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Using a dispensary software built specifically for the cannabis industry streamlines your whole sales process.

By employing cannabis POS software, you can:

  1. Increase operational efficiency
  2. Enhance the customer experience
  3. Manage and track inventory down to the bud
  4. Seamlessly scale your dispensary business to multiple locations
  5. Stay compliant with your state’s cannabis dispensary regulations
  6. Get visibility and data into your transactions to drive growth and financial success

By choosing a powerful and intuitive cannabis point of sale software you are able to successfully and easily manage and grow your operations.

What is Cannabis Dispensary POS Software?

Cannabis dispensary POS software is built specifically to manage sales transactions, track inventory and enable compliance for marijuana dispensary retail businesses. By combining traditional point-of-sale capabilities with cannabis-specific features and workflows, cannabis POS software systems are designed specifically to help marijuana dispensaries run their businesses within the regulations of their state.

Dispensary software enables cannabis retailers to compliantly sell medical and adult-use cannabis and run a profitable business. By managing every step of the customer journey, from patient check-in and verification to the sales transaction itself, dispensary POS software gives cannabis dispensary staff the necessary tools they need to process a cannabis sale.

Why Use Dispensary software?

Using cannabis-specific point-of-sale software is a necessity when running a dispensary. The cannabis retail industry is complex and unique, as government regulations mandate strict adherence to legal regulations and compliance. While traditional POS systems can process a transaction or help you track sales and inventory, dispensary POS software has built-in features and functionality that keep your retail operation compliant. With the right dispensary software, automated compliance takes the responsibility off you to stay up-to-date on changes to legal regulations.

With cannabis point-of-sale software, you can do more than process payments and sell your product. Dispensary POS software allows you to:

  1. Run your cannabis retail location compliantly and efficiently within your state regulations
  2. Check-in patients and verify their eligibility
  3. Manage your patient queue to keep moving people through your dispensary
  4. Track inventory to match consumer demand
  5. Connect with scanner and printer hardware for faster transactions
  6. Print labels that adhere to state requirements
  7. Surprise and delight customers with loyalty programs and coupons/discounts
  8. Facilitate online ordering, curbside pick up, and delivery in certain states
  9. Analyze sales data and business insights to make strategic decisions for your business
  10. Integrate into accounting software solutions to help manage the financial side of your operation

Who Uses Cannabis POS Software?

All members of a dispensary staff use the cannabis POS software system. Dispensary point-of-sale software makes life easier for all members of your team, from your retail managers to your budtenders to your customers.

Cannabis business owners need dispensary POS software to help maximize the ROI of their operations. Cannabis point-of-sale software provides them with all the tools they need to run their dispensary; from basic financial oversight with accounting functionality to inventory and staff management features. Keeping an operation running smoothly within a single interface helps cannabis business owners streamline and manage their business from anywhere.

While business owners may live in the back-of-house world, budtenders and dispensary managers are living in the world of customer service. Using a dedicated dispensary point-of-sale software solution helps everyone do their job more effectively. In order to keep customers happy and coming back, dispensary owners need to ensure both their staff, and the dispensary POS systems enhance the customer experience. Dispensary employees rely on their cannabis POS software to quickly and easily facilitate transactions, process sales, and ensure the proper inventory is always on hand. The integration of the POS system with scanners and printers keeps things moving and help staff best serve consumers. The added functionality of built-in loyalty programs lets staff use data and customer history to help them make better product recommendations based on purchase history.

Need a Point-of-Sale Software? Download the Buyers Guide

Choosing a point-of-sale software provider can be a difficult decision for any cannabis operator. As the cannabis industry grows larger and more competitive, so does the need for reliable and sophisticated technology that supports your cannabis dispensary operations. POS software should go beyond simply tracking and tracing information to stay compliant – it should also provide you with the tools and data you need to run a successful and profitable cannabis retail business.

With so many vendors to choose from, how do you know you’re making the right choice? Our Dispensary Point-of-Sale Buyers Guide can help ensure you are choosing a vendor with the best fit for your unique requirements and core business needs.

Download our Point of Sale Buyers Guide >

Mj Analytics Retail Overview

What To Look For In Marijuana POS Software?

Things look for when choosing a marijuana POS System:

Ease of Use

Between managing patients, tracking inventory, and knowing important product information, dispensary staff have a lot to juggle, so choosing a cannabis POS software that makes their job easier is key. By streamlining the budtender’s workflow, a good dispensary software will help them better serve your customers, process transactions, and help reference important product information. Your cannabis POS software should make all of this accessible at the click of a button.

Reliability and Stability

If your dispensary POS software goes down, you can not functionally run your dispensary, or provide service to your customers. The consistency of service and up-time of your point-of-sale software is crucial to your business. When selecting a POS software, make sure the company you choose has a reliable reputation, as well as a strong infrastructure of support and redundancy to ensure your retail operations are always supported.

Compliance Features

Automated compliance is a crucial consideration in choosing the right dispensary POS software. Failing to comply with state regulations can lead to heavy fines or even a loss of license. By implementing the right cannabis point-of-sale software with built-in alerts, dispensaries can easily meet compliance requirements without taking time and energy away from running their business.

With automated alerts and safeguards, dispensary software prevents overselling and ensures you are meeting the compliance requirements for advanced reporting, product label, and THC sale values as regulated by your state.

Integrations

It goes without saying that your dispensary POS software should integrate with your state’s track-and-trace system to ensure compliance, and avoid manual data entry. Beyond that, there are many other integration features to be considered with choosing your point-of-sale system.

Sophisticated dispensary software will also allow for integration with accounting solutions, such as Quickbooks, Sage Intacct, or even SAP, as well as with other business tools necessary for optimizing your operations.

Integrations with other cannabis service providers should also be included with your cannabis POS software, allowing you to build added functionality, such as online ordering, cashless payments solutions, marketing, and CRM tools, or delivery logistics. Look for dispensary software options with an open API system to ensure your auxiliary services can easily integrate.

Flexibility

Today’s cannabis dispensaries are becoming increasingly more sophisticated in how they manage their business procedures. With all the tools and technologies being developed to facilitate cannabis sales, you can now build out a more dynamic retail experience. By adding mobile tablet ordering, your budtenders are no longer tied to a static counter-based POS system. Allowing your team the ability to process transactions from anywhere in your dispensary enhances engagement with customers, and allows you to scale your business by increasing throughput.

Selecting cannabis point-of-sale software with mobile or tablet capabilities allows you to diversify your retail capabilities, streamline your front and back of house fulfillment workflows, and ensure you are managing your queue efficiently.

Business Intelligence & Data Analytics

Running a successful cannabis business requires you to constantly be improving and optimizing your operations. Every day, your dispensary point-of-sale software is gathering data on your customers and their preferences. Being able to access, analyze and activate on this data allows you to make strategic adjustments to your business. Data insights from your POS software can help you forecast and plan inventory, staff appropriately for busy days and times, offer discounts and coupons targeted to segmented customer groups, and improve your marketing and sales tactics. Data-driven decisions are the most effective way to increase efficiency and profitability. Choosing a cannabis POS system with an integrated reporting and analytics tool will give you all the information you need to drive growth and success for the future of your business.

Mj Analytics Retail Data Overview

The most powerful cannabis business intelligence tool available.

Does Dispensary POS Software include Marijuana Delivery Software?

Marijuana delivery software can be included within the capabilities of your dispensary pos system. By facilitating a delivery workflow, your POS solution helps you build more flexibility and shopping options into your retail operation.

After the COVID-19 pandemic, and the social distancing restrictions that were put in place, states that allowed delivery of cannabis products saw a lift in online ordering and home delivery orders. While things are returning to normal, the convenience of cannabis delivery is still appealing to many people. Selecting a dispensary point-of-sale software solution that has built-in cannabis delivery capabilities can help you increase remote ordering and provide service to customers that prefer to shop from the comfort and safety of their homes.

What Makes A Good Cannabis Dispensary?

A good dispensary is built on the needs and preferences of its customers. By paying attention to what your customers need and want, you can quickly become a favorite cannabis shopping destination and outperform other dispensaries in your area.

  1. Welcoming environment – A good dispensary will have an inviting and welcoming environment that makes your customers feel more comfortable, and will encourage them to shop more freely. This is especially important for consumers new to the industry who may have some reservations about visiting a dispensary. As you build out your retail location, consider lighting, decor, layout, and even music to make people feel at ease.Using data collected by your dispensary POS software can help you understand the demographics and preferences of your core clientele. Using these insights to make key decisions about the atmosphere and design of your space ensures you are appealing to the right people.
  2. Staff – A successful dispensary will have knowledgeable and approachable staff. Hiring people who put customer service first will always pay off. Budtenders who are educated on your product inventory, and who take the time to really understand customers’ needs can successfully upsell additional products, incentivize return visits, and create loyalty.If your cannabis POS software has built-in loyalty program functionality, your budtenders can easily see past purchase information to assist customers in finding new products that suit their preferences and needs. This attention to detail shows a level of personalized customer service that people appreciate.
  3. Product Selection and Pricing – Nothing frustrates customers more than their favorite item being out of stock. To protect your reputation and keep your loyal customers coming back, you need to be monitoring your supply and demand. Using your dispensary software to manage and track your inventory helps you forecast your inventory needs, and ensure that your top-selling products are in stock and ready for purchase.A good dispensary needs to offer a wide variety of products for consumers, including flower, concentrates, edibles, cartridges, and topicals. You can ensure better margins and profitability on your inventory by tracking your sales data through your dispensary POS. This data helps you identify trends, determine the right price points, and selectively use coupons and discounts to attract customers.

Trends In POS Software Technology?

There are always exciting new trends and technological developments that impact the way you use your dispensary POS software to run your cannabis business. The COVID-19 pandemic pushed cannabis operators to embrace technology in a big way. Online ordering, cashless payments, and curbside pick-up/delivery all became a bigger necessity following the social distancing regulations.

Cannabis POS software that allows for all of these added digital experiences gives dispensary owners an edge, allowing them to integrate with various service providers, and better meet their customers where they are at. These integrations, combined with a robust POS solution, create a truly full-service cannabis retail ecosystem, making it easier than ever to sell product and connect with customers through various channels.

Mobile and tablet ordering within a dispensary also helps streamline the point of sale experience, giving operators the ability to process more transactions throughout their dispensary. The more dispensaries can untether their sales process from a single, static POS station, the more flexible and efficient their customer service can become. Tying mobile capabilities into your cannabis point-of-sale software allows you to harness the power of your software throughout all the workflows of your retail space.

How Does A Good POS Software Affect Your Customer Experience?

A good cannabis point-of-sale system can have a significant affect on your customer experience. Ideally, your POS software should help your location run efficiently and seamlessly, ensuring your customers can purchase their product and be on their way in the shortest time possible.

If your dispensary software isn’t reliable or experiences significant outages, you are unable to sell product, and end up with a waiting room filled with frustrated customers. By working with a reputable software provider, you can ensure your customers have a positive experience whenever they visit.

Dispensary software with built-in loyalty program functionality can also dramatically improve your sales opportunities with your customers. In addition to helping you offer segmented discounts and incentives to specific client groups, the loyalty information stored in your point-of-sale software allows your budtenders to better serve your customers during the sales transaction. By pulling up historical purchase habits right on the POS screen, your budtenders can learn more about your consumers, and be able to make educated and appropriate suggestions. This ability not only provides opportunities for upselling and increased basket size, but it also shows your customers that you are focused on them, and helps build long-term relationships that will keep them coming back.

Good cannabis point-of-sale software does much more than just help you sell marijuana. It should also give you important insight into your customers and what they want. By using the data and analytics tools of your cannabis software, you can learn a lot about the demographics of your consumers. By knowing their gender, age ranges, and purchasing preferences, you can ensure every aspect of their experience is well-tailored to their needs. This knowledge helps you forecast inventory, understand your top-selling product, and even informs the way you decorate and staff your retail location. Consumer data from your POS is like your super-power, giving you everything you need to optimize your customers’ experience.

How Can a Good Cannabis POS Software Increase Sales?

Good cannabis POS software can significantly increase your dispensary sales. Keeping sales moving smoothly and quickly, while automating compliance is the critical role of a good dispensary point-of-sale software. With a reliable POS system, you are able to efficiently process transactions in the quickest time, increasing the number of transactions in a day, and resulting in more dollars in your till. The investment in a sophisticated software solution will always pay off. The capabilities to streamline transactions, reward loyal customers, collect crucial consumer insights, and effectively manage your inventory allows you to focus your efforts on growing your business.

It is easy to see why software that helps your operations instead of hindering them will result in more return visits by happy customers, smoother transactions in less time, and more accurate inventory tracking. A good POS system also makes your team happier and keeps them focused on serving your customers, instead of troubleshooting your technology. All of this results in higher throughput and as a result, an increase in your sales.

Download the eBook: Retail in the Cannabis Industry

Cannabis dispensaries are the regulated physical retail locations for the industry. Our eBook explores the evolution of the cannabis retail industry, and looks at the roll technology plays in running a successful and scalable dispensary.

Topics Include:

  • The major forces that have evolved retail within the cannabis supply chain
  • Predictions for the future of retail
  • The needs of retailers to operate compliant and profitable businesses
  • The role of software in a modern retail operation
  • The capabilities of the MJ Platform point of sale software in the retail vertical