As a small business owner, your to-do list is never-ending. Between managing inventory and guiding each of your customers to the perfect cigar, it can be tough to find the time to strategize and promote your cigar shop’s growth.
Cigar POS software can be an invaluable tool, freeing up your time, streamlining your operations, and boosting your business’ bottom line.
Here are eight ways that specialized cigar POS software can supercharge your shop’s efficiency.
1. Automate Inventory Management
Inventory management is one of the most critical parts of running a business, and for cigar shops in particular, it can be tricky to keep track of a wide range of brands and products.
The right tools can help you tackle these inventory management challenges. Cigar POS software with real-time inventory updates shows you at a glance exactly what you have on hand, helping you reorder products on time and ensuring that your customers’ favorites are always in stock.
Carton-pack inventory management is another helpful tool for smoke shops, allowing you to sell a single cigar from a carton — or the entire carton — while automatically updating your inventory to reflect the purchase.
Cigar POS software features like real-time inventory and carton-pack metrics can save you countless hours. Plus, relying on your POS system to track inventory rather than manually counting cigars and cartons can prevent inventory errors and protect your cigar shop’s bottom line.
2. Verify Customers’ Ages With Ease
Compliance with your state’s tobacco regulations is foundational to running a successful cigar shop. Since many states require you to confirm customers' ages before selling them tobacco products, age verification is a must-have POS software feature.
Built-in age verification helps your employees quickly and easily confirm customers’ ages by entering their date of birth into the system or using a convenient ID scanner.
Cigar POS software with age verification can keep checkout lines moving while adding an extra layer of legal protection to your small business.
3. Customize Your POS System’s Layout
Cigar POS software is not one size fits all, which is why a system with a customizable layout is such an advantage.
Customizing your POS touchscreen and button layout helps your employees learn the system with minimal training and assist customers more efficiently — whether providing them with a quick checkout experience or using smart search to answer their product questions.
4. Make Marketing Effortless
The right cigar POS software can be a key tool on your journey to build a loyal customer base and become your neighborhood’s go-to cigar shop.
Many cigar POS software systems feature a built-in customer loyalty program, allowing you to provide exclusive offers, discounts, and perks to your customers, and encouraging them to come back to your store again and again.
Customer relationship management tools also help you learn your customers’ preferences and shopping habits, which are valuable insights that help plan successful promotions and sales.
5. Keep Tabs on Your Cigar Shop’s Success
Recording sales data is an essential but often tedious process when done by hand, but cigar POS software makes reporting simple and more accurate.
Many cigar POS software options offer prebuilt reports that display and analyze the metrics that are most important to you and your business. For example, you can track your sales data daily, weekly, or monthly, as well as compare historical data to see how your business is growing.
Automated reporting through cigar POS software can free up more of your time to incorporate these insights and take your cigar shop to the next level.
6. Manage Employees More Effectively
Between time tracking and payroll, managing your team can consume a surprising amount of time. Thankfully, cigar POS software includes features that make employee management more efficient and more secure.
Built-in time clocks make time tracking easy and accurate — which is helpful when it’s time to do payroll.
Cigar POS software options also include security measures that can protect your business. For example, many systems allow you to set different permissions for different employee roles, ensuring that each team member has the right amount of access to your POS system data and functions.
Streamline Your Operations With the Best Cigar POS Software on the Market
Implementing the right cigar POS software can protect your time as a small business owner while helping you run your cigar shop more efficiently.
With features like advanced inventory management, built-in age verification, detailed reporting, and employee management features, cigar POS software can completely streamline your cigar shop’s operations.
Want to see cigar POS software in action? Cigars POS is a comprehensive point of sale solution built specifically for the tobacco industry. Schedule a demo today to learn how Cigars POS can make a difference for your small business.
