Last updated on December 14, 2015
Reporting tools should be high on your list of must-have features when it comes to choosing a point of sale system. These analytical tools make it easy to track down as well as monitor sales, stocks and promotions. They eliminate the need to do any complex calculations or sort data from scratch in a spreadsheet. Instead, software can crunch the numbers for you and present reports in a useful format.
There are many other ways in which intelligence based reporting tools can benefit a POS system. Below are some of the top four perks of having a powerful reporting tool integrated in your retail software.
Track and Analyze Sales
The software that comes with most epos tills usually has the ability to track sales over a period of time. For example, a retail program can generate daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and yearly sales reports. Being able to see sales data for your business is useful in two ways. First, you can analyze the numbers to tell if the business is making profits or loses. Secondly, you can check what is selling and items that customers rarely buy. This kind of information can come be very useful when it comes to analyzing purchasing patterns. For instance, if customers continuously buy a certain product, the reports will let you know. With this data, you can decide to increase stocks or even run a promotion on the best selling items in order to increase your profit margins.
Increase Security and Detect Fraud
Some reporting tools enhance the security of a point of sale system. For instance, storeowners can verify inventory records against actual stock count for products currently on the shelves. This makes it possible to identify any inventory discrepancies. As a result, the reporting tools can detect if a store suffers merchandise loss due to shoplifting or employee theft. In case you suspect your store is losing merchandise, you can then put in place the necessary measures to beef up security for your business.
Track Operational Issues
Through user management sessions, epos till systems can generate timesheets to show sales transactions completed by a particular attendant during a given shift. This makes it easy to track operational issues such as mistakes and negative actions committed by a particular cashier. Such reporting tools make it easy to detect fraud or cases where cashiers need more training to operate a point of sale software more effectively.
Analyze Promotions
Many retail stores run promotions for various reasons. For instance, particular products may offer discounts to encourage customer purchases. In other cases, promotional deals may be a way to reward customers and keep them coming back. Regardless of the reason behind running promotions, reporting tools make promotional analysis easier. Some tools provide valuable insight on how promotions affect sales and customer purchasing trends. This information can help you to assess the impact of any product offering promotional deals.
With so many different types of electronic point of sale systems in the market, there are different reporting tools that retailers can find in these programs. Therefore, always make it a point to know what analytical tools a point of sale software comes with before you decide to invest in it.
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