POS Software Blog

Today’s QSR customer has evolved.  This is clear in the diverse offerings on the menus of the most popular fast food restaurants that are famous for their burgers and fries.  Although the burger and fry customer still exists, QSR’s have adapted menus to satisfy today’s more health-conscious consumer.   It has been proven that a steady diet of burgers and fries will shorten one’s life significantly and cause a multitude of health problems along the way.  Hence, the recent success and growth of QSR’s like Subway, Qdoba and Panera just to name a few.

Independent merchants are faced with many challenges in controlling costs and maximizing ROI for their businesses.  One of these challenges comes in the form of fees paid to credit card companies.  This area can be quite confusing for some merchants due to the layers of complexity involved in the payment processing industry.  As a POS solution provider, I have gained some insight on how the industry works and did my best to simplify the structure of those layers in a previous blog post located at this link – https://blog.posprophetsystems.com/blog/bid/110007/Paper-or-Plastic-Payment-Processing-Considerations-from-an-Objective-Source.

The busy Holiday shopping season is just around the corner.  The kids are back to school.  The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting longer and much cooler.  It’s time for merchants to start preparing for another busy time.  Whether you operate a retail shop, a coffee shop, a small café or a children’s play center, the Holidays will impact your business and it is time to prepare.

It’s just business - nothing personal…  WRONG!  Although it is a common saying, it is becoming less and less true particularly in the context of customer service provided by small-to-medium sized merchants.  Successful merchants in today’s climate focus on personalization of the business.  Personalization and humanization separate independent merchants from the big box chains.  Personalization of every business transaction assists independent merchants in preserving their relevance in the marketplace and in keeping the cash flowing.

At the Purina Mills Retail Solutions Expo in Nashville last week, the theme of the conference was "5 Pillars of Success."  Although this conference is focused specifically on farm and feed retailers, the theme of this particular seasonal event pertains to all small-to-medium merchants in most every vertical market.  The conference focused on the following 5 keys to success for the retailers in attendance:

Historically, POS solutions have been bought and sold through the channel.  The POS channel of VAR’s (value-added re-sellers) has grown to the 1000’s in the USA alone due to the variety of vertical markets that exist in the merchant arena and the growing number of POS solution developers that support those verticals.  The image below is provided by PointofSale.com and depicts the traditional POS solution business model.

For merchants, gathering customer data is now more critical than ever.  Increasing competition in all retail segments has significantly increased the need for merchants to stay in close contact with the core customer base.  There are many good reasons to gather customer data at your point-of-sale including:

Who stands behind your POS Solution?

When you think about the overall customer experience as it pertains to your business, naturally the first component that comes to mind is your staff.  I would agree that the most critical component that impacts the customer experience is the ability of your staff to interact with your customers in a way that meets your standards of quality.  These interactions should reflect your brand, your mission and to some degree, your personality as the leader of your organization.