Can your credit card processing machine track inventory or manage your guest list? With the latest in hardware, your business can gain a competitive edge while simplifying day-to-day management and optimizing resources where it counts. Here’s a look at the key features you should look for in a credit card processing machine. 

Customer Management

Every business has a need to know who their best customers are, just like every restaurant needs to know when there are reservations and openings. These seemingly simple tasks often require disjointed software or inefficient paper-based processes in combination with the payment terminal, yet the point-of-sale (POS) is where this information really counts.

Wouldn’t you love for your staff to know next time a long-time customer checks out? How about when someone stops in for the first time? With customers demanding more personalized experiences, integrating customer management and guest lists into your payment terminal is the best way to upgrade the experience without adding extra steps for your employees. 

Gift Cards & Loyalty Programs

If you offer gift cards, you’re tapping into a market of customers who may otherwise never visit your business. Whether a gift card is a thoughtful present for someone who already loves your business or a way for a current customer to invite someone new in, they are a proven tactic to drum up more sales. Likewise, a loyalty program allows you to incentivize repeat visits and keep customers coming back.

Whether you want to offer one or both, one of the complexities of gift cards and loyalty programs is behind-the-scenes management. Old punch cards work fine, but they’re subject to fraud, damage, and often get lost before customers can use them. Plus, they don’t offer near the personalized experience that a modern loyalty program can bring to the table. Having a POS system that can manage these things for you will greatly improve the customer experience. 

Dynamic Pricing

Driving sales during non-peak seasons can be tough, but with dynamic pricing, your payment terminal will work with you to support sales even for less popular products. Dynamic pricing allows you to program in sales increases and decreases for specific products, entire categories of products, or your whole store, helping you to drive revenue throughout the year.

The biggest benefit of dynamic pricing is that it allows you to keep up with demand. When stock is low and demand is high, prices can go up to reflect that. Likewise, when you have excess of an item and it’s not selling very fast, the price can drop to get more people buying. Dynamic pricing can also be used to move items with a short shelf life during the slow season or to increase revenue for in-demand seasonal items. 

Labor Scheduler

Implementing labor scheduling and time tracking into your point-of-sale system means simplified operations and a reduced risk of theft and fraud. By always knowing who is on the clock when a sale is made, you can better track down funds for security and commission purchases.

This feature also offers convenience for your team because they don’t need to find their way to the break room time clock or manually enter hours into a spreadsheet. Since the point-of-sale is always in front of them, they can track their hours with ease. 

Inventory Tracking

Optimal inventory management means the hottest items will always be in stock, with more items arriving just as your last ones fly off the shelves. This is a dream for most businesses, but with an integrated inventory tracking system, it’s entirely achievable.

By adding inventory tracking to your payment terminal, your business will never have to spend time with manual counting or spreadsheets. When a sale is made, inventory is updated in real-time, which means it’s not possible to sell an item that’s actually out-of-stock. Plus, real-time inventory puts the power back in your hands by eliminating guesswork and giving you confidence each time you place an order to restock. 

Which Features Do You Need?

If you’re reading through this list of features and feeling a bit overwhelmed, remember that you don’t need a credit card processing machine to do it all. While NMA offers a catalog of wired and wireless hardware to help you fulfill your business’s unique needs, you don’t necessarily have to use any or all of the extra features in your payment terminal, and you might not need to.

As a business, you must always sit down and think about the challenges that you’re facing before you buy into the latest tech. With that said, you can probably think of several ways that an upgraded system could help you optimize your business. If you’re interested in learning more about how NMA can help you grow, get in touch with our team.

About National Merchants Association

National Merchants Association (NMA) is a merchant advocacy group dedicated to reducing or eliminating the unnecessary fees associated with accepting credit card payments. Since 2004, NMA’s payment processing solutions have been delivering tailored solutions, best-in-class customer service, and high-quality service offerings for businesses across multiple industries. Whether it’s high-risk or low-risk, brick-and-mortar or e-commerce, NMA will create the best processing experience for your company.

For more information, visit us at our legacy.nationalmerchants.com or call (866) 509-7209.