As the busy season approaches, customers are getting ready to spend significant amounts of time waiting in lines. For businesses, this means that it is very important to prepare for the overwhelming influx of consumer traffic. In order to ensure that your customers have a satisfactory checkout experience, it’s essential for your business to promote efficiency and convenience. Here are 5 steps your business can take to prepare and maximize increased traffic.
Provide More Mobile POS Options
One way to prepare your business for an influx of foot traffic is by adding advanced mobile payment processing capabilities to your POS system. This gives you the flexibility to add mobile Point of Sale (mPOS) devices when needed and allows your business to process magstripe, EMV, and NFC payments through a tablet or smartphone.
Think about how Chik-fil-A has mobile terminals to manage their drive-in queues. Mobile payment systems also enable your staff to scan items and accept card payments on the spot, cutting the lines at the register. Paired with a virtual terminal, mobile payment tools can also be used to track inventory and look up items anywhere on the store floor without requiring you to walk away from your customer.
Make The Line Seem Shorter
Usually implemented during peak shopping seasons, line-busting is a simple sales tactic that you can integrate into your business. The process shortens or in some cases completely eliminates checkout lines by removing customers from the primary line allowing them to pay at a secondary checkout area. This doesn’t always require removing a customer from the line. Meeting a customer in line and taking payments on the spot with a mobile payment device, or adding a self-ordering system is an easy adjustment.
Having the proper payment tools to be able to quickly support the primary checkout area is imperative for line-busting to work effectively. Setting aside a dedicated area stocked with carryout bags and additional stationery offers a seamless checkout experience to the customer. Having enough staff to dedicate someone to line busting, as well as the main checkout line and required in-store help is also helpful. You don’t want to find yourself short-staffed in the middle of a rush.
Set Up One Line With Multiple POS Servers
To avoid unnecessary frustration for your customers and a seamless process for your staff, setting up a multiple-server waiting line provides your customers with a smooth checkout experience. With multiple servers, customers stand in a single waiting line, and when it’s their turn, they go to the first free cashier.
There are several advantages to a single line: first, no server is idle while additional customers are still waiting. The waiting time is similar for all customers, and a single line feels fair to other people in line. Each customer can rest assured that they will all be served in the order of arrival.
Create An Engaging Scene
Long lines may be good for business, but they can also mean slow service and boredom for your customers. Creating an engaging scene can make waiting in line seem shorter. It has been proven that shoppers who have been met with personal interaction have reduced stress levels while waiting in line. Similar to Sephora, having your staff offer product samples, hand out treats, and answer questions helps to keep the customer occupied while in line.
Theme parks have done a great job of creating entertaining surroundings for long ride lines with interactive areas and videos. You don’t need the magic of Disney to create an entertaining space for your customers as they wait. Installing t.v. screens showcasing a slideshow of advertisements close to the registers takes attention away from the line and what your business has in store. Retail stores can optimize the space around the checkout line by showcasing merchandise such as novelty items or impulse buys.
Get Payment Technology You Can Rely On
Using the right payment technology for your business needs to create the best possible experience for your customers. A technical glitch can create longer wait times causing customers to abandon their purchase. When selecting new software, look for systems that are renowned for their reliability and provide short transaction times.
Optimizing your payment processing solutions also protects your business from being left behind with slow processing equipment. You can now get modern payment solutions such as mobile terminals and contactless-pay tools quickly via credible merchant services providers.
At Stax, our modern payment services focus on going beyond the ordinary. The Stax Platform allows for mobile swipe capabilities through our Stax Mobile app. You can also key in payments or add the optional mobile reader to start swiping. Our simple subscription-priced merchant services, best-in-class customer support, and industry-leading technology can help streamline and optimize the checkout experience for your customers. Contact us at Stax for a consultation today to learn how our solutions can help your business succeed.
