Rethinking Point of Sale Can Help Merchants Improve Competitiveness and Profitability

In a Nutshell: High-inventory, multilocation merchants — including those that aspire to the enterprise level or are already there — need a point-of-sale solution that understands their unique challenges and doesn’t get in the way of achieving their goals. KORONA POS fits the bill in many retail categories because it’s smart enough to know what clients need and flexible enough to adjust to changing circumstances as businesses grow. Owners and managers of customer-facing businesses know that POS works best when it just works. KORONA POS has the tools and integrations to help you reach the next level, whatever that means for you.

Point-of-sale platforms have evolved since the days when merchants had to shoehorn a generic retail solution to fit their unique business needs.

Now, merchants want solutions to fit their exact type of business.

That makes KORONA POS a go-to solution for shop and store owners who need robust inventory management, custom reporting, and integrations that anticipate needs.

Think antique shops, furniture, hobby, and music stores, liquor stores and dispensaries, and quick-service coffee shops, among other merchants. If you transact with customers in a high-inventory store or shop environment, KORONA POS already has your back, even if you don’t know it yet.

Developed by COMBASE USA, KORONA POS combines features that target specific niches with flexibility, security, and support to meet the requirements of all businesses in the categories it serves.

KORONA POS is an all-in-one integrative solution tailored to your business, whether you’re just starting to put the puzzle pieces together or contemplating a POS switch.

“A liquor store needs an integration with Drizly for their delivery, a quick-service restaurant needs an integration with Uber Eats, and everybody needs an integration with eCommerce,” said Michael Chalberg, Vice President of Marketing at COMBASE USA. “Our job is to make more and more features available to different niches.”

Moreover, KORONA POS’s API infrastructure supplements and extends the platform’s customizability to allow clients to deploy internal dev teams and build whatever they need into the software.

Partners and integrations enable an omnichannel experience with seamless communication and operational processes.

No matter the niche, clients count on KORONA POS to handle integration intricacies and meet their needs.

“Our support team knows all the integrations and how they work with our software,” Chalberg said. “The package we offer gives the merchants we serve a lot more flexibility.”

Bookstores, convenience stores, gift shops, home and garden centers, museums, theme parks, and zoos are among the many verticals that find value in KORONA POS.

Many prospective clients who like what they see on the KORONA POS website sign up for a free, no-commitment trial of the software to kick the tires and find what fits. Others schedule a live demo with a KORONA POS product specialist.

“The only limitation to the free trial is you can only complete a set number of sales,” Chalberg said. “We don’t limit it with a timeline to push people to make a decision.”

KORONA POS’s sales team reaches out quickly when leads materialize through those channels. The team understands that making a POS switch is a huge inflection point when working with established merchants.

“The goal of our onboarding and sales team is to make that process as easy as possible,” Chalberg said. “We encourage merchants to sign up for the demo, which allows them to meet us and learn how the software works in depth.”

Video content on the KORONA POS website and YouTube channel helps. A comprehensive Support Manual guides prospects and new and established clients through the nuances of deployment and iteration.

The goal is always to retain the client. The KORONA POS team wants clients to like the product and have a positive experience. Client retention rates are high because the team prioritizes support.

“Almost all of our reviews on third-party sites highlight our support team, which can make or break the experience with an integral operational software like ours,” Chalberg said. “POS is not a solution where you plug it in, turn it on, and you’re good to go. There’s a lot of figuring things out, and we’re ready for that.”

That means tweaking the necessary parts and pieces until everything seamlessly works according to the business’s unique needs.

Differentiators include advanced inventory management, which is essential to KORONA POS’s high-inventory, multilocation clients.

The platform adjusts permissions for various user tiers to accommodate product theft and loss prevention protocols. Users may perform inventory counts directly from POS devices or mobile apps. Inventory tracking notifications identify problems and can prioritize products with a negative stock count or slower sales.

Automation alleviates time spent by owners and managers and also alleviates errors. The software looks at sales across a particular period through Order Level Optimization and suggests future inventory needs. It knows who suppliers are and can automatically draw up supplier invoices to place orders.

“We don’t call it AI like so many places do, but it’s getting to the point where it’s automating more of the process,” Chalberg said. “Old school business owners may say they know how their business goes because they have a feel for these things. They may, but there’s probably still room to improve, and our system does that for you.”

Another strength is reporting and analytics. ABC Analysis grades products based on revenue and profitability. Users run a report for a specific time frame to learn what their slow-moving items are based on seasonality and other variables.

Deciding which inventory items to discontinue and which to put on clearance becomes transparent. Inventory, product, and sales reporting clarify and de-stress business decisions.

Those are highlights of a product designed to improve business operations holistically. KORONA POS is cloud-based and intuitive. It integrates with Quickbooks to streamline business operations.

It supports refunds and returns, time clock management, promotions, and discounts. Customizable promotions and discounts on each receipt encourage customers to come back often.

“You’ll just have better margins across the board,” Chalberg said.

One thing KORONA POS is not is a credit card payment processor. While many POS providers seek to leverage payment processing’s potential as a revenue generator, KORONA POS provides a platform that can accommodate every customer’s merchant service provider.

“It’s another big differentiator for us and something I feel passionate about because of the transparency it offers merchants,” Chalberg said. “We allow each merchant to choose the provider they want to work with.”

The payment processing industry is well known for complex and variable rate structures and value-added services. The KORONA POS team advises prospects and clients on the advantages and disadvantages of various processor choices.

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It works with all PCI-compliant providers. For those needing a connection, KORONA POS has preferred payment partners with whom it has worked over the years.

Instead of signing people up for long-term contracts, locked-in rates, fees, surcharges, and cancellation penalties, the arrangement is simple.

“It allows merchants to save so much money,” Chalberg said. “You can pay for your entire software subscription with us, times ten, just by finding a better processing agreement. The difference between a 3.2% payment processing rate and a 1.9% rate for a business doing $2.5 million in annual sales runs into the tens of thousands of dollars.”

Many POS providers realize they can make more money selling processing than software. KORONA POS is committed to focusing on the software, providing a great product, and passing on the processing to processors.

It’s part of a line of advantages merchants receive when they work with a POS provider that has their best interests at heart and dedicates itself to providing the best solutions to help them thrive.

“It’s a big selling point that adds to the transparency and honesty we provide each of our clients,” Chalberg said.