Top 10 Features of a Coffee Shop POS System
Running a coffee shop is no easy task. The more customers you get, the quicker you realize it’s more challenging to run your business. That’s if you don’t have the right coffee shop POS system in place for your business. Those with some experience in the coffee shop business can easily understand what this means. Mind you; it’s not just about attracting the right customers. You also need to satisfy them enough to retain the right amount to sustain your business and make some profit. Be it in the day or at night; people are always walking through the doors.
This fast-paced working condition is why coffee shop POS software is essential. With POS software, you can keep track of key performance indicators. Also, the ideal coffee shop POS system speeds delivery, sales, and shortens queues. You are thereby putting a smile on every face. Both you and your customers will be all the more satisfied. The right technology always makes all the difference if put to good use. In today’s article, we’ll look at the major features that make a coffee shop POS system indispensable in today’s coffee shop.
Data from the National Coffee Association indicates that 40% of the population aged 18-24 drink this beverage every day. This information shows a significant increase since 2010 recorded 31%. With the increasing number of youths storming coffee shops, they need to experience the efficiency and satisfaction that comes from using a coffee shop POS software. Indeed, smaller coffee shops find it more difficult to deal with these challenges.
According to Hoover, the renowned coffee industry research group, 70% of all coffee sales go to chain companies like Starbucks. That leaves only a tiny 30% for the smaller coffee shops. The larger shops have at their disposal more dollars for marketing. Which leaves foot traffic, repeat customers, and word of mouth for the ‘little guys.’ The smaller companies are left with these three main options to remain in business.
However, two of these options are unique. The word of mouth and repeat customers are the by-products of exceptional customer service and satisfaction. These two are the assets the big players can not buy with money. But guess what? Point of sale systems like the coffee shop POS system can significantly influence customer satisfaction. A great POS system has critical features that serve this very purpose.
Key features of the ideal coffee shop POS system
#1 Customer-facing terminals
Coffee shops, both small and big, can make good use of POS terminals that change into customer-facing terminals. This addition, though modest, will dramatically increase the speed of customer service. Thereby making the queue move as fast as possible. After flipping the terminal, your customers can sign, tip, and ask for a physical or digital receipt in seconds. All these and more are possible on the table interface. As a result, you process transactions faster and serve more guests at peak hours of the day.
#2 Serve customers better
Many service businesses believed technology would take the emotional labor out of their business operations. However, the aviation industry has demonstrated the importance of technology to business in the 21ST century. Rather than get in the way, technology pushes the boundary on several aspects of the running of many companies. The coffee industry has also been touched in several ways by technology. Paramount among these is the introduction of the coffee shop POS system. As stated above, these systems help owners uniquely connect with their customers.
On average, every barista is capable of remembering the name and other. However, when there is a change of shift, all this information has to be retaken. Which wastes valuable time and money. This adversely affects turnaround on sales. In addition, the pricing of the various flavors and varieties of coffee becomes easy. The different add-ons and flavors have complicated the costing of the regular order. Nevertheless, the ideal coffee shop POS system quickly does the heavy lifting of calculating the different prices for all the different series of add-ons you offer.
For instance, you can see how much time you can save if you can help your barista sum up the cost for a large latte, two extra shots with a top of soy. Your customer is delighted by the speed of delivery, and so is the one standing impatiently behind too impressed. Therefore, you significantly increase your efficiency with POS software. Also, a coffee shop POS system can save the orders of regular clients who are fond of a particular purchase. Giving you the ability to move from order to payment in a matter of seconds.
#3 In-depth reporting and customer relationship management (CRM)
Did you know the one essential feature of the point of sale system is the in-built customer relationship management (CRM)?
With this feature, you will be able to gather all the data you need to make a difference for your business. The quality of your business depends on the quality of your decisions. Which is why its best to make data-driven decisions. Therefore, with the help of a coffee shop POS system, you can easily create a detailed customer database. Data collection, cleansing, and processing have gained importance due to business intelligence. Businesses can derive valuable insight into customer behavior and what drives their buying decisions.
For example, cafes can precisely know which customers are more frequent, what they order, and how much they spend per each visit. These details can make a world of difference if put to good use. The coffee shop POS software should enable you to categorize the data based on similarities and differences between customers. Also, the POS software should be able to compare data over time and visual data, which becomes very instrumental in creating targeted marketing campaigns.
#4 Easy Menu Management
Some things will never change. Therefore people have very different tastes. Whilst some customers would prefer a simple coffee, others can also come up with very outrageous coffee orders. This is why your barista should find it challenging to order that extra hot latte with 5% milk, a cherry on top, and a shot of espresso quickly. No matter how complicated the order may be, the POS software can help.
Cafes that serve seasonal menus or special orders can really use a coffee shop POS system. With the POS system, you can easily update your menu. All you need is a device with internet connectivity, and you can make real-time changes to your menu from anywhere in the world. Also, the coffee shop POS software enables you to tag out of stock items. In addition to this, the POS system also has 86 countdown for items that are in a limited amount.
#5 Maintain the right amount of inventory
You can’t have good coffee without fresh beans brewed to a sweet-smelling scent. However, everybody can remember a stale coffee, reheated, or burnt to taste terrible.
Nevertheless, there is always that one coffee shop you can rely on to get you a little cup of heaven to begin your day. The key to this delightful taste is the right beans. Which is why you don’t want beans or brewed coffee to sit on the shelves for too long.
To ensure the best-tasting coffee, you need more than the right inventory. You also have to stock up items in the correct amount and proportion. Therefore you need to track the changing quantities of all relevant items in your inventory. Manually tracking the day to day changes in quantity is both time-consuming and inaccurate. However, a clear digital record of daily orders gives you a clear picture of the amount of ground coffee and brewed coffee sell every day. Thereby giving you a clear picture of how much coffee will get your shop through the day.
Hence, you can ensure that every single customer gets a fresh cup of coffee, and nothing goes to waste.
#6 Gift Cards
In addition to the above features, some POS system generates gift cards for their coffee shops. These gift cards open a new income stream and serve as powerful marketing tools. Any time a guest buys a gift card, they are literally making a down payment for future purchases for a new customer. Statistics indicate that gift card recipients spend 20% more than the original value of the gift card. In addition, 75% of those who overspend exceed the price of the gift card by a whopping 60%.
#7 Mobile Loyalty Program
If you run a coffee shop, you know how quickly the place can overflow with people. Which makes it challenging to identify loyal customers. Hence, a loyalty program enables you to display your gratitude to regular customers and encourage lifelong loyalty. The data collection of the coffee shop POS system readily helps with identifying regular customers. Which, in turn, helps implement the mobile loyalty program for the right people who deserve it.
Plus, other customers can pay good money to be part of the mobile loyalty program. Therefore adding more money to the overall revenue of your coffee shop.
#8 Spot Employee Theft
Inventory management is a two-faced coin. We’ve looked at only one side so far. The other hand is preventing employee theft. Employee theft is an undeniable occurrence of all business establishments. As much as many deny it, it happens all the time and must be prevented. Because such incidences of theft can quickly deplete your inventory. Trust me; you don’t want to run out of stock during the day.
Often, employees don’t consider taking certain items for personal use to be theft. Therefore, spotting it and nipping it in the bud can help maintain an optimum working environment and satisfied customers. The right coffee shop POS system combines inventory management and employee tracking to spot any irregularities in your order and supply quickly. You only have to narrow down the timeframe to discover the culprit. Then take appropriate measures. Perhaps the most significant difference this feature makes is to put employees on the alert. The very presence of such a feature ensures all employees will abstain from any eventualities of theft and other employee vices.
#9 Manage orders on time
What do you say when a customer returns to ask you for their order? You certainly don’t want to ask them what they ordered again. Shops are usually very fast-paced and not abnormal to miss one or two orders. These can’t put your coffee shop out of business. However, getting customers what they ordered should be easy as looking it up on your screen. Which is what the coffee shop POS system is all about.
Nevertheless, customers have a fickle nature. You would often hear them say, “I’d like an Americano instead of drip coffee.” Usually, the barista would reply, “sure,” and look for the ticket of the order. Today, it’s way easier to effectuate this change. Your coffee shop POS software is capable of digitally tracking all orders and changing them too. The digital design of the POS software is ideally capable of handling these day to day challenges. Therefore making every order, your customers give an easily editable record.
Gone are the days that customer interactions go totally off-script. You only need to tap a couple of buttons to get things back in order.
#10 Handle easy payments
You understand how important it is to take your customers from order to payment as quickly as possible. Having arrived at the payment, you want to make it as swift and easy as possible too. Be it a fist full of quarters, credit card, or the latest cryptocurrency; you have to be ready to take the money. After that, calculate change and issue a receipt. All these steps need to quick execution for optimum effect. Who knows? There might be a tip too. Whether a drop in the jar or some additional funds for the final receipt, you need to be ready to accept all.
With the coffee shop POS system, you can easily and quickly email or print customer receipts. Thereby keep the queue at your counter short and moving faster. Also, the coffee shop POS software calculates change for your staff whenever they need. Which is faster and more reliable than individual calculations. Hence, it takes the stress out of their workload and keeps them serving your satisfied customers with a smile.
Furthermore, you can install the POS software on mobile devices for your staff. Hence, your customers don’t have to register to make their payments. Keep in mind that every nanosecond counts in the coffee shop customer service. Therefore you want to trim away any waiting times that you can without jeopardizing excellent service. POS software is your magic wand to help with this trick.
In conclusion
All persons managing coffee shops with POS software have come to love and appreciate it. Apart from recommending the software to other shop owners, there are constant recommendations for new features. Therefore, if you feel there are any other coffee shop POS systems that should be added to this list, please write in the comments section. In addition, those considering a point of sale software for their café can trust Posvice for the perfect coffee shop POS software.
Of course, every owner is looking to increase loyalty signups and improve customer service at their shop. He should definitely consider POS software solutions. You don’t need more staff, you don’t need to work more hours, and you definitely don’t need to fire anyone. The right technology might provide all the answers you need. Steve Jobs famously said a computer is like a bicycle for the human man.
If this is true, then the coffee shop POS system is the nitro boost your café needs to make all the difference. For more information and further questions about how these features can help grow your business, please write in the comments. Also, remember to check out this blog for new posts on the topic of POS software. Especially if you are interested in knowing about the best coffee shop POS system in the industry today.
