Nonprofits generate revenue through various fundraising channels, from product fundraising to crowdfunding to auctions. However, there’s a commonly overlooked sustainable stream of revenue that nonprofits can tap into — a store. These are particularly popular with aquarium and zoo nonprofits but can be adopted by almost any organization.
If you’re thinking of starting a nonprofit store, you’ll want to purchase point of sale (POS) software to streamline payment processing, inventory management, and more. Whether you run a thrift store or online merchandise shop, an all-in-one solution with robust features will provide the best bang for your buck.
Purchasing software is a big decision for any organization, especially nonprofits with limited budgets. To help you choose the right solution, this guide will cover nine must-have features of nonprofit point of sale systems. But first, let’s get started by exploring the benefits of investing in POS software!
Why purchase POS software?
You might be thinking, POS software sounds helpful but I’m not sure I need it for my nonprofit’s store. Why should I buy it?
That’s a great question! According to ThriftCart, a comprehensive point of sale system allows your nonprofit to:
- Boost efficiency. A POS system greatly smooths the checkout process by calculating totals and taxes for you, making it faster and more efficient.
- Improve accuracy. A robust solution will include additional features that your nonprofit can use to keep track of sales data, inventory levels, and more.
- Optimize finances. Minimize costs associated with manual data entry, overstocking, and human error.
- Enhance customer experience. The right system can personalize and improve the customer experience by creating customer profiles and loyalty programs.
Without software to handle these tasks, nonprofits are left adding up costs manually, calculating taxes by hand, and tracking inventory levels on pen and paper. While this is still a feasible strategy, it can get complicated. A POS system will help your store stay organized and generate more revenue for your cause.
Top Features of Nonprofit POS Systems
When choosing a POS system for your organization, look for one with the following features:
1. Payment Processing
At its heart, a POS system should streamline the purchasing process for both customers and cashiers. Look for a system that automatically calculates totals with sales tax, offers tap-to-pay, and prints receipts for customers.
Ideally, your system should support multiple payment methods, including:
- Cash
- Debit card
- Credit card
- Mobile wallets
- Gift cards
All payment processing should be secure and comply with Payment Card Industry Data Security Standards (PCI DSS) to protect sensitive customer data. Additionally, consider POS providers who offer in-house payment processing as they’re typically able to offer more competitive processing rates.
2. Online Sales Support
To reach a wider audience and acquire sales from individuals outside the vicinity of your store, establishing an online e-commerce presence is essential. However, incorporating e-commerce features into your nonprofit’s existing website may be confusing for visitors and difficult for your team to handle.
That’s where a great POS system comes into play. With support from the right tool, you can create an e-commerce website branded to your nonprofit that supporters and customers alike can visit to make purchases. This site should be mobile-friendly so visitors can make a purchase regardless of what device they’re using, and search engine optimized for increased visibility, boosting traffic to your site and revenue.
3. Customer Management
A positive customer experience is the key to building relationships with customers. Your POS system should help you track customer data based on purchases and create profiles for each individual. These profiles will contain key information such as their:
- Names
- Contact information
- Previous purchases
You can use these details to create personalized experiences for your customers, tailor the marketing materials they receive, and provide them with the best service possible.
4. Donation Management
As a nonprofit running a store, you can do what businesses cannot: ask for donations that go straight to your cause. A POS system can help with that — at the end of every purchase, customers will be prompted by the cashier or the payment terminal to round their purchase to the nearest dollar and donate their change to your organization.
Additionally, certain stores rely on in-kind donations, which Winspire defines as any non-monetary gift made to a nonprofit, usually goods or services. Thrift stores, for example, accept secondhand clothing, furniture, and more and sell them at reasonable prices.
A POS system can also help manage in-kind donations by facilitating your pickups and dropoffs. You can use it to create pickup schedules and optimize your routes to save time and money. Plus, donors can self-schedule their dropoffs and pickups to ensure they happen at a convenient time.
5. Inventory Management
Keeping track of what’s in stock and what’s out of stock for your store is crucial, as it tells you which items are selling well and what you need to order or source. POS systems have inventory management features that ensure you stay on top of all your inventory needs, allowing you to group items into categories for better organization, create and print barcodes for items, and more.
A robust solution will even sync inventory between your brick-and-mortar store and your e-commerce platforms to protect you from selling items already sold.
6. Discounts and Sales
Who doesn’t love a good sale? Capture the interest of customers new and old with discounts and use a nonprofit POS system to streamline the process. With the right tools, you’ll easily discount specific items or entire departments. And, you can create set sales and discounts for specific groups. For example, your volunteers might automatically get 10% off to show your gratitude for their support.
7. Loyalty Programs
Incentivize customers to make repeat purchases at your store with appealing loyalty programs. Leverage your POS solution to create customizable loyalty programs that enable customers to accrue points and spend and redeem them for discounts. Plus, you can give customers access to a customer portal they can use to track their points and spending and view custom offers you send them.
8. Integrated Marketing
The right POS system will make it easy for you to connect with your customers by offering various marketing features and tools, such as integrated SMS and email messaging. With your customer data, you can segment your audience into groups and tailor your messaging to each one to increase interest and boost revenue.
9. Reporting and Analytics
Take a leaf out of the business industry’s book and make data-driven decisions that increase revenue and boost customer loyalty and satisfaction. A POS solution will help you do that through reporting and analytics features. You’ll be able to generate custom reports based on real-time information, based on data for inventory, sales, timesheets, and more. With this information, you’ll gain actionable insights you can leverage to make improvements to your store.
Although investing in nonprofit software can be daunting, it provides a multitude of benefits you can leverage to make more for your mission. If your nonprofit already runs or is considering establishing a store, a robust point of sale system will give you the foundation you need to build a profitable venture.