With the higher adoption of the internet and technology, online shopping has become a new standard for shoppers of any age. Surprisingly, 2.14 billion around the world prefer purchasing their favorite products online. At the same time, global e-commerce sales are expected to reach $6.4 trillion by 2024.
To keep pace with the ever-changing customers’ demands, online businesses are migrating towards cloud-based POS solutions. A point-of-sale system is a valuable alternative to a traditional cash register. This tech-driven solution does more than increase your sales. You can handle your employees’ schedules, track inventory, and collect data for personalized business strategies.
Whether running an offline business, like a brick-and-mortar, or an e-commerce store, you need a modern POS system to take your business to the next level. You can only stay longer in the competitive business market if you alter your business strategies with market trends. Below, we will look at four point-of-sale (POS) trends to help you understand how your business can benefit from this cloud-based solution.
What is a POS System: A Brief Overview
A point of sale (POS) is a tech solution that enables merchants to run their businesses more efficiently by facilitating in-person transactions. The modern POS system goes beyond sales processing capabilities and offers the following advanced features:
- Reporting and Analytics
- Mobile POS Abilities
- Contactless Payment Options
- E-Commerce Integrations
In short, POS solutions work as a central hub for your business operations. You can track and monitor everything, from inventory management and payment processing to customer management. Due to their flexibility and powerful features, online retailers highly appreciate POS systems. Statistics highlight that the POS software market is expected to reach $18.1 billion by 2027.
Benefits of POS for Retailers
In online businesses, a modern point-of-sale system has become inevitable. It can benefit modern retailers in the following ways:
- It helps you manage your inventory with real-time data
- It makes payment processing simpler
- With POS, you can generate invoices and group them in the database
- It secures your customers’ data
- POS enables you to track your business growth with better reporting and analytics
Implementing a reliable point-of-sale system can be tricky. You can get help from professional POS developers to get the best output from your POS solutions.
4 Point of Sale (POS) Trends
The following POS trends will help you ring up your sales and collect better data for business intelligence:
- Smooth Omnichannel Experience
An omnichannel approach integrates social, e-commerce, and in-person sales with a holistic view of customers’ relationships. Omnichannel experience is not a new concept, but POS enables merchants to give customers a seamless shopping experience across different touchpoints.
A POS system can help use an omnichannel approach in the following ways:
- Non-Linear Purchasing Paths
Today’s buyers prefer using a non-linear path to purchase a product. For example, a customer may learn about your products/services on a social media platform like Instagram or Facebook, browse through your storefront, and purchase from your website. A buying journey is extremely complex for both online and offline businesses. POS enables you to use an omnichannel approach, so your customers can get a satisfactory shopping experience across all channels.
- BOPIS (Buy Online, Pick-Up in Store)
BOPIS is also a rising trend in the business market. Buy online and pick-up in-store trends have reached $83 billion in US sales, which is expected to grow by $141 billion by 2024. This approach helps consumers shop for their favorite products online and come to the store to complete a transaction.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, 46% of retail executives plan to invest in omnichannel retailing. POS technology can help you accommodate complex buying behaviors, giving your customers an unforgettable experience.
- A Personalized Shopping Experience
Personalization is the top priority of retailers. A survey highlights that 60% of the customers remain loyal to businesses that offer a personalized experience. More and more retailers are striving to give customers a personalized shopping experience. A report by Reporterlinker indicates that the global personalization software market is expected to hit $1.7 billion by 2025.
Adopting a POS system that can deliver a personalized shopping experience can benefit retailers in the following ways:
- Increased Product Prices
Customers are willing to pay more for a personalized shopping experience. You can increase your product prices by building a loyal relationship with your buyers.
- Improved Customers Satisfaction
As 71% of buyers expect businesses to deliver personalized interactions, POS can help you increase customers’ satisfaction by serving them with fast and reliable services.
- Collect Customers’ Data
Customers’ data is the most significant asset of any business. It helps you identify your target audience and their pain points. POS solutions encourage users to share data with retailers in exchange for several benefits. In addition, POS software collects valuable buyers’ data after the transaction, which can help you build customer personas.
- Flexible Payment Options
Buyers want to access ever-expanding payment options. A point-of-sale system help retailers facilitate customers with flexible and alternative payment options. It allows you to accommodate the following additional payment options:
- Contactless Payments
Contactless payments have the new norm for merchants and buyers. It makes payment processing much easier and safer. By 2019, digital wallets accounted for 6% of POS transactions. You can integrate CashApp, PayPal, Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Venmo apps with your online store to give buyers excellent contactless payment options.
- BNPL (Buy Now Pay Later)
BNPL services, like Laybuy, Clearpay, and Karlana, enable consumers to purchase a product and pay monthly installments. A POS with installment payment options is ideal for buyers who don’t have any traditional payment options.
- Cloud-Based POS Software
All the advantages of POS solutions heavily rely on system-sharing data. The different parts of the system sharing data are completed through the cloud-based servers run by the POS companies and accessed through the internet.
Cloud-based point-of-sale systems are a continuing POS trend. 29% of the retailer are planning to adopt cloud-based solutions by 2024. In addition, the cloud POS market is also expected to hit $6 billion by 2025.
Conclusion
A point-of-sale (POS) system is more than just accepting payments and ringing up sales. A modern POS system has added features that work as a central hub for your business operations. POS technologies have become inevitable for modern businesses due to their robust capabilities and features.
