Clover is a fully optimized point-of-sale (POS) system with a range of apps that you can use to increase the functionality of your brick-and-mortar store. Popular as the Clover App Market, it has a host of original apps along with third-party solutions that you can download and integrate with your Clover POS without changing the infrastructure.
Designed to streamline operations, process payments, and improve customer service among other things, these Clover apps can help you turn your physical stores into fully functional websites in no time.
Some of the key benefits of Clover apps include:
- Improved user experience (UX).
- Broader reach.
- Cost-effectiveness.
- Easy maintenance
- Automated updates.
- Higher search engine rankings.
- Offline functionality.
- Data-driven approach.
To further accommodate your business needs, developers from across the world have been investing heavily to make Clover apps for different fields like retail, service providers, hospitality, and so on. Whether you need to make the most out of your Clover POS system as an app developer or a merchant, here are some of the important features to consider when creating or choosing a Clover app:
User-Friendly Interface for Superior Customer Experience
An intuitive design goes a long way in ensuring the seamless performance of your Clover app, or any other app for that matter. Starting from its installation and configuration process to navigation and workflows, a Clover app should be as easy to use as it comes.
Of course, you can go on to make them more user-friendly and let the customers get immersed in the shopping experience by having a feature of voice interaction, augmented reality, or virtual reality.
Your Clover apps can also become more accessible than ever using Progressive Web Apps (PWAs) technology that you can adjust to various devices and screens, such as mobile phones.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Another important feature to consider for Clover app development is AI. It is surely the biggest breakthrough in information technology that has come to the surface in recent years; it has definitely changed the way people used to shop. Features like AI-powered chatbots, intent-based search engines, and predictability help you personalize the shopping experience as well as target the right audience.
For example, AI chatbots can answer customer questions without placing them on a call queue like in the case of traditional customer support. On the other hand, predictive analysis allows businesses to discover valuable insights about what customers want, take appropriate actions, and make informed decisions.
Third-Party Integration
Similarly, a seamless integration of your app with emerging technologies and third-party tools including hardware and software is of utmost importance if you want your Clover app to rank higher in the market.
Things such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM), accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero, e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Shopify, and other marketing tools including social media and e-mail should be fully synchronized with your Clover apps on any given day. At the same time, they should be compatible with as many tools and apps in the Clover App Market as possible.
Inventory Management
Inventory management is yet another crucial ingredient of a Clover app that helps businesses maintain a real-time track of their stock. By embedding a robust inventory management solution in your app, you can ensure live stock updates, low-stock alerts, and auto-reorder options among other stock-related advantages.
With it, you can also allow users to add, categorize, and manage products within the app without any errors as often seen in manual stock management. To further streamline or automate various inventory-related processes including supply chain tracking, you can also incorporate the promising blockchain technology into your Clover applications.
Payment Processing
Speaking of blockchain, it can also help you ensure secure and transparent transactions for your customers to avoid any scams or fraud. Widely known in the field of cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology can be used to introduce decentralized ledgers to record transactions which is more than crucial, especially, for e-commerce platforms like Clover, where financial transactions take place more than usual.
While most of Clover’s POS systems do come with a built-in payment processing feature, your app should be able to support as many payment methods as it can including credit cards, debit cards, gift cards, and mobile payment options like Apple Pay and Google Wallet nonetheless. Additionally, you may also allow users to split payments and adjust tips in their bills regardless of the method of payment.
Data Analytics
Another key feature to consider in your Clover app is none other than data analytics. From real-time personalization to comprehensive sales reports, apps that are data-driven are more likely to offer you meaningful insights for informed decision-making.
With vast chunks of valuable data at hand, you can read your user’s behaviors and preferences much better than traditional means and improve your products and services in the end. Meanwhile, you can analyze each of your employee’s performance individually depending on various key performance metrics, thanks to smart data analytics.
Employee Management Tools
Apart from data analysis, a Clover POS app must be sound in other employee management tactics such as rostering or scheduling, time-tracking, and permissions for leaves, duties, and roles.
Customization
As a key advantage of a Clover point-of-sales app, making sure that your Clover app is fully customizable and can cater to specific business needs is of utmost importance. From the tiniest details like notifications and alerts to customer-facing elements such as marketing and customer loyalty programs, everything should be easily customizable to suit different types of businesses and clients.
Moreover, since PWAs like Clover apps are by default compatible with different operating systems, customizing them for different types of users is not that difficult either as it does not require any extra resources, money, or time.
Security & Privacy
The most important part of a POS app is its great security features like HTTPS encryption for safe communication between the server and the user. Given the numerous data breaches and privacy compromises with which we all have been dealing in the recent past, you must not miss or take chances with the fact that your data should be fully secured.
Albeit, quite safe and secure compared to traditional native apps, your Clover apps should provide users with greater control over their personal information and financial details with features like data encryption, PCI compliance, and user authentication.
Offline Functionality
Last but not least, being able to work offline or with limited Internet connectivity is critical to making the most out of your PWA Clover app. If not anything, it does make sure that the basic features and functions of your app such as payment transactions are always available to the users, especially, in emergencies like when the Internet is lost or power runs out.
With offline functionality, your Clover app must also be able to sync the data automatically as soon as the Internet is back. That said, the future of Clover apps seems bright, especially, in the e-Commerce sector where functionality, data analysis, and security play a major role. By focusing on all these factors, you can create useful and valuable apps that appeal to a wider range of businesses and a larger audience.