The world is rapidly changing into an omnichannel one, making it necessary for business owners to bridge the gap between the offline and online shopping experience. If you sell your products in your brick-and-mortar store and online, then there is a way to make your business profitable through changing times.
Indeed, there is a simple way to make sure your customers have a seamless experience and you have a steady flow of business coming in. This can be achieved by integrating a POS system with an e-commerce platform that will benefit both you and your customer.
Let’s look at the reasons why this is a good idea.
An efficient POS system is critical for e-commerce platforms to help bring together customer management, sales, and inventory tools.
1. It Eliminates Manual Data Input
When business owners choose to run their POS system and web store separately, it can create imbalances across both systems as the information will have to be manually entered. This increases the chance of human error which can be time-consuming and costly to fix. Moreover, when processes aren’t automated, it can take your team hours to ensure data is transferred accurately and on time. This is time that is taken away from more important functions which can cost your business in the long run.
By integrating your e-commerce platform with a POS system, you will have a single system that helps keep track of and make updates across different channels. Moreover, it will help you:
By saving the time required to complete manual tasks, you will be able to utilize it to analyze data and improve promotional strategies. Plus, it will provide a better picture of how your customers are shopping.
2. It Provides Real-Time Inventory Updates
An integrated POS system with your e-commerce website will help your business operations run more efficiently and allow you to manage the inventory of both your website and store. With the help of shared and real-time inventory, it will be easier to transfer merchandise from one location to another, whether it’s from a store to your online customer website or from the web store to a brick-and-mortar location.
This will help keep track of your stock and ensure customers find what they are looking for. Furthermore, once an item is sold, whether on your website or from the store, it will be reflected in your database in real-time. This will also streamline the replenishment of your inventory as you will be able to see stock levels.
Also, if you have multiple locations and a particular product is running low in any one store, it will be easier to make store transfers. An efficient POS system does the work for you, so you’re only required to determine optimal inventory levels.
3. It Helps Understand Customer Behaviour
When a customer visits your store, their preferences, in-store behaviour and personal information can all be recorded in your POS system and synced with your e-commerce website. This means you will have centralized data about offline and online behaviours available in a single location, making it easier for you to gain insights into their shopping behaviour. In turn, this data can help you design personalized messages, marketing emails, and other personalized triggers to boost sales.
4. It Improves Customer Experience
By integrating a POS system with your e-commerce website, you can offer a more seamless customer experience, as you allow them to make payments through various channels.
Moreover, the ordering process is also streamlined, and it’s a lot easier to customize loyalty programs based on their purchasing patterns.
5. It Allows Omnichannel Delivery
While faster shipping is impacting overall customer satisfaction, many buyers are more comfortable picking up their online purchases from a nearby store.
To efficiently deal with omnichannel order fulfilment, businesses require a management system from which e-commerce orders are centralized to allow customer pickup of orders. The final order is processed in-store.
6. It Aids in Making Prompt and Precise Business Decisions
With a POS system integrated with your e-commerce platform and store, your business will have a competitive advantage that allows you to maximize different revenue opportunities. Additionally, you will have flexible, easy-to-use systems to help you achieve this.
A suitable POS system will ensure you know which products sell during specific times of the year. Moreover, it will also tell you when you should put certain items on sale and purchase more to meet high demands. Furthermore, you will also be able to track the benefits of your investments in promotions, advertising, discounts, and mailings to customers.
7. It Permits the Integration of More Payment Options
A POS system integrated with your e-commerce platform and store will let you accept a wide range of payments, including contactless ones from EMV chip cards and mobile devices. This ensures your business is more versatile and reaches a wider base of customers.
Retail competition is real, and running your business through two channels simultaneously and seamlessly isn’t possible without integrating a POS system with your e-commerce platform. It will avoid wasting the money and time that is often the result of manual work, incoherent data fixes, and error correction. Ultimately, it will help you achieve a consistent business system that helps boost sales while creating a seamless shopping experience.