MJBiz Buyers Guide: Cannabis Retail - 21

MJBizDaily Buyers Guide Cannabis Retail
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Another factor for retailers to consider is whether they want to pull up a transaction by the
product or by the customer, Foss said.
Systems that can pull up the customer first at the point of a transaction will allow a budtender to
access that person's profile, including their favorite products, any recent purchase history or other
notes about the customer. That feature supports more personal engagement with the customer,
which is helpful if personalized customer interaction is part of the retailer's brand, Foss said.
UPGRADING THE ATM MODEL
A POS system improves upon the traditional ATM model many dispensaries have, and it can increase
profitability, Foss said.
POS systems allow cannabis retailers to make debit sales, resulting in higher average transactions
than cash sales alone, Foss said.
For example, a POSaBIT case study of a Washington state cannabis retailer found that the store's
average debit ticket was nearly $20 more than the average cash ticket.
" It's just the nature of the beast. People spend more money with a card, " Foss said. " A lot of owners
will say, I make a lot of money from my ATM. And yes, they do. But the amount of money you're going
to make up from that average ticket being so much larger is a much bigger difference than making
dollars off the ATM. "
A POS system aligned with all cannabis rules and regulations can also help retailers avoid potential
legal problems associated with dispensary ATMs, like the warning from Visa reported in December
by MJBizDaily. The financial behemoth notified banks and other financial institutions that it was
aware of a scheme under which cashless ATMs in dispensaries were being deliberately miscoded
to disguise cannabis purchases-an apparent way to circumvent federal marijuana prohibition and
banking rules.
POS SYSTEMS AREN'T PERFECT
The biggest complaints about POS systems from customers usually target hardware reliability as
well as system breakdowns, slow speeds or reporting errors, Foss said.
Another logistical headache can be details like naming conventions for products. For example, does
the POS system allow products to be shared across stores? Once the product is in the system at one
location, is it auto-generated in the system? This avoids having a database with multiple entries of
the same product, Foss said.
But at the end of the day, one of the biggest concerns with POS systems is customer service. So
make sure any vendor you choose offers top-notch customer service and is highly responsive in the
event of problems, Foss advised.
" Not being able to reach someone when something is really wrong is a problem, " Foss said. " You
know there's a big difference between a donut shop versus a cannabis store where there are
compliance issues and some really bad ramifications if you don't get things resolved quickly. "
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MJBiz Buyers Guide: Cannabis Retail

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