POS – Point of Sale systems are generally a combination of hardware and software used to process payment transactions at stores, restaurants, cafes etc. Today’s businesses demand quite some functionalities from checkout solutions. Today’s POS are not only about making payments, but also handle process management, inventory management, sales reporting and customer relationship as well. This makes it very crucial for ecommerce developers to create POS solutions that have a diverse functionality along with secure payment processing.
Here are a few pointers that will help businesses select the right Point-Of-Sale (POS) solutions:
Understand what you are hoping to get out of your POS
It’s important that you understand what you are expecting your POS solution to do. It will ultimately help you save money. You can set prices and assign barcodes. This will in the end save time as you check customers out. Well, also understand that you can get a complete solution for inventory management to track your products and deals and discounts as well as pricing too. So, if you are expecting your POS to give you information regarding your inventory, products and pricing and sales, you can select a more advanced POS system. All this information will help you better tailor your business and make it more customer oriented.
Understand your business type and then select
Every type of business requires different functionalities from their POS solutions. If you are a retail store, you might want a complete inventory solution if budget permits and if you are a book store, you might want to understand the fastest selling books whereas if you are a café, you might want a simple checkout automation. Well, list out what your business requires and then select the right POS.
What are your pricing criteria?
There is a wide variety of POS systems and equally broad price range. The type of solution and the size of your business will decide the sophistication you are expecting from a POS solution. There are many “free” versions available. If you want a low cost solution, these will be sufficient. There are some POS available that have marketing features as well as social networking features. Yet some others help you with better administration of store activities, select a paid version. Understand your budget, store size and decide the pricing.
Cloud Based or Local?
Cloud based POS system allow you to access the data even on the go with the help of internet. All of your business data is stored on the cloud and you can do business from anywhere, anytime. Traditionally POS systems have always been local. Within the last 2 -3 years, cloud technology has penetrated all walks of life and has really caught on.
Well, before you set out to get a POS system for your business, understand your requirements, pricing model and the features you would require. Read the reviews for the POS systems you select, understand their features and then make the right decision.
