It’s no secret that behind every successful business are loyal customers. Customers will come back again and again just because they enjoy the products and/or services that you provide.
This is especially true for small businesses like cafes and coffee shops because Singaporeans are well-known for being passionate about food that tastes great and places that offer a good ambience.
If you’re planning to run a café or coffee shop, or already running one but want to improve your business operations, then you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we discuss what is a café POS system and the benefits of using a POS system in a café.
What is Café POS System?
Cafes and coffee shops are usually high-volume and fast-paced, so business owners like you need a point-of-sale (POS) system that can efficiently manage orders from dine-ins, takeaways, deliveries or even self-collections.
As there are many types of POS systems in the market, you must choose a POS system that’s suitable for your small business. Because the POS system for café is where all the transactions occur like the payment for the foods, pastries, coffee, tea, merchandise, etc.
That said, you want a POS system for a café that’s reliable and easy to use. Let’s discover the benefits of using a POS system to help your small business thrive as you attract both new and existing customers with personalised service.
Benefits of POS System in a Café
- Ease of use
With a high table turnover rate, cafes and coffee shops are some of the busiest F&B businesses you can ever imagine. With a good café POS system that’s reliable and easy to use, it will make it easier for you or your employees to process the transactions without causing any delays. That way, you can reduce waiting time, human errors, long queues, and training headaches.
- Quicker transactions
In a fast-paced café environment, keeping your queues short is key to a better service experience. With a café POS system like Qashier’s, you or your employees can process the transactions in a heartbeat and your customers don’t have to wait long to get to the counter. Customer orders can also be fired instantly to the kitchen to reduce waiting time.
- Inventory management
Café POS systems typically have this feature to help business owners or store managers to track and manage their inventory. This allows for efficient inventory management as you can get real-time updates of what’s in stock, so your café is never caught short of anything. You also save on tedious administration time and reorder new supplies from your POS system.
- Table management
A high table turnover rate translates to a higher profit, and having a café POS system that has a table management feature as part of its POS solution can better manage crowds and ensure that every customer is served within the shortest time possible. Additionally, this feature allows your employees to assign customer orders to the right tables.
- Employee management
With an integrated employee management feature in the POS system, you can create rosters, automatically swap and fill shifts, track working hours and sales, and integrate employee payroll details with ease. Also, you get to identify and reward your best employees for their performance.
- Data reporting and analysis
Your café’s performance can be measured through the data you get through your POS system reports. With easy-to-read on-demand data that’s accessible anytime, anywhere, you can make well-informed business decisions. You can also gain valuable insights on what drives your business and what makes your customers happy by collecting feedback during the payment process.
- Loyalty programmes
Running a café in Singapore can be competitive, however with a café POS system that offers loyalty programmes, you can encourage new or existing customers to come back again. A good and robust rewards programme will attract, retain, and grow your loyal customer base and allow you to track customers past purchases and their points or other rewards.
Key Factors to Customer Satisfaction and Retention
Aside from having a POS system for your café, here are the factors for customer satisfaction, retention, and a successful business.
Delicious food
Given the abundance of cafes and coffee shops in Singapore, providing consistent delicious foods and coffee is key to attracting a crowd and keeping them wanting more. It is one of the many motivations for someone to travel across the island to your cafe and it will play a big role in the success of your cafe.
Quick service
This is a simple equation to earning more – the more customers you can serve, the higher the profits. With integrated table management and an online order system, your customers can be easily assigned to a table where they can make an order through the online ordering system. This can be done by scanning a QR code or by entering a personalised URL. From there, the customer can browse your menu, place their orders, and make their payment online, all from their own mobile devices. They can even make takeaway orders or advance orders for self pick-up.
Once the customer makes their order, your café POS system can send the orders instantly to the wireless printers in the kitchen. This streamlines your café’s service delivery and reduces customer waiting time. At the end of the customer’s patronage, you can ask them for feedback to find out areas that can be improved for your business to thrive.
Customer loyalty
Building a loyal following can be challenging in this consumerist society where we are always chasing for the next best thing, and with a myriad of cafe choices, customers can be very fickle-minded. This is where a customer loyalty programme comes in, a programme to reward customers for spending at your cafe and giving them a reason to come back again. Generally costs less to maintain than to grow an existing customer loyalty base.
When you design your loyalty programme, consider the objective of your programme. Do you want to improve the average spent per visit or do you want to improve their dining experience to further convert these loyal customers into advocates, customers who will passionately recommend your cafe to their family and friends?
When you incorporate a POS system for your café or coffee shop, consider how the features of the POS system can complement the key factors above and your small business will definitely thrive over time.
With a smart POS system like Qashier’s, you’ll get all the benefits mentioned above, integrated into an all-in-one package, with an initial cost of only $1/day. Not only that, but it’ll also help your business run smarter and smoother while growing your sales. Along with an integrated payment processing channel, you can count on the system to accept every type of payment using a single terminal.
Speak to us to see if Qashier’s Smart POS can meet your business needs. Schedule a meeting with us here, call us at (+65) 3165 0155, WhatsApp (+65) 8882 8912, or email [email protected].