Running an efficient and successful retail operation involves many important elements. You must do the foundation before building the walls of your new home. In the same way, you need to lay the right groundwork to succeed in business.
One notable modern retail technology available is the POS and inventory management solution. A POS system can have a huge impact on your business operations and profitability. Implementing the right system will help you make smarter business decisions.
What Is a Point-of-sale System?
A point-of-sale system may be your best business advisor. Operating a retail business requires a wide range of skills. These include marketing, management, and administrative skills. From collecting monthly sales reports to ensuring that you have enough inventories, these skills are critical for business success.
Investing in an efficient POS system can help you ensure business operations run in unison. Therefore, it is important to spend the resources and time to implement such a system before you need it.
A point-of-sale system allows customers to make payments for products and services. Each time customers make a purchase, they will be completing a POS transaction. Modern POS systems go beyond credit card processing. They also include e-commerce integration capabilities and other features such as:
- Pocket POS with all the features of a countertop point of sale
- Product details
- Online ordering
- Custom discounts
- Franchise dashboard
- Customer queue
- Customer profile and favorites
- Debit payments
- Customer buying history
A good point-of-sale system can serve as the central component of your retail business. It is a hub where things such as sales, payment, inventory, and customer management merge. This is why so many business owners focus on their POS infrastructure. This is especially so during the current global pandemic.
According to several survey findings, many retail businesses are increasing their sales through the POS reporting feature alone. It makes sense, therefore, to invest in the right point-of-sale technology for your business processes. You also need to consider the disadvantages of failing to have such a system in place.
Understanding what a point-of-sale system is, including its hardware and software components, will help you make a smart buying decision. Such systems comprise hardware and software components, as well as capabilities that can optimize your daily operations.
How a POS System Can Benefit Your Business
Are you looking for a point-of-sale system for your business? If so, you should go for more than a transactional tool for tracking and processing sales. Modern POS systems offer a wealth of reporting, management, and business intelligence capabilities. Retail businesses, in particular, demand real-time insight and flexibility to succeed.
As a business owner, you need to have a good understanding of your overall productivity, customer satisfaction, sales performance, staffing, and other important metrics. This is a complex juggling act that requires careful and constant attention. Taking your eyes off one of these metrics can mean the difference between your business’s demise and success.
Advantages of a Cannabis Dispensary POS System
The foundation or footing of every profitable retail operation, including a legal marijuana dispensary, is its POS system. Without an efficient point-of-sale system, your dispensary will probably lose a lot of sales. You could even find yourself in legal trouble if your point-of-sale system is inefficient.
In addition to giving you operational advantages, a POS system for your cannabis dispensary will enhance your customers’ shopping experience. It is one of the most important investments you can make when opening or running a cannabis dispensary.
Fortunately, you do not have to be a statistician or expert to understand the types of information a good POS system provides. Some of the best systems provide many reporting features in easy-to-read formats. This allows users to gain critical insights to make data-driven business decisions.
Choosing a POS System for Your Cannabis Dispensary
The legalization of marijuana is happening across many states. According to analysts, it is only a matter of time before cannabis becomes legal nationwide. When you consider the use of medical marijuana, for instance, across the world, it is legal in more than 35 countries. When it comes to recreational use, it is legal in a few states throughout the United States. Nevertheless, there is an evident trend that a large population of people favors decriminalization of recreational use.
The UN commission reclassified cannabis several months ago. This is one of the reasons why an increasing number of cannabis dispensaries are popping up everywhere. In a few years, you will probably come across as many cannabis dispensaries as there are pharmacies.
If you are planning to open a cannabis dispensary to take advantage of this opportunity, you need to invest in an excellent POS system. Picking a reliable POS system provider is the first step to choosing the right system for your dispensary. You need to know how to evaluate each point-of-sale software. This will help you choose the one that meets your specific needs.
However, running a cannabis dispensary is not the same as operating other types of retail businesses. When it comes to choosing the right POS system for your dispensary, you need to consider the following tips:
1. Compliance
The compliance of your cannabis dispensary is one of the most important factors you need to consider when choosing a POS system. Of course, compliance is important in every type of business. As a cannabis retailer, though, compliance is more important. The point-of-sale system you choose should help you make everything precise and accurate.
The bureaucracy, when it comes to the cannabis industry, is quite different. The solution you choose should help you reduce your paperwork. Sales information, inventory management, and documents should always be accurate, secured, and available. You also want to choose a system that will encrypt this data.
The POS software you choose should also allow for updating whenever compliance requirements for the cannabis industry change. If you run a cannabis industry, you know that these compliance requirements frequently change. Each time this happens, your POS system should automatically update. Otherwise, your business will run into tons of problems.
2. Simplicity
If you run a new or small cannabis dispensary, most of the time, it may feel like you are a one-person army. You need to manage the front of your store, oversee staff schedules, control inventory levels, check your finances, address problems, and much more. Productivity will be one of the most important factors on your mind. You probably feel like you are always falling behind.
Does your current POS system often seem like it is working against you? Does it feature outdated capabilities or an awkward or complicated user interface? Is it unable to handle some of the most important reporting needs? If so, such a system will affect your business operations.
It will make it difficult to accomplish essential tasks in an accurate and timely manner. Therefore, you need to invest time and resources in the ideal POS technology for your business. This will require you to address the limitations of the system you are currently using.
It does not matter how you set up your cannabis dispensary, the layout of your physical space, and how you manage your orders and inventory. You need to choose a simple POS system that is efficient and flexible. Your goal should be to process customer purchases as fast as possible. You do not want long queues and frustrated customers. Your employees should not have trouble finding the right product, menu, or anything else included in the software.
The user interface of your POS system should allow your employees to find what they need within a few seconds. This is why it is important to purchase a good point-of-sale system before you open your cannabis dispensary. Some software providers even offer a demo version of their POS systems for prospective customers to test.
Using a demo version of the system will help you determine whether it is simple to use and ideal for your needs. This way, you will not have to spend money on training your staff. Also, you will not have the reputation of providing slow and inefficient service.
3. Customization Options
As a cannabis retailer, you will encounter many challenges as you carry out your daily activities. Some of these challenges are common across the entire legal cannabis market, including both physical and virtual stores. As a cannabis retailer, you will be under constant pressure to modernize your operations to meet the ever-changing customer demands.
Every business has its special requirements. This applies to businesses in the same niche as well. No matter the size or profitability of your cannabis dispensary, a point-of-sale system is a fundamental tool. Your dispensary needs to have a customizable point-of-sale system. Such a system will help you meet the needs of each customer.
Your cannabis dispensary should be able to do branding and other marketing moves. Whether you have a design team or not, the best POS technology will help you meet these requirements. Branding is surprisingly easy if you have the tools you need to implement it.
You also need to understand that marijuana consumers are becoming increasingly tech-savvy. When it comes to purchasing their preferred product, they are quite choosy. They want to purchase from dispensaries that leverage the latest technology. This is a compelling reason for cannabis retailers to invest in the right POS management system.
4. Inventory Tracking and Management
Real-time updating and inventory tracking are essential features of a good POS system for a cannabis dispensary. Inventory tracking and management is the process of planning the purchase, storage, and selling of stock. You need to ensure that the right amount and type of cannabis products are available without holding excess stock.
The right point-of-sale solution will help you achieve this goal, which will help you save money. The primary goal of this POS metric is to ensure that you have enough products to meet your customers’ demands without creating excess inventory. Accurate and efficient inventory management is critical to running a successful retail business. Some of the benefits of having an efficient inventory management system include:
- Cost savings
- Better accuracy of your inventory
- Better insight into your business processes
- Minimized risk of overselling certain cannabis products
- Ability to avoid excess stock and stockouts
- Improved business terms with suppliers and vendors
- Better customer experience
- Increased productivity
- A more organized store/dispensary
- Increased revenues
Good inventory management practices can help your cannabis dispensary keep an accurate stock count and save money. Therefore, when shopping for a POS system for your dispensary, ensure that the one you choose has efficient inventory management capabilities.
5. Support
One of the most important aspects of a good point-of-sale system is the support you receive. Whenever you have any problem or question, you should have immediate access to the help or services you require. Therefore, it is important to work with a POS system provider that will provide you with the support you need through email, phone, chat, or any other way.
Additionally, you should be able to receive support during your operating hours at a minimum and even 24/7. It is a good idea to choose a provider that will not charge you extra money for this service.
Bottom Line
When choosing a cannabis dispensary POS system, go for one that will provide a complete payment solution for your business. With an innovative system having various payment options and capabilities, you will not need to pay for multiple solutions to run your cannabis dispensary efficiently.
The system you choose should simplify your daily operations rather than complicate them. It should not require an IT professional to operate it; instead, it should let you focus on the main reason you ventured into the cannabis business in the first place. Go for a solution designed for the modern world and written in the latest programming language. It should be user-friendly and easy to update. Furthermore, it should not force you to use specific hardware.