Based on a true story.
A high-volume specialty retailer with 50 stores is running a Micros solution circa 1999.
The interface freezes from time to time and the servers at the busiest stores seem to go down at least once a month. Deploying or retiring the POS in a store is a week long project. It takes even longer for new clerks to feel comfortable with the system. Some quit before they can even complete training. During holidays especially, there are lines out the door. Customers rush through the store, or give up and leave!
The vendor doesn't care about supporting the retailer because Micros was acquired a few years ago, and the retailer now is too small. Business is flat or down, and the cost of investing in a new POS is not in the budget.
Most store staff keep quiet and do the best they can. No one wants to be the whiner. Management will fire them before they get rid of the POS.
What the retailer doesn't realize is that the POS is literally costing them MILLIONS.
Here's how:
With the current POS:
Average ticket size of $100 per sale
20,000 sales per year per store
= $2M sales per store * 50 stores = $100 million annually
With a modern, fast and easy to use POS:
Average ticket size of $105 per sale
20,300 sales per year
= 2.13mm sales per store = $106.5 million annually
This retailer is losing $6.5mm per year solely due to their ageing POS, and this isn’t even factoring the savings in training, staff retention and IT administration costs.
For a small fraction of these loses, a new POS could be installed on top of their existing ERP and back-office systems. The retailer could rip & replace ALL their systems for less than the POS is costing them!
A retail boom or bust won’t begin to make a dent if your POS is not performing.