Since it was introduced to the world in 2010, the iPad has been a revelation in the way people work, learn and relax. Today, it’s the norm to catch up on TV shows on the bus, cook along with a celebrity chef in your kitchen, and challenge someone on another continent to a game of chess.
Now, the iPad is revolutionizing the way retail and restaurants function. How? By way of iPad point-of-sales systems (iPad POS). These easy-to-use, easy-to-tailor devices are allowing businesses everywhere to streamline their operations, improve customer satisfaction, and make their businesses run more successfully overall. Of course, the other notable benefit of using an iPad as a point-of-sales system is that it’s possible to use a current device – no other hardware is required.
Reviving Retail
A major issue for retailers in the past has been the disjointed nature of their businesses. Multiple inventories, payment systems and product catalogs can cause confusion and slow everything down. Enter the iPad point-of-sales system. This savvy set-up allows retailers to store all their information in one simple-to-navigate place.
Take customers for instance. Sometimes they shop online, and sometimes they shop in-store. By using the iPad POS, retailers save customer card details for both online and in-store shopping, thus streamlining the experience. By tracking customers’ buying tendencies, retailers are also providing themselves with some handy analytics; they can look at purchasing trends and hone their business model accordingly. As well as this, the retailer is able to reward their best customers – a perk that’s bound to turn them into even better customers!
Source: PR Newswire
With online and in-store stock all registered on the same system, the retailer knows exactly what’s left, and when to reorder. When selecting a product to sell, there are various ways to do so; either by choosing the product on the iPad itself, entering the PLU/SKU key, or scanning the barcode of a product – just like the old days!
Real-time tracking means that retailers can now keep up-to-the-minute with their business, rather than having to appraise every once in a while. The benefits of this are not insignificant. Everything from transactions, to orders, to reports, to inventory is at the retailer’s fingertips. Bigger businesses can keep tabs on staff labour, making precise calls on when to call in reinforcements and when to send an employee home early. In all, detailed management like this can save a business over $85 a day – as much as $31,000 a year!
Revitalizing Restaurants
Problems in the restaurant can start before the diner has even ordered. If a server isn’t aware of table availability, it can already create a bitter taste. The iPad POS provides table area plans that display colored tabled status updates. That way, the server has knowledge at their fingertips of what’s available, and when it’s available.
For centuries, the waiter and waitress have been armed only with pen and pad. Orders have to be scribbled out and written again as indecisive diners change their minds. And depending on how busy the restaurant is, the kitchen might not even receive a table’s order for five or 10 minutes after it’s been taken. The traditional ordering system is in need of an overhaul, and that’s now happening by way of the iPad POS. The device covers all sorts of dining types: Fine Dining, Casual Dining, Order & Seat, Bistro and more. A detailed interface allows the server to select dishes, sides, and cooking preferences, sending these straight to the kitchen either via high-speed prep printer or kitchen order video screen (KVS). Color coding makes inputting orders fast, simple and effective for the server, and because everything’s recorded on the database, there’s no confusion between restaurant staff as to what the order was. Who knows, maybe it’ll even stop a heated between staff members!
If something in the kitchen is out of stock, the server already knows this, and can alert diners there and then. This saves them that embarrassing traipse back to the table five minutes later, accompanied by the grovelling apology that the salmon is off the menu.
When it comes to settling the bill, the iPad POS’s ingenuity is apparent once more. Payments can be split or combined with ease, transferred to bar tabs, or if it’s a hotel, transferred to room numbers. Everything’s done in real-time so the process is transparent and instant.
ImPOS specializes in Hospitality Point of Sale. ImPOS sells, develops, implements and most importantly provides exceptional support.
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The POS is really a great technology, it couldn’t be looked down on as a determinant in the growth of eCommerce. One of the greatest advantages is that its saves you from robbery and prevents carriage of bulks. Good post here.
Thank you brother 🙂