How Inventory-Integrated POS Makes Retail Awesome

As the lines that segmented organizations into neat silos disappear, so does the need for multiple solutions to run those organizations. The cloud has seen to that. Nothing illustrates this better in retail than inventory-integrated POS.

Even today, many smaller retailers do not combine POS with inventory. In fact, it is not uncommon for them to purchase one software for POS and another for inventory. This ultimately creates time-consuming data entry work for retailers to track sales while keeping on top of stock levels. Managing POS and inventory separately increases the chance of data errors, and gives the retailer no idea what stock levels are in realtime.

An Intuit market research report a few years back concluded that inventory-integrated POS systems can cut costs by close to 10% for independent retailers.

So, on the backend, integrated POS helps reduce administrative tasks and streamlines operations. Furthermore, good inventory-POS integrations lets companies track inventory in realtime by automatically adjusting stock as they sell. This helps companies avoid or remedy out-of-stocks, allows for cross-branch and warehouse fulfillment, and accommodates omnichannel sales.

Where Inventory-Integrated POS Really Helps

When you integrate inventory with POS, you allow realtime data to flow to make better business decisions, improve customer service and more toward:

1. Perfect Order Fulfillment. Inventory-integrated POS lets you avoid stock-outs in your store, replenish before a stockout and fulfill orders from other branches or warehouses. If you know what stock is on hand, or incoming, so will your customers.
2. Improved Sales Insight Integrated POS can give you accurate insight to understand what sells best at the POS, and what doesn’t do so well. This means you’ll carry the right stock in the right amount at the branch levels. Keep less stock on hand of products that don’t move quickly, and make room for those that do.
3. Seamless Inventory Management. Keeping critical parts of your business running smoothly is essential. Integrated POS makes your physical retail activity a core part of your overall stock management. This translates into better understanding of COGS and greater control over your entire supply chain.