Collecting addresses on an EPOS system

When choosing an retail EPOS system it is important to look at address collection functions. Whilst it might seem odd to collect customer addresss data in a simple retail enviroment, the benefits are large, and customers are becoming more and more accepting of giving their postal and email address in shops when completing a transaction.

Most EPOS systems should have a function for collecting customer name, address, postcode and email information at point of sale. Whilst the entry of this data can be made optional or complusary, it is always important that this information can be recorded quickly and easily. At busy times you might want to forgo this process, but collecting as much customer information at point of sale is key to future marking efforts. You must have a postcode address lookup system - this will allow very fast, accurate and most importantly consistant capture of customer address details.

Once you start collecting address information at point of sale, the first benefits are for the customers themselves. The retailer will be able to view a customer transaction history at point of sale, and see what they have purchased in the past. The user will then be able to refund past transactions at the click of a button. Previous invoices can be printed and items easy brought in for repair.

If you want to use a loyalty system or a discount system for particular customer groups, you can start issuing membership cards - these will normally be printed with a barcode, and allow you to scan them at point of sale to immediately select the correct customer.

Once you start grouping transactions by customer, you can start to analyse shopping trends. Which customers have purchased the same items on different visits? For a particular stock item, you will know what items are commonly purchased by the same customer at another visit - powerful marketing data.

If the customer data is collected in a accurate manner, preferably with email addresses, the product of marketing emails and mailers is simplified. Advanced EPOS systems might even allow you to generate bespoke marketing emails based on a customers purchasing history.

Finally of course we get into the world of special orders and mail / telephone orders. Saving the customer details against this type of transaction is vital for good customer service - and even more important if you've collected a deposit, so you know what money you owe to whom!

Always make sure you EPOS system have strong customer detail collection features - but also make sure it is easy to get all the customer data entered into the system extracted into a spreadsheet for marketing and mailing purposes.