So…you’re on the hunt for a new point of sale system for your retail business to improve your store operations. But what is the cost of a retail POS system today?
Maybe you’re unhappy with your current POS software and looking to upgrade to newer technology. Or, perhaps you’re still using pen and paper to manage your retail operations.
Whatever the case maybe, we’ve got you covered!
In this post, we’ll explain how much a typical POS system costs and the different factors that make up that cost. We’ll cover everything from software, hardware, and payment processing fees. But before we dive into how you can find the best and most cost-effective solution for your store, let’s get started with the two main types of POS software for retail on the market today.
Legacy vs. Cloud Software
The price of your POS system will depend heavily on the type of software you choose. Traditional, on-premise systems usually require an upfront investment of $4,000-$7,000. While you own continued access to use purchased licenses with this upfront payment, remember that you usually only have access to the version that you purchased. This means that you will need to pay some type of fee to get access to software upgrades or support services. While upgrades are not as important in the beginning, they will eventually be required to match the security upgrades of the operating system (e.g. Windows, etc.) or integrated tools.
In comparison, modern cloud-based (SaaS) software requires little upfront investment – instead you pay a monthly subscription fee. While this fee is ongoing, it’s important to remember that the monthly cost of cloud software is often less than on-premise software once you include the reduced cost of technical support (e.g. technicians on-site, support plans, upgrade fees) and you don’t need to worry about lost data as your information is always backed up to the cloud. The monthly cost of cloud POS software varies but to really figure out how much you can expect to pay, you’ll need to consider several factors such as the number of users, stores, features, the size of your business, etc. On average, it ranges from $80-$200 per station per month.
To learn more about on-premise vs cloud POS software, click here.
Hardware
Next, you’ll need to consider your hardware costs. Remember – POS software and hardware are not universally compatible. So once you’ve decided on a software, you’ll need to have the right hardware in place to support your POS system.
With that being said, the amount you spend on your POS equipment depends on your industry needs and how you operate. Are you planning on ringing in sales with tablet devices? Are you issuing digital or printed receipts? Does your inventory volume require you to scan items at a fast pace?
A small store owner may only require one or two tablets to operate while a mid-sized retailer may need several monitors, receipt printers, and barcode scanners.
Payment Processing Fees
Arguably the most overlooked cost to a merchant are payment processing fees which can end up costing a lot in the long run as they are also an ongoing cost of business. This is why you should take your time to research your options.
For those who are not familiar with payment processing, every time a customer uses a credit or debit card, you will need to pay a fee to process that transaction. Payment processors such as Bambora or Global are the third-party service providers who process credit card transactions in exchange for a fee.
Some POS vendors act as their own card processors (Square, etc.) while others offer integrated payments. Depending on the size of your business, you can expect to pay at least 2.6% + a small transaction fee per transaction. Similar to your hardware, it’s best to go with a payment provider that integrates well with your POS system. Many POS companies offer special pricing if you opt to go for one of their preferred payment processors.
What to Consider Before Purchasing a POS System
Finding the right POS system for your retail business depends on your unique business needs. A POS software that works extremely well for one retail business (e.g a clothing store) may not work well for another (e.g. a high-traffic grocery store).
So, we’ve put together a checklist to help you find the right POS for your store. Here are some additional cost factors to consider when hunting for a new POS system:
1. Size of your retail operations: Most POS vendors will charge per location or store. Meaning the larger you get, the larger the cost to your business. Which is why it’s important to think about scalability when you make a decision about your POS.
Merchants that wish to scale their retail operations should opt for a POS system that is built for multi-location and high growth stores. This can help you save a significant amount of time and money down the road. Look out for the following features:
Unlimited stores, selling zones, and stock allocations
Multi-currency and multi-language features
The ability to handle high transaction and inventory volume
2. The quality and complexity of features: It makes sense that a more complete and useful system would cost a store owner more. While smaller retailers may not need to pay for robust features, mid-sized and larger merchants may have to.
Most POS systems come with tiered pricing plans. If you are looking for basic features (salesscreen, basic inventory etc.) then you can go for a lower-tiered plan. But if you require more advanced features (pricebooks, accounting integration, advanced inventory etc.) then you’ll have to go with a higher-tiered plan.
3. Open API access: If you are a growing business or already use other tools that you need to integrate with your POS, you will want to make sure that the POS system you’re looking at has an open API. Essentially, this is what allows merchants (with their own developers or marketing agency) to access backend data to integrate to or even enhance other applications they are already using. This is particularly important for a merchant looking to create or add innovative tools that improve their ability to compete. Examples of this include retailers looking to integrate their own custom e-commerce site, existing ERP system or even integrate to RFID devices to manage shrinkage.
4. Device Compatibility: As noted above, you need to consider compatibility with your existing devices when purchasing a POS. You don’t want to invest even more money and time in new hardware devices. This is more than simply whether your POS can run on certain devices, it includes whether the system you’re looking at can work with your existing credit card terminals, barcode scanners, etc.
5. Training and onboarding costs: Another important yet overlooked cost is the price of onboarding new POS technology. A POS solution that is inexpensive but difficult to use can cause your business a lot in the long run – this is especially true for high-traffic retailers that deal with long line-ups and peak periods. It is also important to consider if you are a retailer with a high turnover rate or seasonal peaks. If you are constantly training new staff members, it would be best to select a POS system with built-in training tools.
Remember – the proper POS software will not only help speed-up store operations, it will help you increase sales and can result in happier, more productive staff members.
We hope you found this article helpful!
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There are many different inventory management methods but ultimately, it comes down to one thing, “do you have stock when you need to sell it“.
For retailers, inventory planning matters. Inventory is your largest asset and has the greatest impact on your business cash flow. If you plan your inventory well, you can reduce your overhead costs and increase cash flow.
Cash flow sitting in old or out-of-season inventory is money that could be better used elsewhere. Lean retailers that don’t carry a lot of excess stock have more flexibility to introduce new products more quickly. This is particularly true in industries such as grocery where products are perishable or fashion where products can be seasonal. All products lose value over time but in these sectors, products have shorter life cycles and a shorter lifespan, meaning they lose their value faster. And so, maintaining unnecessarily high stock levels means an increased chance of getting stuck with products that require deep discounting to free up your cash flow. Consider this the next time your suppliers offer you better prices to buy a larger volume of product.
It is important to remember, keeping your inventory lean doesn’t mean maintaining low stock levels. If stock levels are not properly aligned to your sales demand and kept too low, you will constantly have out-of-stock products. You want to avoid stockouts as they are costly to retailers not only because of lost sales, but because of wasted marketing efforts and lost customer goodwill.
In the end, selling at any price is not the objective. To be profitable, retailers need loyal, repeat customers that don’t require expensive marketing campaigns to attract. When you think of it this way, inventory is an important part of your overall customer service. Customer service is the new marketing as every touch point impacts how your customers view your business. Less stockouts means higher sales in-store and faster fulfillment for online orders, all of which means better customer satisfaction.
What can I do as a retailer to better manage my inventory?
If you’re an independent and all of this sounds scary, don’t worry. Not all retailers have the resources of the big brands, and regardless of your size, there are things you can do to better plan your inventory.
1) Make sure you always have access to real-time stock levels. You can’t manage what you don’t know. With an increasing number of sales channels (e.g. e-commerce, pop-ups, etc.), a retail POS that can handle “unified commerce” with real-time stock levels is key to inventory management in today’s market. Unified commerce is just another way of saying a total retail management platform that you can log into from anywhere that offers a single view of inventory, sales, and customer data across an entire business in real time. As expected, the need for real-time inventory data grows as the business and transaction complexity increases.
2) Use minimum stock levels (also known as safety stock levels). In many retail point-of-sale systems, you can assign a minimum stock level to every product in your store which you can easily track in comparison to your actual stock level. You should also be able to easily make mass updates in your POS when you review your minimum stock levels every 3-6 months.
3) Track inventory stock levels by supplier so that you can consolidate purchases to minimize stock-outs, lead time, and shipping costs. This will also allow you to more easily meet supplier minimum order amounts.
4) Track inventory turnover. This is essentially how many times a product is sold and replaced over a certain period of time. This can be tracked at a very high level (e.g. including the entire store inventory) or at the product/category level. There are different ways to calculate turnover but whatever approach you use, consider using Cost of Goods Sold instead of Sales as you will get a more accurate measure as your result will not include markup. For example:
From Jan-Mar, this company had inventory turnover of 13.33. This is calculated by taking the Sales$ for this period and dividing it by Average Stock Value$. Now you can convert this to “inventory days” by taking 365 / 13.33. So from Jan-Mar, inventory turns 13.33 times a year and is on hand for approximately 27.38 days. If you run the same calculations for Apr-Jun, inventory turns 18.33 times a year and is on hand for approximately 19.91 days.
From these two examples, the higher your turnover rate, the more efficient you are, since it means that your inventory is being sold faster and you have more cash flow in your business. A lot of people forget that the cost of inventory is not just the original purchase cost of an item. It includes the ongoing cost TO SELL that inventory. The longer it takes to sell something, the greater your real inventory cost as your money is sitting in that dead stock instead of products that are in high demand.
5) Determine your ideal Reorder Days. It is always a good idea to estimate the leadtime required to reorder products in time for suppliers to produce OR deliver them before you are out-of-stock. For example, if you know it takes two weeks to receive orders from a particular vendor, make sure to factor that leadtime into your reorder timing. In the beginning, you don’t want to cut it too close as unexpected delays can happen (e.g. snowstorms in the winter). This is especially true if you are ordering for a busy time of year such as Christmas. For some retailers, losing a week during the holidays might mean the difference between Christmas and Boxing Day pricing.
Inventory management for all
A lot of independent retailers or businesses often think that they are not big enough to use inventory management tools and try to use spreadsheets to keep track of their goods. While this can work in the beginning, as your inventory items grow in both size and attributes, you will either overstock (to prevent stockouts) or have constant back orders. You will also lose out on freight savings and volume discounts you might have received if you had consolidated your vendor orders more efficiently.
Start managing your inventory by following the key essentials we’ve listed above. Then when you’re ready, start to slowly automate these functions one-by-one. With the proper point-of-sale system, you will be able to spend less time managing your inventory and more time selling it.
We hope you found this article helpful!
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This article is an updated version of a blog post first published in the ACE POS Solutions blog.
The best part is, you don’t have to be in the chocolate or gift industry to win the hearts of consumers! Keep reading to find out how you can take advantage of the record spending expected this Valentine’s day.
3 Ways to Increase Store Sales this Valentine’s Day
1. Add a Valentine’s Day section to your store and website
Valentine’s Day is infamous for being a last minute holiday. So, to make it easier for last minute gift buyers and shoppers, place all of your Valentine’s Day related merchandise in one section of your retail store and website.
If you own a physical retail store, dedicate a corner of your store to Valentine’s day so busy shoppers can grab and go. Consider creating a vibrant point of purchase display with Valentine’s Day colours (see the example below). Making use of signage to guide shoppers towards deals and merchandise will also help make the shopping experience more convenient.
With more and more shoppers browsing online before purchasing in-store, it’s also good practice to dedicate a section of your website to Valentine’s Day – regardless of whether or not you sell online.
Have a look at what Mejuri is doing for Valentine’s Day below. The retailer devoted a whole page on their website to Valentine’s day and even created a gift guide for shoppers.
2. Create a retargeting strategy
Selling to existing shoppers is easier and more cost-effective than acquiring new ones. So, consider retargeting shoppers who have made purchases at your retail store during the holiday season.
To target these shoppers, you can create an email campaign to inform them of your upcoming Valentine’s Day promotions. It’s also a good idea to create a Valentine’s Day gift guide to include in your email campaign.
In addition to email, running Facebook Retargeting Ads is an effective way to connect with shoppers. Facebook even gives merchants the option of uploading an email list when running retargeting ads.
You don’t need a crazy budget either – retargeting ads generally perform well with a small budget of $10- $15 a day.
3) Find a Valentine’s Day angle
Not in the chocolate or jewellery industry? That’s ok – you don’t have to sell Valentine’s Day related items to capitalize on the holiday.
You can always find a unique angle to sell your merchandise. For example, Apple found a brilliant way to position their products for Valentine’s Day, using the slogan “Love is in the Air” to promote the iPad Air.
And remember – about half of consumers will not be celebrating the holiday. Rather than alienating this customer segment, cater your marketing message to single people by encouraging shoppers to treat themselves.
For example, Mac is a retailer that recognizes the power of self-love as a marketing tool. In anticipation of Valentine’s Day, the retailer sent out an email campaign encouraging shoppers to treat themselves for the holiday.
Happy Valentine’s Day retailers! And happy selling!
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Inventory shrinkage (loss of inventory due to employee theft, shoplifting, vendor fraud etc.) continues to be a serious issue for retailers – both large and small.
In fact, according to the 2019 National Security Survey, industry-wide shrinkage was estimated to be $50.6 billion. Thus highlighting the importance of having a loss prevention plan.
So, to help you establish a plan of your own, we’ve put together some tried and tested tips and strategies. Check them out below!
What is retail loss prevention?
The loss associated with shrink is two-fold; you’re losing your initial investment in the merchandise itself as well as the revenue that the product could have generated with sales. This doesn’t even include reduced customer satisfaction due to stock-outs.
Which is why store owners should consider retail loss prevention to be a priority. Loss prevention can be defined as a set of best practices that a retailer should follow to prevent product and profit loss.
In order to better understand how to prevent product loss, you must understand what causes it and how those losses occur.
As outlined above, the number one cause of inventory shrinkage is shoplifting. Shoplifting can take many forms, whether it’s an individual acting alone and stealing one or two items or it’s a serious case of organized retail crime where thousands of dollars worth of merchandise is stolen.
Whatever the case may be, it’s important to take necessary precautions so you can lessen the chances of shoplifting taking place in your retail store.
The following are some merchandising best practices that can help deter physical theft:
Merchandising best practices
a) Use effective signage: Make it clear to potential thieves that your store is being monitored. Hang signs around your store warning shoppers that they are under surveillance. Or alternatively, you can use signage to remind them of the consequences of committing theft.
b) Cameras: It’s good practice to place cameras by POS terminals, the entrance/exit to your store, and by any loading/delivery areas. To beef up your security even more, you can also consider hiring security staff.
c) Mirrors: Smaller retailers may not have the resources to install cameras in every corner of their store or have their employees constantly monitor the aisles. For theses retailers, mirrors are a cost effective option to make a significant impact when it comes to loss prevention. Placing mirrors in key areas and corners of your retail space will allow one or two employees to easily monitor the whole store. It also helps your store look more spacious.
d) Revise your store layout: Thieves are less likely to act when they are in plain sight of store employees. This is why it’s a good idea to organize your store layout so that employees have maximum visibility – avoid tall shelves and clustering product displays together. Also, consider placing valuable merchandise closer to staff or in locked displays.
e) Keep your store organized: An organized store is key to deterring theft as well as encouraging shoppers to buy. Keeping your store organized will also make it easier for staff to identify missing product. On the other hand, a disorganized store makes it easier for thieves to operate and can even play a part in attracting them.
2) Use RFID technology
A radio frequency identification system (RFID) is an advanced technology system used by larger retailers to improve inventory management and protect against shrinkage. It is particularly effective against internal theft and administrative errors as RFID tags are harder to manipulate.
RFID chips contain inventory information and are embedded in product tags or packages. This then lets store owners track product information in real-time. They are especially useful for retailers who are omnichannel as RFID provides item level visibility so you can track merchandise from distribution to sale.
While RFID technology has traditionally been too expensive for small retailers, the cost continues to fall as more and more retailers are using them. In some cases, the cost has fallen below $0.05 per tag. While this may still be too high (especially when you add the labor cost of applying tags), depending on your volume (which may allow you to request your supplier to apply them) or the value of your products, it may still be more cost-effective than any losses you would incur as a result of shoplifting.
Many POS systems give retailers the ability to create different staff accounts and set user permissions. These permissions allow store owners and managers to restrict staff members from accessing certain features in the POS system. Put simply, user permissions are ways for business owners to limit employees from performing tasks outside of their job description and to prevent internal theft.
Depending on the size of your business, you will want to be able to customize the type of rights different employees have access to. If you have a lot of staff or have turnover due to seasonality, you’ll want to look for POS systems that allow you to easily group employees by different customizable roles. In this way, you can easily set the access rights for a role (e.g. cashier) and then simply assign any employee to this role without having to manually set up the rights for each person.
4) Manage refunds and returns
Fraudulent returns (returning used, stolen, exchanged merchandise or returning merchandise with counterfeit receipts/money) happen frequently in retail. And while return fraud is harder to assess than shoplifting, a strict return policy can help prevent it from occurring in the first place.
Here are a few tips for developing a practical return and exchange policy that minimizes the risk of internal and external theft:
Require the original receipt for all returns and make sure the store’s return policy is printed clearly on all receipts. Most POS systems will allow you to customize receipts to include important important information such as store policy, contact info, and social media.
Make sure employees are strict about enforcing the store return policy. Consider placing a written version close to your checkout tills. It’s also a good idea to have employees remind shoppers of the policy at checkout.
Require customer ID to process refunds and exchanges and train staff to spot fraudulent returns.
Consider offering refunds only in the payment method used to make the purchase. While there is a processing cost to allowing refunds on credit cards, it is a lot easier for savvy users to process fake returns if it is possible for them to refund using cash. After all, it’s as simple as reprinting a receipt, processing a return and pocketing the cash themselves.
Look for a POS system that gives you the option to accept returns with a separate return screen that forces users to associate a refund to past invoices.
We hope you found this article helpful.
If you are a Toronto retailer, you can download the following whitepaper for emergency situations.
As a retailer, you’re bound to experience high and low seasons.
Periods of slower sales can happen for many reasons such as natural seasonality (e.g. Halloween supplies), the weather, or competitive promotions. Whatever the reason for your slump, it’s important to view your off-season or slow periods as a potential opportunity.
Low seasons are actually the perfect time for retailers to focus on their marketing efforts. With a little bit of creativity and planning, you can make it through your off-season with not only more new customers, but a larger base of followers to promote to. And who knows, you may even find a new revenue opportunity in the process!
Keep reading for 3 strategies that you can use to keep your retail business profitable during your slow periods.
Why an off-season marketing strategy is important
There is a common misconception that businesses should only invest in marketing during their high season. But this isn’t the case. Your slower seasons are actually the time when you need the sales lift from marketing!
In particular, an off-season marketing strategy is key to:
Building local and online awareness: Knowing is half the battle. Shoppers don’t know what they’ve never seen. Marketing during the off-season gives your retail business time to build online presence and brand awareness with target shoppers. You can educate customers on what your store has to offer and how you are better than your competition. This way, once your peak season hits, you will be top-of-mind with shoppers.
Minimizing your overall marketing costs: Ad spend decreases during the off-season as less competitors are bidding on ad space. This means that you can get more exposure at a lower cost versus advertising during your high season.
Getting ahead of your competitors: Besides getting new shoppers in your door, marketing during the off-season also gives you the opportunity to start building your own mailing lists or followers. This is particularly important as you need time to attract a following of people interested in what you offer. But by starting earlier than your competitors, you will be ahead of them by having a new list of potential shoppers that you can market directly to during your high season.
3 marketing strategies for the off-season
When we’re talking about marketing, we are specifically talking about digital marketing. While traditional marketing has its place, for most privately owned businesses, digital marketing offers the easiest way to promote your business, especially during your off-season. After all, today’s average shopper now spends more time with digital content than traditional media.
1) Gather online customer reviews
Online reviews are an important part of the consumer shopping journey. In fact, 90% of shoppers read customer reviews before visiting a business. And according to Google, 2 out of 3 shoppers say having positive reviews was an important factor in selecting a business or store to purchase from.
With so many people basing their purchasing decisions on reviews, gathering reviews should be a key marketing strategy for your business all year round. But the off-season is usually the best time to ask loyal and long term shoppers to leave a review on your Google My Business (GMB) profile, especially now that you can create a GMB shortname unique to your business. You can then use customer reviews as promotional material across all of your digital platforms including your social media and store website. By staying active online and promoting positive customer testimonials, shoppers will remember your retail business when peak season hits.
2) Consider paid marketing options
Digital marketing benefits retailers of all sizes as it is always the fastest way to cost-effectively access an incredibly targeted audience of shoppers. The advantages of digital marketing include:
Fast impact: Compared to traditional marketing, paid digital marketing will make an impact much faster. Depending on the type of campaign, you can get up and running in minutes.
Flexible and accountable: The results of digital marketing are much easier to see so you can immediately know whether a campaign is working and make changes right away. This is a major difference from traditional marketing where your investment is a one-time deal since you can’t make changes once a flyer or a radio ad is printed or produced.
Lower overall cost: A well planned out digital marketing campaign can reach a targeted audience at a much lower cost (as little as $10/day) than traditional marketing methods.
Click here to learn more about the benefits of digital marketing for retailers.
Run Google Local Inventory Ads (LIA)
Over the past several years, an increasing number of retailers have looked at running Google Local Inventory Ads (LIA) during slower periods. In Sidecar‘s 2019 Benchmark Report: Google Ads in Retail, the LIA performance of several retailers was examined. It turns out, LIA clicks grew by 16% and revenue increased 15% year-over-year.
Sephora, Canadian Tire, and Williams-Sonoma are some of the big box retailers who have seen success with Google LIA. Now for the first time ever, Local Inventory Ads are also available to independent retailers who are looking to attract local shoppers. And the best part? They are available in an automated way that doesn’t require retailers to hire new staff or keep inventory stock levels updated.
To learn how you can easily implement Google LIA together with your POS system, click here.
While Google LIA has proven to be a viable marketing strategy all year round, it is particularly effective during off-season for the following reasons:
Bids are lower: As mentioned above, there are fewer competitors buying ads during off-season – which means lower ad spend is required to gain impressions.
Marketing costs are minimized: LIA only showcases in-stock product and will automatically turn off when stock runs out, reducing your marketing costs.
Get in front of local shoppers who are actually looking to purchase your products: Google LIA displays in-stock product to shoppers within a certain Km radius (you have full control over the geographical range) who are actually searching for products that your store sells.
3) Promote your business on social media
With the rise in social media and e-commerce, shoppers are closer than ever to retail businesses. Not only do you have a way to directly showcase your products and store, you can now build up your list of followers for personalized offers.
While websites are still a great way to offer a “digital window” into your store, with the rise in social commerce (e.g. Facebook Shops, Instagram Shopping, etc.), it’s very important for retail stores to be active on social media.
Check out these 6 tips to help you grow your social following more quickly during your low season:
Pick no more than 1 or 2 social media platforms to avoid spreading yourself too thin. Just make sure you’re picking ones your target customers commonly use. See how the various social media platforms differ.
Make sure you have a verified Google My Business (GMB) account and are active on it. GMB is one of the best free online marketing tools available for small businesses today. Not only does GMB help local shoppers find you on Google Maps, it has options for you to post content (e.g. special offers or events) which improves your SEO.
Improve your content design with cost-effective graphic tools. You don’t need to be a designer to use drag-and-drop tools such as Canva that even have free versions.
Use original images for the best results as these rank better on SEO.
Don’t forget to include the links to your social media accounts on email signatures, invoices, receipts, ads and on any window displays.
Clearly display your social media links at the cash register and train your staff to encourage shoppers to sign up for special offers while they are waiting.
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