How Using POS in Marketing Can Improve Sales

If you’re like most retailers and restaurant operators, you’re always looking for ways to improve sales. Using your POS in marketing is a very effective means of achieving this goal. Let’s take a look at a few ways to do this.

POS in Marketing Strategy #1: Database Marketing

At the point of sale, it is important to collect customer data, like addresses (email and physical), birthdays, wedding anniversaries, children’s names, and previous purchases. Depending on your type of business, you can also include information about customers’ preferences and other parameters. For example, specialty retailers might take note of a customer’s favorite brands or designers, while coffee shop operators might record a patron’s preference for a certain blend of coffee.

When harnessing database marketing as a marketing strategy, segment the database to identify customers to whom you’ll send targeted offers and invitations. You can use the gathered information to select the events that will be of greatest interest to them. You should also segment customers not only in accordance with their preferences, but also by demographic group, zip code, and similar parameters. The more targeted your database marketing initiatives are, the higher the sales reward will be. However, you must ensure that offers are targeted to the right group. For example, if you operate a restaurant, you don’t want to send discount coupons to consumers who eat at your location once a week without fail and pay full price. You want to send these to patrons who visit sporadically—typically when a promotion is in force.

POS in Marketing Strategy #2: Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and Clienteling

In certain retail segments, such as specialty stores, associates can use mobile devices at the point of decision to sell to customers based on previous purchases and other information in the database. Personalizing the shopping experience in this manner ups the sales ante. So, too, does sharing product details with customers via handhelds and kiosks; such data can be maintained in and accessed from the POS system.

POS in Marketing Strategy #3: Suggestive Selling

Here, you can use your POS system for marketing in several different ways. For instance, the POS system can be configured to print sales-generating marketing messages—everything from announcements of upcoming promotions to suggestive sales communications. It can also be programmed to prompt cashiers or servers equipped with mobile devices to exercise suggestive selling strategies when ringing up patrons’ purchases or taking their orders.

POS in Marketing Strategy #4: Customer Loyalty Initiatives

Implementing a customer loyalty program boosts sales by creating a higher level of brand engagement with patrons. When you reward them for purchases, they will frequent your establishment more often—which leads to an increase in sales. This is especially true if the software used by your point of sale system makes it easy for customers to track their purchases and ensures that they receive credit for every purchase. Cashiers should be able to access members’ accounts through means other than scanning the barcode on a loyalty card or key fob (e.g., by phone number). Otherwise, sales may be lost to individuals who have no card or key fob on their person.

In today’s competitive landscape, retailers and restaurant operators alike must go the extra mile to market aggressively to customers—or else sacrifice sales. Utilizing the above-mentioned strategies to take advantage of the POS in marketing initiatives should create a firm foundation for success.