It has taken some time, but the rise of digitization of the retail industry has arrived. Major retailers have fully embraced the movement, and now, many smaller retailers such as bodegas, independent supermarkets, corner stores, and convenience stores are ready to trade their traditional cash registers and stationary credit card readers for cloud-based POS systems. This move in technology gives businesses more functionality and lets them manage all data and transactions in one place.

From mere terminus at the end of stores to self-checkout kiosks, POS systems have come a long way and have helped businesses connect to their customers at multiple touchpoints. Thanks to the innovations of companies like National Retail Solutions (NRS) www.nrsplus.com, POS systems have moved beyond processing sales and are becoming an integrated part of the entire business operations ecosystem.

NRS offers Point Of Sale services and credit card processing solutions to help smaller retailers like bodegas and convenience stores succeed. It enables independent retailer to compete more with larger enterprises by equipping them with the right tools. And it all starts with understanding profitability through inventory tracking and detailed sales analysis.

Elie Y. Katz, President & CEO of National Retail Solutions, talked with the CEO Views team to share details on their business and the industry.

Success Factors

National Retails Solutions (NRS) has already made a name for itself in the POS market and received multiple awards for services and product innovation. When asked what made it possible, Elie said, “We are customer focused because we identify with our customer base. Like independent retailers, NRS competes against larger, more established brands. NRS was founded with a mission of helping brick-and-mortar grocery and convenience store retailers survive and thrive amidst Goliath competition. Mom’ n’ Pop businesses with smaller budgets than big box operations are disadvantaged by smaller budgets for retail technology. NRS offers them affordable hardware and software tools to compete and increase customer retention and revenue. The NRS point of sale system includes sales, inventory, user tracking, a free, built-in loyalty program, and many bells and whistles.”

Staying ahead of the competition

As an organization in the competitive market, staying ahead of the competition remains a significant hurdle for many. NRS is tackling this with a large development team in the US and worldwide. NRS is constantly adding new products, services, and features to enhance its technology and stay ahead in the industry. They carefully monitor the needs of their retail customers and pay attention to what makes their lives easier.

NRS OFFERS POINT OF SALE SERVICES AND CREDIT CARD PROCESSING SOLUTIONS TO HELP SMALLER RETAILERS LIKE BODEGAS AND CONVENIENCE STORES SUCCEED.

To assist retail shops during COVID, NRS fast-tracked the launch of its e-commerce program, offering participating stores their customized website (linked directly with their POS inventory) plus a customer shopping app to locate them and order ahead. This technology boosted retailers’ revenue and gave their point-of-sale system a unique selling proposition. Their e-commerce program has since evolved to include wholesale inventory delivery to stores, customer delivery, and SEO services for their retailers.

Adding value to customer’s business

NRS continues to add products and services to its offerings to enhance its customer experience. One example is the powerful National Retail Solutions Digital Media, which offers a comprehensive and integrated advertising platform on the POS Consumer Facing Cash Registers. NRS Digital Media is designed to help brands communicate awareness or promotions of their products directly and easily right on the NRS Consumer Facing Cash Registers at the participating bodegas, independent supermarkets, and convenience stores that NRS serves. The NRS Digital Media Platform provides a turnkey solution on the register that allows advertisers to customize the advertising by store, demographic, and exact product SKU a brand seeks to promote. This benefits the brands, customers, and individual retail stores.

Product support

Implementing new technologies and innovations can sometimes be exasperating for their retail customers. To avoid this complexity every time, NRS tries to keep its product line as user-friendly as possible. As they add new technology features, they limit disturbance to the store’s existing interfaces so as not to disrupt their typical workflow. An example of that approach is in the design of the Register screen. It’s a critical, frequently used feature that directly affects daily operations. No matter the change’s size, they don’t make it without feedback or notice.

Before introducing an improvement, they prepare written and video materials that customers can refer to and explain functionally and utility. They communicate with them beforehand in various ways, including through email and special on-POS notices directing them to the new feature descriptions. NRS also prepares its Sales Reps, the face of NRS, to the merchant, with similar materials.

Data security

POS systems store much information related to the transactions of the retail store customers, and sometimes due to technical glitches, data can be mishandled or lost. To avoid such instances, NRS has designed the POS to perform most functions without the internet to address performance and availability. Each terminal has a local database serving as a single truth source.

“We want to be leading edge, but not bleeding edge.”

They routinely back up the database to the NRS cloud, which creates valuable restore points in the event of a hardware issue. NRS’s proprietary sync mechanism, resilient to an internet outage, keeps the local database in sync with the cloud database for transaction reporting and inventory tracking. In a multi-terminal environment, that exact mechanism keeps the store’s information like price book and promotions managed from a single primary terminal.

What’s ahead?

NRS introduced its POS seven years ago, followed by NRS Pay with credit card processing a few years later. The NRS world (nrsplus.com) has since evolved and expanded to offer an affordable petro ecosystem for gas stations, cash advance funding, EBT, and WIC. NRS recently launched its patented POS panic alarm button, a silent alarm on the cashier touchscreen that alerts local police. The panic alarm button is available for retailers in NY and NJ today and soon nationwide.

Their active roadmap includes customized systems for sectors beyond the current offering more suited for grocery, convenience, liquor, tobacco, hardware, and gas stations. The POS will soon incorporate cryptocurrency technology and QR payment integration. NRS continues to explore expanding into new markets and releasing new features and initiatives.