Messy retail counters chase away customers

Modernizing operations and driving customer appeal

Counter space is some of the most valuable real estates inside a retail store. An organized, neat counter with accessible Point-of-Purchase items projects care and intention to customers and may even convert them into lifetime shoppers. 

However, too often retail counters are messy. Especially at small stores, it’s common to find cash drawers, scanners, printers, and monitors from different vendors, also known as “Pieces and Parts”– all tied together by an entanglement of Ethernet cables, power supplies and extension cords visible to shoppers. This can create a bad impression on your shoppers. 

A Service Channel study found that 70% of a sample of 1,521 shoppers had a negative experience at a store in the previous six months. Nearly two thirds of shoppers (64%) had “walked out of a store because of its physical appearance or disorganization.”  

Shoppers can be unforgiving. The study said they dislike broken shelves, disorganized inventory and parking lot potholes.

Better experiences 

To keep shoppers coming back, retailers need to focus on the customer experience. This is more important than ever as brick-and-mortar stores look to compete with online retailers, which have made significant gains in recent years. While U.S. ecommerce sales accounted for about 13% of retail sales in 2021, they grew 14% from the previous year, according to government figures. 

To help enhance shopping experiences, retailers are investing in advanced technologies. A recent IHL report found that retailers are making significant investments in POS, backroom and omnichannel solutions as well as SD-WAN and 5G to modernize their operations and drive customer appeal. While necessary, investments in these advanced technologies aren’t everything. 

As the Service Channel study indicated, tidiness also plays a crucial role in drawing customers. And no space in a retail store is more eye-catching to a customer than the POS counter. A clean, organized counter can turn a casual shopper into a lifetime customer, especially in small neighborhood shops.  

To make the counter presentable, shop managers need to address the problem of cable clutter, which robs them of valuable space and looks messy to customers. Disorderly counters leave customers less focused on enjoying the sales experience and less likely to become lifetime buyers. 

Making the change 

To get rid of cable clutter on counters, merchants must figure out what to do with the mess of components that typically sits on counters. POS systems that share space haphazardly with printers, card readers and other components sprout cables that create a spaghetti-like mess. They’re difficult for associates to manage, get in the way of opening and closing cash drawers, and sometimes even snag on people walking by.

There are integration solutions that help retailers reorganize their counters by, among other things, organizing and hiding cables and power supplies from view. Leveraging these solutions allows retailers to deliver a seamless check out experience while creating a memorable shopping experience with customers. It also allows retailers to reallocate valuable counter space for those high margin impulse-buy items.  

With minimal effort, organizing the sales counter demonstrates to your customers that you care about their experience.