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September 5, 2019

6 Smart Ideas to Increase Retail Profits Using Your Point of Sale

6 Smart Ideas to Increase Retail Profits Using Your Point of Sale

A retail point of sale (POS) system can do a lot more than just ring up transactions. Day after day, the equipment sits on your counter absorbing data—just like a sponge. From capturing the times when most of your customers shop to seeing which inventory items are selling the most, your POS is a goldmine of useful information. All that data can be easily pulled to give you actionable insights that help increase your store’s profit margin!

1. Inventory Insights

A cutting-edge POS like Exatouch® manages your inventory so it’s easy to keep tabs on stock counts. You can pull sales reports to identify which items sell the fastest, which aren’t moving, and which are the most profitable. Plus, Exatouch retains your past purchase orders, enabling you to view how many items you ordered the last time you replenished stock, how long it took to sell through those items, and how much you paid for each unit. Adjusting your next inventory order using this data can keep more profits in your store.

2. Preparing for Your Busiest Times

Whether Memorial Day weekend is coming up or you’re preparing for the rush of holiday shoppers, understanding how your retail location performed in the past can help you get ready for your busiest times. With Exatouch’s reporting features, you can see how many team members worked on certain holidays and how much you did in sales. This kind of insight enables you to staff the appropriate amount of employees to ensure your customers are properly cared for and that you’re not paying for extra labor hours you don’t need. The same goes for inventory. If you consistently sell through the same top ten items year after year, you’ll know how much inventory to purchase ahead of time to make the most of your sales.

3. Repositioning Your Retail Store

What type of retail store do you consider your shop? While you may think of yourself as more of a clothing store, your sales may tell a different story. Are most of your customers buying scarves, purses, and belts? Maybe it’s time to clear some shelf space to focus more on stocking accessories. Are you certain your current operating hours are the ones in which your customers want to shop? If you’re making most of your sales in the last 30 minutes that you’re open and it tends to be slow for the first couple hours of the day, consider adjusting your opening hours to accommodate your customers’ shopping habits. Opening and closing just one hour earlier or later—especially on certain days—can make a world of difference in your profit margin! By running one of Exatouch’s 70+ business reports, you can home in on this kind of key business information to reposition your retail store for maximum earnings.

4. Keep All Parties Informed

Are there several business partners involved in your establishment? Do they live in different locations or provide feedback from off-site? If it’s a struggle to keep key parties updated on your latest figures, Exatouch can be programmed to automatically email a daily sales report that provides a snapshot of your overall business. This feature is also helpful for sending your accountant the information they require to complete their duties—saving you time, frustration, and money in the long run!

5. Find Money In Your Business

In any retail business where cash is in play, there is opportunity for theft. Exatouch’s reporting allows you to assess how many voids, discounts, and refunds each employee is processing per shift. Is one particular staff member giving an excessive amount of refunds? They may need additional training on your store’s return policy. Does someone on your team often have friends or family in your store at the time of their baseless discounts? The more information at your disposal, the more you can detect fraud, thwart stealing, and keep money in your business!

6. Reward Your Best Salespeople

POS reports help you identify top performers on your staff so you can recognize and reward their outstanding service. It may even be beneficial to have these salespeople train other employees on best practices. Happy workers translate into happy customers who are more loyal and spend more money in your store, making it advantageous to pull sales by employee reports regularly.

With a smart POS system like Exatouch, there are unlimited ways to measure the success of your business—and countless insights that can help you build on that success! Learn more about how Electronic Payments’ POS solutions can help grow your retail store’s bottom line.