory is appropriately stocked and reflects customer needs.

POS systems generate a wealth of sales data that can be used for this purpose. Looking back on reports from previous peaks is a good place to start. This will give you a broad idea of your best sellers that must be made available to customers again.

You can also use more recent sales reports to find items that are popular currently and worth promoting as part of your seasonal push. This can be effective for holiday periods that aren’t linked to one type of product, such as Black Friday.

The latest POS systems come with advanced analytics tools that do the hard work of data analysis for you. With these insights at your disposal, there are no excuses for your business ahead of its busy periods.

Marketing

Marketing is key to maximising revenue during holiday periods. Depending on your budget, this could start a month before the peak and should continue through to when your customer is finalising their purchase.

Sales reports from your POS system again come in handy here. They can be used to pick out product promotions that will entice your customers but still net a healthy profit for your business. Targeted coupons and vouchers can then be sent out to consumers based on their spending habits.

Many seasonal shoppers will also be buying from you for the first time. This is a great opportunity to create new long-term customers. POS systems drive conversions by encouraging first-time shoppers to sign up with their email at the till.

Thus, POS-supported marketing efforts can boost your sales during peaks and generate even more in the months afterwards.

Inventory Management

Ensuring you have the right products available ahead of the peak is only one half of the job. Your supply chain management needs to run like clockwork during the sales period too.

With POS systems, you can view your inventory levels in real time. If a product runs low, this information is made instantly available and can be acted on before it becomes a problem. By restocking at the right time, you can avoid the all-too-common sight of empty shelves in the holiday season.

This also works the other way. Slow-moving stock can be flagged up early on so that it can be pushed to customers. This will prevent your business from being stuck with items that are difficult to sell after the seasonal period and resolve many of the cash flow issues associated with business peaks.

Visual Merchandising

During busy periods, product placement choices in brick-and-mortar stores take on even more significance. Displays can be used to advertise seasonal products and promotions.

By drawing on sales and inventory reports, you can make informed decisions on which products to place on your displays. These insights can be used to push best-selling items or static stock that needs to be sold.

Sales data can also reveal products regularly purchased together by customers during peak seasons. These items can then be grouped together on bundled displays so that you can get the most of your busy periods.

Summary

Data supplied by POS systems on sales and inventory can make for a successful holiday period. By applying these insights, your business can prepare adequately, operate efficiently during the peak and also convert customers for future growth.

Don’t wait any longer – get in touch now for free quotes on the latest POS systems!