Optimizing Operations With POS Data Analysis

So much useful information is available in point of sale reports that could greatly help optimize business operations. Indeed, using these reports efficiently can help increase revenue and reduce operational costs. 

However, not all business owners take the time to analyze their data and implement changes for the better. It is for these reasons that we will cover some aspects of analyzing Alice POS’s data by detailing the information contained in reports and the benefits taking action can provide:

1. Data Types
   1. Accounting Reports
   2. Employee Reports
   3. Inventory Reports
   4. Purchase Reports
   5. Membership Reports
   6. Sales Reports
2. Data Mining Benefits
   1. Competitive Advantage
   2. Understanding Customer Profiles
   3. Deciphering Purchase Tendencies
   4. Sales per Employee
   5. Exchange and Refund Rates
   6. Security
   7. Customer Experience
   8. Inventory Management

1. Data Types

There are many data types that you can exploit to help you manage your store. In fact, a point of sale system can give you access to almost every aspect of your company. Let’s have a look at these aspects and how data can be useful for you.  

Accounting Reports

With Alice POS, you have access to a variety of important information in the accounting reports. Among other things, you can access account receivables, which allow you to record all your company’s revenue sources and expenses. 

This is also where you can find all the information concerning issued gift cards. You can see a card’s balance, the initial amount on the card and the period for which it was issued. 

It is possible to consult the store credits section, which gives details about sales. You also have more specifics on cashing and credits granted to clients. 

In short, these reports have several functions, including allowing you to see items transferred from one store to another if you own more than one store. Also, you have access to timesheets, therefore the hours worked by your employees over a given period. In this way, the accounting reports give you an overview of your sales and expenses and allow you to see the evolution of your store in the longer term while having access to the details which allow you constant control over your finances.

Employee Reports

This section is particularly interesting to track your employees’ activities. As a matter of fact, you have access to timesheets, which provide information about the hours worked by each employee for a specific period. You also have access to the lists of commissions, to make it easier for you to distribute employee commissions. As a result, this feature is relevant to ensure commission amounts accuracy, but also to keep tangible and reliable proof of the amounts to be given.

You can also find information on sales per employee for a specific period. This feature is often underused but has great potential. This report section allows you to understand where the busy hours are. With this information, you can adjust your business hours, the number of employees required to work simultaneously and much more!

In other words, you can adapt your store management based on actual data and potentially lower your costs. This obviously helps to better understand the variations in customer habits and shopping trends which are subject to several changes considering the constantly evolving context.

Inventory Reports

With Alice POS, you have access to different reports concerning your inventory. To begin with, the reports allow you to see all of the inventory adjustments that have been made for a given period of time. In this way, you are constantly aware of the changes made, while avoiding potential errors that are present when manually taking inventory.

You can also consult RMA elements (Return Merchandise Authorization), that is to say, items that are either defective, in repair or awaiting replacement or refund. Once again, this opportunity makes it possible to closely track each item’s status, knowing its exact condition without having to monitor it manually and risk entry errors. In addition to being able to consult your RMA items, you can consult transferred items that have been sent from one store to another, which may or may not belong to the same owner as the original store­. 

For store networks, this allows constant product monitoring, at the same time providing information on purchases by region. While transferring items from one store to another, it is possible to better understand purchasing trends in a given region, and therefore better adapt to the habits of local consumers. 

With inventory reports, you can see your current inventory, so the precise quantities of each product you have in store and how many are available for sale online if applicable. You can even see the sales trend for the last 90 days if you want. This is a feature that can be very useful considering the changing and evolving customer purchasing trends. Considering that store networks carry out a wide variety of transactions such as inventory transfers, exchanges and refunds, buybacks and more, it is important to have synchronized inventory and detailed reports to make informed network-wide decisions.

With Alice POS, you can know exactly how many products you need to order since the software provides a replenishment report. However, it is imperative to keep the data on supplier orders and the purchasing module up to date to ensure the veracity of the numbers presented. Therefore, this feature ensures sufficient inventory at all times and avoids inventory surpluses or shortages.

Purchase Reports

In these reports, Alice POS offers you the possibility of consulting the list of items that have been put in consignment by a customer in your store. You also have access to the items purchased in your store by a particular customer. 

The Purchase History report provides you with a list of purchases made in your store. Again, by having access to this data, it is easier to capture consumer trends, as well as to know which product interests them the most, which interests them least, etc.

Membership Reports

In this section, you can see all the members of your loyalty programs. You also have access to a list of active members as well as new members and membership expiration dates. With these reports, it will be easier to find out whether loyalty programs are effective, but also to compare them with each other to see if there are any that are more effective in terms of customer loyalty. You can therefore make the necessary changes if the results do not suit you and adapt to the trends you observe in these reports.

Customer loyalty is a powerful tool that can help beat the competition, but also increase your income. In fact, 87% of consumers are ready to give various information in return for a loyalty program that focuses on personalized services and rewards (source). Membership reports then provide a better understanding of customer satisfaction with your programs and rewards. In addition to having this information, you can potentially collect personal information about your consumers so that you can better solicit them later with their consent.

Sales Reports

With Alice POS, sales reports accessibility allows a quick business situation analysis. In addition, it is possible to compare one fiscal year with another by choosing the Sales Comparison report. In this way, it is easy to refer to the reports to make informed business decisions, but above all to understand the changes in the market from year to year and be able to make the necessary adjustments.

It is also in these reports that you can see sales per employee. In this way, you can better understand your employees with regards to their performance and if they meet the company’s requirements or not. It also makes it possible to offer more training to certain employees if the need arises or to better supervise them to increase their performance. Conversely, if an employee performs very well, it is easier to determine and reward them accordingly.

Obviously, it is possible to access sales by unit, to know the amount sold for a particular item. Finally, you can see all the details regarding each of the sales made in your store. Deposits that have been placed on orders are also visible.

2. Data Mining Benefits

There are a host of advantages to using actionable data from your POS system to make informed business decisions. A few were listed above, but let’s see the impact that analytics can have on your store management in the longer term.

Competitive Advantage

As mentioned above, understanding consumer buying trends for a particular product, for example, allows you to adjust and understand what customers really want, as much as what they do not want. That way, you can be a step ahead of whether a product will sell in a particular region, for example. It is easier to have a competitive advantage when the reaction time to customer changes is quick. This is something that data reports from Alice POS can assist you with, in other words, having access to information that helps you respond to trends in your market effectively.

Understanding Customer Profiles

By having access to the information provided by your customers either via their in-store visits, purchase frequency, purchase contents, online orders, and voluntary information they provide, you can draw up specific customer profiles. It is also possible to draw a portrait of the customers who visit your store often. In this way, you can better target your ads, design your products and adapt your communications!

Deciphering Purchase Tendencies

With Alice POS’s advanced reports, it is easy to understand which products in your range are selling the most or selling the least. It is therefore simple to make the necessary modifications to increase sales and meet the needs and desires of your customers. It is also easier to understand if customers find what they are looking for and if their interests are being met (with the management of Customer orders in Alice POS for example). This makes it simple to improve or create products and services that satisfy customers who might have gone to a competitor if no changes had been made to accommodate them.

Sales per Employee

As stated earlier, having information on the performance of your employees allows you to offer training, coaching or rewards, depending on the employee. There is, however, another notable advantage of being aware of employee performance. It also allows you to see what type of customer service is offered in your stores. It is beneficial to offer the best possible customer experience to consolidate many of the points raised above. In fact, 64% of consumers think that the experience offered to them in stores is more important than the product prices (source). Finally, offering a good customer experience makes it possible to stand out from the competition, build customer loyalty and contribute to a good reputation, whether through online comments or word-of-mouth referrals.

Exchange and Refund Rates

Exchanges and refunds provide the company with a lot of information on customer satisfaction with a product. If a particular product is often returned, one can question its effectiveness or its quality. Such reports make which products need improving more obvious. On the contrary, if a product is defective, you can then consider removing it from the shelves so as not to affect your income and reputation in the longer term.

Security

Data security is one of the notable advantages of using data from a cloud-based POS system like Alice POS. In fact, as the data is stored in the cloud, you do not risk losing it due to force majeure like a fire or a flood for example. You can therefore use this data and analyze it without risk to optimize your operations. You can learn more about Alice POS security in this article.

Customer Experience

By analyzing data from your point of sale system, you could then improve the customer experience of your store, whether online or in physical stores. Actually, as a good customer experience represents an essential asset for a business, you could potentially increase your income by making your customers more loyal. Providing a pleasant experience for your customers also allows you to stand out from your competitors in addition to offering you more opportunities to analyze the data, as you could have more customers who come back to buy from you. According to Bain & Company, companies offering a better customer experience obtain revenues that can range from 4% to 8% above competitors in the same market (source).

Inventory Management

When it comes to inventory management and data mining, there is no doubt that with a cloud solution like the one offered by Alice POS, you benefit from the security of your inventory data. In addition, the risk of errors when taking inventory is considerably reduced (versus manual entry). You can also view your data from anywhere, which can be an asset if you have multiple stores and want to understand consumer trends in a given region. You do not even have to go on-site to carry out your analysis and collect data! You can even create promotions for certain stores if needed. This facilitates inventory and operational management. As a matter of fact, this makes it easier to analyze product performance per store, and thus make your adjustments without worry.

Related Questions

Where is POS Data Stored?

In Alice POS, the data is stored in the cloud, to allow increased data security by protecting it from force majeure such as floods or fires. In addition, cloud technology allows you to consult your data anywhere, anytime!

What are the Data Analysis Types?

There are mainly four types of data analysis:

• Descriptive Analysis
• Diagnostic Analysis
• Predictive Analysis
• Prescriptive Analysis

Although each type offers its own insights, all four types of data rely on each other to offer an exhaustive analysis that can help you manage your store.