Point of Sale Potential – Improving the Customer Journey of Your Retail Store

In the retail environment there are a number of pivotal moments in your customer journey, but none more important than the point of sale. The point of sale is the decision-making conclusion and is likely to be the last face-to-face interaction with your customer. The importance you place on the point of sale touchpoint in your customer journey can mean a lot in the ability to retain and reactivate customers, not to mention streamlining their in-house experience. To improve and drive the importance of the point of sale touchpoint with your staff, consider these tips.

Make it seamless

The point of sale is the one area of your customer journey where you don’t want customers spending unnecessarily long amounts of time. To avoid this, make sure you have the right point of sale system. The wrong system could cause bottlenecks in your retail operation which result in long wait times and a negative experience for your customers who are looking to purchase. A good point of sale system will mean quicker turnover, greater data capture and a superior experience for your customers. Remove any seams at the point of sale by making sure you have the right system installed.

Make it clear

If you are struggling to think of a negative customer experience associated with the point of sale, consider the last time you wanted to buy something, but couldn’t find the register. Customers should be capable of finding your point of sale in the instant they need to, otherwise, you might be losing sales. To improve the customer journey of your retail store, make the point of sale area clear and visible. This doesn’t mean installing neon signs, but make it clear where the customer can pay for their item and make sure the flow makes sense. Having the point of sale tucked away in a hard to navigate area probably isn’t the best positioning.

Give customers something to do

If you have ever wondered why retail stores place trinkets and other small items by the point of sale, it is usually to distract you. Helping a customer through a purchase on the surface can seem simple, but underneath can be a detailed process for the staff. To improve the customer journey and experience at your point of sale, consider placing additional items or readable content to the side. When your staff are busily entering details or removing security tags, your customers can flick through pins or badges and check out the latest catalogue to help disguise the momentary wait times. Even if you never sell an item or constantly have to replace the catalogues, by disguising the wait, your customer journey is improved.

Create a flow

The point of sale is the critical last impression for your customers. The last thing your retail store needs is to score highly in all other service aspects, only for your customer to spend their time in a line when they are ready to purchase. Thinking about the design of your point of sale is very important. You need a logical space where, if necessary, customers can line up without the physical confines of bollards or straps. Instead, consider using wayfinding to help customers identify where to line up using floor decals. Creating a flow is about managing customers without creating physical boundaries.

The point of sale touchpoint is a critical stage in all customer journeys. It can be one of the most important parts of the journey to increase and improve customer retention. To improve your point of sale touchpoint in your retail store, consider implementing the simple tips listed above.

from Feedster https://www.feedster.com/sales-and-marketing/point-of-sale-potential-improving-the-customer-journey-of-your-retail-store/