barcoding
NEWS FLASH – Americans are impatient
From the drive-thru line at Starbucks to getting to Grandma’s house for Christmas (are we there yet?), we want everything fast. And that includes checking out at our favorite retail establishments.
So how do you help your retailers make that need for speed work in your favor as you gear up for the busy shopping season?
The No. 1 recommendation is barcoding your inventory.
While you can set up buttons in either QuickBooks Point of Sale Desktop or QuickBooks Point of Sale Powered by Revel, any and everything that can hold a barcode label should have one. When your client’s customers come to check out, the POS clerk should be able to scan the barcodes, take their payment, package their purchases and help the next customer.
Having retailers barcode their inventory has an important second win (some would say first): Barcoding not only speeds check out, but has the added bonus of helping you keep a more accurate inventory. Barcoding assures you that the right items are being paid for and taken out of inventory.
Barcoding is the No. 1 business process that will truly impact every portion of a retailer’s business and bottom line. Both flavors of QuickBooks POS has barcoding built in to the system.
English Management Solutions can help show your retail clients how to use barcodes as part of its desktop or Cloud based POS solutions, including printing of the right tags for every possible situation.
After Barcoding, the next would be to have an integrated credit card system.
Integrated credit card processing means the credit card is swiped (or if it’s a chip card, dipped) directly into the POS register, not processed in a system outside of your register (called a Zon Machine).
Why is this so important?
To process a credit card on a Zon machine, the clerk must ring the ticket up in the POS system. He then stops, turns (or take a few steps) and swipes the customer’s card, manually types in the amount (correctly, I hope), and then waits for the machine to return with an authorization code. He then prints two receipts.
The clerk then turns (or takes a few steps) and hands the slip to the customer for his signature, finishes the transaction in the POS system, prints off the POS receipts, and staples the credit card receipt to the POS receipts. He then hands both to the customer.
What’s the extra time needed for this process?
At best it is between 60 and 90 seconds. That doesn’t sound all that bad until you understand the overall productivity loss from this procedure.
Let’s say you’re doing $1 million in sales with an average ticket of $ 62.50 and 75 percent of all your sales are credit card transactions. That means you’re handling 12,000 credit card transactions each year, which, at a scant 60 sections per credit card slip, represents 200 hours a year.
Doubt the math? Time a credit card transaction on a Zon machine, and you’ll find that 60 seconds is conservative. That’s a huge time suck. And, during the holidays, three people in line means the last person is waiting three extra minutes for just your credit card processing.
If I’m the fourth person in line, I may not wait. Every retailer knows that during the holidays many people will walk in, look at the lines, and walk out.
Don’t let your retail clients add minutes to their customers’ shopping experience with a separate credit card machine. Even if you have discussed integrated processing before, it may be time to start the conversation again. They must know how many man and customer hours they’re wasting per year with a separate terminal.
There now are several companies offering integrated credit card processing, so we’re finding everyone is getting more competitive on rates. Additionally, for the QuickBooks Point of Sale Powered by Revel, you can add a signature capture customer facing display to further speed your checkout line.
Barcoding is the No. 1 business process that will truly impact every portion of a retailer’s business and bottom line. Both flavors of QuickBooks POS has barcoding built in to the system.
My next tip is to Implement Touchscreens for QuickBooks Point of Sale Desktop. The cost is about $250 more than a standard screen and the payback is measured in months.
Why does this make a difference? Two factors: First, POS clerks learn faster and can process tickets more quickly on a Touchscreen. The days of a keyboard driven system that requires you to remember Alt+F2 as a command on a POS system need to be gone.
Additionally, anytime the clerk has to touch a mouse, it slows the process. Shorter training times mean more productive time in the store stocking shelves and focusing on customer service.
Desktop POS allows you to set up “buttons” for items in inventory that can’t be barcoded. Services and items sold in bulk (neither can be barcoded) are two examples of how a “button” can help speed up the customer’s experience.
In the case of QuickBooks Point of Sale Powered by Revel, buttons are an integral part of the system, including the ability to set up matrix inventory such as size and color, as well as selections called modifiers to handle options that can be added to a product.
The last item unfortunately is the most often overlooked one – employee training.
No matter how long your POS system has been deployed, your client will have new clerks working during the holidays and existing employees can always use a refresher to ensure they are following store policy.
- Make sure they have a “sample” or “play” company set up in your system and they’re comfortable with all the common things they are going to be asked to do.
- Make sure they know how (or if) you take a personal check, (you know those paper things that you write out amounts on.)
- How to ask the customer for a different form of payment, if a credit card is declined.
- How to void a line on a ticket, if customers change their minds about something during checkout or how to void an entire ticket if the customer walks out without paying
- How to sell a gift card
- How to print a gift receipt
These may seem obvious, but new clerks (and sometimes old ones) must be “refreshed” on all the basics. Don’t lose a sale because a clerk is asked to do something they’ve simply forgotten how to do quickly.
Most retailers will make at least 40 percent of their overall revenue in 60 days. The holidays will determine if their bottom line is green or red. Don’t have your client’s lose a single dollar of sales because their check out was slow.
Help your retail customers do their part in reducing the customers’ shopping stress and increase profits by keeping it speedy. Helping more customers, faster during the holidays.
William English is President of English Management Solutions Inc., a Certified Advanced QuickBooks ProAdvisor Consultant and Intuit Premier Reseller.