Point-of-sale (POS) devices are everywhere now. You’ll see them in supermarkets, large retail shops, down at the local pharmacy and even strapped to the back of a mobile phone at the local community marketplace.
They’ve changed the way people in Australia pay for their goods and services, and chances are you’ve got one in your small business already.
But it’s much more than just a way to facilitate people paying for their wares – POS systems can provide a gold mine of data analytics that are perfect for strategising for the growth of your small business. With that expansion in mind, making sure the books are all in order is also important, so finding the best accounting services in Bankstown for your company is a great place to start.
POS – what data can be extracted?
POS devices are much more than just a way to facilitate people paying for their wares.
At the end of a working day, the EFTPOS machine that many retail stores use can print out a receipt of the total money transferred in-store within the last 24 hours. On this docket, you’ll be able to see what sort of payment type was used the most – be that cash, debit card, credit or even American Express. You can also see what products are the most popular, and which are slowest to move, so tailored marketing solutions are possible to amend those that need a push in the right direction.
The Australian Payments Clearing Association (APCA) reports that in December 2015, there were 956,167 in operation around the country. Compare that to the number of ATMs (31,661) and you’ve got the first important figure – how payments are changing. The number of ATMs from just three months earlier was 32,116, so the decrease points to a societal change.
Fewer people are using ATMs to withdraw cash, because the accessibility of POS terminals is so high that it almost sounds strange when people are asked to pay in cash.
Using the data for your own good
Vend, a data analytics system, suggests there are a number of key improvement areas that can be identified with data analytics from a POS system.
You can find out exactly who your best customers are and how much they spend at different points in the year, including at sale times or when you’re running deals or specials. For many small businesses, that’s going to be a great way to increase the revenue stream.
How do your customers pay for their goods and services?You’ll also be able to manage stock much more efficiently, because you’ll have an exact amount of what was sold on each day, so there should never be a shortage again. Unless, of course, the supplier can’t keep up with your demand.
For more help with all of your data analytics and small-business accounting, get in touch with the team here at DBS Accountants.