Businesses are always looking for new ways to drive revenue and improve the bottom line. While many efforts revolve around reaching more customers and garnering more sales through a bigger base of shoppers, the fact of the matter is that this approach can be very time- and resource-consuming. Engaging new prospects requires extensive promotional and branding efforts, and even then, marketing campaigns will not always succeed.

“it is much easier to upsell existing customers than it is to win over new ones.”

But what about existing customers? The focus tends to be on acquiring new prospects, but many times, enterprises still have room to further monetize their current base of shoppers. By nurturing these existing relationships, companies can encourage one-time buyers to become loyal, repeat shoppers. Because they have already purchased goods or services from the firm in the past, the metaphorical foot is already in the door – customers have a base level of trust and are familiar with the company in question. In many instances, it is much easier to upsell or gain more sales from existing customers than it is to win over new ones.

How the point-of-sale plays a pivotal role in bolstering loyalty
There are numerous strategies enterprises can deploy to garner more repeat buyers and improve their relationships with their customers. However, one approach that has gained a lot of momentum lately is revamped loyalty initiatives. Customer reward programs have existed for ages, but tracking and redemption have traditionally been problematic, both for the business and customers.

For enterprises, the threat of fraud is real – with a punch ticket, for example, customers could punch holes in the card (or have an employee friend provide free goods/service via loyalty) and try to redeem rewards they did not actually earn. Also, for businesses with multiple locations, tracking and attributing purchases to the appropriate customer can be challenging.

From the customer perspective, collecting and redeeming rewards can also be troublesome. For example, a customer may take the wrong purse and not have her reward card. Or customers may leave their punch tickets at home and be unable to collect rewards on that day’s purchase. Loyalty programs should be a rewarding experience, but being unable to collect perks and gain credit for purchases turn an enjoyable process into a frustrating one.

However, modern point-of-sale solutions have evolved, and so too have the ways retailers can execute reward programs as a result. Integrated payment solutions can help support loyalty transactions, giving retailers more flexibility in their initiatives and allowing for a broader number of more convenient options. Loyalty programs can be card-based, app-based or driven by any other solution, which makes the execution of rewards programs much easier in the long haul.

Moreover, an upgraded POS can also help security-conscious merchants improve the legitimacy of their efforts, ensuring customer information remains protected and keeping fraud to a minimum. If retailers are using legacy POS solutions, better and more secure loyalty initiatives and rewards programs may just be incentive enough to make an upgrade.