Even if you have never used one before, we are certain that you are familiar with the phrase “point-of-sale” (POS) system because of your industry. What is a POS System? is the topic of this blog post.
So, what exactly is a point-of-sale system, and why do most local establishments use them?
A point of sale system combines hardware and software to manage customer purchases and payments. A point-of-sale (POS) system is used to process a customer’s payment after purchasing or receiving a service.
What is Point of Sale (POS)?
A POS, or point of sale, is a terminal used to accept in-store shoppers’ payments. POS systems include cash registers. The classic cash register has been mostly replaced by electronic point-of-sale terminals that take a variety of payment options such as cash, bank cards, and electronic transfers.
A point-of-sale system (POS) may be either a physical device used in a traditional retail setting or an online checkout system.
The point-of-sale (POS) device software is becoming more sophisticated, with capabilities that let stores keep tabs on stock levels and customer preferences, verify that prices are accurate, and gather marketing intelligence.
What is a POS System?
A POS system is a combination of hardware and software that facilitates customer checkout and the processing of various payment types (cash, credit cards, and mobile payments, to name a few).
Hardware for point-of-sale systems can print receipts, read barcodes, and hold currency. The software in a point-of-sale system may do things like count inventory, analyze sales data, and deposit money into your company bank account.
To be successful in business today, you need a point-of-sale (POS) system. They provide fast and safe processing of several different payment types. Sixty-eight percent of companies use point-of-sale systems to track further customer purchases.
However, modern POS systems can do much more than just process payments. They provide comprehensive support, assisting with everything from invoicing and inventory management to accounting.
Due to the vast number of accessible options, selecting a point-of-sale system might be difficult.
Thankfully, this book has all the information a person might want about point of sale systems. It’s been neatly divided into bite-sized chunks for your reading pleasure.
Example of POS System
How does a POS System Work?
A POS system is a combination of hardware and software that facilitates customer checkout and the processing of various payment types (cash, credit cards, and mobile payments, to name a few). Hardware for point-of-sale systems can print receipts, read barcodes, and hold currency. The software in a point-of-sale system may do things like count inventory, analyze sales data, and deposit money into your company bank account.
However, these days’ POS terminals can do a lot more than simply take money. They provide comprehensive support, assisting with everything from invoicing and inventory management to accounting.
1. The transaction is initiated when a customer opts for your product or service
They may ask a shop clerk to ring them up if they purchase in person. The salesperson might use a barcode scanner to determine the item’s pricing. The camera on certain point-of-sale systems, such Moon POS, may be used to scan products visually. When a shopper is ready to complete an online purchase, they reach this stage by selecting the checkout option.
2. Now, the role of the POS system starts here
The whole price, including any taxes, is computed automatically by your POS system. After this happens, the system adjusts the available quantity to reflect the sale.
3. Here your customer pays
Your client must pay with a credit card, tap card, debit card, bank account withdrawal, store credit, a gift card, or cash to complete the transaction. The next step is for the customer’s bank to approve, which may take a few minutes to a few days.
4. And at last, the point of sale transaction is finalized
As of now, you may consider the deal closed. When a consumer makes a purchase, their money is processed, a receipt is generated (either digitally or on paper), and the goods are sent to or delivered to them.
Difference Between a POS and a POS System
| Criteria of Comparison | POS | POS Systems |
|---|---|---|
| Flexible Payment Options | Typically, the only payment forms compatible with the traditional POS system are cash and debit/credit cards. Some clients may be turned away from a company that employs a point-of-sale system simply because they lack the funds necessary to make a purchase. | With POS system you can offer multiple payment option to your customer such as UPI, Debit Card, Credit Card, etc. |
| Hardware Flexibility | Point-of-sale (POS) systems were designed to only function with the hardware that came with them. Typically, this would have consisted of a permanent terminal, cash drawer, and card reader. | More and more businesses are switching to EPOS systems because of their greater adaptability and because many are compatible with iPads and other mobile devices. |
| Management of Inventory | With traditional POS, it is difficult to manage inventory due to limited functionality. | EPOS systems are very adaptable compared to traditional POS systems since they provide real-time access to inventory. |
| Heightened Security | A traditional POS will always have threats of theft of data. | Because they operate in the cloud are secure and cannot be breached. Regarding data loss, cloud-based security is primarily concerned with prevention. |
Types of POS Systems
Point-of-sale (POS) systems may be installed on the premises or hosted in the cloud.
1. On-premise POS Systems
With an on-premises solution, the software is installed and stored on a server inside your organization. It may resemble a touchscreen display or desktop PC in appearance. Data stored by an on-premise POS system is yours to use at any time once the initial investment has been made, eliminating the need to pay for ongoing data storage fees.
On-premise POS solutions are not without disadvantages, though. Maintaining and improving the system will need spending money on technical assistance, software licences, and training. A local POS system also needs enough storage capacity for its design, database, and other components. These fees might soon accumulate.
2. Cloud-based POS systems
A cloud-based POS system is remotely deployed and internet-connected. If you store your data remotely, you can keep tabs on your business from anywhere in the world, at any time. You may also configure your POS system to update automatically, saving time that would otherwise be spent on manual upgrades.
In addition to saving money, a cloud-based POS system also does away with the need for tech assistance, learning, and software licence payments.
Before implementing a cloud-based POS system, determine who will hold the data. Ensure you understand how the system is backed up and restored to prevent problems if you transfer providers. In addition, if you have internet connection difficulties, you will be unable to access your data until the issue is resolved.
Does Your POS System Stores All the Data on the Cloud?
Get exclusive cloud sync feature with Moon POS to store your retail or restaurant outlet’s data securely.
3. Other System Types
Other point-of-sale (POS) types exist, apart from the more generalized on-premise and cloud-based options.
Mobile POS (mPOS)
With a mobile point-of-sale system, you can receive customer payments wherever you go. This is perfect for those who own mobile businesses like food trucks, repair shops, etc.
Retail
Point-of-sale (POS) systems geared at retail stores are built with that industry in mind. With this handy tool, you can manage client information, run promotions, sell gift cards, and even generate purchase orders.
Multichannel
With a multichannel point-of-sale system, you can connect your online store with additional sales platforms like social media and marketplaces.
As you look at several POS terminals, you’ll see that not all solutions offer the same functions. For this reason, you’ll need to think carefully about various things and perform some study. Consider your business’s needs and the nature of your sector; a restaurant will have different POS requirements than a clothes shop.
The Benefits of Using a POS System
The POS industry is expanding at a strong clip. Experts predict it will be worth $26.61 billion by 2028, up from around $10 billion in 2021. The advantages of a point-of-sale (POS) system over a traditional cash register are becoming more apparent. As a result, more and more companies are making the switch.
Here are 7 of the most significant gains from using a POS system.
Boosts Revenue
As we’ve shown, a point-of-sale system may increase your profits by adapting quickly to technological changes and enhancing the shopping experience for your customers. And even if it doesn’t have all the bells and whistles, a point-of-sale system may help your company make more money by allowing you to accept payments from more customers.
Your business might grow beyond appointment-based sales with the help of online purchases, smartphone events, pop-up shops, catering, and subscription-based services.
You can have Improved Customer Experience
As a store, you must prioritize your customers’ shopping experience above internal processes. Talkdesk found that over 60% of respondents had increased expectations for customer service after the COVID-19 epidemic. More than half of all U.S. consumers would pay more for superior service. You may streamline your customer service in several ways with a modern point-of-sale system:
Make room for a range of payment options: Avoid having your consumers fumble through their wallets for the correct card at an inopportune time. Convenience to your consumers by accepting PayPal, contactless payments, and electronic wallets may help you save time.
Types of Payments That Have Been Saved When a customer’s chosen mode of payment is stored in the point-of-sale system, they never have to remove their wallets from their pockets. This approach works particularly well for service and boutique firms that value personal connections with customers.
Self-checkout: not everyone is fond of automated checkout lanes or food ordering kiosks, but those who use them regularly praise their efficiency and time savings. The use of self-service checkout lanes can also reduce payroll expenses.
Trackable Customer Insights
Smart merchants not only gather client feedback but also actively respond to it. You can do more with a point-of-sale system than check your Yelp reviews. A point-of-sale system allows you to send surveys or follow-up emails to clients immediately after purchasing to obtain their honest opinion.
Customers may rate their experiences using the POS system. Since 71% of consumers would write a review if, given the option, this is crucial.
Create Better Engage Persona with Customers
Enhancing customer service in tandem with direct interaction with consumers. Your point-of-sale data will allow you to construct strategic campaigns to reach your ideal clients with tailored offers.
Sixty percent of 2021 consumers plan to return to a store after having a positive customized shopping experience. A point-of-sale system facilitates the management and improvement of such customized initiatives.
Some POS software already has marketing functions, while others let you add marketing-related applications and functionalities. Examples of such methods include email, social media, short message services, and others. A consumer’s buying history may be used by the best point-of-sale (POS) systems to tailor promotions, discounts, and other marketing communications to that specific customer.
Your loyalty programme is an effective method of retaining customers since it inspires them to buy more, recommend you to others, and shop with you again. There is a widely cited statistic that loyalty programme consumers spend 20% more than non-members.
Access to and participation in a loyalty programme should be straightforward for it to be effective. Adding consumers to your loyalty programme and allowing them to receive points at checkout is a breeze with a POS system.
POS Provides Accurate, Real-time Data
Manual tracking KPIs using tools like spreadsheets and shared drives is possible. Still, it can rapidly become a time-consuming burden that prevents you from focusing on more pressing business needs. A point-of-sale system (POS) frees staff to concentrate on customer service, display design, and menu creation rather than tedious data entry.
It Helps the Business to Grows as Business Trends Change
The software powering cloud-based POS systems is always updated to accommodate new customer preferences. As a result, if you have a reliable POS, you can adapt your company to the changing tastes of your customers. A POS system may effortlessly take payments made using a mobile wallet, via the internet, or by contactless, near-field communication (NFC).
According to a report by GlobalPayments, more than half of all retailers want to provide new payment options in 2022. Among the most popular of these are the incorporation of digital wallets (60%) and QR code payments (60%), as well as the use of digital invoicing (60%). (51 percent ). Projections show that by 2025, 50% of POS transactions will occur through digital wallets. The vast majority of POS software has already adapted to these changes.
You can Automates Various Tasks
Automation is a fantastic approach to improving the effectiveness and precision of your company operations. Personnel scheduling and inventory management may be automated with the right POS system. You may set up notifications to remind you to reorder supplies or warn you when an employee is ready to exceed their overtime limit. This alleviates part of the burden associated with keeping track of inventory and helps prevent wasteful situations like stockouts, extra dead stock, and unneeded overtime.
Common Types of POS Hardware
Here are some of the hardware components you expect to find in a complete POS system:
Barcode Scanner
The checkout procedure is automated as a result. When a barcode is scanned, all of the data associated with that product is shown. Included in this are the item’s name and price. Products’ stock levels are updated in real-time when sold from the shelf thanks to the barcodes’ connection to the POS system.
Cash Drawer
When a customer completes a transaction at the register, a receipt printer prints a record of the items bought and the total price. A receipt is printed and given to the client when payment has been processed. Customers can now get receipts through email or text messages delivered directly to their preferred contact method.
The Monitor Or Tablet
Its primary purpose is to show off the inventory, but it also helps with things like checking sales stats and punching in/out. Instead of the cumbersome monitors that were formerly utilized, tablets have proven to be a useful alternative.
Card Reader
Customers may pay for goods using their credit cards at stores with card readers. You risk financial loss due to fraud responsibility if you don’t use Europay, MasterCard, and Visa (EMV) compliant credit card readers.
Receipt Printer
When a customer completes a transaction at the register, a receipt printer prints a record of the items bought and the total price. A receipt is printed and given to the client when payment has been processed. Customers may now get receipts through email or text directly to their preferred contact method.
What are the Features of a Retail POS System?
While most POS systems provide the same core functionalities, those designed specifically for use in restaurants may also contain a few extra bells and whistles. Some common components of retail point-of-sale systems are listed below.
6 POS Features
Inventory Management
More than only prices are shown by POS systems at the point of sale. Important data regarding stock levels are also shown. Thanks to the inventory management tool, you’ll always know when supplies are low.
Payment Processing
All POS terminals also can accept payments. A point-of-sale (POS) system facilitates cash payments and those made with credit or debit cards.
You’ll need extra equipment, like a card reader or register, to handle transactions with them. You will require point-of-sale (POS) software that accepts digital payments to accept orders sent online.
Reporting and Analytics
The daily sales data collected by retail POS software provides several insights. By analyzing point-of-sale (POS) data, you may discover which goods are the most popular, which ones take the longest to clear, and which times of day are the busiest. This information may be used for strategic planning, from replenishing to advertising.
Employee Management
Employee management functions are often included in POS software packages, which help with scheduling and keeping tabs on employees. You can see what everyone on your team is doing at any time, how many hours they’ve put in, and give them access to certain files and folders. Losses attributable to staff fraud, such as tampering with sales records after the fact, are mitigated by this function.
Checkout
All point-of-sale systems have checkout capabilities since they are the backbone of the POS itself. Customers’ purchases may be rung up, and their totals calculated using checkout tools.
Customer Relationship Management
Information on what customers buy, how much they spend, their contact details, payment options, and return policies may all be collected and organized with the help of a customer relationship management (CRM) system. What a consumer is interested in purchasing, how much they are willing to spend, and how often they shop are all valuable information.
Using this data, you may tailor your marketing efforts to each individual’s preferences. You may use the information gathered to sign them up for loyalty programmes and quickly respond to requests for returns or exchanges.
Connecting your point-of-CRM sales software with your VoIP phone system may increase both systems’ efficiency. If a worker has a query or concern about a client, they may readily access any pertinent information about that client. It would help you choose the finest VoIP software for your company to get the most out of this integration.
How to Choose the Best POS System for Your Business?
Which aspects of a POS system are most crucial to you and your business? Asking yourself the aforementioned questions might help narrow down your options for a point-of-sale system. The following factors should be taken into account when selecting a POS system for your company:
Have a Complete check on Hardware
There are certain hardware requirements for running each kind of POS software. Several pieces of equipments, such as a monitor, barcode scanner, receipt printer, and card reader, will need to be purchased or rented for an on-premise system. A mobile device and a card reader may be all you need to get started with a cloud-based solution.
Check out on the Scalability Offered
Picking a POS that can grow with your company is crucial. If your infrastructure isn’t equipped to support your expanding firm, you risk disappointing your consumers and losing revenue.
For instance, slow payment processing at the register might cause customers to wait in line for a significant amount of time. Keeping tabs on all of your clients might be as challenging. Consequently, establishing a loyalty programme might be challenging.
More complex and specialized functions will be required to use your POS data as your company expands. Your ability to get insights that will help you enhance and plan your company operations might be hindered if your system cannot keep up. Choose a system that can grow with your company to prevent disruptions and the need to constantly buy new hardware or software to meet evolving demands constantly.
Check on Ease of Use Offered
Both you and your clients doing their online checkout should find it simple to utilize the POS you choose. Checkout processes are streamlined, and time is saved for all parties involved with an intuitive system.
Check on Various Functionalities and Features
What more functions beyond checkout and accepting payments do you hope your POS system will have? It would help if you kept an eye out for inventory management, data analysis and reporting, and client tracking. Checkout times are reduced, stock levels are monitored, and smarter advertising choices may be made with the help of these tools.
Businesses in the current day also need to have the option to take credit card payments. The Federal Reserve has predicted that in 2019, customers would charge a total of $97.04 trillion on their credit cards.
Look for Reviews & Customer Support
Research the opinions of other company owners before committing to a certain POS system. You may learn a lot about the system’s functionality and efficiency by reading reviews.
Keep in mind that the sort of company you run will decide the best software, so don’t just copy what another shop is doing. Suppose you own a restaurant, for example. In that case, you should read up on the finest restaurant POS systems instead of the general retail POS systems.
Pick a POS provider with responsive and friendly customer care. Suppose you have any issues with your system during normal business hours. Then you should be able to get in touch with them right away for assistance. Then you should be able to get in touch with them right away for assistance. Time lost due to technical difficulties will be avoided.
How to Buy a POS System?
Well, you might know it well now what is a POS system. To buy a POS software online, connect with our sales representative. We will first help you with a detailed demo of our POS hardware and software and later share the pricing details. Subscribing to any of the POS plans or getting it for FREE can help you install a POS hardware and software on your desktop. Also, our POS systems work on smartphone.
Conclusion
That is all from our end when it comes to what is the point of sale. You can schedule a free demo of MOON POS now! Just contact us HERE.
FAQs
Jayanti Katariya is the founder & CEO of Moon Invoice, with over a decade of experience in developing SaaS products and the fintech industry. He holds a degree in engineering. Since 2011, Jayanti's expertise has helped thousands of businesses, from small startups to large enterprises, streamline invoicing, estimation, and accounting operations. His vision is to deliver top-tier financial solutions globally, ensuring efficient financial management for all business owners.
