A Point of Sale (POS) system refers to the combination of hardware and software that a business uses to centralize all its operations. Any POS system will handle your sales and track your inventory, but the best ones will also help a business manage its employees, improve internal communication, and plan email marketing campaigns or customer loyalty programs.
A POS might be as simple as a single iPad with a quarter-sized card-reader running a POS app for a mall kiosk, or it might cover multiple registers in multiple locations for a big restaurant chain. The two largest industries served by POS are retail stores, such as clothes, electronics or jewelry outlets, and restaurants, which include anything from food trucks to fine dining.
In all cases, the right POS system should pay for itself several times over, since it streamlines every aspect of a business’ typical operations.
A restaurant-specific POS should allow servers to place orders and communicate with the kitchen, track the stock of individual ingredients, track customer reservations, and track which tables have placed which orders. One of the biggest POS vendors in this space is TouchBistro, though other strong options include Toast, Lavu, Square POS, Lightspeed Restaurant, and Revel. When choosing the right fit for you, consider venue size, number of terminals needed, and if you’ll require any unique features.
Find the Best POS System Price Plan for Your Business
That’s right, free! There are POS systems out there which won’t cost you a dime, and are usually software-only. However, there’s always a catch, and some free options – like Vend or eHopper – use a “freemium” model which reserves their best features for a paid tier. Other services, like Square, charge a few percentage points of revenue from each sale, while some free services are open-sourced and may be buggy or haphazard. Still, small businesses or hobbyists can probably find a free POS that serves their needs.
A good retail POS should accept all forms of payment (cash, credit, and cardless), keep all products well-stocked thanks to automated notifications sent when stock is low, and help employees easily communicate.
A few of the largest and most popular retail POS services include Square, Lightspeed, Shopify, Vend, and Shopkeep. POS services aimed at smaller retail outlets include Erply and SalesVu.
Five areas can affect the price of a POS: Location size, number of terminals, number of locations, type of industry, and hardware compatibility. Running a small store with one terminal for a year might cost around $1,200 up-front, including both hardware costs and the annual bill for a POS software plan costing around $60-$80 a month. A large location might cost around $6,500 to get started, with the majority going to the hardware needed. We’ve broken down all the cost factors in our POS price guide.
Compare Costs of Leading POS Software In Moments
Shopify is great across the board, from a 24/7 support team to a fair price to an intuitive interface with a quick learning curve. It's also a great fit for businesses with an online store as well as a physical one. Find the best POS system for your business with Tech.co
The Vend platform is a solid POS software and among the most well-known. It performs well overall, with a strong raft of features, good support options, and fair pricing. Its flexiblity is a strong selling point, as evidenced in its wide range of third-party integrations.
Lightspeed's price is a little above the norm for the POS industry, but its strong features, ease of use, and support team more than make up for it. It's a good choice for a small, mid-size or large business that needs a high-quality POS system.
A POS system is not only an essential part of running any successful store in today's world, but it's almost the only system business owners need. Here's our overview of which ten retail POS systems are worth considering.
As one of the largest POS vendors, Square delivers a well-constructed, well-tested service. Its raft of features and data analytics options should be more than enough for most businesses. It also comes with a unique price plan. Review and compare POS systems with Tech.co
ShopKeep's iPad POS software is aimed at two biggest POS-reliant industries: Retail and restaurants. The vendor also sells hardware options for businesses in need of more than just iPads, from barcode scanners to receipt printers. But are the features worth the price?
Founded in Toronto in 2010, TouchBistro has rapidly expanded beyond the city to take over the entire restaurant POS industry, and for good reason. Find out why TouchBistro could be the perfect software for your restaurant or cafe in our 2019 review, plus get a custom price quote.
POS systems can be tiny or huge, from a single iPad app to a multi-location hardware and software setup. But whether your business is one person with a tablet, or hundreds of employees, every business owner wants to find the best POS system at the most cost-effective price point.
Is a free POS system right for your business? It largely depends on the current size of your business and what you have planned for the future. Here's a look at which options to consider and how to tell if they're right for you.
The right POS system can streamline every operation of your restaurant, bar, or cafe, from orders and payments to your entire ingredient inventory. Here’s everything to know about the best restaurant POS systems available today.
An iPad POS app is a must for small or mid-size businesses and they can power entire restaurant chains. Learn more about the best POS systems you can run on your iPad.
What is a POS system? It’s the “Point of Sale” in the retail or ecommerce industry, and the term refers to the software and hardware used to track and record sales and inventory. Here's why POS is essential for businesses, and how you can find the best POS system for you.
An iPad POS system can deliver the customer experience you need to wow your customers, and the simplicity and versatility for easy to implementation.
