POS
6 things your POS needs to do in 2024
POS systems aren't just cash registers anymore. They're silent partners, teammates and the engines propelling successes. Utilize these six things your POS system should be doing for you.
March 1, 2024 by Shannon Chirone — SVP, Marketing, HungerRush
In the ever-evolving restaurant landscape, your POS system isn't just a cash register anymore. It's your silent business partner, a data-driven teammate, and the engine propelling your success. But with technology changing faster than a chef's hotline, is your POS keeping up? Buckle up, restaurateurs, as we delve into 6 essential capabilities your POS must possess in 2024:
1. Leverage where and how your customers are ordering
Today's consumers are more tech-savvy and connected than ever before. They expect the same level of tech proficiency from the restaurants they are frequenting. The proliferation of smartphones and personal tablets has led customers to value the availability and convenience of online ordering through a website or mobile app. If your legacy POS system can't keep up with the times and accommodate these alternative ordering channels, you risk losing customers to other restaurants who do offer these services.
Providing your customers with digital ordering options increases your take-out and delivery revenue streams. Online food ordering now accounts for roughly 40 percent of the total restaurant sales, thus growing your profits even further. Plus, a modern POS system can increase your brand's image by showing your customers that your restaurant is keeping up with the latest technologies.
2. Optimize your customer experience end-to-end
The ability to connect all ordering channels — online, mobile and in-store — empowers you to deliver an exceptional customer experience, regardless of how the order is placed. Digital orders are integrated seamlessly into the kitchen prep queue, improving speed of service and accuracy. Order errors are minimized since customers enter orders directly. Centralized menu configuration ensures you can provide a consistent experience across all ordering channels and offers extensive customization options — a feature that will increase order sizes and sales. Convenience, customization and an efficient ordering process contribute to higher customer satisfaction and drive repeat business. Progressive POS solutions provide multiple ways to achieve these goals and deliver an exceptional customer experience.
3. Make more informed business decisions
With an industry-leading POS solution, you are able to obtain a wealth of operational and customer data that can be used to drive revenue and improve margins. Information such as historical sales data, ordering preferences, delivery presets and responses to promotional offers allow you to customize your menu based on items your customers love and generate the specials they are seeking. Understanding your costs will empower you to make better decisions about your supply chain and inventory management. You can use this information to create and drive promotions that best leverage your investment.
In addition, modern POS systems make loyalty programs easy to implement. These programs strengthen customers' connection to your brand, drive repeat visits and encourage customers to spend more. Additionally, tracking their purchase histories enables you to create more personalized offers and targeted promotions, which increase sales.
4. Integrate with third-party providers
When thinking about how best to run your restaurant, the POS solution provider you select must be committed to ongoing development and seeking new ways to enhance their POS solution with third-party integrations that amplify the performance of the point of sale. For example, you might want to augment your in-house delivery service (or add it if you don't currently offer delivery) by partnering with third-party delivery service providers. That way, you can scale up delivery operations during busy periods, when you're short on drivers or even outside of your typical service area. Having a flexible POS system that can integrate with third-party partners smoothly and without a lot of technical support can help you increase sales quickly.
5. Lower TCO and achieve faster ROI than your legacy POS system
Keeping an outdated legacy POS system often has a higher total cost of ownership (TCO) than investing in an innovative system. Maintenance and technical support on an older POS system is expensive. When you take into account the potential for downtime and its effect on customer retention, the cost of maintaining a legacy POS system dramatically increases. When you have a POS system in which the applications are not integrated, you'll spend a lot more time and resources trying to tie the information together yourself (reconciling inventory data and accounting, for example), particularly when trying to get new technology to work with an old system.
6. Ultimate mobility for increased speed of service
A tablet POS integrated with the point-of-sale workstation is a must-have in any restaurant environment. Tablets can effortlessly transform a fixed-based POS workstation to a mobile solution. This flexibility puts the POS directly in servers' hands for line busting. Line busting will eliminate long lines, reduce wait times, and allow your restaurant to serve more customers. Restaurants can also use tablet POS to scale service capabilities up or down for seasonal demand and special events. Additionally, you'll want to ensure that you're choosing a restaurant POS solution that provides a unified experience across all of your POS workstations and tablets. One software platform used across your tablets and POS workstations will reduce and simplify the time spent training employees. Lastly, a tablet POS that runs on a hybrid cloud solution will minimize downtime by supporting offline mode when the internet is not available.
Ultimately, your POS system should be more than just a tool — it should be a strategic partner. For better business outcomes in 2024, find a solution that does all of the above and more, empowering you to take your restaurant to new heights of success.
About Shannon Chirone
