The days of cash registers and black-box credit card terminals being sufficient for both small retail businesses are long gone.  Since the popularity and convenience of personal computers, most retail stores are beginning to take advantage of specialized PC’s for sales and inventory management. These specialized PC’s are equipped with a cash drawer, credit card swipe terminal, bar code scanner, receipt printer, check reader, and sometimes other extras, like touch screen monitors or LCD.

Point of Sale (POS) systems are used widely throughout the retail and restaurant industries. POS systems are an efficient way for business owners to keep track of cash flow, foodor stock  inventory, track sales, and simplify the daunting task of bookkeeping.  POS systems are categorized into two main types of systems: Hard or soft goods Retail ; and Hospitality (restaurants and hotels). POS systems offer advanced accuracy as scanning is much more precise and time efficient than punching in a sticker price, or relying on a cashier to remember the cost of items.  Another advantage of the POS system is the ability to manage inventory.  POS will analyze sales patterns and flag items for a reorder.

 The point of sale system opens up a new world of data for businesses that a mere cash register never could. A computerized POS system can provide detailed sales reports and allows you to analyze sales in a multitude of ways. Sales can be assessed by store (if you have more than one), by cashier or sales clerk, by time frame, by promotion, or by SKU or item sold. A POS system will assist the inventory manager to calculate how much product to order with improved timing, help your head chef calculate how many heads of lettuce will be needed next week and take holidays into account.

 The specialized features found in POS equipment are designed to enhance and optimize business operations.  POS systems will not only benefit business owner and managers, it will also make a more enjoyable shopping experience for patrons and customers.

 1. Customers dislike waiting in long checkout lines. POS equipment lessens the amount of time that patrons must spend waiting to check out. 

 2.  Customers love rewards! Point of sale systems enables businesses to offer customer loyalty reward programs. Research proves that consumers love these programs and are likely to do return business where they are members of loyalty programs. POS equipment manages these types of programs. The “Points” card program is an example of this type of program.

 3. POS systems enable you to view sales reports in real-time so you can see up to date information of what products are selling.  This feature allows a business to accommodate their customers purchase preferences and sock the business with the most popular products.

 4. POS eliminates errors on customer receipts.  Shoppers become frustrated when they find errors on their receipt.  Point of Sale systems helps to eliminate these negative situations with the customers.

  5. The ability to track customers buying habits and personal preferences of customers allows you to cater to your customers shopping needs. This personal touch that is enabled by a Point of Sale system could never be accomplished by a cash register.

 In business, keeping satisfied customers is the name of the game. Point of Sale systems will help your business increase your customer satisfaction. Point of sale systems will offer your business an efficient way to improve and enhance your business profitability, while making book work and taking inventory easier and more efficient.

When considering your POS options, there is a new choice you have to make: whether to use a traditional or a web-based point of sale software system. Wait a minute, an Internet-based POS system? What is it and how can it help your business? A web-based POS system runs on your Internet browser and is hosted by the vendor. In contrast, a standard POS system runs the software on your server.

So why should you shift to an online point of sale software system? First, vital data is stored on your vendor’s computer, Is your data more secure than if it was archived on your server? Some will argue that your data is protected and you don’t need to spend money on creating backups of your records or software. The host is also responsible for conducting maintenance tasks such as upgrades, backups and re-configurations, freeing up you or your staff for other tasks.

Second, you save money on both hardware and software. You don’t need to install any programs on your computers since all the software is on the vendor’s server. Web-based POS software also has lower hardware requirements than standard systems. You can run it on any computer that has an Internet connection.

Web-based point of sale software is also cheaper since you only need to pay a monthly subscription fee for its use rather than having to buy or lease an entire package of hardware and software components. The subscription also includes technical support, updates and maintenance.

If you have multiple stores to monitor, an online system allows you to access the data from all the stores. In a standard POS system, the data would be stored on the server of the individual stores and would still have to be collated. Web-based POS means you can access your data from any computer that has an Internet connection, hence it can easily be displayed off-site for conferences and trade shows.

Online POS can also help improve customer service by providing data on their preferences. For example, a certain item could be popular at a particular branch as opposed to other branches. The program would provide a signal that more of that item should be kept on inventory at that store. Also, if a customer is looking for an item that is not available at your branch, you could either direct him to another branch that has the good in stock or order it for him if he is willing to wait.

Web-based POS is also more secure than traditional systems. If your computer is attacked by a virus or breached by a hacker, your data is still secure. You merely have to bring in a new unit and connect it to the Internet and you’re in business again. Remember that the data is not stored on your computer but on the vendor’s server.

Of course, this doesn’t mean that you should totally ignore security precautions. You should still follow basic safety measures such as turning on your computer’s firewall, limiting access to the system, using anti-virus programs and most of all, never storing sensitive information such as customer’s credit card numbers on your computer.

So, it seems that web-based point of sale software is ideal for your needs. Of course, you should go for it but not before exploring all of your options and then deciding which system will generate the most profits and cost savings for your business.