Checkout friction doesn't always look like a long line at the register. Sometimes it's an employee printing a receipt because they need to put a transaction on hold. Or leaving the POS to check whether another store has an item in stock. Or having to enter the same information in two different places.
None of these things seems like a major problem on its own. But when they're part of the daily checkout process, they add time and make a simple transaction harder than it needs to be.
A good POS system should take those problems out of the equation.
Checkout friction is anything that gets in the way of completing a transaction efficiently. That could mean a slow system, a confusing workflow, limited payment options, or information that's difficult to find when an employee needs it.
Some friction is visible to the customer. Some of it happens entirely behind the register.
That distinction matters. An employee spending an extra minute figuring something out may not look like a checkout problem from the other side of the counter, but it's still time that could have been spent helping the customer.
Here are 7 common sources of checkout friction and how the right POS system can help reduce them.
Say you're ready to take payment, but a customer's card declines and they need to call their bank. Or they realize they forgot something, run back to the aisle, or decide to grab one more item to qualify for a buy-two-get-one promotion.
In some systems, putting that transaction aside means suspending the sale, starting a new transaction, then finding your way back to the first one.
FieldStack keeps active transactions in tabs at the bottom of the POS screen, so employees can move between customers without putting a transaction on hold or recreating it later.
It's a small feature, but it's the kind of thing you notice when you're actually standing behind a register.
Above: Switching between customer transactions shouldn't be complicated.
Customers ask questions during checkout. Is this available in another size? Do you have another one in stock? Does another location have it?
The employee shouldn't have to abandon the transaction to find the answer.
When product and inventory information is accurately available through the POS, an employee can look up what they need and continue the sale. That becomes even more useful when inventory from other locations is visible in the same system.
Not every customer who walks up to the register is taking a product home that day. They may want something the store doesn't have, need it shipped to their home, or want to pick it up at another location.
Without the right tools, those situations can turn into phone calls, separate orders, or manual workarounds. The customer may simply decide it's too much trouble.
FieldStack's FlexOrder™ brings those fulfillment options to the POS. An employee can place an order for home delivery, pickup at another store, or fulfillment from another location without sending the customer to a different system. Multiple fulfillment methods can even be used within the same basket.
That means the checkout process doesn't have to end just because the product isn't sitting on the shelf in front of the customer.
Above: FieldStack's FlexOrder™ makes the checkout process easier, more efficient, and more convenient.
A customer's transaction doesn't necessarily end when they leave the store.
They might come back to return or exchange something they bought online or in store. Without connected transaction data, these situations can turn into a search for the original purchase.
A unified POS system can pull up the transaction and the information associated with it, giving employees a much clearer starting point for the return or exchange.
It's one of those things that's easy to overlook when evaluating a POS because everyone focuses on the initial sale. But returns are part of the checkout experience, too.
The transaction itself is only one piece of the customer relationship. Customer profiles, purchase history, and loyalty information should be readily available through the POS, rather than sitting in a separate system that employees have to access when they need it.
Without that connection, a returning customer can end up being treated like a new one. Employees may have to ask for information the retailer already has or leave the checkout workflow to find a previous purchase or loyalty account.
With customer data available at the register, a cashier can pull up order history, review customer notes, see loyalty points, and apply relevant benefits without interrupting the transaction. That gives employees more context while they're helping the customer and keeps the interaction moving.
A customer might place an order online and pick it up in store, have an item shipped from another location, or come into the store to return something they bought online. These transactions don't always happen at the same register or even start in the same place.
Retail transactions have become less tied to a single register, which makes disconnected systems increasingly difficult to work around. If the POS doesn't know what's happening with an order or what's available in inventory, the employee is left to figure it out.
When POS, inventory, orders, and customer information are connected, those different transactions can be handled from the same source of information.
Some checkout friction becomes so routine that employees stop thinking of it as a problem. They print a receipt to put a transaction aside, call another store to check inventory, or open another system to find customer information because that's simply how the process works.
Over time, those extra steps become part of the job. They can make training more complicated, create inconsistent processes between stores, and make it harder to know where information actually lives.
A well-designed POS should account for the situations employees regularly encounter instead of requiring them to create their own process around the limitations of the software.
When evaluating point-of-sale systems, don't just ask whether they can process a sale. Look at what happens around the sale.
Can employees keep multiple transactions open? Find products quickly? See inventory at another location? Pull up a customer's purchase history? Handle different payment types? Process returns without hunting for information? Complete an online order in the store?
Those details often have a bigger impact on the day-to-day experience than a long list of features on a product page.
FieldStack brings the information and workflows employees need into the same POS experience, from active transactions and product information to inventory, customer data, and orders.
Employees can move between transactions, check inventory, access customer information, and handle different types of orders without jumping between disconnected systems. That keeps more of the work in one place and makes it easier to handle the situations that come up during a normal day at the register.
Want to see how FieldStack can simplify the checkout experience?
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