Unifying Retail Point of Sale and Payments Across All Channels
Retail stores now operate through multiple channels and many different points of sale and potential touch points with customers. But figuring out how to enable seamless and unified customer service, checkouts and payments—across all these channels—is the big challenge.
That’s why retailers are unifying their point of sale and payments by deploying a single, customized software and hardware solution that works across all their sales channels, customer touch points and store workflows. This way, you can easily process and manage all transactions, checkouts, payments and inventory from one solution that’s accessible virtually anywhere.
You can do it all through one digital point-of-sale and payments solution for in-store sales and e-commerce, traditional and in-aisle checkouts, mobile customer service and payments, curbside pickups, in-store returns, and even pop-up stores. You can also customize it to match your specific business model, needs and retail workflows.
For example, our team at ReSource Point of Sale has helped several leading retailers implement all-in-one point-of-sale and payment solutions that help them seamlessly and digitally manage their store transactions and operations.
We start by assessing their current retail processes and business needs, and we recommend the right combination of software and hardware to quickly build out and customize a point-of-sale and payments solution that works for their stores and delivers the results they need.
In each case, the right solution might involve a specific point-of-sale software solution combined with the right hardware such as mobile tablets, touchscreen point-of-sale terminals, or digital kiosks. It all depends on which capabilities the retailer needs, and which software and hardware best matches the channels, touch points and use cases involved.
Retail Software and Hardware Unification
As a quick example, we might combine NCR’s industry-leading unified point-of-sale software with rugged retail tablets, digital terminals, mobile touch handheld computers and printers from Zebra Technologies.
NCR’s unified software platform includes simple and easy-to-use digital modules and interfaces for checkouts, payments, e-commerce, merchandising, inventory management, loyalty programs, customer self-service and store analytics.
Zebra’s hardware allows us to deliver those capabilities virtually anywhere, in any location or at any touch point, with extremely reliable and high-performance Android or Windows devices that put NCR software at your fingertips.
This way, you can easily access your point of sale, payments, and other store workflows and functions from a store aisle, at a traditional checkout, in the backroom, or even at curbside or a mobile pop-up store.
Since NCR’s software is based in the cloud, it is accessible digitally through an Internet or cellular connection, and Zebra’s next-generation retail mobile computers, kiosks and other devices provide both types of connectivity using the latest Wi-Fi 6 and 5G wireless technology.
Additionally, since Zebra provides a complete portfolio of retail hardware solutions, including desktop and mobile label and receipt printers, and even barcode scanners and RFID sleds or readers, you can use Zebra’s technologies as an end-to-end hardware platform for supply chain and inventory management and not just point of sale and payments.
Whatever combination of software and hardware ends up being the right solution for your stores, the good news is that today’s retail technologies are relatively easy to deploy and integrate in unique and customizable ways, so you can create the right fit for your processes, goals and preferences.
All leading retail solutions now include a complete set of retail functions that you might need, or they easily connect and integrate with other solutions via application programming interfaces (APIs), which allow different platforms and systems to talk to each other and securely share data and information as needed.
This way, you’re never married to a single solution if you don’t want to be. You can choose what’s best for you and combine different software solutions if you prefer. However, most leading retail software solutions are now designed to provide everything you need from a single solution, so you don’t have to connect and learn different systems to get the results you need. You can run your entire retail business from end to end, through one main point-of-sale interface.
Additionally, hardware solutions from companies such as Zebra simplify things even further. You can go to a single hardware provider for everything you need, from the warehouse and back of store to the front of store and beyond. Importantly, you also get purpose-built hardware for each specific retail task or process, whether it’s a rugged enterprise-grade mobile tablet for providing digital customer service and transactions in store aisles or at the curbside; a handheld touch mobile computer and RFID reader for managing inventory in your back room, aisles or warehouse; or a digital self-service kiosk or tablet-based solution for cashiered checkouts.
Leaning on Retail Experts and a Single Source for Solutions
As the above example shows, there is a lot of great potential to unify your point of sale, payments and store operations in a single overall solution. The question is where to begin and how to find the right solutions for your business.
This is where it’s advantageous to lean on retail technology experts who can help you navigate the process, make the right decisions for your business, and choose, implement, and support the right solutions to get the job done.
At ReSource Point of Sale, we can help you get started with a free consultation with our retail experts. We’ve been helping retailers leverage the latest technologies to deliver exceptional customer experiences and grow their business since 2003, and we have a team of over 200 experts across five international offices.
We’d be happy to learn more about your business and your needs and goals, and to recommend the best ways to unify your point of sale, payments and store operations across all your channels and customer touch points.
To get started, contact us now to learn more and schedule a discovery call at your convenience.
