December is almost here. Black Friday (or Black Fri-Weeks-Day it seems as it seems to get longer and longer…) is almost over, and retail and restaurant operators are holding their breath as they anticipate the 2025 Christmas and New Year rush is about to hit.
Founded in 1979, Armagh has been keeping Ontario stores and restaurants running smoothly through 45 holiday seasons. Here are the POS capabilities that will separate the winners from the ones counting abandoned carts and lost tables this December — and the landmines we’ve already been warning clients to fix before the chaos starts.
5 POS Features That Could Make-or-Break A Holiday Season
Mobile Sales Terminals
A Holiday Survival Guide for merchant’s has to start with Handhelds. They are still under-utilized in Canada. Stores and restaurants adding even one or two PAX A920 Max, Android, or iPad-based handheld POS Sale-&-Pay units routinely cut lineup times by 60–70% on peak days. Properly prepared Boutiques can ring up additional tens of thousands of dollars on Black Friday alone by checking people out in the fitting rooms and line-busting simply by saying, “If you’re planning to pay with a credit card I can check you out now, otherwise, if you have cash, you’ll have to wait in line.” Queue-Busting and Quick-Sale Mode Catapult and Genius users who enable one-tap lookups, deferred receipts, and park-and-recall will process 40%+ more customers per hour than neighbours stuck in standard mode.
Live Inventory Sync
If your online and in-store stock levels aren’t updating in real time, get ready for angry customers and margin-killing oversells. Catapult WebCart and Genius eCommerce merchants who already have this turned on will sleep easy. Not only will you better serve customers looking for that size, colour, make, or model that this store doesn’t have but the other store does – you’ll also sell more of the inventory you own, ensuring that your return on your inventory investment is better realized. So, naturally, this has to be our number two pick for the Holiday Survival Guide.
Gift Card
It seems straight forward, but believe it or not, we continue to encounter independent stores and restaurants that are not running integrated gift card. These days, gift card is the industry standard. Consumers expect it from all retail stores and restaurants, not just the chains. They simply don’t trust it if you can’t provide one. For those that are willing to tolerate a “gift certificate” rather than an electronically tracked and easier to manage gift card, the amount of waiting that goes on is a drain on customer service resources while they go obtain one from the owner or manager,
e-Gift
In addition to being able to run Gift, merchants who run e-Gift will be able to continue selling gift cards – virtually – to anyone who wants one, even after the store closes on Christmas Eve. The advantage of this feature requires no explanation – sell gift cards online, open or closed 24/7, and consumers receive the barcoded gift card in their email and print it out and put it in the Christmas Card to give away. The best part is, not only did it not require labour and it’s entirely self-serve, but the merchant doesn’t even have to pay for the plastic of the gift card! Smart merchants insist on having this.
True Automatic Internet Failover
When the internet hiccups (and it will), systems that can keep accepting encrypted payments, gift cards, loyalty, and keep doing store-to-store inventory checks — will win hands down — over their competitors that couldn’t. Locations without it will be handwriting receipts and praying. Internet failover requires a minor network investment so that the merchant has the technology to detect when the DSL provided by the internet service provider is no longer responding, and is able to automatically switch to another provider on a different node, or better yet, a cellular service. Not sure where this ranks, but it has to be on the Holiday Survival Guide list for any retail, grocery, or restaurant.
The holidays are a happy time of year, and, let’s face it, can be the most stressful of the year. A little pre-planning and preparation can go a long way in ensuring business success and perhaps, a little less stress than last year.
Like all plans however, there is always the unexpected. And this year we expect it to be no different than any other. In January maybe we’ll do a Post Mortem blog post, “The Things That Actually Caused Chaos and Strife This Christmas”.
Here’s to your most profitable (and least stressful) December ever, and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, or a happy whatever-your-holiday-tradition is, to everyone!
About Armagh POS Solutions
Armagh has been serving the retail, restaurant and grocery industries in Canada since 1979, delivering solutions for a range of operators from single-unit small businesses to multi-unit national chains.
We are specialists in touch screen and scanning point of sale (POS) systems for both restaurants and retail stores, cash registers, scales, liquor inventory control systems, and grocery label and wrapping equipment.
With 40+ years POS industry experienced the sales staff at Armagh provides experienced consultants in point-of-purchase management, customer service efficiency, process automation, and restaurant order management.
Armagh’s award-winning Catapult Retail POS Software and Digital Dining POS Restaurant Software are best-in-class, and Armagh is a QIR and Diamond Toshiba Alliance Partner.