Almost everyone has been to a large mall or a big retailing shop, where you could have seen a barcode scanner being used for billing of various items that have been purchased. You may have also noticed a host of other equipment like computers, printers, credit card readers, etc with the billing clerks. This is a small example of a point of sale system.
Therefore, we can say that the point of sale system consists of a number of pieces of equipment like computers, special terminals for bar code scanners, printers, credit card readers and so on that are used for recording a sales transaction.
Types
There are two types of point of sale systems.
The first is the online type in which a number of such points of sale are connected to one central server, which keeps a real time record of all transactions being carried out at the various points. It is used in large establishments where the volume of sales is huge.
The second variety of point of sale system is called stand alone, which essentially is a single point where the transactions are recorded. This is used in smaller organizations and in case there are a number of such points, the data is to be tallied manually at the end of the day or in a periodic manner.
Uses
The point of sale system minimizes the records keeping tasks drastically and makes the sales operations faster. This helps in having more user satisfaction and larger turnover of sales leading to better profits.
It also helps in reducing the overall number of staff and equipment to be used for accounting for various stores. It leads to better inventory management and control. It helps in monitoring the entire marketing system in a real time manner, which leads to better productivity and records.
The point of sale system makes the entire operation more user-friendly by incorporating various facilities like online transactions as well as credit cards. This too leads to a bigger volume of sales leading to more profitability.
Cost
The cost of such a system will depend upon the type of usage; whether it is standalone or online and the number of peripherals that had been used. For a small-scale operation, there are point of sale systems available for as little as $85 and the cost goes up to well over $1500 in larger systems..
Selection of a Point Of Sale System
- Determining your needs – based on your needs, the various peripherals, and the software will need to be incorporated.
- Overall budget – it is important to know the budget ceiling under which you must purchase such a point of sale system. An online system would cost much more than a standalone one, therefore there is no point trying to obtain an online system if you feel a standalone system would serve the need adequately.
Support and Training
Training on the usage of the selected system as well as maintenance and running costs would have to be considered while negotiating any deal about installing such a system.