POS Solutions
Article | March 18, 2024
In today’s changing landscape for third-party logistics warehouses, the ability to evolve is more important than ever. One of the best ways to meet this challenge is to shift from traditional B2B fulfillment to ecommerce workflows. With more than 2 billion digital buyers worldwide, and the total global retail ecommerce sales estimated to reach $4.13 trillion this year, warehouses looking to adapt will be able to continue to help their customers meet the growing demands of online buyers. In this webinar, you will learn the best practices used by 3PLs looking to make the move to ecommerce or how to enhance their ecommerce operations.
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POS Solutions
Article | February 15, 2024
Introduction
It's no secret that technology has significantly transformed numerous industries, including the restaurant business. With rapid technological development, several restaurant owners are emphasizing digitizing their operations.
Big hospitality chains are incorporating tech solutions to counter emerging challenges faced by the restaurant industry today to address labor shortages and issues eroding their profit margins. In addition, to stand out from the competition and attract tech-savvy customers, they established new service standards. In an effort to run their businesses efficiently and meet the rising expectations of both customers and employees, restaurant owners are investing not only in adopting new guest-facing technologies but also in integrating back-of-house technologies such as POS solutions.
The Latest Trends in Restaurant POS Systems
Over the past couple of years, point of sale (POS) systems have witnessed substantial development, from fixed POS terminals with operators to contactless mobile devices. Restaurant POS technology is constantly evolving, but the COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically impacted how consumers use technology today.
After a transition to off-premise only models, when dine-in establishments reopened their doors, the adoption of contactless payment and ordering solutions experienced a massive boom. In addition, the emerging trend of enhancing payment solutions to meet customers at their convenience is helping restaurants increase revenue, maximize efficiency, and decrease labor costs. Here are some of the most prevalent trends in restaurant POS systems in 2022:
Self-Ordering
Self-ordering has been one of the most popular trends in many restaurants in recent years, and restaurant POS software is the solution that can be adopted to facilitate this. With the use of these systems, it is possible for restaurants to set up a process wherein customers can place their own orders, reducing wait times while eliminating issues where employees enter incorrect orders.
The most common approaches to self-ordering are through a website, mobile application, or self-ordering kiosks. Using these POS solutions, customers can place the order and make the payment digitally or visit the restaurant physically and do the same.
Mobile Point-of-Sale
In recent years, mobile POS solutions have gained huge prominence, especially across the hospitality and restaurant sector, owing to their ability to place orders using mobile devices such as smartphones, tablets, and others.
The addition of mobile ordering solutions provides freedom to guests to choose how they order as well as enhances efficiency for the staff. It also assists in speeding up restaurant operations, decreasing wait times for customers, and ultimately increasing revenue by allowing restaurants to serve more guests each day.
Cashless Restaurants
The hospitality, restaurant, and café (HoReCa) industries witnessed a swift rise in inclination toward cashless transactions. A number of restaurants have ceased accepting coins and paper notes, while others have taken steps to encourage the use of mobile wallets, cards, QR codes, and online payments. There are numerous benefits associated with adopting cashless POS solutions. Eliminating the use of physical money is more hygienic, and this was of paramount importance amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to this, electronic payments are more transparent and can be tracked with ease. It also provides high business protection against theft and break-ins due to the absence of money on-site.
Upcoming Technological Trends in Restaurant POS System
Innovative hospitality management software such as modern restaurant POS systems is of great importance as they assist restaurants in managing inventory, enhancing customer experience, and optimizing financial results. It's not enough to simply be aware of the latest restaurant POS features and developments; one must also plan ahead for the future and consider the trends that are just beginning to emerge or are likely to gain prominence in the years to come. Let’s look at some future trends in modern restaurant POS technology:
Voice-Activated Ordering
Voice recognition technology has experienced massive development and gained tremendous popularity over the past couple of years. It is expected that the demand for voice ordering in the hospitality industry will increase as more consumers use devices such as smart speakers and voice assistants on their smartphones. The hospitality industry stands to gain the most from this trend. It stands to reason that fast food joints, particularly those with a drive-through ordering option, would be the first to adopt voice ordering. On the other hand, it has the potential to be helpful in different settings as well, relieving waiters of some of their duties while giving customers a quicker and more user-friendly alternative to ordering from a smartphone app.
Biometric Technology
Advanced authentication technologies such as fingerprint scanning, facial recognition, and others that are already being used to verify the identity of their owners on mobile phones, iPads, and other devices. This innovation is likely to be used in restaurants to confirm guests' arrival at their reservations, and it has the potential to revolutionize the hospitality industry as a whole in the years to come.
Augmented Reality (AR)
The widespread adoption of smartphones in today's society also bodes well for the future application of augmented reality in the hospitality sector. This trend may take many forms in the years to come. One possible application of augmented reality in buffet restaurants is to designate different operational areas or plot out the most efficient path. In other eateries, augmented reality could also be used to provide animations, motion graphics, or themed graphical overlays to mark out pay points or areas to queue, along with providing an interactive and entertaining experience for younger customers.
Why Are Modern POS Systems Gaining Popularity in the Restaurant Industry?
The hospitality and restaurant sectors are witnessing fast-paced evolution in response to shifting consumer preferences. Therefore, it is quite intimidating for restaurant owners to keep up with ever-changing customer demands while maintaining smooth operations in a tall order as they aim to pace up the process and expand revenue.
An all-encompassing POS system can fulfil this need by simplifying and speeding up every step of the operation. Below are a few ways modern restaurant POS software boosts productivity.
Improve Customer Relationships
Having a restaurant POS technology installed can do wonders for both the service and the satisfaction of the patrons. The POS solution makes it simple for eateries to alter their menus, cut down on customer wait times, and provide accurate options for customers to pay, including by check, cash, card, or account. As a result, restaurants are able to serve their customers faster and more effectively, ultimately making them happier.
Create Accurate Business Reports
The ability to generate regular, in-depth reports is a crucial restaurant POS feature for assessing the performance of the eatery. It helps the restaurant owners keep track of things like sales, credit, inventory, best-sellers, and other metrics relevant to calculating profits and losses and improving operations. A complete restaurant POS software streamlines and simplifies the entire operation of the eatery.
Easy Tracking of Inventory
For restaurant owners to expand their business and make a profit, they must master the art of controlling food costs. In order to keep better tabs on the stock levels and daily usage, a restaurant POS system assists them in managing the restaurant's operations more efficiently and effectively. With the help of real-time data provided by these systems, restaurants can prevent stock-outs and excessive spoilage of food products by quickly identifying and resolving issues with inventory levels.
Discount and Loyalty Programs
Growth can be attributed to a number of factors, but discounts and loyalty programs have been shown to be particularly effective at attracting new and retaining older customers. Restaurant POS systems are necessary for the successful execution of such plans in eating establishments. The program can be used to keep track of customers' information, offer discounts based on their loyalty status, and redeem points for free merchandise.
Error Control
Happy guests are returning customers. The best indication of a successful business is a steady stream of repeat visitors. They speak highly of your establishment and frequently tell their friends and family about it. Therefore, success in business depends on satisfied customers who receive their orders promptly. Unfortunately, it's not uncommon for food and drinks to go to waste because of misunderstandings caused by handwritten orders being passed between the kitchen and the wait staff. There is less chances of room for miscommunication and mistakes when using a centralized POS system in a restaurant.
Restaurant Floor Management
Reservation management at dine-in restaurants can be challenging during peak timings and busy days. Fortunately, robust restaurant POS solutions also enable in creating a physical map of the dining establishment and take reservations online and offline. This makes it easier for the host staff to manage the dining room efficiently along with decreasing waiting time.
What’s the Future Story?
With the advancement in technology, the latest POS solutions are now equipped with advanced features ranging from guest management and online ordering to inventory management and curbside pickup. As a result, technology has provided restaurant owners the tools to keep up with customers’ expectations, simplify their operations, and grow their business.
In addition, the growing integration of innovative technologies such as augmented reality, data analytics, artificial intelligence, and others in the POS solutions and the rising need for advanced all-in-one payment solutions across restaurants is anticipated to bolster the demand for restaurant POS software in the upcoming years.
FAQs
What is a restaurant POS solution?
Ans: A restaurant POS solution is both the software and hardware that a restaurant uses to manage everything from the front to the back of the operation of the outlet, including taking customer orders, accepting payments, managing food inventory, and so on.
What are the key features of restaurant POS software?
Ans: Here are the most crucial restaurant POS features:
Purchase Management
Inventory Management
Food Management
Order Management
Staff Management
Customer Relationship Management
Table Reservation Management
Is Cloud restaurant POS solutions expensive?
Ans: Cloud restaurant POS solutions are cheaper than tradition ones, despite appearances. Installing and maintaining a traditional POS system is comparatively more labor-intensive and hence costs more. On the other hand, a cloud POS only has a one-time fee and has no hidden charges.
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POS Solutions
Article | February 14, 2024
Global annual spending on artificial intelligence (AI) by retailers is expected to surpass $7.3 billion by 2022, according to Juniper Research, and IBM estimates that 79% will implement AI for customer intelligence and 75% for marketing, advertising and campaign management. Traditional retailers are hoping to reap the benefits of employing AI in these areas, but with the growth of direct to consumer (D2C) retailers – 40% of U.S. internet users expect D2C retailers to account for nearly half of their purchases within the next five years – traditional retailers must find efficient ways to catch up.
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POS Solutions
Article | December 15, 2020
Prior to the pandemic and quarantine, less than 8% of commerce was online. As of Q3FY20 eCommerce grew north of 14% of all commerce. So while the Retailpocalypse was in its last phase, physical retail still outsold eCommerce by at least 7:1.
The failure rate of crowdfunding campaigns is 85%.
The failure rate of eCommerce store owners ranges from 80 to 97%.
What if there were a way to bridge the gap between these three failure rates? What if we could bridge what people consume online with what they purchase offline before waiting for brain-computer interfaces (BCI)? In short what if we could bridge social and commerce? (Example use case.)
Mostly missing are the memorable, meaningful, measurable and monetizable responses from people interested in stories about beagles, princesses and pitbulls, pets, car repair, raspberry blueberry vinaigrette gyros, budget-saving techniques for holiday travel, getting stuck at airports in blizzards, rental cars and Cup o’ Noodles, My Fair Lady and @Instacart, dining out at the delicious Banana Leaves café, cooking kosher halal gelatin-free, blue #1 artificial dye-free egg nog flavored marshmallows, 50th anniversaries and chocolate ganache, adventures camping with youth groups, birdhouses built by kids, rainbow hair dye, artificial dye-free cakes DIY for your child’s birthday party, and Halloween gingerbread houses and Greek Mount Olympus costumes.
Other than ad revenue Youtube collects which most of it’s video posters see little of, monetizing the DIY craze has proven quite tricky. Ditto for Christmas shopping, smartphone accessories, buying a new luxury Subaru online with no salesman, how to get hard to find contact lenses and vitamins for kids, how Amazon often has thrift store prices on inventory thrift stores rarely carry, the challenges of buying clothes on Amazon that don’t fit but you don’t realize that until the clothes arrive, DIY car repair, funny car repair, glorious victory of car repair, diaper cakes and muscle aches, drones and honey scones, Triple A baseball and blue-tailed skinks, favorite foods, fasting, and Boston, fused vertebrae and buried treasure, where to buy school supplies when most stores are sold out, creameries and charcuterie,
Bridging social media with eCommerce has been the white rhino of many investors and start-ups for many years.
Instead of working toward such solutions, we have VC’s and stockholders asking about vanity metrics:
- How many people looked at your website? Instead of: How many people subscribed or how many purchased an item?-
- How many downloads per month does your app have? Instead of: How many of the people who downloaded your app have note removed it less than 30 days later?
- What’s your ad revenue? Instead of: How can your product capture or create more value?
In reply entrepreneurs answer these questions, they often present their increased spend on marketing followed up with vanity milestones:
“We’re using Google Analytics and similar providers to track every movement of the supply chain, to ensure when the purchaser’s journey is completed, there’s no delay in delivery. This will lead to more frequent purchases ideally of higher priced products, and…
We are pitching to Chipotle on Friday!”
This leads to concentrated research on Chipotle’s SWAT, followed up with an excellent pitch including a demo via Zoom.
The result of this pitch is usually:
1. The person loved the pitch and accepts your invitation to meet again with his/her manager next week.
2. The person you pitched to is not the decision-maker
3. The person you pitched to doesn’t quite understand what you’re pitching
4. The person you pitched to had 3 other projects due by COB and wasn’t fully present and listening to your 10-minute pitch
5. You provided too many facts too quickly, trying to build rapport
6. You shared how you’re product can reduce shrink, increase ROI, decrease costs, increase retention, and cure cancer. The person you pitched to doesn’t believe all those promises.
7. The person you pitched to is afraid of advocating change; the risk from change that results in lesser results can lead to negative repercussions. The risk of “business as usual” is minimal.
Forgotten by almost all eCommerce platforms and store owners are the facts that:
- People behave differently when they are observed (best behavior vs. average behavior). Despite this, we are seeing an incredible number of start-ups that offer to help track everything your customers do. “We’re Palantir for eCommerce” is essentially the ethos of these companies.
- The Paradox of Choice by Barry Schwarz – too many choices overwhelm the person making the choice, to the point that no decision is made. If you don’t train your mind to buy what you want even if you have to look on pages other than Amazon and Google Shopping, you might end up buying the product you almost wanted.
- The concept of incentivized virality – when PayPal gave $20 to each person who referred another person who joined, and when DropBox offered free data storage to people who referred friends who joined – which Reid Hoffman and Chris Yeh brilliantly detailed in Blitzscaling:
The Lightning-Fast Path to Building Massively Valuable Companies.
So now each eCommerce platform tries to copy Amazon who built their model on the opposite of physical retail. Consider your last experience renting a car at an airport vs. Amazon:
- Do you want to refill the gas tank or would you like us to?
- Would you like liability only or more comprehensive types of insurance coverage?
- Would you like a GPS?
- Would you like to join our exclusive members club? etc., etc.
Adding to what @ElevateDemand said, “ B2B marketing is broken,” Raj De Datta, CEO and cofounder of @Bloomreach said, “The future of B2C marketing looks like B2B marketing,” Kevin Marasco, CMO of @Zenefits correctly said “marketing is going back in time from B2B to B2C” or person to person.
Smart speakers in every phone, tablet, laptop PC, TV, and car succeeded by BCI, which @Facebook and @Neuralink are pioneering, hold great potential. Until those products arrive or after their R&D phase, @Homemaide’s object recognition and image recognition models can provide the sorely needed bridge between Social and Commerce.
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