Three Ways You Can Prepare Your Retail Business for mPOS

If you’ve decided to invest in a mobile point-of-sale (mPOS) solution for your retail stores, you’re already aware of the array of benefits it offers your business. However, many retailers face challenges in implementing their new mPOS technologies. That’s why it’s important to have a plan in place to address these obstacles.

Here are the three ways that retailers can prepare their business for mPOS success.

1. Alter your store layout

Modifying your store layout while adopting mPOS creates several opportunities to alter the customer journey and improve efficiency and space usage.

Convert checkouts to selling space. Using mPOS creates opportunities to supplement stationary or multilane checkouts, or simply reduce the number of them in favor of creating more selling and display space. Stationary checkouts can handle the typical levels of business, while mPOS can handle the occasional peaks without permanently dedicating that space to additional lanes.

Strategically place receipt printers. If your associates will be providing mobile checkouts, strategically place receipt printers around your store. This way, if a customer prefers a paper receipt, a mobile associate can print and retrieve one quickly, without straying far from the point of service.

2. Train your staff

One of the mPOS challenges identified by retailers in a recent IHL Group survey is the need to train store associates properly. This is crucial. Make sure to train your associates thoroughly and validate their understanding in several key areas:

mPOS device and application. mPOS  devices come in different form factors, depending on your business needs. Some are paired with smart phones, others with tablets, and some with fixed POS systems. Whatever devices you choose, your associates should be trained to use them and any related mobile apps and tools.

Upselling. The POS apps on your mPOS solution may enable your associates to access product and inventory information. They need to be trained to use these features to upsell and cross sell. As an example, they can use a tablet POS solution to show the customer related accessories or items when they’re providing mobile customer service or checkouts.

Customer engagement. Your associates should be trained for optimal customer engagement. Make sure they understand how to use all the features of their mPOS solution to enhance customer interactions and provide outstanding, personalized service.

Preventing cart abandonment. Your associates need to know how and when to use your mPOS solution for line busting and to quickly recognize and help a confused or frustrated customer. By offering preemptive customer service and alternative purchasing options, including accepting payments anywhere in the aisle, they can rescue a sale that might otherwise be lost. For example, they can help customers find their desired product at another store and pay for it now, or order it online from your warehouse, with same- or next-day delivery.

3. Maintain your mPOS payments infrastructure

Your IT staff should also know how to maintain the new infrastructure for your mPOS deployment. Here are several points to keep in mind:

Better, secure Wi-Fi. It’s critical to  consider upgrading to better Wi-Fi connectivity and maintaining an optimized network. This will help ensure that transactions and service interactions are smooth, secure, and seamless.

Remote updates. According to IHL  Group’s report, 45% of retailers point out that mobile security is complicated and demanding. A mobile-device management solution is a perfect way to address this. It allows you to install regular software updates, monitor security, and track your devices remotely, while saving considerable time and cost.

Charging and securing devices. Your  store staff needs to be in the habit of charging devices regularly. With many mPOS solutions, such as mobile smart terminals and tablet POS, charging stations are available to dock and charge your devices.

—Ben Wagner is director of solutions at Ingenico Group, North America.