Owning and operating a thrift store can be an inventory-tracking nightmare. With so many items coming in and going out every day, it can be hard to stay on top of your store operations. As you well know, thrift stores thrive on low-revenue sales; therefore, keeping your labor and overhead costs low while keeping customer service optimal is essential to your store’s survival. A thrift store POS can keep your business organized, productive, and profitable. Here are three ways a thrift store POS can reshape your business.
1. Keep up with an unpredictable inventory
Thrift stores carry a myriad of items. Whether by donation or purchase, your store will constantly be receiving new inventory, and keeping track of this inventory accurately will ensure you are making an adequate profit on each item sold. An NTEP-certified thrift store POS can generate tags and shelf labels for each item, and can be easily integrated with a scale to weigh items that are donated to your store.
With thrift store POS you’ll also be able to effectively monitor inventory trends. With an unpredictable inventory, it may be beneficial to you to track the ebb and flow of your donations. Perhaps you have a reliable donor that comes the same time every month with similar items. While you may not know exactly what will be walking through the door, with thrift store POS, you will have an accurate gauge on what to expect.
2. Optimize labor
Labor makes up the greatest expense for thrift stores. Fortunately, labor costs are a major part of the area of controllable expense. For this reason optimizing your labor is essential and particularly critical for thrift stores. However, it’s also important to remember that reducing labor costs too aggressively can lead to lost revenue. Thrift store POS can be used to generate reports on sales and labor. These reports will show you which days, and which times of day your thrift store POS processes the most sales and will ensure you create an employee schedule that fits the dynamic, effectively reducing labor costs and maximizing revenue.
3. Use promotional pricing to keep mix and match easy
Thrift stores are a place where customers often mix and match items, as well as buy items in large quantities. Your thrift store POS can be programed to offer promos on items that should be sold together, or promos when a certain number of the same item was purchased. Both options will entice customers to make extra purchases, get more items out the door, make room for more donations, satisfy customer wants, and process more sales.
A thrift store POS will provide value not only to you, but also to your customers, ensuring that their experience is a positive one, keeping customers loyal and always coming back for more. By utilizing thrift store POS, you’ll drastically improve your inventory organization, boost sales, and increase profits, while reducing shrink. Ultimately, a thrift store POS provides a solid return on investment you can’t afford to miss.
