Find the Best Point of Sale (POS) System: Make an Informed Purchase

Are you in the market for point of sale (POS) hardware components and other related accessories?

Let us help you be an informed consumer by explaining the point of sale (POS) system.

POS System: A Rundown

Owning and operating a business entails numerous tasks starting from managing and tracking inventory, generating sales reports, tracking employee performances, and many more. A sturdy point of sale (POS) system can ensure that all your business operations are working in sync so that business owners can invest their time in other essential aspects of business operations.

A point of sale (POS), also known as the point of purchase is the place where you checkout customers after completing a transaction. Simply put, a point of sale (POS) is the place where customers pay for the products and service they want to buy at a store.

According to recent data, the mobile point of sale (POS) segment’s transaction value is expected to reach US$ 32.75 billion in 2022.

To enable the checkout process, a combination of hardware and software components is used. The combination of these components is known as a point of sale (POS) system. Even though the functionality seems like that of traditional cash registers, a point of sale (POS) system does more than just process payments.

Cash Registers


POS System: Key Benefits

1.      Automated Process: Business owners can now avoid the monotonous tasks that consume a lot of time and energy and focus on other important tasks. The right point of sale (POS) system can help smaller brands deliver fast and enhanced customer service just like a larger brand. 

2.      Inventory Management: You can track and manage your inventory in real-time using a powerful point of sale (POS) system. Once you receive your fresh stock, all you need to do is scan the barcode from the product, enter the product details in the system and the product information gets stored in the system for you to access at any time. This process not only saves time but also mitigates the chances of human error. If you use a cloud-based point of sale (POS) system, you can access your data from any location at any time. You can re-stock items that are running out of stock and make a note of items that aren’t selling well. 

3.      Convenient Invoicing: With traditional cash registers, recording and grouping invoices used to be vexing, which is no longer troublesome with modern-day point of sale (POS) systems. Every company has several categories of invoices that need to be segregated and maintained accurately for accounting operations. This is automatically handled by the point of sale (POS) system. 

4.      Quick Payment and Checkout Process: Point of sale (POS) systems help in speeding up the payment and checkout process. As soon as the employee scans the barcode from the products chosen by the customer, the product information, along with the total amount owed gets displayed on the computer. Customers can pay for their purchased products by cash, debit, or credit card, and complete the checkout process. 

5.      Customer Management: Point of sale (POS) system helps with documenting customer information conveniently. This information can be the customer’s name, phone numbers, emails, etc. so that you can get an overview of your target market and make note of the loyal and returning customers. Accessing these data you can customise promotions and incentivise your loyal and returning customers. 

6.      Purchase Order Management: Another crucial benefit of owning a point of sale (POS) system is tracking and managing your purchases from your vendors. You can opt for point of sale (POS) software with open API so that you can connect with your vendors directly. 

7.      Better Customer Relationship Management: With a good point of sale (POS) system, you can build a strong customer relationship by offering them a pleasing shopping experience. Expedited checkout processes negate the need for customers to wait in queues, thereby providing customers with a convenient shopping experience. Besides, with the introduction of mobile point of sale (mPOS) systems, you can checkout customers from any location within the store. This would not only increase the brand loyalty but also ensure that they return to your store and spread the word of mouth in their networks. 

8.      Employee Management: To determine your employee’s performance, you need access to tangible data. Point of sale (POS) systems help in tracking employees’ check-in and check-out times, and tracking sales per employee, their working hours, and sales per time slot.

 

If you are in the market for the perfect point of sale (POS) system, you need the right combination of POS hardware bundles and powerful POS software that will suit your operational needs.

Hardware Components

1.      POS Terminal: The POS terminal is the device that runs the entire point of sale (POS) system and works in sync with the cash drawer and payment processor. Most point of sale (POS) systems use a desktop as the POS terminal. However, modern-day point of sale (POS) systems use portable and touchscreen devices like tablets or iPads for convenient operations. 

2.      Barcode Scanner: Irrespective of the size of the business, you would require a barcode scanner. As the name implies, barcode scanners are used to scan the barcode labels from products that fetch information about the product and help in speeding the checkout process. Besides, facilitating transactions, barcode scanners help with inventory tracking and management. 

3.      Receipt Printer: It has already been established that receipts are proof of transactions that contain information like the product name, date and time of purchase, the total amount of the item, etc. To print these receipts, a device is used, known as the receipt printer. Primarily there are three types of receipt printers- ink jet, dot-matrix, and thermal receipt printers. Thermal receipt printers are the most popular ones, used in most business operations. However, kitchen printers are mostly dot-matrix (impact) printers. 

4.      Card Reader: To process cashless payments, you need to ensure that you have an EMV-enabled card reader to process payments from debit and credit cards. 

5.      Cash Drawer: These devices act as POS cash registers. Even though most customers these days prefer making cashless payments for their purchases, there still are customers who make payments in cash. To store the cash, and other important bills and receipts, a cash drawer is required. 

6.      Customer-facing Display: As the name implies, these screens display the price breakup and total amount owed by the customer. These screens are also used to display custom messages to customers. 

Software Components

The point of sale (POS) software is the operating system that manages the entire store operations starting from sales reporting to inventory tracking and management, enhancing customer relationships by personalising rewards, and others. Therefore, it is vital to choose the perfect software that can take some burden off of your shoulders. Point of sale (POS) is primarily of two types- on-site and cloud-based, of which, cloud-based is the most popular and convenient one.

Note: While shopping for a point of sale (POS) bundle, ensure that you pick POS accessories like carbonised paper rolls, tags, ink rollers, etc. that will complement your point of sale (POS) system.

Point of Sale (POS) System: Types

1.      On-site POS System: These are the traditional point of sale (POS) systems that come with both hardware and software components operating together. Under the point of sale (POS) system, all the business requirements are available on-site.

 

2.      Cloud-based POS System: These are the highly popular point of sale (POS) systems and are also known as web-based point of sale (POS) systems. Cloud-based point of sale (POS) systems offer features of an on-site point of sale (POS) system, the only difference between the two is that cloud-based point of sale (POS) systems store data in the remote data centres for easy accessibility and enhanced security. 

3.      Mobile POS (mPOS) system: Tablets, iPads, or smartphones are all the components of a mobile point of sale (mPOS) system. This solution functions like cloud-based software and can access data from any location, at any time, and on the go. 

4.      Self-service Kiosks: You must have come across these devices in many restaurants, cafés, movie theatres, etc. As the name implies, self-service kiosks enable a self-checkout process in which the customers place their orders and pay for the same on their own instead of relying on a sales assistant. This mitigates the need to wait in long queues and minimises checkout time, thereby providing customers with a seamless shopping experience. 

Now that we have discussed the concept of the point of sale (POS) system in-depth, let us ease your search by listing the popular point of sale (POS) systems in Australia.

Top 5 Point of Sale (POS) Systems in Australia

1.      Vend: A cloud-based point of sale (POS) system that offers features like inventory management, eCommerce, customer loyalty, reporting and analytics, etc. Vend is known for its affordability and flexibility and is the perfect fit for businesses of any size. 

2.      ConnectPOS: This point of sale (POS) system is cloud-based and is one of the most popular point of sale (POS) systems in Australia that can facilitate businesses of all sizes. ConnectPOS can also streamline and optimise the retail operations and enhance revenue generation. 

3.      TouchBistro: This point of sale (POS) system comes with both hardware and software components and is the perfect option for a restaurant business. These have a simple user interface and support exciting features. However, TouchBistro has one drawback - it doesn’t come with a payment processor and therefore, retailers need to integrate the point of sale (POS) system with other third-party processors. 

4.      Square: This is one of the most widely preferred point of sale (POS) solutions in Australia and is widely accepted because it supports offline payment mode. 

5.      Lightspeed: For small and medium-scale retail businesses, Lightspeed is the perfect option. It can modify the point of sale (POS) system to meet the requirements of the specific business and supports a powerful inventory management system. 

Summing Up,

Once you have zeroed in on the point of sale (POS) system that you would purchase, you must be browsing through the internet to pick the perfect POS destination.

Your search ends here!

POS Plaza is the one-stop destination for all point of sale (POS) needs in Australia. Visit our store or get in touch with us for personalised assistance on your shopping spree and pick the perfect point of sale (POS) system to suit your business needs.

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