As any knowledgeable business owner will tell you, it’s a good idea to have systems and vendors that can grow along with your business. When the time comes to double or triple your business locations, you don’t want to be scrambling to find a new POS system. It’s prudent to find one that can and will grow along with your business.
What features should your POS system have so you won’t be lacking them when the time comes? A few features are universally used by all small businesses growing into multiple locations, and a few just apply to retail businesses. Let’s take a look at the features a POS system should have if you want to manage multiple locations without the expense of multiple systems.
Tips for All Businesses
What can you do—and what can your POS system do for you—to help your business run efficiently? Here are some tips all business owners, whether it’s hospitality or retail, can use to manage multiple locations with one POS system.
Label All Equipment
As your business doubles and triples in size, your equipment and hardware will, too. To keep track of all this, labeling will be key. In the event an employee or manager needs to reach out to your POS vendor due to an issue, they will need to inform them which POS station, cash drawer, and/or printer is experiencing the issue.
Clear labeling on the lower right side of the POS computer and cash drawer and by the feed button on the thermal printer will enable any employee or manager to point out the piece of equipment that is having the issue. In turn, the POS vendor can follow up on the status of any POS hardware with an employee or manager. Clear labeling will prevent costly and time-consuming miscommunication.
Cloud-Based Reporting
As an owner, you will need to drive between your locations often. Any shortcut that can reduce that drive time will go a long way. Having a cloud-based POS system is the first step in reducing your travel time. With a cloud-based POS system, all the reporting will be in the cloud. You can populate, download, and save reports from the cloud, so you won’t have to drive to each location to get the information you need. You also want a cloud-based POS system that will combine sales and tax reports from all your locations, as well as separate sales and tax reports. This will help your accountant manage your business accounts and taxes to get all the info they need to do the accounting properly.
Employee’s Profile at All Locations
You want to reduce your travel between locations. It may make sense to have your employees travel and work between each location. This can easily fill scheduling gaps and allow you to move personnel around when you want to train new employees.
With cloud-based POS software, a manager can enter an employee’s work info at one location. Then, when that employee goes to a different location, their info is already there. Just two quick clicks from that location’s manager, and that employee is clocked in and working—no problem! All that employee’s time across all locations will be synchronized in the cloud.
Tips for Retail Businesses
Retail businesses have a unique set of needs when it comes to managing multiple locations. This is because of the constant movement of inventory, a higher volume of transactions, and varying requirements across locations. Here are some additional tips for retail businesses specifically.
Warehouse and a Warehouse License
Once your business consists of four or more retail locations, it may make sense to get a warehouse location. This will allow you to buy in bulk and save money. How do you keep track of your products once you have a warehouse up and supporting all your locations?
You will want cloud-based POS software that has a special license for warehouse management. It allows you to track shipments to your locations and see which products are in transit. When the products arrive, a manager can mark the shipment as received. You can also track any items lost in the mail.
This warehouse license will also auto-populate purchase orders based on low stock quantities. With just a click, they can be adjusted before going to the vendor. A warehouse license can also handle the basics, such as adding new items and setting pricing. This gives the owner complete control of not only their retail locations but also the warehouse.
Two Levels of Pricing
As with any business, promoting a sale can bring more customers into the store. However, when a business consists of several locations, you might not want to run the same sale everywhere at the same time. To have this kind of control, you want to get cloud-based POS software that has two levels of pricing for each item: one price at the store level and one price at the corporate level.
Here is how it works: the corporate price is set to the normal everyday price for that item. When the sale happens for that item at just one or a few, but not all, of the retail locations, the store price can be changed to the new sale price. When the sale is over, that item’s price can be changed back to the corporate price with just a click. This will give you better control over sales and prevent accidental mispricing.
You don’t need multiple POS systems to manage multiple locations. With a cloud-based POS system that has all these features, you can efficiently and effectively manage all your locations from one central system. This will set you up for success. With simple, streamlined management, your business will grow and thrive with less effort and fewer headaches on your part.
At Total Merchant Supply, we offer the Merchant Advantage POS software. This cloud-based software has all the features mentioned in this blog. It also comes with Total Merchant Supply’s Service Plan, providing the additional in-person support you need for your business. To learn more about the Merchant Advantage POS software or to see it in action in our showroom, contact Total Merchant Supply today.