The retail industry has undergone a significant revolution in recent years, with the rise of online shopping and the increasing demand for seamless omnichannel experiences. As a result, traditional Point-of-Sale (POS) systems, that simply process transactions, are no longer sufficient.
Moving to advanced mobile POS solutions is critical for retailers looking to thrive in the modern retail environment. Advanced mobile POS solutions can enable retailers to offer personalized experiences to customers, manage inventory more effectively, and gain valuable insights into customer behavior. These solutions can also help retailers streamline operations and improve efficiency, leading to increased profitability and a more satisfied customer base.
Currently, two of the most popular mobile POS solutions in the market are NewStore and Shopify POS. Both offer a wide range of features and capabilities, but they differ in terms of their pricing, integration options, and overall user experience. It's vital for retailers to carefully evaluate their needs and consider these factors when choosing a mobile POS solution that will work best for their business.
What are the essential features of a Mobile POS solution?
Retailers must choose a mobile POS solution that consists of various essential features such as:
1. Quick checkout
According to research, 73% of shoppers will abandon their purchase if they have to wait in line for more than five minutes. To prevent this, retailers must empower their store associates with mobile POS solutions that can be used on their mobile devices to handle transactions from anywhere on the floor, thereby reducing wait times. Additionally, customers expect fast and seamless transactions, with payment options such as Tap-to-pay, Apple Pay, and Google Pay to become the norm. Store associates can use mobile POS solutions to offer customers the option to pay through their preferred payment option.
2. Unified customer information
A unified view of customer profiles containing details of their online and offline purchase is useful for store associates to understand a walk-in customer’s behavior. With mobile POS solutions, store associates can easily access customers’ purchasing history, loyalty status, cart status, wish lists, average cart value, and other purchasing information that is available on eCommerce. Store associates can use this customer data to offer personalized assistance and relevant suggestions.
3. Endless aisle
If a customer visits a physical store and the specific product variant they are looking for is out of stock, they may leave the store empty-handed, leading to a lost sale for the retailer and a disappointing experience for the customer. With mobile POS solutions, store associates can view the unified inventory to access any out-of-stock items across all of their fulfillment centers, and facilitate the same to customers, preventing lost sales. An endless aisle system with access to customers’ profiles also helps store associates up-sell or cross-sell products.
4. Store fulfillment
A hassle-free order fulfillment experience can be a key differentiator for retailers. Customers now expect all retailers to offer omnichannel experiences like same-day BOPIS, BORIS and buy in-store, ship to the customer. Since all these strategies require active participation from stores, store staff need tools to maintain highly accurate inventory counts and efficiently pick, pack, ship online orders. With mobile POS solutions, store associates can fulfill orders from store locations using their handheld devices. Store associates can get fulfillment requests, order status information, delivery estimates, returns, and exchanges directly on their devices to ensure seamless fulfillment.
5. Order routing
For a smooth omnichannel fulfillment strategy, it is important to broker all the orders arriving at eCom to the most optimal fulfillment center based on the store's proximity to the customer's delivery address, inventory availability, fulfillment capacity, and more. Store associates will get notifications on every order that is routed to the store to ensure faster order fulfillment. Order routing with mobile POS solutions can help streamline the order management process, improve order accuracy, reduce order processing times, and enhance customer experience.
NewStore POS vs Shopify POS
NewStore POS and Shopify POS are cloud-based mobile POS solutions that allow store associates to close sales and assist customers on the go. Both mobile POS solutions have features like staff management, payment transactions, and invoicing. Let us understand the difference between them to determine which mobile POS solution would be the best choice for the retailers.
NewStore POSNewStore is a cloud-based omnichannel retail platform that offers a complete solution for modern retailers. Their POS system and Order Management System (OMS) integrate online and offline operations to deliver a seamless, omnichannel experience for customers. The NewStore POS provides an intuitive interface that simplifies the checkout process by reducing wait times and improving customer satisfaction. The OMS solution streamlines inventory management and order fulfillment, allowing retailers to offer faster and more efficient delivery options. The platform also provides real-time data analytics, allowing retailers to make informed decisions about their operations and customer service.
Overall, NewStore POS and OMS equip omnichannel retailers with a set of tools that can help them stay competitive and meet the evolving needs of their customers in a rapidly changing retail landscape. Additionally, NewStore’s REST API architecture is designed for seamless integration with existing business systems and ensures easy integration with newer systems. This assists retailers in quickly strategizing omnichannel customer journeys with minimal risk.
However, NewStore users have experienced support issues, with their systems being frequently down. Even, the response time from their technical team has been longer in resolving these issues. One such user, Frank and Oak faced frequent outages that disrupted their retail operations. Each of their stores experienced a few hours of outages monthly. In total, they had 70 outages since implementing the POS system, resulting in an underwhelming experience for their customers and disruption for the team.
Shopify POS
Shopify POS is a powerful and easy-to-use mobile POS solution that seamlessly connects with Shopify's eCommerce platform. With Shopify POS, retailers can easily manage their inventory, process payments, and track sales both in-store and online. The system also allows omnichannel retailers to customize their checkout process. With its user-friendly interface, extensive app store, and 24/7 support, Shopify POS is a popular choice for retailers of all sizes who want a flexible and reliable mobile POS solution.
Retailers utilizing a different POS system other than Shopify would need to develop and maintain integrations between their POS, eCom and ERP system. However, retailers can avoid these complexities by choosing Shopify POS, as Shopify provides a unified back-office platform for both POS and eCommerce, guaranteeing that inventory, payments, and customer information are synchronized across online and in-store sales channels. This also simplifies the vendor management process for the retailers.
Frank and Oak, a known Shopify retailer, recently moved to Shopify POS from NewStore POS to empower their retail business and keep up with the rapid digital growth. Since moving to Shopify POS, Frank And Oak has seen a 47% reduction in their operating costs, close to a 3% reduction in transaction fees, and have eliminated multiple hours of monthly POS outages. Furthermore, with seamless integration between Shopify POS and their online store, Frank & Oak no longer had to worry about price syncing issues and incorrect inventory information. With a more stable POS system, their retail staff are now equipped to focus on nurturing connections and servicing their customers in a better way.
Why is Shopify POS along with an Omnichannel OMS the right choice?
Unifying online and in-store shopping experiences is not a choice anymore. Omnichannel retailers need to upgrade to one of the best mobile POS solutions to achieve a unified view of inventory, customer and product data. Enterprise Shopify retailers who are looking to start their omnichannel journeys will find Shopify POS to be the best mobile POS solution for their needs. This is simply because having one vendor for both POS and eCommerce will help in mitigating the challenges of managing multiple vendor relationships, like coordinating software updates and resolving technical issues.
Furthermore, the greatest benefit of using Shopify POS with Shopify eCommerce is that both platforms are pre-integrated. However, enterprise retailers would need an inventory management solution that can keep track of inventory movements in real-time to achieve high inventory accuracy for effective store fulfillment strategies. These retailers would also need custom rule-based order routing solutions to fulfill customer orders from the optimum location.
Retailers must use Shopify eCommerce with Shopify POS and supplement it with a third-party Omnichannel Order Management Solution like HotWax Commerce to get the best out of online and offline retail. For instance, popular brand Frank and Oak moved from NewStore POS to Shopify POS and implemented HotWax Commerce OMS that helped them in offering omnichannel fulfillment services like BOPIS, BORIS and Ship From Store to their customers.
* * *
HotWax Commerce is a cloud-based Omnichannel Order Management solution that has ready integration with Shopify eCommerce and Shopify POS. Shopify retailers can maximize the return on their inventory by leveraging the benefits of Shopify eCommerce and Shopify POS by using HotWax Commerce OMS to optimize their omnichannel strategy. Furthermore, they can provide highly personalized customer service and more convenient checkout to in-store customers, while ensuring lightning-fast order fulfillment.
HotWax Commerce provides omnichannel retailing solutions to global retail brands on Shopify, including Steve Madden, Perry Ellis, Cariuma, KREWE Eyewear, Frank & Oak and ADOC.
To learn more about how HotWax Commerce OMS can take your eCommerce and omnichannel business to the next level, contact us today to get started!
