Now smaller retailers can step up the "wow" factor for their customer experience

When retailers sell to millennials, they need to bring their “A” game to the customer experience. That means bringing the “wow” factor to the shopping experience and eliminating anything inconvenient or annoying—like long lines at the checkout counter.

Already, large retailers like Apple, Home Depot, and Nordstrom, have rolled out mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) systems that streamline and up the coolness of the checkout counter by allowing sales staff to ring up customers from anywhere in the store. Customers are quickly coming to expect this level of service.

Yet Mom-and-Pop and medium-sized retailers hoping to take advantage of Mobile POS have encountered challenges. These matters include relatively high cost, lengthy training time, and an inability to track customer information. Samsung SDS America enables smaller retailers to overcome these issues with sophisticated mPOS solutions built to ensure success.

High Costs

Keeping costs in line is a priority for businesses of all sizes. But it’s especially important for smaller retailers who lack large corporate backers. Startups feel this problem even more acutely because expenses during the first six months typically exceed revenues.

Initial set up and recurring costs for mPOS solutions can be substantial for companies with tight budgets. One-time set up costs for mPOS solutions can range from $6,000 up to $20,000. Additional recurring service fees run about $150-$180 per month.

Samsung’s mPOS solution has no set up fees. In addition, we offer flexible monthly service fees that are affordable for even the smallest mom- and- pop shop.

Training

Training on a traditional or mPOS system has always presented a conundrum for smaller retailers. Staff need to remain on the floor because retailers can’t afford for customers to leave when they’re not being served. On the other hand, retailers can’t allow poorly trained employees to perform improper transactions, such as charging a customer $4 instead of $40.

Retailers need to provide the appropriate training in as short a period as possible to ensure employees know what to do without taking excessive time away from the floor.

Many legacy POS systems have evolved incrementally over many years, which can lead to redundant features that are difficult to learn and use.

The Samsung mPOS solution has been designed specifically for ease of use. Employees typically get up and running in one to two hours.

Tracking Customer Data

Go to any large retail chain and you’ll encounter all manner of sophisticated loyalty programs. They may give customers a membership card that rewards them with a small percentage refund for their purchases in exchange for personal information. With that, the retailer can track what and when the customer bought and use that data to guess what they’re likely to buy in the future in order to create appropriate promotions.

Mom and pop shops are often unable to track customer information. Mobile POS systems tend not to capture this information or run loyalty programs. These retailers might have to purchase thousands of plastic cards to give to customers, or send tens of thousands of dollars for an IT system that can manage loyalty programs. These retailers are unable to send targeted promotions and lose business they might have otherwise received from repeat customers.

Samsung solutions capture customer data at checkout and allow retailers to later use that data to send out promotional emails.

If you’re a small retailer, it’s critical to give customers the experience they demand. With Samsung, not only can you now give customers the in-store experience they want—you can look cool in the process.