UK retailers lose 52 hours of trading time a year due to POS downtime

26 March 2013– According to new research from Epson and independent research firm Coleman Parkes, 1 in 3 UK retailers (36%) are losing up to 1 hour of sales time each week due to till-point down-time.The study of European retail companies, including 100 UK retailers, found that eliminating this downtime could save UK retailers an average of 52 sales hours per year. A key area which could help with eliminating this down time is the introduction of cloud-based POS systems, which store data online and do not have the same maintenance requirements as in-house POS. In fact, nearly half (44%) of UK retailers identified minimising system down-time as the major benefit of cloud-based POS.  However, currently fewer than half (41%) of UK retailers interviewed use the cloud for POS services. While the majority have not yet adopted a cloud-based approach, it is clear that retailers acknowledge the potential benefits, citing remote device management (41%), generating cost savings (41%) and improving business efficiency (40 %) as amongst the most important benefits of cloud-based POS. With retailers needing to compete with the online shopping experience, the cloud was also seen as an effective way to maximise sales opportunities (28%), reduce queue times (24%) and improve the speed of customer service (23%). Having identified these benefits, it is perhaps unsurprising that three-quarters (75%) of respondents not currently using the cloud plan to switch to cloud-based POS systems in the next five years.      Adrian Clark, Head of Sales Business Systems at Epson UK, comments on the findings, “While it is encouraging to see that many UK retailers understand the cost savings and potential customer service benefits of cloud-based POS, the fact that less than half are currently using this technology is a concern for the UK retail industry. As well as improving efficiency of their IT systems, cloud-based POS means retail assistants can influence customer buying behaviour by walking throughout the store. They can carry out transactions, deliver tailored information on web-enabled handheld devices and remotely print receipts enabling greater customer interaction and cross selling opportunities as well as cutting down on queuing times. This is exactly the kind of innovation needed to increase the differentiation between online and in store customer experience and preserve our retail environment.”