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A factor of sale, or purchase, is where you ring up clients. When consumers check out online, walk up to your checkout counter, or pick out a thing from your stand or booth, they’re at the factor of sale.

Your point-of-sale system is the software and hardware that enable your service to make those sales.

How does a POS System Operate at a Small Company?

A POS system permits your company to accept client settlements and track sales. It sounds simple and sufficient, but the setup can operate in various means, depending upon whether you offer online, have a physical storefront, or both.

A point of sale software is utilized to describe the sales register at a shop. Today, modern-day POS systems are entirely digital, suggesting you can look into a client anywhere you are. You only require a POS app and an internet-enabled device, such as a tablet computer or phone.

• A customer decides to acquire your product or service. They might ask for a sales link to sound them up if you have a physical store. That affiliate might use a bar code scanner to search for the item’s rate. Some POS systems, such as the Square Point of Sale, allow you to check things visually with the cam on your gadget. For internet shops, this action occurs when a client completes including products to their cart and clicks the checkout button.

• Your POS system determines the item’s price, including any sales tax obligation. After that, the system updates the stock count to show that the thing is marketed.

• Your customer pays. To complete their acquisition, your consumer must utilize their bank card, tap card, debit card, loyalty factor, present card, or cash to make the settlement. Depending on their repayment, your customer’s bank must license the purchase.

• The point-of-sale deal is settled. It is the moment when you officially make a sale. The payment undergoes, an electronic or printed receipt is developed, and also you ship or hand your client the items they purchased.

Which types of hardware and software does a POS system generally include?

Every POS system utilizes a POS software program, yet not all businesses require POS equipment.

If you have an online shop, all your sales are on your website, so you don’t require POS equipment to aid you in approving settlements. 

But if you have a cafe, you might need a register and a bank card visitor. If you run a food vehicle, a phone or tablet computer could be all you require to process orders.

Below’s a run-through of the usual kinds of POS hardware and software, which can help you identify the overall expense of your POS system. Bear in mind that what you require relies on your business.

Usual kinds of POS equipment

POS equipment permits you to approve repayments. If you’re obtaining a new POS system, you must see that it accepts all forms of compensation, including cash, bank card (specifically chip cards), and mobile repayments. If it makes sense for your company, your POS system should publish invoices, store money in cash drawers, and scan the UPC.

This list of hardware can give you a place to start as you review your POS arrangement options.

Point-of-sale system arrangement

• Register:

A register aids you to compute as well as processing a customer purchase.

The connected device, such as an iPad or various other tablet computers: A portable device can be an excellent option for a screen. Tablet computers can be propped up with a stand, allowing your team to appear as well as out.

• Bank card visitor: 

A card viewer lets your consumers pay securely by credit card while in-store, via a contactless settlement like Apple Pay, a chip card, or a magnetic stripe (magstripe) card.

• Cash drawer: 

Even if you accept contactless settlements, you might still need a safe area to maintain your cash. POS software linked to a cash drawer can minimize fraud by tracking when the drawer is opened.

• Receipt printer:

 A paper invoice shows consumers precisely what they bought, when, and how much they paid.

• UPC scanner:

A Universal Product Code scanner reviews an item’s product information so you can ring it up. It can also be a quick way to ascertain the rate, stock degree, and other details.

Typical POS software program functions

POS software program is like your command facility. At a basic level, it allows you to find products in your library and ring up sales.

More durable point-of-sale solutions include practical tools such as sales reporting, customer interaction software applications, stock administration, and more. POS systems additionally care for routing funds to your savings account after each sale.

Some POS services, such as Square, include the features listed below. Other systems may need you to use outdoors software to obtain your desired attributes. Find out more regarding how Square compares to other POS systems.

1. Payment processing

Settlement processing is just one of the core features of a POS system. Each time a client acquires an item, your POS system processes the deal.

There are several various repayment types a POS system might approve:

• Cash
• Safe online settlements with your e-commerce site
• Chip cards, which are credit cards with an ingrained chip
• Contactless repayments might include a contactless card that clients touch or a mobile pocketbook (e.g., Google Pay or Apple Pay).
• The card-not-present purchase happens when your consumer and their bank card aren’t actually in front of you, so you need to enter their credit card info by hand. It also occurs when a client enters their settlement information while looking online.
• Inventory management.
• The inventory administration software allows you to keep tabs on all your products. Some automated supply software applications can connect with your sales data and tell you when an item is running low.

2. POS reports

POS records provide a glance into how much you’re offering and earning. You can sell even more with precise descriptions and make better business choices.

3. Employee management

The group monitoring software program lets you understand when your staff members are working and how they are doing it. Your team can additionally use it to clock in and out, and some kinds of software can grant permissions so staff members can obtain access to specific tasks.

4. Client relationship monitoring (CRM)

A CRM tool connected to the POS software application allows you to see what your clients purchased and when they bought it. This understanding aids you in personalizing your communications, advertising, and customer support.

5. Receipts

Bills make processing refunds easier since the electronic proof is attached to the acquired item. They can likewise make your company look more polished.

6. Tipping assistance

For restaurants and service specialists, tips can be a massive part of getting paid. POS remedies that permit clients to include a digital tip during the checkout procedure make it more likely that they’ll tip.

Now that you have a better understanding of POS systems, you’re ready to find the exemplary POS service for your company, whatever or where you market.

The post What Is a POS System and How Accomplishes It Perform? appeared first on noupe.

Shutterstock is a renowned global marketplace for designers and creators to sell royalty-free images, footage, illustrations, and vector graphics. With a huge contribution all over the world, its library of more than 200 million stock photos, illustrations, and vectors make Shutterstock one of the best vector websites to find design elements in the creative community. 

But as the stock image market grows, there are more and more websites and platforms that also provide high-quality and even free images. It’s no doubt that when it comes to design, having more options, and more inspiration is never wrong. In this post, I am going to list the 10 best vector websites to find and download free illustrations as Shutterstock alternatives.

Shutterstock: Pros and Cons

There are many advantages of Shutterstock that we can mention, including:

• High-quality and various resources of many kinds (images, videos, sound effects, music, templates)
• Enhanced licenses are also provided to use the content for distribution to a large audience or on merchandise. (of course, except editorials) 
• AI-powered search with truly impressive results 

However, together with some pros above come several cons that we might want to search for other platforms instead.

• Difficult for beginners or amateurs: so many choices regarding types of resources and packs of subscriptions make it more difficult to use, especially for those who are not really Internet masters. I believe that even for those who are experienced, it takes time to read and fully understand their licenses and other useful guides. 
• Too expensive: subscriptions come with limited numbers of image downloads monthly and enhanced licenses do cost an arm and a leg even for single users. 

In terms of simplicity and affordable pricing, I suggest the 10 following best vector websites and platforms as Shutterstock alternatives.

illustAC

Compared to Shutterstock, illustAC has some advantages below.

• Simple to use: this is about illustrations and vector graphics – no other distractions. You visit the site, start searching for the illustrations you want and download them. You need to sign up or log in to download, but no card info is required when onboarding as free users. 
• Simple and affordable subscription packs: Monthly for 12.2$ and Annually for 132$
• NO download limits: unlimited download times for premium users
• NO attribution required 

Other advantages:

• Bulk download for premium users: from search result pages, you can choose file types you like,  add them up to the download folder and download up to 10 files at a time. 
• License for commercial uses at a reasonable price: offer an Extra license at 29.99$ per license to cover the usage of the images as the main element for products that will be sold to multiple clients. No limitation in the number of distributions and time of use.
• Download one format at a time: Shutterstock and some other platforms will let you download all files in a pack. Usually, it’s not really necessary to download such heavy files. On illustAC, we can choose what type of file format we want to download. You DON’T need to unzip or check any licenses within – SIMPLE and EASY in a single click.
• Unique content: illustAC offers various types of free vectors including brushes, templates, graphic backgrounds, etc. But the truly special one is that you can find real Japanese tastes here, from sushi illustrations to bold Japanese decor patterns that you can see from nowhere else. 

Freepik

Compared to Shutterstock, Freepik has some advantages below.

• Simple and affordable subscription packs: Monthly for 15EUR (~14.72$)  and Annually for 108EUR (105.98$)
• Free downloads both for guests and free users: you don’t need to sign up or log in to download images you like. Guests can also download up to 3 free illustrations per day. If you want more, free users can download up to 10 images, and premium users for 100 downloads a day.
• Trendy and up-to-date content: just like Shutterstock, Freepik is a house of millions of creators around the world, you can always find trendy content there. 
• Other embedded platforms for UI designs: Flaticons and Storyset are two other platforms from Freepik where you can find and download free icons and illustrations for user interface design

Vecteezy

Compared to Shutterstock, Vecteezy has some advantages below.

• Simple and affordable subscription packs: Monthly for 15$ and Annually for 108$
• Free downloads for both guests and free users: you can download a lot of free content on Vecteezy with download limits of 3 images for guests and unlimited for free users. Of course, attributions are required in this case, just the same as Freepik. Pro content can only be downloaded when upgrading.
• Licenses are easy to understand and compare: Vecteezy doesn’t challenge users with difficult terms when it comes to licensing explanation and comparison. It won’t take long to fully understand what they offer.

IconScout

IconScout is all about illustrations of all types (flat illustrations, icons, 3D illustrations, and animations). Compared to Shutterstock, it has some advantages below.

• Simple and easy navigation: if you want to search for illustrations, IconScout is easy to navigate. 
• Simple licenses to understand and compare: IconScout provides 2 kinds of licenses (digital license and physical unlimited license) which are clearly explained and compared in simple words. 
• Free assets to download with attribution
• Affordable subscription packs (annually only, no monthly packs): Yearly for all assets will cost 179.99$ and for icons only will cost 155.99$.

Manypixels

Manypixels is a platform providing design solutions for businesses, entrepreneurs to cooperatives. Together with design services, it also shares free illustrations and free icons resources to download. 

Although these libraries are limited in the number of content available, compared to Shutterstock, it still has some advantages below.

• The content is all FREE for commercial and personal uses: you don’t need to pay to download illustrations and icons on Manypixels. You can 
• NO download limits: you can download any content you like without sign-up / log-in and no limits. 
• NO attribution required

Drawkit

Drawkit is also another platform that offers both free and premium illustrations and icons. It is a good alternative for Shutterstock in terms of good pricing, free downloads, and simple licensing. 

• Free download: Drawkit offer free content with SVG & PNG formats
• Good pricing: Premium content is offered by different themes. You can pay for each pack you like.
• Simple licensing: Drawkit’s license is easy to understand (not for merchandise or included in digital design templates, for example)

Other Open Sources and CC0 Platforms

The websites below surpass Shutterstock in terms of no download limits, simple licenses, and no requirement for attribution.  

• NO download limits: you can download whatever you like with no limitation (but of course, there are fewer options to choose from, and most of them are suitable for UI design)
• FREE for all non-commercial or commercial uses EXCEPT redistribution
• NO attribution required

However, the number of resources available on these websites and platforms is limited. If you want to have a wide range of free illustration options, you’d better try the stock and royalty-free illustrations platforms mentioned above. 

Conclusion

Here we’ve mentioned the top Shutterstock alternative vector sites to download free illustrations. Each of these sites has its own usage guides, licenses, and type of resources. Before downloading the images, make sure to check out their terms and conditions to avoid any unwanted copyright infringement.

We hope that with the list of best vector websites above, you can save time and costs when you need to find illustrations and vector graphics for your next projects. 

The post Shutterstock alternatives: Best Vector Websites to Find Free Illustrations appeared first on noupe.

AI-powered marketing automation is here to stay. AI reduces menial tasks, frees up time for generating new business, and allows companies to further personalized messaging to effectively move users through the funnel – without sacrificing time. To that end, AI-powered marketing automation is growing quickly, with 79% of companies applying this technology to many of their marketing tasks. 

Yet, with all this acknowledged, there’s a misconception that to maximize the efficiency of your business you must implement AI-powered marketing automation in all tasks.

This way of thinking often comes at the expense of manual processes that work just fine. Some manual tasks may be more reasonable or cost-effective for new businesses with small teams – or low-effort manual processes make sense to keep workflows simple and manageable.

This article explores why some processes can stay manual – and why others are best suited to be automated.

The Benefits of AI In Marketing Automation

We know that automating daily tasks, specifically within sales and marketing, improves day-to-day workload. Marketing automation has positively affected lead generation, overhead costs, and conversion increases. 

As per recent studies, 80% of users who strategically implement marketing automation tools saw an increase in lead generation, and 77% of users saw an increase in conversions. 

For example, posting on social media doesn’t need to be a manual task anymore – tools like Buffer, Hootsuite, and Later make it easy to schedule posts. 

Yet, designing posts and cultivating a personalized social media strategy is a critical manual task that AI and marketing automation can’t replace. Relevant, targeted messaging is much more likely to encourage users to move through the sales funnel, and AI can’t replace a copywriter skilled in brand voice. But, AI can move the messaging through systematic processes more effectively.

Thoughtfully integrated automation can provide robust data about the actions customers take on your website. AI marketing automation, when done correctly, uses predetermined workflows in conjunction with this data to improve the customer experience. Using data to improve the customer experience could look like a targeted email that follows an abandoned cart or relevant ad content that showcases products or services previously viewed.  

Marketing automation makes it easy to position marketing collateral where it makes the most sense within an individual’s buyer journey. However, of course, it entirely depends on the existing workflows within the system. AI marketing automation will only do what you tell it to do – but it will do it well.

Avoid AI In Marketing Automation for Automation’s Sake

Too often, businesses eliminate effective manual processes in a quest to automate everything for the sake of digital transformation. AI in marketing has changed how we work, and it’s understandable to want to be at the forefront of technology.

Automation tools can undoubtedly make some processes more efficient, by adding a level of precision to those tasks more difficult or time-consuming for humans to carry out. Some of these tools help copywriters become more productive. Some create variations of advertising copy from scratch given a few parameters so you have a wealth of choices when building out advertising campaigns. Others help marketers optimize their budgets and make the right spending decisions based on their resources and goals.

Even so, there’s a time and place. Some manual processes can work in tandem with automated ones, which improves efficiency across the board. An excellent example of this is automated copywriting tools like Jasper.ai or Jarvis. These AI-based marketing automation tools can get a copywriter started during those moments when the page is blank and a deadline looms. But, having a real person proof or edit that copy to catch the nuances of voice, tone, and brand language is a necessary manual task. AI is close, but not quite there.

The most important thing is finding a balance right for your situation.

Understanding When Automation Makes Sense, and When It Does Not

Finding the processes that can benefit from automation involves clear strategic thinking and drilling down on every facet of your business, from marketing to hiring to accounting.

Without a doubt, many areas of your business will require some kind of operational process improvement, most easily taken care of by automation, but usually not in its entirety. 

For example, accounting processes will still require a fair degree of manual input, so integrating an automation software that complements both manual and automated processes is essential. 

Here are some clarifying questions to ask yourself when considering marketing automation using AI:

• Does the task require strategy? Emotion, creativity, higher intelligence, and nuance are all things automation cannot replace. If the task requires any of these but is time-consuming otherwise, try to see if you can automate the lesser portions of the task.

• Is the task repetitive? If the task is repetitive, such as data entry, this can easily lead to fatigue and feelings of burnout. Automation can help alleviate time spent doing mundane tasks. 

• Does it free up your schedule? If automation frees up your calendar to complete your other tasks more efficiently, this is one of the prime benefits – use it!

• Is there a high potential for human error? If the task involves plenty of room for error and automation makes sense, this can save your employees time and stress and save your business money. 

The tradeoff for automating these tasks should always be more time and mental bandwidth to focus on business-critical functions such as sales, customer service, or other jobs that can’t be automated. 

When asking these clarifying questions, keep in mind the potential to scale. If the processes can’t grow as your business grows, it might be better to keep things manual for now. 

Examples of AI in Marketing Automation

• Flesh out this section to augment word count and talk about different types of AI marketing automation tools other than copywriting tools

AI for marketing automation has reached the peak of trendiness in recent years. A wide variety of tools have emerged across several marketing niches including copywriting, email marketing, content marketing, website-based chat, marketing analytics, and customer relationship management.

The creators of these tools have different end goals. Some tools are intended to augment manual practices and make those practices more efficient and effective. The founders of other tools argue that what they have built will completely revolutionize that particular subset of marketing to the point that automation will become the gold standard, and manual processes will be completely eliminated.

The latter seems much more likely than the former, given all of the nuances required in the marketing industry, that at this point in our history, only humans can understand and apply to their daily work.

AI and the Copywriting Industry

The copywriting industry – of the niches mentioned above – seems the ripest for disruption, and is an industry where artificial intelligence automated marketing may see a substantial disruption. There’s an open debate, however, that these AI copywriting tools can ever replace human copywriters in the way the founders of the companies promoting them claim will happen in coming years.

Over the last few years, emerging copywriting AI tools such as Jarvis or Jasper.ai have shaken up how copywriters and business owners approach copywriting and marketing.

In one camp, business owners who see the value of content marketing yet don’t have that way with words or who may speak English as a second language might eventually heavily rely on these AI copywriting tools. 

In the other camp, seasoned, expert copywriters may feel threatened by the supposed prowess of a computer that can, allegedly, ‘write faster than a human.’

Marketing for these tools varies. Depending on the target audience, the organic and paid messaging can switch from positioning copy AI tools as a helpful tool for existing copywriters to automate their processes and write faster (and therefore scale their business) to non-copywriter business owners that want copy written faster than the human brain can produce.

However, copy AI tools lack the fundamental connection to the human spirit; AI lacks the necessary motivation, drive, and consciousness to drive the nuance in tone, style, and voice that makes a good copy so enjoyable to read. Therefore, there has to be some degree of manual review.

Copy AI tools have a long way to go before they can replace human writers. However, these tools can be perfect for short-form copy in a pinch or are a great starting point for copywriters (who want to take the time to become familiar with them) who need a little nudge to bring a piece of copy to life.

A copywriter that uses copy AI tools to streamline the creative process and reduce steps is a perfect example of combining manual processing with automation. 

Questions to Consider as You Think About Adopting Artificial Intelligence Automated Marketing

The most important thing you can do as you consider adopting artificial intelligence automated marketing is to ask yourself some tough questions about why you see it as an option.

Here are some potential scenarios:

• The work your marketing team is doing needs to be augmented (maybe because you have a small team or limited resources)
• Your team is making consistently making mistakes that are easily avoidable through automation (usually due to manual data input)
• Manual work that’s being done by an entry-level employee could be replaced by an AI marketing tool
• You’re looking for a better return on investment for your marketing spend (the fixed costs of salary for your team members aren’t being replaced by closed business, for example)
• Your marketing is too blanketed, and not personalized enough, and you want to lean on tools driven by AI to improve that personalization
• You need to make more decisions, faster

In each of these scenarios, the work of your human team members is being amplified but not replaced by marketing automation. And for now, that’s the best-case scenario to maintain the chemistry you have built on your teams and the trust your marketing employees have in their futures with you.

Some Things to Consider About Marketing Automation, In General

There’s little doubt left that AI and marketing automation is the future of content creation, but even with that being the case, these tools shouldn’t totally dominate your content strategy.

AI holds the most power in helping lean marketing organizations publish more content, more often. When you lean in on the power of AI to help you replicate and spin out content, it’s much easier to put a high volume of your work out into the world. 

Some AI content marketing tools can also help you better understand the types of content your community prefers to interact with, and help you craft content along those lines, accordingly. 

Artificial intelligence is the backbone of automation, but as a content marketer – or generalized marketer – your expectation shouldn’t be for the work that your human team does to be replaced by marketing automation and artificial intelligence, but rather, amplified by it.

Human Work is Amplified But Not Replaced By Marketing Automation 

Remember, marketing automation using AI does not replace marketing. It makes it easier, to be sure, but relying solely on automation takes away the strategy and humanity that has made the most iconic campaigns so successful. 

Marketing teams within early-stage companies would do well to place their focus on developing a robust marketing plan – and how to execute it – and then focus on automation. 

For newbie marketing teams, staying abreast of ever-changing marketing and SEO best practices through industry-leading blogs, listening to podcasts, and following seasoned marketers online can be invaluable when fleshing out a new marketing campaign or strategy. 

Marketing automation is the natural next step after the company sees growth and all team players are well-versed in the marketing strategy.

The post When To Integrate AI-Powered Marketing Automation (And When To Stay Manual) appeared first on noupe.