New age retailing with Mobile Point of Sale

Retailers in the recent times are using the finest of technology to provide customers with the best of shopping experiences. Standing in long queues for making payments and waiting for one's turn is something customers want to avoid doing at any given point while shopping in a store. Waiting in lines makes customers think about their decision to buy an item of clothing, whether it is worth the price, time to compare with a similar product or revert from his basic decision to buy the garment altogether. In order to provide more convenience to their customers, retailers today are arming up with the latest in technology to keep up with the mobile world.

Apparel retailers have also caught the trend and are exploring the new age retailing with Mobile Point of Sale (mPOS). It provides clothing retailers with an opportunity to put their digital capabilities into use in a physical store. A technology like mobile point of sale can help apparel retailers decrease store expenses, improve customer engagement, and increase the efficiency of sales relevant functions.

The growing integration of mobiles for in-store activities and facilitating customers across all touch points especially in a physical store has led apparel retailers to adopt a tool that enables them to drive engagements and organize store operations. Around 40 percent of retailers have adopted mobile point of sale or have a pilot program running. While about 79 per cent plan to employ a mobile point of sale system in their stores by the end of 2015.

Since engaging customers remains at the heart of any sales operation at an apparel retail outlet, with mPos store associates will require to go to customers to be available to provide assistance, suggest complementary items, and make immediate check outs at the very spot the customer decides to buy an outfit. This gives customers importance and makes them feel valued and also saves the time from waiting in long queues.

Another big benefit of using a mobile point of sale along with an appropriate software solution can help apparel retailers have access to the merchandise in the physical store as well as online. Using such information the store associates can in turn help shoppers to find a garment in a different size or colour easily to be shipped to the store or directly to the customer or for customers to collect personally from another outlet. Moreover, the mPos also provides the option of directly integrating loyalty points or programmes and coupons and generate personalized offers based on the buying history, preferences, and other personal details stored using an infused software program. The biggest advantage of a point of sale system like this is that it provides the customers and apparel retailers the ease and convenience of mobile enabled loyalty programs. This means that customers need not carry loyalty cards and emails serve as unique identification for them instead. A technology such as mPos allows merchandisers to send instant details of coupons and offers via emails to their customers, which in turn can be redeemed at that very moment. Such facilities result in impulse purchases and increasing the sales in store.

However, it is extremely essential for apparel retailers to thoughtfully implement a mobile point of sale and choose an action plan suitable to their requirement. For apparel merchandisers the store staff needs to be trained and are required to develop an interactive mind set since they've been processing transactions behind a checkout counter so far. Other issues with using while using an mPos in a store like having access to security removal tag devices and shopping bags also need to be addressed.