Point of sale software, or POS, is a useful way to keep track of customer information and sales to a particular member of a store. When it is time for a store promotion, the software can help improve the final end-of-sale figures by offering leveraging options.

Encouraging Store Membership

Promotions are effective when the right tools are available to help reach customers and ensure they are aware of the upcoming promotional or sale items. Offering store membership is only one way to obtain additional leverage to ensure that a promotion goes as smoothly as possible.

The software comes into the picture by offering opportunities to print store membership cards, detail customer data that is provided to the store and keep track of customer purchases so that it is possible to identify when a particular promotion may be appealing to specific clients of the store.

Encouraging customers to join as a member can take a few different paths. A store can offer different membership cards, such as gold and silver card holders, or it can offer a general membership that applies to every individual.

The benefit of using POS software to set up customer membership include:

• Gathering information about the customer
• Setting up an account, which details purchase history and customer activity
• Sending out details regarding promotions, particularly when clients have purchased the item in the past or have an interest in similar products
• Providing reduced prices on promotional items
• Improving marketing strategies based on client activity in the store

Point of sale software is not limited to the applications at the register and end-of-sale data. It is also used to set up customer touch points, which can then be used in marketing and promotions.

Making Customers Aware of Promotions

A store promotion is only effective if customers are aware of the upcoming sale and can come to the store to purchase the items. If they do not know about the promotion, then it is less likely to gain the expected results.

POS software provides a solution to help improve awareness because it gathers customer data. Business owners or managers can send out emails newsletters, advertisements and flyers to appropriate customers based on membership or purchase history. The POS software tracks the data so that it is accessible when it is needed.

Final Tally

Along with the applications in gathering information, setting up memberships and marketing, POS software is still useful in the management of promotions by offering a final tally of the sales that occurred. The software is used to add sale items, reduce prices according to the promotion and give the final prices to customers. Ultimately, it can also track the total sales that occurred during the promotion and update customer account data for future references.

Point of sale software has a variety of applications. It can be used to track data, discover new information, market to customers and improve promotional events. When it comes to an upcoming promotion, stores can market to specific customers or every member based on the type of promotion that is running.