You’ve probably heard this a thousand times before. Modern consumers can’t stand friction in the shopping experience.
But what exactly do we mean by ‘friction’ in the context of shopping? No, we’re not talking about awkward, hostile exchanges between customers and staff. By ‘friction’, we mean anything that gets in the way of customer convenience. Long queues at checkout, slow service, finding items they want are out of stock etc.
With 43% of consumers saying they would happily pay more in return for greater convenience, eliminating friction from the shopping experience is more than just a nice idea. It’s a sure-fire way to gain a competitive advantage.
Here’s how your POS can help you.
Streamlined Checkout Process
Let’s start with those queues at checkout. In the age of instant online gratification, shoppers are less tolerant of having to wait to make a purchase than ever. While eliminating queues entirely remains impractical, retailers are under pressure to ensure delays are as short as possible.
Fast, efficient, high performance POS terminals can make a big difference. Reliable product scanning, rapid processing and multiple contactless payment options help to speed up the checkout process and remove unnecessary steps. And in addition to the performance gains you get from cutting edge staffed terminals, deploying self-service kiosks provides an alternative that can take the pressure off tills and further reduce wait time.
Service on the move
Another way to cut down on wait times and make the whole experience feel that much smoother for the customer is to take sales and service opportunities to them, not expect them to queue for the privilege. Mobile POS (mPOS) empowers staff to do exactly that.
For one, having a tablet connected to your entire POS system in your hand gives sales assistants the ability to look up information about products, checking stock, sizes and other details, right there in the moment when the customer asks. You don’t have to leave them waiting while you disappear to ask a question. Moreover, if the customer is ready to buy, why not complete the transaction there and then, rather than asking them to head over to checkout?
Omnichannel Integration
If you deploy kiosks and mPOS tablets alongside traditional POS terminals, you of course want them all running on the same system. Same product databases, same payment options and so on. But integration of sales channels can go much further than this. Increasingly, it makes sense to align in-store POS with your ecommerce system.
By sharing the same inventory management system, for example, you give customers the chance to check pricing and availability online first, and then come into store to buy. You eliminate wasted journeys, which is all part and parcel of providing a more frictionless experience.
Efficient Inventory Management
Picking up on the inventory management system example, its benefits extend well beyond giving customers the option to check availability before they decide to head to a store. Real-time inventory tracking helps retailers keep tabs on stock levels with automated inventory alerts and replenishment reminders, minimising the risk of lost sales and customer disappointment due to items being unavailable. It also helps retailers adapt to fluctuating sales patterns so they are not caught out by sudden spikes in demand.
Personalisation
Personalisation is another big trend that is moving over from ecommerce into bricks-and-mortar retail. Thanks to all the data collected online, consumers are used to getting targeted offers and service automatically tailored to their preferences when they shop online.
Increasingly, they expect the same in-store, too. By connecting your CRM to your POS, there’s nothing stopping retailers from delivering. From ‘contactless’ loyalty schemes where customers automatically accrue benefits when they pay because the system identifies them, to sales assistants making targeted recommendations based on prompts that flash up for each customer on screen, personalisation ensures every customer gets more of what they want.