The ongoing success of any hospitality business requires constant effort. One particular challenge is the exercise of analysing your operation to find where improvements can be made, developing fresh and interesting incentives to attract new customers (or increase existing customer involvement), and then communicating these promotions to your customer base and local community.
While many venue operators see their point of sale system simply as a means of recording sales and storing the cash, a modern POS system, such as those offered by Uniwell POS Australia, can be so much more! We are always striving to find ways that help hospitality businesses to get more out of their POS.
Here are five existing features of our integrated Uniwell4POS solutions that can assist you in the promotion and growth of your venue:
1. Meal Deal Promotions
The ability to combine multiple products and offer a ‘group discount’ for the combination has been a feature of advanced point of sale terminals for a long time. This feature is typically associated with the fast food industry (thus the name ‘Meal Deal’). However, it can be just as powerful a tool to incentivise an increase in customer spend at a small café.
One specific use of this kind of feature to actively promote your venue might be to create a ‘token’ product that can act as a trigger for a combination discount. An example of the might be a QR code that is posted on social media that, when scanned at the POS, acts as a compulsory component of the ‘meal deal’ promotion. We recently published an explanatory article on our website to explain how this can be set up, and the benefits it could bring to your business. (See: Café POS Solutions)
2. LCD Customer Display Integration
Your point of sale terminal is often at the centre of your counter, right in front of your customers – prime real estate! Understandably then, LCD displays connected to the POS terminal that show promotional material have recently become popular. Is there an opportunity for you to promote your business to those waiting at your counter? For instance, your customer display can be used as an ‘electronic noticeboard’, advertising in-house specials and announcing new products that you have available or upcoming events. You could also use it to encourage patrons to interact with your social media presence.
With the use of your imagination, there is no shortage of ideas of how you could use a customer display to benefit your venue. Finding eye-catching ways to promote your business and remind your customers of what you offer can enhance their experience and add to your bottom line.
3. Automated Price Level Time Programming
While you do want to boost your business, doing so at times that your venue is already at, or near, capacity is counterproductive. What you really want to try and achieve is an increase of custom at times when you are not busy, and staff are typically being underutilised. This is where ‘Happy Hour’ or ‘Half Price Tuesday’ type promotions can be useful. Having special pricing at specific times can inspire new customers to try you out, or even get existing customers to visit more frequently, boosting your business.
The ‘Price Level Time’ feature of our HX-series POS terminals allows you to automate the switch to and from special prices that you set up for these kinds of promotions. Your staff don’t need to think about what the special prices are, when they apply or how to change them. The changeover is pre-set, and the discounted pricing can be configured in advance.
4. ‘In-house’ Customer Loyalty
One of the great challenges regarding establishing a successful customer loyalty program is to make it simple enough for your customers to use, while also ensuring genuine repeat business. Who of us hasn’t signed up for a ‘store card’, only to have it cluttering up our wallet for months without being used? Or, worse still, having a collection of cards at home, sitting unused in a desk drawer?
Uniwell’s current range of POS terminals have a variety of in-house loyalty options that are easily set up, simple to maintain and don’t necessarily require your customer to carry a ‘coffee card’ or other membership card. In fact, the simplest implementation would be to use your customer’s mobile phone number as their unique code, award them 1 point for every coffee they buy, and then reward them with a voucher for a free drink after they purchase a set number of coffees. It’s the basic coffee card concept, modernised.
5. Uniwell Lynx Sales Trend Analysis
Of course, the ability to seek out opportunities to boost your business, program the POS functionality to cater for your promotions, and then measure the success of your efforts, can’t be achieved without the right tools. Uniwell POS Australia has a local software development partner, Lynx Software, that has been developing back-office management software for Uniwell POS terminals for over 10 years.
The latest features of Uniwell Lynx allow you to manage many of the promotional features of your POS and provide the detailed sales trend reporting required to help hospitality operators to be proactive in the analysis and enhancement of their venues.
Don’t underestimate the role your POS system can play in helping you promote your hospitality venue
If you would like to know more about how a Uniwell POS system could be used to help boost your business, please contact Uniwell Direct or your local Uniwell POS Reseller
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