Many customers will shop at convenience stores without ever remotely thinking about how much goes into operating them. C stores have a ton of inventory, tough margins, and often long hours of operation. Consequently, investing in a powerful back office system is essential to manage tasks and optimize revenue.
Luckily, nearly all of the software functionality that you need as a c store owner can be run right out of your point of sale system. With the proper tools, cloud-based access, and integrations, you can optimize your business’s organization and efficiency quickly. Read on for more details about the c store back office and how the right system can make your store more successful.
Use The Cloud For Your C Store Back Office Software
First and foremost, you must use a cloud-based system. There is no longer a need to keep bulky equipment in your store or office. This space is precious! You can now backup your data remotely at an affordable cost. The cloud is especially useful for c store businesses with multiple locations, since you can track and migrate data from store-to-store with the click of a button.
Best of all, you can access this information from anywhere. With cloud point of sale systems like KORONA POS, you can do all of your back-office business work from anywhere with an internet connection. Whether you’re in a storage room with a tablet, at home on your couch with a laptop, or traveling abroad with a smartphone, you can monitor all of your back office c store needs.
Convenience Store Inventory Management
C store back office software must provide a high level of inventory management support. As previously mentioned, convenience stores stock a ton of different types of merchandise. Often, wholesale prices fluctuate with the economy, not to mention that new brands and products are emerging all the time. To put it plainly, there is a lot to deal with when it comes to c store inventory management!
Having a convenience store point of sale that optimizes inventory and stocking will help immensely. KORONA POS offers an array of features to help convenience store owners in this regard. For instance, ABC analysis will show you what items are selling the best and which ones are lagging behind.
Another commonly used feature is a widget that analyzes your sales and stock levels to recommend exactly how many units of different products to order. If you want to, you can even set your point of sale to automatically reorder items so that you don’t have to spend time sending out emails or making calls to your wholesalers.
Adding your products into the computer is another time-consuming process. Don’t worry, our in house product specialists will help you import any type of stock list file right into your c store back office inventory management. Reducing this back office manual entry saves time and labor costs.
C Store Back Office Sales And Reports
Your inventory management should be heavily influenced and informed by sales data. C store owners must be aware of what items are selling the best. Modern back-office software provides a plethora of sales reporting for retail business operators.
The best c store cash registers deliver actionable insights using native analytics and reporting. For example, KORONA POS provides a fully customizable key performance indicator dashboard for c store back-office use. Pick the KPIs that make the most sense for your c store to measure your businesses health and learn where you can improve. These tools can help illuminate aspects across all areas of your business, including product performance, seasonal trends, promotional effectiveness, and more.
Employee Management
In addition to product and sales reports, c store back office software should offer employee reporting and advanced employee management. Modern POS software allows convenience store owners to isolate specific employees and shifts to track staff performance. This information can be used to inform operators on how to appropriately staff their stores and whether their employees need a bit more training.
In addition, employee management features should give owners the ability to limit back office access to specific individuals. With KORONA POS retail loss prevention, back office access can be tailored to block cashiers or other staff members from applying unauthorized discounts or changing other sensitive information or settings in the c store back office.
Additionally, our end of day reports provide full details about every action taken in the point of sale during the shift. That means that any regularities, shortages, or errors can be swiftly accounted for and reconciled.
Integration Readiness Is Key
Like any retail business, optimizing your c store back office means adding software integrations to streamline your operations. Applications and technology continue to advance, and there are now integrations to cover basically every aspect of businesses. Here are some you don’t want to miss out on
Accounting
KORONA POS convenience store back office integrates with accounting software Quickbooks Online. With this integration, you can seamlessly migrate information and populate spreadsheets directly from your point of sale data. This feature will organize back-office tasks, like employee payroll, tax obligations, and financial balance sheets, all in real-time.
CRM and Loyalty
Maintaining dynamic customer relationships is imperative if you want to keep up with competition. Loyalty and rewards programs are becoming increasingly popular for c stores, and they help establish lasting relationships with local customers. Implementing a rewards program that connects to your sales data and purchase history takes the labor out of the back office work for your business.
Check out our partner Springbig for more information on c store loyalty.
eCommerce
Ordering convenience store products from an online menu gained significant popularity during the pandemic lockdowns. It appears that this trend is here to stay. Opening up your c store to multiple channels guarantees as many sales as possible. Consider building an eCommerce site from which customers can order items for pickup and delivery.
KORONA POS offers custom eCommerce design for all types of businesses, including convenience stores. Your website inventory and sales will be fed directly into your point of sale. That means more intuitive integration and less work in the back office.
The more I learn to use KORONA POS, and with the help of awesome customer support, the more I believe this POS system could be a very good fit for many types of businesses out there. What I love the most about this software is the 24/7 customer service and reporting function which are very easy to use.
-Kevin L.
Investing In Great Convenience Store Point Of Sale
To be successful, convenience stores must invest in great point of sale technology. Robust POS systems are essential tools not just for their back office needs. They can also speed up checkout times significantly. And with KORONA POS, you can quickly train your cashiers to use our system in no time.
Our convenience store point of sale system offers the best in the industry, with a competitive monthly rate and an award-winning customer support team. Customize your workflow and checkout dashboard so that it makes sense for your business. Give us a call today to learn more about what we offer and to schedule a demo.
