Retail businesses are looking for effective ways of providing secure and quick transactions with the ability to track the sales plan execution. Thus, they implement legacy POS systems utilizing the latest innovation and collecting data from payments, inventory, and customer sources for further analysis and reporting on the company’s performance.

Commonly, off-the-shelf POS systems are not equipped to cover all demands and needs of the retailers, which causes numerous problems after implementation. Custom cloud POS development allows for reviewing all these problems and risks before deployment; where they consider all your peculiarities and requirements as a business owner.

In this article, we would like to take a closer look at the common POS problems and solutions caused and prove that custom POS is the best problem-solving solution to all of the issues.

Cloud-based vs traditional POS

Currently, cloud-based POS systems are in high demand among retail companies as they provide a range of benefits over the traditionallegacyon-site POS systems, and we would like to take a closer look at these benefits. Although, let’s say a few words about what traditional POS is and what options it offers.

Legacy or traditional POS systems is the on-site platform within the closed networks where all business data is collected and saved on local servers, and accessible only from one source.

As the data is stored in the local server, data leakage or fraud becomes practically impossible. Despite the high-security level, the on-premise POS apps are leaving due to the lack of flexibility in the functionality, limited data management, and access only from one device.

Cloud-based POS systems come to replace outdated on-premise POS solutions. Cloud-based POS system entails collecting and saving data on remote servers managed by third-party POS providers or your outsourcing development team if you use a custom-made POS system. Cloud-based Point of Sale system is accessible anywhere from any type of handheld devices, including mobile versions.

Common POS problems retailers face 

Retail businesses implement POS apps for better data management, sales data analytics, inventory management, finance and payments management, precise report generation, etc. Every company picks the POS solution due to the required features list. However, often POS implementation cannot handle all problems within the processes that it must resolve.

We have collected the common issues retailers face after the integration of the market-available cloud POS systems into their workflows. All these problems have logic and working solutions, so keep reading to find out what can help your retail business resolve all these problems.

Security (absence of PCI compliance)

Point of Sales apps can easily be attacked by hackers to the gaps in the system security which doesn’t consider PCI compliance. Instead, POS providers install antivirus solutions that are quite weak to protect the POS data from all possible hacker attacks as their variety is increasing every day. POS also becomes an easy target because of using outdated operating systems which are not supported or upgraded in order to provide a high level of protection for their users.

Following the PCI DSS or The Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard is a must for a POS system that ensures high data security of your business and customer data. This is the number one compliance for POS development that can be avoided by POS suppliers and which will be 100% considered in custom POS development. This law is responsible for the regulation of cardholder information and limitingrestricting access to its information for the retail company side, providing several steps of authentication and secure payments.

Unreliable cloud POS system provider

Implementing a market-available POS solution always entails a range of risks as you cannot know all the pitfalls of the solution that weren’t considered in the development stage. As a user, you will never know what the available solution is made of, what security provision techniques were used, if any at all.

Unclearly defined business needs for POS solution 

You may not be aware of the requirements of the POS system for your business. The business needs should be researched, defined, and analyzed in order to make a POS solution and find out what ranges of features your company needs. Skipping this stage will lead to incompatibility of the implemented software to your business processes, its scalability, and requirements meaning the ready-made point of sale software cannot cover all your workflows qualitatively.

Insufficient technical support

Off-the-shelf point-of-sale systems are upgraded by providers but not up to your business and requirements, mostly up to the industry or market trends. These software changes are unpredictable for all users and the solution may become irrelevant in terms of your needs due to some software updates.

Also, unexpected software bugs and errors may arise, making it impossible for your POS to operate correctly, which means that it becomes a waste of time and money for your business and the threat of cyber security of the private data collected within the POS system. Due to the vast number of daily requests from other POS users, your technical providers will not be able to fix all troubles right away.

Imprecise generation of reports and business data analytics

POS solutions collect plenty of vital business information; including transactions and invoice details, tracking sales and their correspondence to the sales plans/targets, a number of gift cards presented to customers, returned or exchanged products, etc. This information can provide valuable insights on the efficiency of the company’s sales strategy and customer experience related to their product based purely on accurate data analytics and reporting.

There are no guarantees that a ready-made POS system is capable of collecting and qualitatively analyzing data from various sources so that you could track the performance of your business and find ways to improve business. Some of the dozens of reports available include transaction details, sales summaries, ingredients sold, PLU report, available/used gift cards, total voids, total credit transactions, refunded/exchanged items, percentage of labor against sales, and employee check-out reports.

No mobile app version option

An mPOS solution is typically accessible from different devices and multiple locations. You can have permanent remote access to your sales data. However, POS suppliers may not have relevant experience in building secure mobile POS solutions that are adept at stamping out invasive malware. Mobile POS modes provide an improved customer experience as customers can see the extended range of services, easily purchase what they need, and pay with their credit card right away.

Major expenses 

Market-available POS systems require recurring monthly or annual payments for usage. Initially, companies pay a fixed price for the POS hardware and a variable price for the system features. The fee is also subject to increase, so the company’s spending can grow as well despite the pricing plans initially looking quite affordable, often being priced at some $80-$200 per month at first.

Moreover, off-the-shelf POS system functionality may not be enough for covering and managing all processes within your stores. Thus, your business will not be able to receive the desired support for efficiency and productivity, meaning that you will just waste your budget on non-effective software.

Absence of offline mode

Cloud POS systems should work correctly regardless of the internet connection. So, if the implemented POS system doesn’t provide an offline mode capability, well, your company will probably have numerous risks depending on your internet availability, which can often be unstable due to many factors. In summary, a true POS system must ensure secure payment and transaction processing regardless of any external circumstances.

Why a custom cloud POS system is the solution for you 

All the abovementioned problems are common characteristics of market-available solutions that are made by providers to first and foremost make money and only after that provide their customers with software. Custom cloud POS solutions differ from their ready-made counterparts mostly by how compatible they are with your company’s workflows and their uniqueness on the market.

In today’s world, cloud POS systems cannot run without a mobile mode for salespeople as well as for customers who are always on the go. Addressing the individual requirements of your business, a custom cloud POS solution entails the following benefits:

Criteria for selecting a POS software development company

If you choose to use a ready-made POS solution, their selection is simpler because you can use the trial and error approach. Meaning that you can pick one and always turn to another one in case their product doesn’t match your demands and expectations. However, in case you opt for custom cloud POS system development, you should approach the process of selecting a provider more carefully and diligently.

Relevant cloud POS systems experience

The variety of custom software development companies is wide but your task is to ensure their proven and successful track record of developing cloud-based POS systems and how these custom cloud POS software have helped transform and streamline client business processes. For this, you can see client reviews, or even contact them directly for their feedback on how they thought their development process went as well as what they thought about the end result. Top-notch UXUI designers

POS software design is a pivotal thing to consider in the software development life cycle. It has to be as intuitive as possible, where each user should be able to use all of the available features without needing an instruction manual. The design should be understandable, easy to use for users of different ages, but it should also combine the innovative trends applied for web and mobile app design concepts and be unique to be sure to stand out from the competition.

Aware of security measures

As we mentioned in this article, PCI is the core security compliance that measures the security level of your POS solution and uses the top practices to protect transactions and private customer data, particularly credit card information.

The cloud POS development company regarded as your potential partner should be on the same page with the latest security practices used in cloud POS software development, should be proficient in PCI and other needed data privacy regulations, and follow its changes to consider in custom cloud-based POS software for your retail business.

Get more details about the partner`s company performance 

The above-mentioned criteria are the fundamentals, although, you should also evaluate the skill level of developers and get acquainted with their CVs and experience in the niche that can be readily available on LinkedIn. Additionally, find out more about how your potential software development partner organizes the development processes, the level of transparency between client and development teams, what project management tools are used, and how the communication process is arranged. By considering all these points, you can then make a decision on whether the POS development company in question can handle custom cloud POS system development for your business.

Build the custom cloud POS solution for your retail business with GBKSOFT 

Many businesses ask what POS they want to implement, but the first and main question is what your company needs to have in a POS solution. Custom cloud POS software considers your individual requirements, not forcing you to agree on the limited functionality of POS systems that are available on the market.

We regularly receive requests for custom and secure cloud POS software for different retail specializations that show high demand for custom POS systems in the market due to frequent issues with and incompatibilities of market-available POS systems.

One of the latest successfully finished custom POS development was a project named ZEMPCenter. It is a custom Point of Sales SaaS solution dealing with end-to-end business services including:

• product inventory via barcode and QR code scanning;
• secure transactions;
• customer orders, and their analytics in custom reporting;
• monitoring the product in stock;
• tracking employee work and performance.

We precisely plan each development stage considering the initially collected requirements to your POS system based on the needs and problems of your stores, employees, and customers.

Custom cloud POS system development aims to digitize and streamline your sales activities in order to provide transparent monitoring of all of these companies’ daily processes and product/service quality.

Custom cloud POS includes only the range of features and integrations that your company needs in order to better cover all integral processes and resolve all problems that may occur with off-the-shelf POS solutions.

We follow a client-centric approach to the custom software development process, the pain and goals of our clients, and finding the perfect solution to all of the defined issues. So we understand that retail business is gravitating toward a very much client-oriented attitude and we know how a custom cloud POS system should be set up to best help your business stay the course.