The Modern Retail Guide to EPOS 2016 brings readers a fantastic wealth of best-practice advice, with practical information on how to get the best from their retail technology. Topics covered include EPOS, payment processing, chip & pin, tablet POS – plus much more.

1. Guide to ePoS 2016
MODERN
RETAIL

2. CHOOSING YOUR FIRST EPOS SYSTEM
Choosing your first EPOS system can be daunting for any small retailers. Reconciling what you want ideally and what you can afford is
harder and you may have had no experience of buying anything like this before.
WHAT IS THE CONTRACT MINIMUM TERM AND HOW DOES THE RENEWAL WORK?
If you are going down the software as a service route then you will have one contract with a minimum term.
Renewals are where things can get a bit trickier.
WHAT HAPPENS WHEN THE INTERNET GOES DOWN?
It is essential that your first EPOS system has a fallback for when the
connection dies.
If it doesn’t have an offline mode then you can be left without a working till
during a busy trading period.
WHAT SUPPORT DO I GET?
Make sure what you get is clearly laid out. Some may offer only online
support, others full phone based support or a choice of both. Make sure
response times are clearly laid out so you know what to expect and if you
aren’t sure ask for a reference.
We hope these points have been useful in helping you choose your first
EPOS system.

3. TILL TECH: HOW INNOVATIVE EPOS
SYSTEMS ARE TRANSFORMING RETAIL
Payment providers offering services like pocket card reader attachments and
bookkeeping tools i.e. giving staff touchscreen tablets that allow them to take
payments anywhere on the shop floor, at the same time as accessing inventory and
making orders for out-of-stock items.
Mobile EPOS is also being used by larger retailers to make checkout and customer
interaction more fluid.
PAY WITH YOUR FACE?
There are numerous variations on using smartphone technology to pay for goods and
services at the till.
The idea behind ‘selfie pay’ is to combat identity fraud (face theft is, as yet, unknown)
and make it quick and simple to make payments.
BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS AT THE PAYMENT MOMENT
One advantage that online retail has previously had over bricks-and-mortar store
interactions is that ecommerce sites can gather information on a customer that is
hard to get in a high street store.
But the latest EPOS technology is bringing this kind of data to the high street, with
systems that include Customer Relationship Management (CRM) functionality to
record customer preferences and behaviour and capture contact details for targeted
marketing.
The idea behind ‘selfie pay’ is to combat identity fraud (face theft is, as yet, unknown)
and make it quick and simple to make payments.

4. Continued…
BUILDING CUSTOMER RELATIONSHIPS AT THE PAYMENT MOMENT
One advantage that online retail has previously had over bricks-and-mortar
store interactions is that ecommerce sites can gather information on a
customer that is hard to get in a high street store.
ENDLESS AISLE
The concept of customers being able to shop online while they’re in a high
street store is rapidly gaining traction:
■ Customers increasingly expect to be able to shop how they like, without
differentiating between sales channels.
■ They might browse a physical store and then order from a smartphone
app, or from a laptop or tablet when they get home.
■ Rather than losing sales to rival online retailers, some businesses are
encouraging this omnichannel approach, empowering customers to
combine high street and online shopping.
So where next for EPOS technology?

5. REDUCE YOUR CHIP & PIN LOSSES
Modern retail is all about customer experience: Getting the combination between card terminal(s) and card processing
along with EPOS right is imperative to achieving that all important customer experience.
EPOS CHIP & PIN INTEGRATION KEY BENEFITS:
■ Human Error eradicated [keying errors eliminated]
■ Faster and more reliable [better customer experience]
■ Seamless Payments Audit Trail [EPOS reporting now contains card payment details]
■ Aesthetically better [Terminal connects to EPOS and condensed to single unit]
■ More Professional [tapping numbers into terminal never comforting to customer]
■ Simpler Connection [No need for dedicated Chip & Pin line for card payments]
DOES IT SAVE ME MONEY?
In a nutshell yes. And it’s Quantifiable.
Cost of keying errors estimated to be between 1-2% of card turnover [a non-integrated retailer turning over £750k pa
could easily be throwing away in excess of £10k per year].
WHY DON’T ALL RETAILERS HAVE INTEGRATION?
Many retailers are confused by the whole card acquiring world and
even more so by the significant benefits of having an EPOS to Chip & Pin solution.

6. HOW CAN TABLET POS ENCHANCE YOUR BUSINESS?
Whether you are a high street retailer, a pop up store or a restaurant, tablet POS has significant advantages for your business:
■ Can provide high functionality for its cost
■ Ease of use and processing power allow your business to be extremely responsive to your sales data
mPOP™ – UNIQUE COMBINED BLUETOOTH PRINTER AND CASH DRAWER SOLUTION
In terms of hardware, a combined Bluetooth printer and cash drawer solution such as mPOP™ from Star provides a lightweight and
portable solution that is just 10cm high and 30cm wide with a sleek design that will complement any counter top.
DIGITAL RECEIPTING – ELIMINATES ISSUES ASSOCIATED WITH EMAIL RECEIPTING
In order to provide customers with a digital receipt and full colour promotional image if desired mPOP offers a free of charge, fast
route to providing a digital copy of a paper receipt as well as access to analytics, an in-store customer survey and device
management tools.

7. HOW TO SUCCESSFULLY
FULFIL WEB ORDERS
TIME AFTER TIME
If the stock you sell on your website is the same physical stock that you
sell in your store then you’ll be aware of terms like ‘Overselling’,
‘Double Selling’ and ’Stock-outs’. You’ve probably experienced
these terms first hand, and suffered the knock-on effects
surrounding them.
The cause of fulfilment failures:
■ Poor connectivity, delays and blockages
■ Software unable to gracefully recover from connectivity issues
■ Over complicated fulfilment procedures
■ Poor stock management
■ Poor integration
■ Problematic software
A PROCESS TO SUCCESSFULLY FULFIL WEB ORDERS TIME
AFTER TIME…

8. Continued…
The key is simplicity. A time consuming, complex fulfilment
procedure will leave items available for oversell. We use a
streamlined order fulfilment process:
■ Order processed on website
■ Order appears instantly in the stock system
■ A fulfilment location is allocated (manually or
automatically)
■ Location notified
■ Item picked and de-stocked
Most of this is automated. Staff are alerted when they need to
pick and doing so is a really simple process. Items are picked
within minutes of the order being processed online – it’s this
communication and simplicity that helps you successfully fulfil
web orders time after time.
Successfully fulfil web orders and prepare for growth.
Adapted from the TouchRetail article in the Modern Retail Guide to EPOS
eBook (http://www.touchretail.co.uk/)

9. SELF-CHECKOUT SOLUTIONS & THE
SMALLER RETAILER
■ It would hardly be a surprise if many small and medium-size retailers were
to feel daunted by the challenge of offering their customers the same type of
Self Service experience they have become used to when shopping in larger
retail outlets
■ The demand from customers for a more rapid service experience is however
growing inexorably, and retailers, of all sizes, ignore this self-service
revolution at their peril. Benefits: Self-Checkouts can reduce checkout wait
times by up to 40%
■ In one recent survey 35% of consumers stated that they wanted to be able
to have access to SCOs in Convenience stores.
■ The range of Self-Checkout systems available are constantly evolving. E.g.
for the smaller store, options such as placing the basket above the bagging
area minimizes the floor space required… Independent supermarkets,
Convenience stores, and a range of other retail outlets can now begin to
consider whether Self-Checkout is something that would enhance their
customers’ shopping experience and the rewards can be considerable with
shorter queues, faster transactions, better stocked shelves and happier
customers.

10. Read our free complete guide to
EPOS here…
http://modernretail.co.uk/free-e-books/

11. IMAGE CREDITS
■ Front Cover: www.Canva.com
■ Your First EPOS: Supplied by https://www.retailit.com/
■ Innovative Retail Systems: http://www.lois-systems.co.uk/
■ Chip & Pin: www.pcapredict.com
■ Chip & Pin: EPOS: http://star-emea.com//
■ Fufil Web Orders: www.TouchRetail.co.uk