Why 16:9 is more relevant than ever at the busiest time of year for retailers and other merchants?
Retail is not the only industry to benefit from the ‘silly season’
Ensure your POS platform doesn’t bottleneck your sales
Software providers need to catch up with 16:9
As soon as Halloween has floated away in all its ghoulish wonder, the retail environment goes into overdrive for the lead-up to Christmas. Sales statistics reflect what all retailers are well aware of: from Black Friday all the way through to January is consistently the most frenetic time of year for retail sales. But what is known as the ‘silly season’ for consumers couldn’t be more serious for businesses whose turnover skyrockets during this period.
Where there are shoppers, there are opportunities
Retail is only one of the industries that thrives on the huge throughput of eager consumers at the pointy end of the year. The crowds of Christmas shoppers bustling their way through malls and retail precincts inevitably need somewhere to grab their lunch while on their Santa-inspired mission.
This leads to a flow-on effect to food courts and takeaway outlets, not to mention standalone restaurants. The increase in Christmas party activity also represents boom time for a variety of related businesses. From venues serving alcohol to beauty salons committed to helping people to look their best at this time of year, the ability to maximise profits hinges on fast, efficient and reliable transactions. The customers are there, and they are keen to spend: what is the best way for you to capitalise that?
How to make the most of the pre-Christmas rush
The best possible POS platform is more relevant than ever at this time of year: you need to be ready to handle that onslaught of sales. With such a hive of activity going on in the retail sphere, consumers are simply not going to have the patience to transact at a location where they see a long queue at the till.
The advent of 16:9 high-definition POS systems gives retailers and other businesses unprecedented transaction power. With the option of bigger buttons, or more options onscreen to choose from, sales staff equipped with 16:9 terminals are two steps ahead of their counterparts struggling to manage the increased throughput on older, clunkier 4:3 devices.
Can your software handle the pressure?
As LCD panel and touchscreen manufacturers shift their focus to the 16:9 aspect ratio, and demand
for this format increases, so does the availability of hardware options. The price, meanwhile, becomes more affordable than ever before. Conversely, as demand for 4:3 terminals dwindles, they become more expensive and difficult to obtain.
This is where you need to ask the question: is your software provider keeping up with this evolution? Once again, your success as a seller of goods or services hinges on an intuitive layout and optimised content-to-chrome ratio that allows your staff to provide better service to customers. If your software isn’t designed to match your hardware, this will also cause a bottleneck in your ability to reap the rewards of high-volume sales.
Where demand arises, supply will follow. A business that relies on POS devices in the last mile will consistently achieve better sales with scalable software that can make the most of the increased screen real estate and higher resolution of 16:9 terminals. This is the reason why you, as a merchant, have the power to ‘vote with your feet’ and put pressure on software vendors and resellers to provide more options tailored to maximising your sales.
View our current range of Element 16:9 POS terminal solutions below:
 | Element CA850 |
 | Element CA250 |
 | Element 455 |