When you run a music store, you need all the help you can get.
In addition to great products, a good store location, and well-trained employees, you need a point of sale (POS) system to help you manage your business effectively.
On a basic level, a POS system facilitates transactions between you and your customers, allowing you to accept various forms of payment. But a great POS system offers a variety of other industry-specific features to help you keep track of the many other aspects of your business.
While there are many general POS systems on the market, a system designed specifically for music stores provides you with the best features for your business. In this blog, we’ll explore nine essential features you need in a point of sale system for your music retail business.
First things first: Your POS system should ensure that making a purchase at your store is a smooth and convenient experience. If the transaction is too long or difficult, or if you’re limited in what payment methods you can take, customers may feel frustrated — and they’ll be less likely to return to your store. On the other hand, a quick and convenient purchase that accommodates a variety of payment methods generates brand trust and loyalty.
Your POS system should also allow you to sell your products online — 20.1% of all retail sales in 2024 are expected to take place online, and that number is only expected to grow in the future. If you don’t sell online, you could be missing out on some serious cash. Find a POS with the online sales capabilities you need.
The variety of products you offer should be well represented both in store and online. Your music store might offer musical instruments, sheet music and books, and even branded clothing like shirts and hats. A point of sale system for a music retail store should make purchasing these items easy, and conveniently catalog them on your website.
Related Read: How To Grow Your Business With Music Shop Payment Processing
For many music stores, instrument rentals are a significant source of revenue. These stores commonly rent to students in middle or high school who are participating in the school band or orchestra. Other rentals may be to adults who’d like to learn to play an instrument on their own or are taking private lessons. To capitalize on this market, you need a POS system that makes this process easy.
A music store POS system keeps a detailed record of your rental data. When you rent an instrument to a customer, you can select the instrument, set up the terms of the rental agreement, and take payment at the touch of a button. You’ll have an up-to-date record of who has what instrument, and when each one will be returned. Having this information at your fingertips helps you avoid confusion, loss, and theft.
Related Read: A Guide to Online Rental Software for Music Stores
Inventory management is an essential consideration for any retail store. Finding the right stock levels for your store and maintaining them prevents overstock and out-of-stock products — this is ultimately the only route to profitability. A POS system should have a complete record of your current inventory that updates in real time to help you maintain appropriate stock levels.
Your POS system should also connect you to online suppliers to streamline the ordering process. Many POS systems have partnered with large online music retailers, providing users with direct access to their extensive catalogs.
Large online retailers that have partnered with POS providers include:
Having access to a variety of online catalogs allows you to try out different products to see what your customers are interested in. Plus, you’ll have access to new trending products in the music industry.
Related Read: Managing Overstock Inventory in Your Music Store: Strategies for Success
You may offer repair and maintenance work at your music store. Offering repair services for the instruments you sell, even if you charge for these services, helps customers feel more confident in their purchase.
Whether it’s a stuck mouthpiece or slide on a brass instrument, broken strings on a cello, or a cork replacement on a clarinet, an industry-specific POS system allows you to easily accept maintenance requests, schedule maintenance work, track progress, and keep a customer updated.
The repair process can be confusing for customers and business owners alike — but a solid POS system streamlines this process and keeps everyone on the same page until an instrument is shiny and new again.
Effective marketing can be the difference between success and failure for your music store. Make sure to have an intentional strategy for getting the word out to potential customers and keeping existing customers engaged and interested. Your POS system should lighten the load of executing this strategy with easy-to-use marketing tools that automate some aspects of your strategy.
Email and text tools can be highly valuable in a marketing strategy. Send existing customers emails with discounts and special offers. For example, after a purchase, you could send them an offer for 15% off their next purchase within three months. These kinds of deals keep customers coming back more frequently.
You can send them text messages about lessons, repairs, products, or other topics relevant to them. You can also use emails and texts to request Google and Facebook reviews. These reviews can boost your visibility and brand reputation online.
For your store to be successful, you also need a solid online presence. Your website should be well-designed with eye-catching colors and a user interface that makes it easy to locate and purchase a product. A well-designed website can also be an effective tool to draw people into your store. On your website, include photos of your store and its address.
If online customers have a good experience on the website and live within reasonable distance, they may want to come to the store to see the instruments for themselves.
Related Read: A Guide to Search Marketing for Music Stores
If your music store offers consignment, you can help people sell their instruments in exchange for a sales commission. You may also accept used instruments as trade-ins.
To effectively manage these processes, you need to know the value of a used instrument. A music store POS system connects you to instrument catalogs that help you determine an instrument’s value.
The system also helps you handle the financial aspect of this process, by recording whose instrument you’re selling, how long you’ll keep it available, and what their sales commission is. Keeping track of this information helps you avoid costly errors, especially if you have multiple consignment items on the shelves at the same time.
When a customer trades in an instrument, they are offered store credit (as opposed to a sales commission) for providing an item for you to sell. By using the same catalog, a POS system helps you determine the value and subtract this value from the item the customer wants to buy.
Some music stores offer private musical instrument lessons to individuals, which add another stream of revenue to your store’s business model. A music-specific POS system has features for easy scheduling and payment for these classes.
You can customize the schedule and format of the classes based on the needs of your store. From the system’s interface, you can easily see what lessons are scheduled so you can effectively plan out your day.
If you have multiple students, each with their own busy schedule, you’ll be grateful for the easily-accessible records of the private music lessons you teach.
Related Read: Teaching Music Lessons at Music Shop Retail Stores: Bringing in Extra Income
Successful businesses make data-driven decisions. To optimize your business operations, you need to know your sales numbers, how sales are changing over time, how quickly your inventory is turning over, and who is buying from you. An effective POS system records this data and stores it in a way that can be easily accessed and understood.
Don’t make important business decisions in the dark. Your POS system keeps track of what products are selling to help you determine what to continue ordering — so make sure to take advantage.
Plus, the customer information provided by a POS system helps you decide what market segments you should be targeting. When you have access to complete and reliable information, you can see whether your strategies are working, and adjust them accordingly.
Even with the most advanced features, if a system is too difficult to use, it won’t serve much purpose. A POS system should have an intuitive interface with clearly labeled functions. The provider of the system should also be willing to provide sufficient training to help you use the system and answer any questions you have. As you train employees on how to use the system, you’ll be grateful for simple, user-friendly controls.
But before you sign up with a POS system provider, make sure they won’t hang you out to dry as soon as the system is installed. You need a provider who’s willing to continually pick up the phone to answer the questions you have along the way. With so many features included, you can’t be expected to remember everything after one or two demonstrations. Look for a system that includes unlimited support.
Plus, as the industry changes, many POS systems add features to help you run your business — make sure to look for a system that continually updates to improve its functionality.
A quality industry-specific point of sale system makes your life easier as a music store owner. It automates processes you used to do by hand — and allows you to add new revenue streams to your business model. As you look for a point of sale system for your music retail store, make sure it has these features to help you effectively manage your business:
Investing in a POS system with these features lightens the burden of running your music business and saves you time and money. Luckily, Music Shop 360 has all of these features and more. Specifically designed for the retail music industry, Music Shop 360 will help you take your business to the next level. Schedule a demo today!