Point of sale: how to save on automation system

This article offers practical guidelines for those who has already opened or is intending to open a coffee shop, a small café, a bar, a street food kiosk, a wine or gourmet foods shop. These are the kind of establishments that develop into profitable networks over time.

Take time to evaluate the latest automation systems as they contribute significantly to fast growing of small points of sale. For further information on how to choose them right and to test them, read more here below.

You may have already opened your small business and… you are faced with the necessity to calculate a lot of things and to do it accurately, for example, warehouse stuff and cash register, payments to suppliers, orders management. And what about salaries, taxes, reports?

Calculators and workbooks cannot keep up with this amount of tasks. Important notes are frequently lost. Waiters and sales personnel sometimes run the risk of having lost or forgotten visitor’s order in the shuffle. People leave their first negative feedbacks… This makes you think about a computer accounting.

Public catering and trading: smart tips for introducing automation to your small business

The first thing that comes to mind is bookkeeping programs. And here there are two reasons why they won’t be useful for a just started business or a small point of sale:

• Huge costs:

1. A licensed version (with installing) starts from $200.
2. A server to save business data (the purchase and setting up) starts from $2.000.

Services of a visiting system administrator (IT outsourcing) start from $100 per month.

• Non-used functionalities. You won’t need to use the most part of custom functionalities that are offered by typical bookkeeping programs.

IMPORTANT NOTE: A bookkeeping program doesn’t manage sales, it just registers sales results. You will be unable to:

— register clients’ orders;

— transfer them to the kitchen, bar, warehouse and back;

— control the accuracy and deadlines for the execution of orders;

— evaluate an employee’s performance. 

The bookkeeping programs generally allow to keep financial accounting records and information on property owned by your point of sale. These programs are essential during the growth stage of a new business.  But even in this case you can save some money by paying an outsourcing company to keep your accounting records. Thus you will avoid software and hardware costs as well as paying salaries to full-time specialists.  The average rate for this kind of services is about $20 per month.

And all you need to do is to implement the basic automated accounting on your point of sale and to transfer data quickly to the centralized bookkeeping program. POS programs perform the tasks of prime records and sales management.  You can read more about them below.

POS systems and automation of the sales

POS software is the virtual brain which covers all business processes of a catering point or point of sale:

• client servicing and sales;
• loyalty programs – discounts, special offers and bonuses;
• products movements in the warehouse;
• cash flows;
• track on the employees working hours;
• reports and analysis of the business success rate.

For example, your kiosk is participating in the street food festival or in catering. To connect to the Internet, you can take a mobile router with you, use a SIM card or make records offline. Once you are online, the software will automatically import data about sales to the cloud storage.

What is cloud storage and why are they cost effective?

Cloud storage involves storing data on remote virtual servers with high security standards. They store business data in the closed area. Even the provider who is responsible for the efficient functioning of the server doesn’t have access to it. The only person having the access rights is the customer and his authorized representatives.

Cloud based data exchange offers great opportunities for your business. You can easily manage a point of sale or an entire network of points of sale:

1. Being equipped with tablets each point can be easily used as terminals with connected devices: printers, scanners, cash registers and so on. The set of equipment depends on the specific features of your business and its tax type.
2. The virtual Administration panel becomes the center of accounting and reporting. It represents an individual unit of POS software with special access rights for the owner and managers. They have the possibility to restore reports by warehouse, cash register, open and closed orders, to get to know the business profitability and the amount of taxes per month. The information about employees, salaries, customer database and personal bonuses is also stored here.
3. Managers’ smartphones ensure effective operational control. The mobile application selects sales core values and displays them in a user friendly manner on the device screen. The Administrator can keep the business under control even on holidays or week-ends 24 hours a day, 7 days a week in real-time mode.

Automation systems like point-of-sale help to simplify key day-to-day business operations. Below is the list of commonly used hardware for sales space, kitchen and warehouse:

• display device with the keyboard for sales space;
• cash register (if needed).
• tablet on the stand holder for sales space and accounting points (warehouse, kitchen);
• POS-printer to print kitchen tickets and payment checks;
• bar codes reader;
• credit card terminal.

Benefit from the better quality of POS softwares: install them on portable PC and mobile devices (tablets, smartphones).  This will allow you to save significantly on automation of small points of sale, to keep records and always keep control over your business.