Retailers Getting Ready for The Holiday Season

Be Prepared

As a savvy hardware manager, you may have noticed that consumers have been starting their holiday shopping earlier and earlier each year. In recent years the shopping frenzy has started as early as October, well in advance of the traditional Black Friday start. The holiday season is the life-blood of most retail businesses and that is why, even though it’s still only September, it’s already time to start getting POS hardware ready for the holiday season.

You may have heard the saying, “Fortune favors the prepared.” Or maybe you prefer, “A stitch in time saves nine.” Either way the meaning is clear. In order to get the most out of the holiday shopping season a retailer must be as prepared as possible in every possible way. While most will make sure they have ample stock and staffing arranged well in advance of the holiday crunch, it’s surprising how many overlook the importance of providing a fast, efficient, and convenient payment process.

Traffic Jams

Even in the best run businesses, the checkout lines are a natural bottleneck. The cash register is the one place all of the traffic in your store must pass through. When there isn’t a great deal of traffic things flow smoothly even when small problems pop up. If your barcode equipment is acting up and the cashier has to enter a few codes manually it isn’t a huge problem when there are only a couple of customers waiting in line. Getting POS hardware ready for the holiday season seems like such a minor issue during the slower months. A faulty printer or till display doesn’t often come high on the list of the million and one things a busy retailer has to deal with.

During rush hour, though, even small disruptions in the regular traffic flow can snowball into devastating gridlock. If your cashier has to enter two or three manual codes for each customer or needs to spend half a minute every few customers clearing out a paper jam in the receipt printer the delays will begin to accumulate, the lines will get longer and longer, and many of your potential customers will decide to spend their money elsewhere.

Prevention vs. Cure

This is where preparedness can save the day and your revenue stream. Getting POS hardware ready for the Holiday season is important, but keeping it in great shape year round is even better. A wise retailer doesn’t only fix problems when they arise; a wise retailer prevents the problems from happening in the first place. Mercom offers maintenance contracts and repair options that make it cost effective to keep your equipment in top condition. We also guarantee most repairs for 6 months, which is far beyond the industry standard.
In North America more than 25% of all personal spending happens in November and December. Your POS hardware is the key to making sure your customers enjoy the seamless and speedy payment experience so vital to ensuring that they do their holiday spending with you rather than with your competition.