Of all tasks you and/or your employees perform in your store, handling price changes probably ranks among the most tedious. It can also be error-prone and, in some cases, inconsistent, which can have a negative effect on your profitability picture. This is why your best bet is to insist on a point of sale solution that offers flexibility and other “next-generation” features related to pricing.

With such a solution in place, you can set mass updating of prices to occur on a set schedule. You can also select a department, a  list of items or items with specific properties and effortlessly set price changes to reflect increases, decreases, sales, special offers (like “buy two, get one free” or “buy a pound, get the second pound free”) and more—all based on a pre-determined schedule. There’s no need to manually select which prices remain the same and which don’t, or to remember to effect the changes.

Point of sale systems with built-in pricing flexibility also make it easier to grapple with the special challenges of selling goods in bulk. For example, prices on bulk items can be set by the ounce rather than by the kilogram or pound alone, enhancing accuracy and increasing the likelihood of purchase by customers who might otherwise pass up more costly offerings—like exotic spices and coffees, to name a few.What’s more, you can elect to implement bulk pricing levels not just by dollar amount—for instance, three for $1—but by percentage. Bulk pricing “menus” can be programmed to appear on the price check screen of your point of sale system monitor, further contributing to accuracy. Special price changes become simpler to effect, too—instead of a blanket mode for authorizing employee-initiated price changes, you can put into place specific utilities for specific situations—namely, authorization for price changes involving negative dollar amounts. This gives you added control over discounting.

Recognizing retailers’ need for flexibility and functionality on the pricing side, pcAmerica has expanded the price management capabilities of its Cash Register Express and Restaurant Pro Express point of sale solutions. Learn more at www.pcamerica.com.