cards

Member Article

Six reasons to bin your cash register

Most people over the age of thirty will remember Ronnie Barker’s lethal cash register in the BBC sitcom Open All Hours; it was an outdated, manual machine that smashed onto the hapless character’s fingers at will. Thankfully most garden centre and DIY store owners don’t use tills quite as archaic as that one anymore, but while their fingers are safe from injury, their company profits are not.

Below are six reasons why binning the cash register and investing in a modern electronic point of sale (EPoS) system can help you boost your business’ profitability.

1. Time

For many consumers, heading to the shops is not a pleasurable experience. They want to enter and leave a shop in the shortest time possible, and will be grateful to store owners that can speed up the process – happy customers are likely to become repeat customers.

You can manage this through the use of well labelled shop displays, clear routes around the store and grounds and by ditching your slow, manual cash register. Physically typing prices into a cash register and working out change is a slow method that carries a high risk of human error. Using a bar scanner to capture details of the product being purchased is a fast, reliable and preferable alternative which will keep the customers pouring in.

2. Error

On the point of human error, some of the latest EPoS systems come with the option to integrate your card terminal with the EPoS solution. Sending payment information straight to the card terminal removes the weakest link in the chain - human error. This in turn avoids the need to re-enter incorrect figures and speeds up the checkout process – thereby increasing the number of customers that can be dealt with and therefore your turnover.

3. Information

Cash registers provide only raw data: printed till receipts which you have to pore over with your calculator at the end of the working day in order to discern some useful information.

The great thing about EPoS systems is that they are multi-functional. They provide real-time information on inventory, staff and customers: such as your store’s best and worst sellers or your lowest margin products. This information can then be used to make informed business decisions, to facilitate future improvements, increase profitability and spot management issues.

4. Stock

Your EPoS system can also update you on your stock levels, reminding you when you are running low so that you can proactively replenish products before they run out – not after. It can track sales, calculate gross profit and even send your suppliers automatic purchase notifications. Most importantly it controls your stock records, reducing shortages.

5. Price

Cash registers are cheap, and some of you might be saying that EPoS systems sound great but are entirely unaffordable. In the past this would have been true; you were required to pay upwards of £3000 to purchase a terminal outright. Thankfully there are now companies that cater specifically for small and independent businesses like DIY stores and, recognising that many new businesses don’t have spare cash offer the system on a rental plan. That means you can pay just a couple of pounds each day without the need for any capital outlay.

6. Asthetics

Buttons are so 1999, just look at the dominance of smart phones. Who wouldn’t prefer a swish touch screen system? Not only is it more tactile, but it looks smarter sitting at your payment point and can improve the customer perception of your store or garden centre.

Store owners have been using cash registers for 130 years, but it’s time for a change. Technology’s moved on, the gardening and DIY industry is more competitive and businesses need to move on too. Cash registers have served their purpose and, in order for small companies to really compete with their large rivals, they need to make the most of technologies such as EPoS and the data that such systems provide. It’s the best, cheapest and simplest way to maximise business profitability.

By Clive Kahn, CEO of CardSave, supplier of payment solutions to small businesses

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Clive Kahn .

Our Partners