Whether you run a restaurant, a retail business, or another type of business, you understand how important it is to analyze business data in a timely manner. Your ability to gather data and to analyze it quickly provides you with the enhanced ability to make more informed business decision. For example, you may pull business data to determine which products are in high demand so that you can keep them in stock, move them to a more strategic location in the store or even create a special promotion.
What do reports show?
Generally, POS systems allow business owners and managers to generate customizable reports that compare many kinds of business data. Reports typically display many kinds of information for a defined period of time:
- Number of sales
- Value of sales
- Mean, median, and mode of sale values
- Current inventory
- Change in inventory
- Number of promotional transactions (e.g. transactions using coupons, gift cards, sales, special offers, etc.)
- Individual customer loyalty statistics
- Most popular items
Additionally, reports also show the relationships between this information. They can compare and analyze data to indicate
- Effectiveness of pricing
- Effectiveness of promotional campaigns and materials
- Sales statistics by employee
- Sales statistics by department or station
- Most and least profitable items
How do you access POS reports?
There are two kinds of access for POS system reporting features.
Some POS systems may provide you with the ability to generate a basic report, but you may need to be logged into your work computer, or the data may be slightly outdated. It can be difficult to make intelligent business decisions with outdated information. Furthermore, you may not always be sitting at your work computer.
More advanced POS systems make data available to authorized remote users, allowing managers and owners to pull data into a comprehensive, detailed report from any location with an internet connection. In fact, a modern point-of-sale system may allow you to pull data from the cloud and to generate a report on your smart phone. With this capability, you can make informed decisions with current data from any location.
What can you do with your reports?
Business owners and managers can use POS system reports to make critical decisions about personnel, inventory, marketing, and general operations.
Department and employee statistics can be used to assess the success of store layout, the specific areas of customer interest, and the general effectiveness of sales staff. Employee sales figures can also be used to gauge progress in relation to monthly or yearly goals.
Pricing, inventory, and sales data can be used to gauge the effectiveness of pricing decisions and customer demand, which can inform changes in ticket price and sale discounts. They might also suggest moves for future product lines or items to be pulled from shelves due to poor performance.
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: