Best Ice Cream Shop POS System
Ice Cream Shop POS Recommendation
Best Ice Cream Shop POS System
Ice cream shop equipment may vary depending on your menu, but you’ll always want to have a reliable point-of-sale system to easily ring up your ice cream sales.
Having a fast and dependable POS system for your ice cream shop may not seem like a difficult choice, but you’ll be surprised just how many business owners struggle with picking the right one! Your POS system will be one of the top pieces of ice cream shop equipment you will utilize all the time.
In this post, we’ll discuss what key features you may want from your ice cream shop POS system.
We will also offer our POS recommendations to consider for your ice cream shop.
POS System Definition
A Point-of-Sale system allows you to process transactions or sales, much like a cash register. However, it can process credit, debit, or online payments too. It usually consists of hardware and software that transfer money from your customer’s account into your account. The processing is performed via the cloud. This can give you the ability to recall specific transactions anytime and any place.
Today’s POS systems have a variety of essential features used by business owners. They can be light, portable, powerful, and affordable. They can also provide you, the ice cream shop owner, real-time information.
Why have an Ice Cream POS system anyway?
When was the last time you paid anything with cash? While cash is still king, most retail transactions in the U.S. occur with either a credit card, debit card, or online payment. These are only made possible by a point-of-sale system that seamlessly processes transactions.
You will want to easily process your ice cream shop sales with a legitimate point-of-sale system. Fortunately, you have several good options to choose from.
Your Ice Cream Shop POS is a Vital Piece of Equipment
As an ice cream shop owner, you will be investing in some important key pieces of equipment, from freezers, refrigerators, blenders, possibly an espresso machine, among others. Each of your pieces of equipment needs to be reliable and work every day. If your freezers go down, for example, you’ll likely lose hundreds or thousands of dollars in inventory. Likewise, you need a modern cash register or POS system to process your financial transaction – or you will lose out on sales.
What is the Best Ice Cream Shop POS feature?
When researching the best ice cream shop POS system, we recommend looking for POS features that make your job managing an ice cream shop or yogurt shop easier.
In other words, your POS system should make your life reliably simpler. If you have previously operated or managed an ice shop, you know that you will want some key elements with your POS.
So, let’s list a few features below:
Reliability
When processing money transactions for each of your ice cream sales, you want a reliable POS that works every time. Your ice cream shop depends on being able to process your orders smoothly and without a problem. Unfortunately, technical glitches in unreliable POS software can ruin your daily sales.
Security
When it comes to your customers’ money and account information, security should be your highest priority. When you run an ice cream shop, the last thing you want to focus on is whether the next transaction will expose you or your customers to unwanted security risks. Therefore, a robust point of sale system should be equipped with the latest and most up-to-date hardware. It also downloads the software security updates with full end-to-end encryption.
Inventory Management
As an ice cream shop owner and manager, you need to stay on top of inventory. Among the best ways to do that is through your POS system. Your POS system should be able to tell you what flavors, products, or ingredients you are using up – and allow you to determine when to shop. In addition, you should be able to log on remotely – anywhere from your home, store, or second ice cream shop location and assess your inventory situation.
Works Offline
While the cloud-based point of sale systems are connected to the internet, it’s common that you may have an issue with your internet connection from time to time. When this happens, you still want to ring up ice cream sales and process transactions. Most retail vendors require a POS system that can work offline and online without a hitch.
Report Analysis
Today, retail POS systems can provide you with various data sets that can help you make better managerial decisions. For example, with your POS system data, you can quickly determine your busiest days, slowest time of day, your most popular products, how many ingredients you have left, and who your ice cream customers are. As an ice cream shop owner, you would be better off knowing this information, and it will allow you to consistently re-evaluate your menu offerings, price points, and hiring costs.
Employee Management
The chances are that you will hire at least one employee. Today’s POS systems can often help your employees “clock in” and “clock out” to work. Whether you are away on vacation, at home, or at a second ice cream shop location, you can see which employees are signed on. You can easily log their hours for payroll purposes.
Quick Deposits:
Cash is vital. You want to be able to process your transactions and get paid quickly. Having funds swiftly and reliably deposited without any hitches should be a top expectation for your ice cream shop POS system.
Competitively Priced
While you want a POS system that works, you also want it to be competitively priced. Even small percentages of sales and fees could add up to hundreds or thousands of dollars.
You should expect costs for hardware and processing fees per transaction. But you should also expect value and a pos system that is competitively priced.
While having a “free POS system” may seem attractive, but I believe that you get what you pay for. So, instead of opting for a free POS system, consider getting a system that delivers the most significant value. Additionally, when you chose a “Free POS System,” there is no real accountability and meager customer support when you need it.
Customer Service
We’ve all experienced poor customer service. But, when it comes to managing your sales, help with errors, refunds, or technical issues, you want someone to be available to help you. A good POS system provides 24/7 customer support to help you with any arising problems.
Help with Marketing
Your ice cream shop POS system not only collects the essential data from your everyday transaction. With the help of a POS system, you should collect your customers’ information like a phone number or email address. This will help you with your marketing campaigns to promote your new ice cream items or deals. A POS system should also have a loyalty feature. No need for paper punch cards anymore. When your customer makes a purchase, you only need a phone number or email to see if they are eligible for a discount or a free item.
Related POS Questions:
Should I make my POS decision based on price?
We understand how price can be an essential factor when deciding on which POS system to use. Here’s what you can expect: costs associated with your hardware such as card readers, printers, and bar tablet stands. Often you may need to supply your own tablet. Additionally, you can expect a modest monthly fee and percentage of each sale. Currently, this is the standard fee breakdown. The difference is what you get for your money. Do you get a reliable pos system with customer service? If so, your money is worth it.
Recommendation:
We’ve analyzed and worked with many POS systems over the years. As a result, we have found a few companies that provide good point-of-sale features at a competitive rate.
We recommend Lightspeed POS.
Lightspeed has long proven its ability to deliver high-quality customer service, easy transactions, premium security, and robust features at competitive rates.
Lightspeed POS:
- Easy to use
- Offers contactless payments
- Offline usage
- Inventory management
- Employee management
- Robust reporting
- Customized tipping
- Loyalty plans
- Marketing plans
Check out Lightspeed’s full features and pricing.