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Your forecourt needs to work for you, not against you

Managing and finetuning the many aspects of your forecourt, now more than ever, is vital for your business as you adjust to changing consumer needs, and their safety concerns. Most importantly, you can seize on a tremendous revenue opportunity when you get your customers from the pump into the store—and that’s not easy. As reported by Convenience Store News, only 35 percent of your customers ever make it past the pump citing things like not having enough time or the desire to buy items from your store. But savvy owners are upping their forecourt game by engaging with their customers and making sure their forecourts, from their point-of-sale (POS) system to managing pumps, run as efficiently as possible.

 Making it seamless with a single software solution

You’ve likely imagined a typical day for many of your customers. They’re running late when their gas light turns on as someone cuts them off in traffic. The day isn’t starting like they had hoped, but luckily your store is conveniently across the street and they’re able to easily pull up to a gas pump to fill up their tank. And now they’ve got a few free minutes while it fills and maybe they were in such a rush that they didn’t have breakfast. It would be a great opportunity to get them into your store so they can at least get something to eat—but it’ll be a matter of making it as quick as possible for them to get in, out and finish their fill up.

That’s where a single software solution becomes essential. First and foremost you want to make sure that there is no problem at the pump, that your POS system is running on all cylinders, the gas is flowing, the forecourt is clear and easy to navigate so they can easily pop into your store, grab something to eat and pay using their mobile app (for the food and the gas) so that they can drive off as quickly as possible.

Single software gives you an end-to-end solution that simplifies every part of your business. With SaaS cloud technology you can meet contactless pay demands and connect your customers to your loyalty program. You can centralize all of your business information and have it run without much effort on your part, freeing you up to give your customers the most convenient experience possible. You’ll also be able to remotely manage your forecourt to make adjustments anytime, anywhere with mobile access to reports and functions. All of that gives you a much better chance of getting your pump-only customers inside buying your merchandise and food so you increase revenue while you also save time and money.

 Simplify the management of your operations and save time and costs

If anyone knows a c-store and fuel store owner they understand: you have a lot of tasks on your plate. Inventory, hiring employees, fuel management (with all of its moving pieces), tracking your supply chain, payroll, accounting—it’s a very long list. But, when you make a concerted effort to simplify your business, you can reduce it and feel much less overwhelmed.

And there are likely a couple of idioms that you can relate to: there aren’t enough hours in the day and time is money. So, you probably feel like you need to be on the premise to manage it all. What if there was a way where you could confidently manage your forecourt where ever you are? We have the business management tools to help you do that.

NCR can:

Give you real-time business intelligence – We constantly collect valuable data in our systems from all your locations—whether that’s one or dozens. That way you can use our analytics and reporting solutions to gain insights into every area of your business—from sales to customer engagement whether you’re on premise or not. (Wondering how well changes to your loyalty program are working? Not a problem). We make understanding business data simple so you can better manage the assets that affect your bottom line.

Provide vendor and employment management — We help you gain control of some of the major cost components of your business. That way you can optimize your staffing, reduce food costs and streamline communications with suppliers—all with central visibility and management.

Help you maximize your POS and vendor software – NCR has a series of venue third party software tools that can enable you to get the most out of your POS terminal and your vendor software. The NCR SQL POS Connect solution allows you to configure POS terminal functionality from a single application, streamlining business operations and increasing responsiveness. Use NCR SQL POS Connect to adapt rapidly to changing market conditions and scale with new business opportunities.

With a single software solution and simplified management, you can have a fine-tuned forecourt that works for your business. When you’re freed up from taking care of every aspect of your business, you’ll have time to work on loyalty and reward programs and to find ways to entice your customers to come inside by varying what you sell. It can be simple to take advantage of what can be an easy source of much needed added revenue with the right help.