Almost immediately after Black Friday, stores in the Canada and the United States are hit hard by swarms of consumers looking for the best deals on gifts for their family and friends. It’s a dark time for employees working for retailers, but a great time to make sales, doubtless. This is a time-worn tradition that has its pros and cons. Here, then, are a few ways to maximize the opportunities that the holiday season allots.
1. Flex Your Sales Muscles
This kind of business is the perfect time to challenge oneself, either as a manager or employee working the salesfloor. “Sell! Sell! Sell!” ought to be the motto of these cold months, and yet, actually making sale after sale is easier said than done. Employees and customers alike typically find themselves wholly unprepared for the monstrous reality of holiday shopping. Rather than dreading it, one ought to look to lineups of customers as an exercise is productivity.
With more and more customers approaching a cashier, for instance, this employee will quickly learn – out of necessity – how to multitask. Not only are they required to cash people out, they will be answering a number of important questions, operating intricate POS systems and software, all the while making polite small talk. It’s a lot to take on, but the rewards are great, to be sure.
Flexing one’s sales muscles isn’t always possible, however. This is specifically true if there have been no prior arrangements made to accommodate the rhythms of paying customers, all of whom are rushing to get things done. This means that the tools used to cash people out must be up-to-date and accommodating of all kinds of payments – from credit and debit, all the way to Apple pay and the like.
2. Don’t Fret – Embrace The Lineups
With more people visiting stores and creating longer lineups, staff can easily feel overworked by this blatant increase in store activity. Indeed, customers are known to scramble until the very last minute to find a good deal on potential gifts. This means that lineups must be expected, and, once again, every measure one can take to prevent hectic buildups of people ought to be implemented. The more experience you have working the holidays, the better the employee you will become.
With this in mind, the first thing that ought to be prioritized are the Point of Sales (POS) systems and accompanying devices that are in place throughout the store. Not only should you have a credit card machine on hand, your hospitality POS ought to be the best possible model available. By seeking out a new provider for merchant transaction services, like the reliable specialists at Swift Payments or a similarly reputable company, you can revolutionize your store with new debit and credit terminals.
Swift Payments offers state-of-the-art merchant processing equipment. Be it hardware or software, you can quickly get your store a brand-new Bluetooth-enabled credit card processor to speed things up at the register. Not only will new devices take up less counterspace, their debit and credit tap capabilities will make things as easy as they’ve ever been. Indeed, tap makes sales simple, convenient, and sanitary – without having thousands of people touch the POS terminal with their bare hands, you’ll guarantee a cleaner and healthier counterspace.
3. Manage Inventory Effectively
Well ahead of time, people in positions of power need to take stock – but not just of the items for sale. On the contrary, it’s vital to account for the devices and materials needed to sell these objects, lest they collect dust on the shelf while frustrated customers walk away empty-handed. Be sure to maintain a good grasp of smaller items, too. It’s very easy to get caught up with larger sales items, but without keeping a close watch on the smaller purchases, you can quickly lose track of them, making your store prone to shoplifters and fraudsters. If you’re already opting for a new POS device, then you may also want to consider updating your security system, too.
With these tips in mind, things will run much more efficiently than in previous years. Indeed, Black Friday and the days approaching Christmas, ironically, are not festive times – not even close. Neither workers nor customers want to partake of these absurd customs, and yet, they seem to be unavoidable. Luckily, it’s the little things like modern technology and merchant processors which can make shopping at least a little bit more bearable.
