Hopefully, a lot of your day as a retail merchant is taken up ringing up sales for your customers. As you well know, time is money and it’s essential that you optimise your checkout process to minimise the time spent with each customer. Obviously you don’t want to sacrifice customer service, but there are a few things you can do to speed the process up and even enhance your service offering.

Make sure you cater to contactless

Contactless card technology and mobile payments aren’t only convenient, they’re also about 4 times quicker than a normal card payment! It might only be a matter of 30 seconds per transaction, but over the course of a day that can build into a serious time savings.

Have a defined checkout strategy

Do your staff have a set routine for checkout? Obviously things don’t always run smoothly, but there should be a clear process to follow. This will encourage your staff to ring up sales in the most time efficient manner.

Check your internet speeds

One of the most simple, but often most effective tips. A slow internet connection can lead to a lot of lagging and waiting for the system to catch up. Simply switching to a faster provider can save bags of time in the long run.

Upgrade your POS (if required)

If your POS system has become outdated and slow, it might be time to replace it with a more modern system. If your staff are constantly waiting around for it to kick into gear you could be losing time that’s better spent elsewhere.

Optimise the area

Look strategically at your checkout area. This is a technique that many busy bars employ to deal with more customers ordering drinks. Are the carrier bags within arms length of the till? Is the chip and pin clearly displayed? A well optimised checkout will ensure that staff don’t have to move their feet to complete a transaction!