Make Sure Your Business is Prepared for the Holiday Season with a Cloud-Based mPOS

       With Black Friday, Cyber Monday, Free Shipping Day and every other shopping-frenzy-designated day around the corner, having a cloud-based mobile POS is a must for retailers. SalesVu’s retail POS can help your small business not only get through the madness, but make it your greatest success yet.

       So, why will an iPad POS give you the extra boost?

1. Mobility allows for higher conversion rates

       With an iPad POS, your employees gain the ability to walk around the store and converse with customers. The balancing act of customers being helped, getting product information, building a rapport with employees, making decisions and checking out is nonexistent. A customer can find a product, have an employee upsell them, hear about discounts and make a purchase without ever waiting or having to walk to a register.

“It’s best to take our POS to our customer rather than make them search for a checkout location,” said Kyle Knapton, Barnstomer Winery manager.

       Why is this so important now? The holiday season highlights consumers’ lack of patience, willingness to spend and peaks business competition. A quality retail POS system relieves the overwhelming aspect of holiday shopping, makes shopping more enjoyable and convenient and gives small businesses an edge over competition.

2. Quicker checkout process

       iPad POS solutions, like SalesVu, are simple, automated and easy to learn. Mobile solutions are available on the most commonly used devices like iPads, iPhones and Android devices. New holiday help will get the hang of things quickly, as not only are most people familiar with these devices, but they are also designed for ease of use. The days of having to train employees to use complicated POS stations are over.

“It takes us just minutes to get new employees up and running,” said Colleen McConeghy, Yo’Cheese Co-Owner. “We don’t have to spend or waste a lot of time getting new employees set up with a complicated system.”

       Many applications are highly customizable to help you and your employees organize your business to the fullest. We all know that no two stores have the same priority needs; the ability to adjust as necessary is not something most traditional systems allow.

       You can also expedite the process by having customers make purchases online and pickup items on location, which leads to number three, eliminating long lines.

“My main reason for using a mobile POS is that the parking lot at my store is limited, so I would like to be able to run my product out to my customers and use my iPod Touch and swipe their credit card so they can be on their way…FAST,” said Hillary Biediger, Juice Junkies owner.

3. Eliminate long lines

In addition to employees’ ease of use, as mentioned above, adding an additional device is as simple as the touch of a button. When you see your store starting to get busy, turn on an additional device to “open a new register.”

“We are a small shop and there is no room for a second POS station and we also don’t have room for lines to form,” said Angelo Sacerdote, Petaluma Pie Company owner. “SalesVu has given us the ability to add a cash register at a moment’s notice when the store gets busy, by picking up an iPod touch and helping the next customer.”

4. Increase floor space

       Your register location can be as small as you want to make it. Forget big, bulky stations; your register can consist of just an iPad touch – that is, if you want one. Employees can walk up to customers and complete a transaction anywhere in the store if necessary.

“We didn’t need a mobile POS, but we like that we are able to keep our counter space clear and uncluttered so we have room to add merchandise instead,” said Nga Myers, Bubble Crunch owner.

5. Multi-location management

       Running one store during the holiday season can be a lot to manage, but adding additional locations can be overwhelming. Cloud-based POS systems allow you to manage individual or multiple locations from anywhere. You can be at home and view individual and/or overall activity.

       Additionally, owners and managers can make adjustments to set pricing, discounts and products from a single remote location. Adjustments are automatically implemented in real time on location.

“To be able to wake up at my home and pull information from the previous evening’s sales and/or reports in my pajamas is great,” said Joan Castillo, Stardust Club and Billiards owner. “I can do most of my work from my phone or computer without coming into my business.”

6. Custom sales reports and inventory tracking

Customized reporting allows owners to keep track of what is important to them or manage specific parts of the business. Additionally, systems like SalesVu, will track your inventory and alert you when levels run low–a must have during the busy holiday season. You never want to be out of a best seller! SalesVu will also assist you in creating purchase orders.

“The reporting is absolutely amazing; it makes accounting so easy and we can get as detailed or as simple as we like,” said SalesVu Customer Michael Brummer.

7. E-Commerce

       Having an E-Commerce website allows you to expand your customer base and overcome geographical limitations. The traffic to your online store will also give your brand more visibility than a brick-and-mortar location alone. Additionally, this simplifies the shopping experience for customers. The simpler and quicker the process, the more successful you will be.

       When online shopping, a customer can quickly access a specific product, but will likely view more products than they will in a physical store. Not only will products gain exposure, but you can recommend items to your customers. Having an online store, especially through providers like SalesVu, will significantly reduce your costs.

       Make sure you’re prepared for Cyber Monday!

“[SalesVu] has made it easier for my clients to make payments other than cash or check,” said Dawn Arcieri, founder of Arcieri Confections.

 8. Gift cards

       We all know gift cards are a big hit during the gifting season. They are the quickest, most simple gift without much room for error. Make sure your business has physical gift cards available to holiday gift givers.

       Gift cards increase customer loyalty, customer reach and sales. You don’t have to worry about cash reimbursement with gift card purchases and fraud is minimized.

“The online coupons and option to get actual gift cards and track their usage help keep us on top of what is working,” said Lake Charles Martial Arts Owner John Newport.

9. Be more cost effective

       For a smaller fee than most traditional solutions, business owners can equip all employees with a device. Though this may not be necessary, it greatly enhances the shopping experience for customers. A shopper can build a rapport with one employee during their trip without being passed around, creating confusion or waiting while an employee helps someone else.

Apple stores have perfected this concept. When you walk into an Apple store, the same person that greets you often times helps you find what you are looking for, informs you about products and can immediately check you out anywhere in the store. Customers never wait in a single-file line to check-out.

“Our activities take place at a different site on our property and in our pre-SalesVu era, that required customers to check in at our office, make their purchases and head out to their activities,” said Lilly Pad Village Owner Geza Csuros. “We were actually missing sales and if the customer wished to make another purchase, they then had to head back to the office to pay before returning to their activity.”

10. Marketing through your retail POS

       Create Facebook coupons through SalesVu that lead to viral marketing. This is a great feature to have prepared for the busy shopping days, like Black Friday. When someone uses a promotion you have posted, the discount is announced on their Facebook for all of their friends to see. Then, others can use the same coupon, driving more business to your store. Sales are the most important part of shopping this time of year.

       SalesVu also allows you to email your pre-existing customers. You can export your customer list to notify them about specials, events or general announcements.

“One of the best features is having access to the customer’s email address after sending them an email receipt, unlike Square who doesn’t allow you to get that, which allows me the opportunity to send ‘thank you’s’ via email and the opportunity to add them to my mailing list,” said Photographer Matt Suess.

For more information about SalesVu or getting a cloud-based mPOS for your business, contact SalesVu at Support@salesvu.com or call 888-900-5819.