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Advantages of point of sale or POS
systems
Before, all that was
required from small retail companies was
a credit-card terminal and cash
register. But, after the emergence of
personal computers, many retail store
owners have started using specialised
personal computers for inventory and
sales purposes. These personal computers
have additional units such as swipe bar,
receipt printer, check reader, bar code
scanner, cash drawer and other
peripherals. Apart from the hardware
components, Pos terminals also run
special software which helps in
monitoring inventory and authorising
check and credit cards.
Many set-ups allow the
use of bar-code laser scanners for
reading the Uniform product Code or UPC
on the goods being sold. Inventory
functions allow the addition of
descriptions, the quantity and price of
goods as and when they are brought into
a store. There are a number of other
functions that can be availed and are
business-centric. For instance, the
restaurant points of sale systems have a
printer in the kitchen for sending
orders after the order is entered in the
touch screen. There is point of sale
software that is specific to a
particular business such as auto
mechanic, restaurant, retails, hotel,
etc.
Almost all the POS
systems have the facility to be
connected to high-speed internet
connection. The POS systems are used for
processing authorisations for checks and
credit cards quickly in comparison to
dial-up connections of credit-card
terminals. Periodic and daily reports
can be produced with the help of point
of sale software which is best suited
for internal accounting. Moreover,
commonly used accounting software is
also supported.
If a person already has a
PC then it the POS can easily be
“created” by buying the POS software and
additional peripherals such as
credit-card swiping terminal, cash
drawer, etc. However, it is best to
avoid such cobbled-together systems. It
is best to possess a stand-alone point
of sale which has the POS software.
If a business is already
equipped for processing credit cards, it
is necessary to check the current
processor before a new POS is purchased.
This will help in ensuring that the
software and the system will have
compatibility with the current
processor’s platform. A trader should be
in a position to “load” the account
numbers into the software and also enter
the internet addresses and/or telephone
numbers that are need for carrying
authorisations of credit cards.
Caution needs to be taken
before setting up point of sale software
systems. The POS systems are devised in
such as way that they can run only under
a specific processor and a trader will
also have agree to shell out more in
case of increase in processing rates.
Hence, it is always better to obtain
information from an executive so that
right decisions can be taken. Since the
point of sale software systems such as
QuickBooks operate only for specific
processors, care needs to be taken
before they are set-up keeping in mind
that they are not flexible. Hence, POS
software may seem cheap up-front since
they could be changed at a later stage.
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