Return business accounts for a significant portion of merchant revenue. It’s important to keep your customers happy, and that can sometimes mean incentivizing loyalty. More and more merchants are using customer rewards programs, gift cards, and next-purchase discounts to encourage return business. Often, the system that makes these kinds of programs possible is the point-of-sale system.
What kind of rewards programs do POS systems support?
POS systems are highly flexible; they allow you to implement several customer rewards programs, and you can even run multiple programs simultaneously. Among the most common programs are gift cards and customer rewards cards.
Gift cards are a great way of ensuring return business. The merchant gets the money upfront, so they lose nothing even if the card goes unused. If the cardholder returns to make a purchase, he or she is statistically more likely to put the gift card toward a larger purchase, which means he or she will use the card and a cash or credit payment to buy a more expensive item. At worst, the customer spends the exact value of the card, and you have only inserted a time gap between payment and transfer of goods. POS systems can be configured to authorize new gift cards and accept authorized cards, which takes much of the hassle out of establishing a reliable gift card program. Cards can be swiped like normal magstripe credit or debit cards, and some merchants allow cards to be reloaded with cash.
Customer rewards cards are another popular means of increasing customer loyalty. Rewards cards often allow customers to accumulate points for their purchases and earn increased savings or gifts as they spend. In the retail environment, cardholders may be eligible for special reduced pricing on certain items. POS systems already automate customer profiling, so they can easily track expenditures by cardholder and authorize new discount tiers or gifts according to system settings.
Because POS systems track customer purchase history, they can be used to generate targeted marketing media. A common example is coupons for products a specific customer is likely to be interested in purchasing. These coupons are typically printed along with the receipt to increase the likelihood customers will see them.
Interested in POS Systems?
HMS offers POS systems with these features and more as part of our credit card processing program. We supply the tools your business needs to reach its potential. Contact a sales representative for more information: