More than half of customers report irritation with long checkout lines. And when it comes to convenience stores, many of those agitated customers may decide to put back their sodas and try another store rather than waiting in a long line at yours.
Let’s see if this scenario sounds familiar: Your convenience store is bustling, full of commuters grabbing coffees or snacks on their way into the office. They don’t have much time to make their purchases, so you’re doing your best to work through the line. Then, your cash register glitches. The line grows as you wrestle with outdated technology, calculating change by hand and processing payments.
If this scene sounds familiar, your cash register is likely not built for a high-traffic convenience store environment. Your store — and stress levels — will be much better off with a modern solution designed for the volume of transactions you need to process.
This post walks through the features convenience store owners need from their cash registers and point of sale (POS) systems. Then, we’ll discuss five top options you might consider for your store.
In years past, convenience store owners could get by with just a basic cash register. But in the modern environment, if you’re not taking advantage of the benefits offered by a full point of sale system, you might just fall behind.
Related Read: How To Start a Convenience Store: 8 Steps to Success
But what are those benefits? Some of the critical benefits convenience store owners can enjoy when switching to an integrated POS solution include:
All-in-one POS systems consolidate everything from inventory to payroll to analytics in a single platform. Rather than piecing together separate systems, convenience stores need integrated POS solutions with the right combination of software and hardware. Top providers offer comprehensive packages tailored to convenience stores with everything you need built in.
Let’s explore some of the best options for POS providers with hardware like cash registers for convenience stores.
C-Store POS offers a point of sale solution designed specifically for convenience store owners to help streamline operations and boost sales. Our system has an intuitive interface, unlimited product database, and all the tools convenience stores need to run their businesses efficiently. With robust reporting, inventory control, e-commerce integrations, and checkout features tailored to c-stores, our goal is to help you better manage your business, serve customers faster, and boost profitability.
Hardware options:
We offer a fully customizable hardware solution. You can select the tools you need and skip the ones you don’t choosing from our catalog of durable, top-quality tools, including:
Related Read: 5 Top Convenience Store Inventory Management Solutions
Key features:
Lightspeed is a cloud-based point of sale software solution designed for retail stores, restaurants, and golf courses. Their solution offers tools for inventory management, employee management, customer data tracking, and reporting while also supporting e-commerce integrations.
Hardware options:
Lightspeed offers preselected kits for iPad-based point of sale solutions and desktop point of sale solutions. You can also select hardware add-ons:
Key features:
National Retail Solutions (NRS) offers cloud-based retail point of sale software and hardware solutions. Their software solution includes digital register functions, inventory management, sales reporting, and more. You can also use NRS for promotional tools and take advantage of their Boss Revolution integration for simple money transfers.
Hardware options:
NRS offers a prebuilt kit with five critical point of sale hardware tools and multiple options for add-ons:
Key features:
POS Nation offers a point of sale solution tailored to a variety of small and mid-sized businesses, including grocery stores, liquor shops, and convenience stores. They offer an advanced suite of tools including integrated lottery sales, inventory management, scan data reporting, and employee management solutions.
Hardware options:
POS Nation offers customized hardware packages. Business owners can build their perfect solution from a range of tools and systems, including:
Key features:
Clover offers point of sale systems for retail stores, restaurants, and service businesses like salons. You can use their cloud-based point of sale software for payment processing, advanced reporting, integrated loyalty programs, and online ordering.
Hardware options:
Clover offers both countertop and portable POS devices, allowing business owners to check out customers from the register or anywhere on the floor. They also offer additional hardware accessories like:
Key features:
Upgrading your basic cash register to a feature-rich POS system is the best way to simplify operations and boost profits in your convenience store. The solutions covered in this post showcase some of the tools and accessories you can use to modernize the checkout process in your store.
However, convenience stores have unique needs that off-the-shelf POS systems often can’t meet. C-stores require special functionality and features from their point of sale solutions, from lightning-fast transactions to targeted promotions to consolidated financials across a chain.
C-Store POS is the only solution reviewed that is specifically engineered for convenience store owners. Our system seamlessly combines robust inventory tracking, mix and match bundle pricing, omnichannel payments, and real-time analytics tailored to the c-store environment.
If you're looking to streamline point of sale workflows in order to better focus on customers and growth, schedule a personalized demo of C-Store POS today.