Online vs Offline Point of Sale
Offline Point of sale is a vital part in any retail store environment. Is it important to you that the doors of your store stay open even when you are experiencing connectivity issues to your back office database? To revert to manual invoice books can be painful and time consuming, not to mention testing your customers’ patience.
From a customer’s point of view
As a customer, I have experienced the frustration of waiting in line at a retail store just to hear those dreaded words: “I am sorry sir, our point of sale system is currently offline. Would you mind waiting whilst I write out a manual invoice for you?” At first I am a bit annoyed and start asking myself how a retail store could not be fully prepared for a situation like this. I then begin contemplating whether to return to this store in future. As I wait for my invoice, I see the queue getting longer and longer but it does not bother me as I am nearly done.
From an owner’s point of view
But what if you are the owner of this retail store? Would you be happy with your current setup? Surely you want the maximum uptime from your point-of-sale system. Ultimately, you would like to keep your queues short, your customers happy and your store running more efficiently? Good customer service and experience results in returning customers. Returning customers are happy customers. Happy customers are loyal give positive referrals.
Your Point of Sale software
Point of Sale software should be developed to address this online vs offline shortfall. Whilst online, your terminal updates all transactions to the back office database immediately. When there is a break in communication to the back office database (offline mode), the offline point of sale terminal should store all transactions locally. As soon as the connectivity has been restored, these transactions must synchronize to the back office database seamlessly.
Contact us to discuss how we can help you with Offline Point of Sale software solutions to grow and improve your business.
