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*** Did You Know That???... ***
*** Cash Register Express allows you to put invoices "on hold" and complete them at a later time. This feature can help speed checkout, and generate happier customers. Read on to see how this would have helped me.
A couple of months ago, I had to hang a picture in my house. I was out of nails, and drove over to one of the local home-improvement super warehouses. My hope was to grab a box of nails and be in and out within five minutes. Was I wrong!
After finding the box of nails I needed, I took my one product to the front of the store, and found the shortest checkout lane--with five people in front of me. The cashier started scanning the first person's items, but at some point reached a standstill. The customer had a large planting pot that either did not have a bar code or was not entered into the system.
Whichever it was, the cashier couldn't scan the item and had no idea how much to charge. He couldn't cancel and invoice in the middle, and had to call a manager. Locating and fetching a manager in a store this large was a very difficult feat.
After five minutes of waiting, one of the other people in front of me walked off the line to find another line. Two more, clearly annoyed, followed suit about five minutes after that. The manager finally showed up, looked at the product, and walked off to find out the price. Another five minutes and the next customer got frustrated, left his merchandise on the counter and walked out of the store. Finally, a few minutes later, the manager returned, entered a price override and the cashier closed out the sale. Since everybody else had given up, I was next in line, and the cashier rung me up with an embarrassed look.
One planting pot lost one sale for the store, and probably encouraged four other customers to try the competitor next time they shopped. The cashier couldn't help customers in the meantime, and was stuck waiting several minutes for a manager to look up the price.
What could have helped?
In Cash Register Express, a cashier can put an invoice "on-hold", saving it to be recalled at any time in the future. While the invoice is suspended, the cashier can ring up other customers, and "recall" the suspended invoice when they are ready to complete the sale.
A few uses for this:
1) The cashier at the home-improvement warehouse could have rung up the five customers on line (including me!) while waiting for the manager to override the scan. Instead of five annoyed customers, they could have had five satisfied customers.
2) If a customer realizes he forgot to get the milk, after ringing up the rest of their groceries, his order can be put "on-hold." Other customers can be checked out while the first is getting his milk. When the customer returns, the cashier can "recall" the order, scan just the milk and close out the sale.
3) Orders can be kept "on-hold" for as long as you need. A store that takes orders to be picked up later can put the order "on-hold" and print a pickup receipt for the customer. When the customer returns to pick up the order, their order can be "recalled" and paid for at that time.
Faster checkout means happier customers. Happier customers mean more business.