What Does Point of Sale Mean and Why Your Business Needs It

There are a lot of different skills a person needs to have to run a successful online store. It would be best if you marketed your business to attract new customers and have management and administrative skills to organize your internal processes. A point of sale system (PoS) can help you in this regard as we shall see later on, but first, let’s get a definition of what a PoS software solution is.  

What is a PoS System?  

A PoS is simply something that your customers use to buy something from your store. Whenever a purchase is made, it means that a PoS transaction has been completed. As you can imagine, such a system plays an essential role in the overall success of your business. The PoS must be very user friendly since customers because the trend is to have a self-service kiosk where the customer can pay for their items themselves; therefore, the system needs to be very easy to use.  

For business owners, a PoS also has many benefits since this where sales, inventory, and customer management all come together. Now that we have looked at what does point of sale mean let’s look at the benefits.  

What are the Benefits of Having a PoS System?  

If your store has multiple locations, a PoS system will help you keep track of all the inventory. For example, let’s say that you run out of certain items in one store; your employees will be able to see which stores have the necessary inventory. Also, a cloud PoS system can let you take your business anywhere since you will be able to see all of the sales numbers right from your phone or mobile device. Speaking of a cloud PoS, this can also help you maintain the security of your customers’ information. Since you are handling customer credit card information, this information must remain secure since any leaks could result in massive fines.  

What are the Componentes of a PoS System?  

The PoS systems used to today have the software installed that has a frontend interface, which is what the cashier will interact with, or the customer will use to complete the purchase if this a self-service PoS. This will usually be a touch screen with a clearly defined user path to keep things simple. The backend is where all of the bookkeeping takes place. Employees can access the backend of the system to find data about inventory, sales, and other back-office data.  

The data that’s coming in can be stored both on-site or in the cloud. Let’s take a closer look at each type.

If your data is stored on site:  

• The data will be held on servers that you own either in your store on another location  
• ·If you would like to keep the data on-premise, you will need to acquire at least one license  
• Such software will require manual updates  
• You will not need to have an internet connection to access the data since it is already located inside the system  

If you store your data in the cloud:  

• You will be able to access the data from any mobile device at any time  
• The PoS provider is responsible for all service and maintenance  
• Increased uptime and better availability of your data  

Before cloud computing went mainstream, stores had a computerized PoS system, but now everything is held in the cloud. This saves businesses so much money because it eliminates all of the overhead costs of hosting your servers, such as purchasing the hardware, renting out office space to keep them, and providing the necessary maintenance.  

What Does PoS Mean in Business?  

We looked at the PoS system meaning and the benefits, but which type of solution is right for your business? If you are a retailer, you will need to make sure that your PoS includes certain functionalities such as inventory tracking and maintaining all of the sales numbers. It is a good idea to host your data in the cloud, especially if you are a small retailer because all of the costs of having physical servers can really start to add up. This is true for both physical stores and online ones as well. However, if your internet connection is not stable, then it would be better to opt for on-premise data storage.  

Restaurants all have their unique requirements for their PoS system. For example, as soon as the order is made, the PoS system needs to relay the order to the kitchen, provide tipping options and table booking. If the data is stored in the cloud, it will be possible to monitor all of the locations in real-time. Imagine all of the business benefits you can get if you have up to the minute information about any of your restaurants and the agility this could bring to your business. Another benefit of the cloud PoS is that it is possible to have an offline mode in case you have no internet. This will keep the PoS running, and all of the data will be synced as soon as the connection is restored.   

Start Getting the Most out of Your PoS System  

We talked about what is the point of sales systems, how the pos system works, and how to use PoS system, but the most important thing is to have one customized for your individual needs. Skywell Software has a lot of experience in creating PoS systems for retailers and can build the software you need to get the highest ROI. You need to have the necessary technology that will simplify and expedite processes, and we can help you get there by using our industry expertise and expert know-how.