No matter what you are doing to bring new customers into your store, it’s what you do once they walk through the front door or click on your web address that is going to convince them to stay.
Not only is it important to use your knowledge of your consumer base to provide excellent customer service, but you want to get a feel for how your customers behave once they enter the sales floor so you can anticipate any problems and eliminate them before they could have an impact on your business.
POS systems are now coming equipped with video analytics that retailers can use in new and innovative ways. In addition to helping to keep an eye out for shoplifters is can also help you find individuals on the sales floor that appear to be having trouble. If you notice someone is having trouble reaching for something, for example, you can quickly contact an employee who can make their way over to help before an injury occurs. Similarly if someone is wandering around for a long period of time without buying, you can find out what their misgivings are so you can better address these kinds of needs in the future.
Video surveillance software is now being coupled with a facial recognition aspect. This will help employees find people who tend to be repeat customers and target them so you are more likely to make a sale. If someone keeps coming into your store but does not appear to leave satisfied or buy anything then you can start looking into what areas of the store they tend to visit and start figuring out what the problem might be. If a customer is known for causing trouble you can also intercept them before they start making a nuisance of themselves, sparing other customers the frustration of dealing with this person.
Café owners are starting to take advantage of restaurant POS technology with mobile applications. This allows the wait staff to complete sales right at the table instead of having to move checks back and forth between the service station and the customer. Not only will this make processing time faster it will help to make customers feel more secure because their card and personal information will never be out of sight.
Store owners have found that customers are more likely to buy merchandise that is not locked up in a cabinet, but having all of your merchandise out and accessible can pose a security risk. POS systems have created an obvious solution. By linking the tag on the item to the POS system you can track when a piece of merchandise leaves the store. If something is missing when it should not be you can look back to your security system and flag the loss immediately. You can also link the POS software to the alarm system so that an alert will sound immediately if something valuable leaves the perimeter of the store without being scanned through the system and paid for first.
