Global Pet Expo Preview Point-of-Sale Systems Key Takeaways
• Integration of Unified Commerce Solutions: POS system providers are showcasing unified commerce solutions at events like the Global Pet Expo. These solutions integrate various aspects of retail operations, including point of sale, e-commerce, loyalty programs and data analytics. By having all systems communicate with each other, retailers can streamline operations, improve efficiency and provide better service to customers. • Focus on Omni-Channel Commerce: With the growing complexity of retail operations due to e-commerce and additional services like grooming, providers are emphasizing omni-channel commerce solutions. These solutions aim to provide a seamless shopping experience across various channels.
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or a typical brick-and-mortar pet retail store, the work flow involved in keeping track of real-time inventory and reordering from distributor partners to remain stocked has grown exponentially more complicated now that e-commerce has entered the mix. Many retailers are also incorporating services like grooming and vet care in their stores, and the growing complexity of back-end management threatens to pull store associates away from their primary responsibilities of connecting with pet owners to help find solutions to a variety of needs. Knowing that, several leaders in point-of-sale (POS) systems are coming to them at Global Pet Expo and will be showcasing how their technologies can enhance store operations and put store employees back where they should be—front and center as the first point of contact for a frazzled pet owner in need of support. FieldStack is currently helping to drive operations for pet retailers including Hollywood Feed and The Natural Dog. “We’re going to show what a unified commerce solution is; modern point of sale is everything talking to everything else,” explained FieldStack Founder and CEO Brett Wickard. “Let’s say if you’re tracking how much food a certain pet eats, you can predict ahead of time what should be in your store for the actual customers that are coming into your store, so you can become more efficient than other industries could. By doing that, not only do you give better service to your customers, but it’s better for you as an operation too because you’re able to do it more efficiently. At our booth, we’re demonstrating how that works and what that looks like. People are going to see everything from the point of sale to the e-commerce to the loyalty system to data analytics and
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business intelligence all right there.” Essentially, data is instrumental in running a fluid business, but “in retail, it has to be actionable,” Wickard said. “We drive fulfillment up and down the supply chain. If an item is having trouble getting in stock at a certain location, if you’re a multi-store retailer, it will try to automatically pull it from your other stores, if you’re able to do that. Or it will try to pull additional or from secondary vendors and try to get in front of it. That happens automatically and that’s the best kind of use of data. It’s literally invisible; it just works. When technology works right, it frees our retail teams up to do what they do best and that is to make authentic genuine connections with customers. The technology is handling all the arduous tasks for you. You’re not off the floor trying to reorder the item because the fulfillment chain is smooth and FieldStack has got it. You can handle those authentic interactions and that’s when retail is crushing it.” Franpos is a franchise POS system that provides cloud-based technology solutions to pet retailers, which currently include Pet Planet and Woof Gang Bakery & Grooming. Its features include a cloud-based point-of-sale system, an e-commerce platform, an online booking system, an Astro loyalty integration and a consumer app. “Franpos is an omni-channel commerce platform for pet retailers of all sizes,” said Founder and CEO Subodh Gupta. “Our main goal at the show is to give our prospective customers a demo of our solution. We will have an interactive product demo to allow customers to experience the POS system's capabilities firsthand. This hands-on experience can help customers understand the system's user-friendliness and efficiency.” The needs of a pet franchise owner
has broadened in complexity as many pet owners have gotten used to the convenience of Amazon and Chewy. Gupta said Franpos has identified points of focus to optimize the shopping experience for pet owners. “The biggest disconnect between retailers and pet owners today is lack of visibility of inventory and ability to book grooming appointments,” he said. “Franpos provides an omnichannel solution that provides cloud POS, e-commerce, mobile POS for events, [and a] consumer app that connects the retailer and consumers.” The improved efficiencies will have a noticeable effect on how inflation is impacting small businesses. Gupta said inflation has reduced retail sales by 12 percent on average. Again, in the interest of maximizing efficiencies, Franpos can help cut down on costs and pass along lower prices to consumers, he said. “One thing Franpos is doing is providing a free marketplace that will connect manufacturers and distributors directly with retailers,” he said. Wickard with FieldStack elaborated, “Inflation is an all-of-us problem. It’s not us versus them. The reason we’re, as retailers, we have inflation upstream from us is [manufacturer and supplier] costs are rising too, so everything we can do to make that more efficient, helps stave off some of that inflation. What we all fight with as retailers is complexity, and one of FieldStack’s jobs is to make all those things less complex.” As the infrastructure needed to build and support a thriving pet business has grown infinitely more complex, POS systems have emerged as an attractive solution to help business owners achieve maximum efficiency on the back end such that their greatest assets —store associates—can do their job of supporting pet parents at front of store.