Barcodes provide an accurate, fast and efficient means of collecting, processing and recording data, and are currently the most widely used identifier in a variety of industries, simplifying processes, improving controls and providing better customer experiences.

The concept of customer experience is the focal point for companies that want to meet and exceed customer expectations, this experience can be generated online, but retailers with physical stores have a greater opportunity to offer a pleasant and memorable shopping experience.

People are looking for quality products and services, at an optimal price, but if they also feel that companies provide extra value through the experiences they provide, this can increase customer retention and brand loyalty, whether we are talking about a bakery, a pharmacy, a grocery store or a department store, in all cases it applies, it is more profitable to retain customers than to get new ones.

Every customer that enters a store can have good, bad or intermediate experiences, you want, you need, to be positive, in order to build a solid relationship with your customers, so that they return you must design that experience and one of the focal points of it is the time to pay for their products and / or services.

Today's fast-paced and time-compromised lifestyle makes the speed with which they can complete their purchase a factor that is highly valued by customers. You can provide solutions in your store that streamline this process, from more staff or more checkouts, but you must find the balance that allows you to offer excellent service in a cost-effective manner.

You need to evaluate the checkout spaces your store should have, but you also need to do this by factoring into the equation the flow of people, the times of day that are the peak times, and what is the average time it takes you to bill, collect and dispatch your customer.

In retail, the use of barcode scanners, streamline these processes, and for everyone it is common to find them in many stores from small to large chains, we could say that their use is almost mandatory.

Now, we have certainly had bad experiences in endless lines in which the slowness of the processes is due to a bad configuration of the experience at the time of payment, with technology that either is not adequate or simply does not have the capacity required, here every second counts, because repeated hundreds of times, it generates inefficiency, abandonment of the line and lost sales.

The process of scanning the products can generate unnecessary delays, due to inefficiency of this equipment, the staff must repeat the process for the reading to be done, even in some cases, they must manually enter the code, imagine this inefficiency repeated throughout the day, with all your customers, how much money are you losing or not earning?

When you choose a barcode scanner, you acquire scanning capability, you need the equipment not to fail with dirty, damaged or wet barcodes, you need that scanning capability not to limit you and be able to do the process in the place and conditions that are your normal working environment.

We have already shown you the importance of the barcode scanner and how they affect customer experience and lost sales, let's see what factors you need to consider to choose the best fit for your business:

• Volume of daily operations, how many customers you serve, how many sales are made in a day, how many products to scan, this is a number to consider to choose a more or less robust equipment.
• What is the nature of your products, size and characteristics, this information is necessary to validate if you need a desktop scanner or another type, remember to facilitate the work of your cashier staff and determine what is easier and faster.
• Are the barcodes 1D, 2D or both? You should also consider the surface on which the barcode is located: printed on paper, engraved directly on the product or represented on the screen of a mobile device.
• Do you need it wired or wireless?

Review these and other features before acquiring this important equipment for your point of sale and design the best experience for your customers, barcode scanners can be used not only at the checkout to speed up payment, in stores with self-checkout, receiving returns or internally in inventory management, what is really valuable is that your staff can easily scan any barcode at the first attempt, without repetitions and delays.

If you need advice, do not hesitate to contact us, if you want more complete information to configure your POS equipment and what are the aspects you should evaluate before investing in POS equipment, download here an e-book that may be useful for you.