3 levels of Connectivity with POS Solution for Retailers

The retail industry has been deeply affected by digitization. The way retailers handled their operations have been changed completely. Many retailers were hesitant to move towards digitization at first but with the passage of time, they were forced to do so as without using technologies like POS retail cloud based system, they were left behind in the competition against their competitors who had adopted digitization. The fact of the matter is that the companies that didn’t adopt digitization have vanished since.

POS Retail Cloud Based System

With digitization, if retailers wanted to stay in the game, they had to provide exceptional customer service regardless of their size. Over time, this trend only extended and the responsibility of a retail store to provide impeccable service became the norm. In today’s day and age, retail POS is used to provide bills and operation management flawlessly. The retail industry requires 3 types of connectivities: Connectivity with information, connectivity with people and connectivity with devices. Let’s have a look at each of these in detail:

Connectivity with the information:

Have you ever wondered why retailers would record their expenses and sales manually even before they had access to systems that could process this data into meaningful trends and reports? It’s because the information has always been important! Even prior to digitization, people could find basic trends like the most selling items, least sold item, etc.

Traditional means recorded limited data and weren’t too helpful in making intelligent, profitable decisions. The modern POS solutions provide customers with a smart shopping experience that makes them remember the brand and shop from them only. When it comes to online shopping, the POS records the customer’s sales and suggests the same items for the next purchase or has the order history available for customer’s viewing.

Connectivity with People:

The reason why companies shift to cloud-based POS solutions is to maximize the accessibility of customers and retailers with the store. According to studies, in the past 2 years, there’s been a boost in online shopping. Plus, in the past few months, since the coronavirus made itself known, people have shifted to shopping online more than ever.

Other than this, it’s become the norm for people to look at the store items online before stepping foot in a brick and mortar store. Your POS should allow you to update products in minutes, attach product photos and write the details. Howmuch POS lets users perform all these functions and is, therefore, a popular POS in Pakistan.

Your POS should have an impeccable customer database that lets you send them newsletters, messages and promotional emails in real-time with just a single click. A POS that doesn’t connect you with your customers is no good in improving your sales.

Connectivity with Devices:

One of the biggest challenges for any business is to establish a brand name and a good reputation with the customers. If your potential customers are unaware of your presence, how are they going to shop from you? In today’s digital world, it is important that you have an online presence. You can create an online store for this but once you do that, your customers expect 24/7 service. So, how can you do that? You can’t stay chained to your computer all the time! Don’t worry, cloud POS has solved this problem.

Retailers can connect to their retail system from wherever they want at whatever time they find convenient. All they need is an internet connection and the correct POS credentials. Cloud technology has revolutionized the way businesses operated. The retailers using it, have not only improved their customer service but also provided convenience to their employees. The cherry on top is that it’s much cheaper than a traditional POS.

Food Items You Should Avoid Eating While Travelling

Snacks- your best travelling partner? Wrong! Travelling and eating is often not a good idea as a traveller’s diarrhoea and food poisoning are not fun to deal with! In fact, it takes away all the fun from your journey. I remember that I decided to shop for groceries a day before I had a trip to Naran. As online grocery shopping in Lahore is very efficient, I ordered all the snacks I wanted for the road online which included sweets, berries and soda. None of it sat well with my stomach!

Yes, one does get excited about travelling, however, you need to be mindful of the food you eat while travelling! There is nothing worse to plan a trip; spend money and energy into it only to have it ruined because of your poor food choices. People who are travelling abroad, especially, enjoy trying new food but unless you are sure your stomach won’t be upset because of it, you should avoid it! The good news is that if you eat simple things you can considerably reduce your chances of getting sick. Here are the food items you should avoid while travelling:

Berries:

Berries

Here’s the golden rule regarding fruits you can eat while travelling; only eat those fruits that have the skin you can peel off- like bananas, oranges, etc. Fruits like berries, strawberries and apples should be avoided as these fruits are exposed to the bacteria present in the air as well as the ones present in the water they are washed in. The fruits that have peels, should be washed thoroughly before you peel them so the contaminants on the skin of the fruit don’t find their way to the fruit.

Frozen Foods:

Frozen Foods

Frozen food poses a lot of health risks. Thawing and dethawing of the food can result in the production of a lot of harmful bacteria. Plus, the ice used for freezing the food can also be contaminated. In countries where the water isn’t filtered, especially, there is a much higher risk of getting sick by eating frozen food! So, stay away from it while travelling if you don’t want your trip to be ruined.

Sauces and Chutneys:

Sauces and Chutneys

You should be wary of eating sauces and chutneys while travelling as you aren’t aware of the ingredients used to make them or the condition of ingredients if you are aware of them! If you aren’t careful, you could be ingesting products that are made from uncooked herbs, eggs, unclean water, etc. that could cause you to get an upset stomach. I personally would recommend not eating any chutneys and only using sauces that are thoroughly cooked to kill all the bacteria!

Raw Veggies:

Raw Veggies

If you are travelling abroad, eating raw vegetables is a huge no! Never eat salad when you are abroad as you don’t have any idea about the kind of water used to wash the veggies, the refrigerator conditions, or the conditions of vegetables. Leafy vegetables usually grow at ground level, and a lot of places have high pollution levels, meaning their soil can easily be contaminated too. So, you should eat vegetables that are cooked and have no traces of bacteria left on them!

Fountain Drinks:

Fountain Drinks

Soft drink/pop/soda is something we all love. And you can have them, as long as they come in a sealed bottle or can! What you need to avoid is the fountain drinks that a lot of restaurants offer as it is normally made using tap water or water that’s not properly filtered. When you are travelling, it’s advisable to even brush your teeth with bottled water as tap water might have bacteria that could leave you in intense pain!

Report Generation for Multiple Stores with a POS System

Modern technology has proven to be a blessing for customer serving businesses. They can gather and analyze data more effectively than ever. You don’t need to be a big corporation, investing millions for this piece of technology. For example, POS retail cloud based system is widely used by SMEs to optimize their business and improve their customer service in the retail sector. So, if you own multiple brick and mortar stores, you need to have a multi-location POS software to boost your business’s growth.

If you don’t do this then, the businesses with multi-location presence will be left behind by their competitors as they won’t have real-time reporting. A multi-location POS allows the business owners to generate reports that have the data of all their locations. They can fine-tune the reports based on their reporting needs. Without a POS that offers you an insight about your business, you will struggle to remain relevant and will lose against your competitors. Here are the ways a multi-location POS system can grow your business:

Generate Real-Time Reports:

Contrary to popular belief, not all POS systems have the ability to generate reports in real-time. You need to have a system that generates reports that are synced up with your system data until the very last second. Up-to-the-second reports help you in managing the inventory and sales. So, you can make strategic business decisions and have your customers keep choosing you!

Build Custom Reports:

All businesses are different and have specific requirements and thus, the reporting function can’t be the same for all. With a modern POS solution, you can generate reports that convey information that is relevant to your business needs. Custom reports can be refined to any level you require, so you can develop reports that cover multiple locations, single location, track employee performance, overall sales report, etc. Real-time data is present on these reports so it is a crucial part of running the business.

Create Sales Comparison Reports:

If a business wants to grow, it should vigilantly supervise its standing in the market as well as with the different locations. A good POS allows you to compare these reports side by side so you can get an acute idea of how your new strategies are fairing with your customers. This lets you make effective and informed business decisions that help in the growth of your business even more.

Create Financial Reports:

When you use a multi-location POS, you don’t have to wait till the day of the day to enter all your data and generate the financial reports to stay at top of the accounting activities. With just a click, you can create financial reports to keep your accounting in check and avoid the risk of letting small problems turn into bigger ones! Accurate financial reports are extremely helpful during audits so that’s another plus!

Start Using Retail POS to Generate Reports Today:

If you are expanding your business to multiple locations, it’s time to switch to a POS that supports that. Handling multiple POS systems can be confusing and not even provide you with the most optimal solution. So, check if your existing POS solution can be updated to support multi-stores, otherwise change a POS that does. In Pakistan, howmuch is a capable cloud-based retail POS that supports the handling of multiple stores from a single dashboard. So, if you live here, utilize this software to boost your business!