E-commerce POS Systems and Texting To-go Orders are Gaining Popularity

Most of us have seen a POS (point of sales) system.  You can find them in restaurants, grocery stores and any other place that sells products.  They are there to help streamline sales activities and make inventory reports much easier on business owners.  New technology has now brought POS systems much more capabilities such as tying in sales reports for both online and traditional stores, and even the capability of tying in text message to-go orders.

E-commerce sites have really taken off to the point where some people don’t even go to regular stores any more.  Being able to shop from home and avoid traffic and the hustle and bustle of big sales is appealing to many.  Because of this, many stores have added an e-commerce site to compliment their brick and mortar store.  If you have a POS system that can tie together your sales for both types of purchasing, you should be able to rest a little easier.

You also will be able to improve your stock management accuracy and efficiency by synchronizing all stock levels using real time applications.  There is nothing worse than running out of a product because you made a simple mistake in your inventory because of a purchase made online. 

Texting has been popular for some time now, and some franchised Subway stores in San Diego, are using texts to receive to-go orders.  One company making this texting possible is Zingle, and this is how the above Subway stores are able to gain texting as a new way to order.   

One franchisee testing the Zingle application has this to say about the use of texting orders,” "Everybody's so good at texting these days that they can do it so fast. They can just tell you what you want and then you're done.”  With the help of point of sale software, the orders numbers coming in via text are able to be saved, making it easy for the customer to pay when they pick up their order.

Business owners have the tuff job of keeping up on new technology for their industry.  Staying ahead of the game will be beneficial for not only your bottom line, but also ahead of your competitors.  Looking into new POS capabilities for your business is one way you can do this—hopefully making things easier for not only you, but your customers as well.

Shannon Suetos is a writer based in San Diego, California. She writes extensively for Resource Nation, an online resource that provides expert advice on purchasing and outsourcing decisions for small business owners and entrepreneurs.