Enterprise POS Systems: Everything You Need to Know

An enterprise point of sale (POS) system is the anchor of unified commerce experiences for large retailers (businesses with roughly over $1 Billion in sales annually). It enables actionable enterprise-wide visibility of inventory and customer data across all channels and provides multiple ways of leveraging that data to further assist customers at the point of sale, all on a single device.

It is also a marvel of modern omnichannel software technology. To think that a company as large as, for example, Walmart, can have a 360-degree profile of every instance a customer has interacted with its brand across all channels is amazing in itself. Not to mention, it can access inventory visibility throughout its supply chain network to assist a customer with multiple fulfillment options — such as buy online, pickup in-store, ship-from-store, or curbside pickup— in real time. It’s a game changer for large retailers.

And those are just a few top-of-the-funnel examples. There are many ways enterprise POS systems help associates and customers navigate the omnichannel retail world. Here’s everything you need to know about enterprise POS:

What is an enterprise POS?

As stated earlier, the standard enterprise point of sale system provides store associates with the ability to handle customer needs, view all available inventory, process payments, and checkout customers on an enterprise business scale with a single device. From brick-and-motor stores to ecommerce and mobile commerce, customers and associates have a consistent experience with enterprise POS, regardless of when or where a customer is shopping with that retailer. This is all thanks to the enterprise POS features.

What are the features of a modern enterprise POS?

• Sales management- accepts payments, generates invoices and receipts, handles promotions with cross-sell/up-sell capabilities, initiates returns, and tracks sales data.
• Inventory management- provides real-time, endless aisle visibility across stores, distribution centers, distributors, manufacturers, and visibility into inbound/outbound transit.
• Customer relationship management (CRM)-  clienteling capabilities enable access to online wishlists and customer order histories, as well as two-way communication via text, email, social, or chat.
• Reporting and analytics data- insights into customer history—including transactions, interactions, and wishlists—to find trends and tendencies. Business sales analytics can track product going in and out by hour, week, month, or year so that managers can have a clear vision of overall success.
• Multi-channel unification- can manage orders from any channel and orders initiated in any channel can be completed, returned, or exchanged in any other channel.
• Payment processing- accepts multiple payment methods, integrating with payment providers, mobile checkout with support from contactless payments, and can manage gift cards, promotional offers, and loyalty points.
• Employee management- can monitor employee activity at all times so managers can recognize and reward hard work, verify each employee is producing the right amount of work, as well as improve employee efficiency and productivity.

These features can provide a plethora of beneficial outcomes for your retail business. It is also imperative for any enterprise to have these features to keep pace in an ever-changing retail landscape that continues to empower customers and reward retailers who provide a consistent, agile, and flexible omnichannel experience.

What are the benefits of modern enterprise POS software?

• Unification- provides visibility across all consumer channels and one intuitive experience for associates and managers to sell and engage anywhere on a single app.

• Enterprise-wide inventory management and customer data tracking- enables the retailer to pivot and change any preferred method of fulfillment the customer requests with real-time network-wide inventory visibility.
• Better, rewarding customer experiences- 360-degree customer profiles allow you to know your customers and keep them coming back for more with a seamless omnichannel experience catered to their needs.
• Easier associate experiences- enabling smarter, easier ways to complete a sale through consistent and modern digital experiences creates happier and more engaged retail associates.
• Valuable insights- real-time operational data can highlight customer preferences and tendencies that can be leveraged to optimize omnichannel strategies.

However, not all enterprise POS’ are created equal and there can be some hypothetical cons to implementing enterprise POS software, depending on the type of enterprise pos. Here are a few examples of those scenarios:

What are the potential drawbacks of modern enterprise POS software?

• Expensive- Depending on the type of enterprise POS, it can be expensive to implement, maintain and upgrade.
• Uses too many resources- Could require significant IT resources that use time and money to set up.
• Complexity- May be too complex for your retail stores and too techy for employees to handle.
• Time to train- Takes too much time to train new and seasonal employees and is too difficult to navigate.
• Online reliance- If all store information is in one place and the network goes down, you may have to wait until the problem is fixed to continue normal business procedures.

Manhattan’s POS software can combat these potential obstacles with advanced technology architecture

Manhattan Active® Point of Sale software, part of the Manhattan Active® Omni suite of solutions, is cloud-based and as part of the Manhattan Active® Platform, undergoes automatic upgrades every 90 days, which means you never have to spend money upgrading again. It’s evergreen and extensible supply chain commerce technology foundation is engineered to handle the most complex supply chain networks in the world seamlessly. And business continues uninterrupted even when network availability is compromised—automatically syncing when you reconnect.

Manhattan’s enterprise point of sale software provides intuitive navigation capabilities for easy training and a consistent digital experience, improving employee retention. It creates a consistent customer experience across all channels with visibility and data of every customer interaction. Most importantly it can transform your legacy software into a modern omnichannel experience powerhouse.