THE MEDIA ENCYCLOPEDIA
Point of Sale
A Point of Sale (POS) system is the primary means by which retailers manage sales and product inventory.
What is a Point of Sale (POS) system?
A Point of Sale (POS) is the primary means by which retailers manage sales and product inventory, often serving as the primary platform uniting inventory, transactions, and customer data.
What are the most popular Point of Sale (POS) systems?
With the advent of web and cloud-based technologies, the Point of Sale (POS) systems of the past — such as cash registers — have been replaced by integrated, cloud-based solutions that offer a variety of features, including inventory management, reporting, customer management, cross-platform merchandising, and more. Popular Point of Sale (POS) systems include Square, Toast, and Shopify, to name a few.
What are the main considerations a Point of Sale (POS) system?
For small businesses operating in a physical environment, such as a retail store, a Point of Sale (POS) system is critical and comes with a few core considerations for those considering the ideal platform.
First, small businesses must consider cost. Typically, costs are broken down into two buckets: upfront/flat costs and costs associated with each transaction.
For some Point of Sale (POS) systems, the upfront/flat costs could include costs for software licensing, hardware costs, and any onboarding, support, or maintenance required to service your business.
The next bucket of cost revolves around the transaction. Most Point of Sale (POS) providers will charge some combination of a percentage of the total transaction cost as well as a flat fee.
Square, as an example, charges customers a 2.6% fee for every transaction plus a 10-cents. So if a transaction equals $100, Square will charge the retailer $2.70 ($2.60 plus 10-cents).
Shopify, however, waives all transaction fees, but only if you use Shopify Payments.
Next, a Point of Sale (POS) system is only as good as it is usable and configurable to your own business’s needs.
One of the leading Point of Sale (POS) systems, Toast, primarily focuses on the restaurant and food services industry. As a result, they have features and solutions designed specifically for the nuances of the restaurant and food services industry, as well as customer support and training to help customers best take advantage of the system.
While most Point of Sale (POS) systems position themselves as general use, it’s worth exploring industry-specific solutions as well.
Finally, small businesses would be wise to consider the integrations and features of each Point of Sale (POS) system.
As one example, a small business seeking to reach retail customers online would be wise to invest in a Point of Sale (POS) system that offers some sort of integration with your website, your email marketing platform, or advertising platforms such as Facebook and Google.