How Technological Innovations Transformed Point-Of-Sale Systems

Technological innovations are inevitable for any industrial sector for growth and operational efficiency, and the ever-booming Indian retain sector is no exception to this dictum.

Point of Sale (POS) which forms the backbone of all retail operations has seen a sea-change over the recent years providing retail businesses the much advanced POS systems which can do multiple functions automatically thereby increasing operational efficiency, reducing error, cutting cost and increasing profits.

Modern POS systems are widely used in food services and restaurant businesses, grocery retail stores, super markets, healthcare, hospitality, food and beverage outlets, health and beauty salon, entertainment, utility shops, to name a few.

What is POS?

POS is a computerized system through which business managements can keep track of inventory levels, revenue streams, cash flows, accounting books, credits and debits, and several other mundane functions which, if carried through manual function, will be complex, error prone, involve more manpower and time consuming.

POS in retail industry

POS systems are seen immense usage in retail industry. With high level of credit card, debit card and cash charges flowing through POS systems at any given time, retailers need to have highly efficient and effective system to manage such activity. Every single rupee passes through a store’s account book can be easily tracked through a POS system.

However, the efficiency of any POS system depends on the quality of POS software which the retailers use for their business environments.

Features of the POS systems

POS systems can be designed for large-scale retail business applications across multiple locations. Medium-sized enterprises such as a supermarket or electronic and electrical store can manage up to 5 Lakh Stock Keeping Units (SKUs). More so, POS systems can be customized to suit your SKUs and operational needs. POS software can effectively manage both front-end and backend operations of your store business.

While on the front end, POS systems can manage your sales, pricing, qualities and inventory, on the backend they are capable of performing all rudimentary and advanced functions. POS systems can also be used to manage and schedule staff, monitor in and out time, purchases, operational efficiency, pay role management, accounting and individual transaction details.

Customer management is one of the familiar features of any POS system available where customer names, addresses, contact numbers, email IDs, buying pattern and transaction details are stored, either in local computer system or on the cloud. Such information are used by retailers to engage customers using different kinds of CRM activities.

Major Benefits of POS Systems

If you take restaurants for example, POS system has simplified the communication issue faced by staff doing different functions. Waiters and kitchen staff can now exchange communications quickly much to the satisfaction of customers as they get their orders quickly.

Effective inventory management can reduce purchase overlapping, lessen wastages, improve planning and up functional efficiency. An effective POS system can also be used for payroll preparations, which saves money in terms of human resources. Certain POS terminals can perform much advanced functions such as profit and loss, internal auditing, income statements, balance sheets and tax related activities.

For retail businesses which are planning to have POS systems to enhance their operations, it’s imperative to evaluate the cost criteria with respect to having obsolete POS systems and highly advanced and user-friendly modern POS system.