How to Choose the Best POS System

By now, you already know what a POS system is—but with so many options available, how do you choose the best retail POS system for your business?

At its core, a POS system will help you securely process sales and take care of administrative tasks like managing inventory and staff. But when you’re deciding which is the best point-of-sale system to use, it’s important to understand what tools and features you need to run your business now and in the future. What are your current needs? What will your needs be in five years?

The answer to that question is largely dependent on your retail business type. What’s important for a furniture store might not be necessary for a clothing store, for example.

For any retail business, initial and ongoing costs, usability, and scalability should be top factors when shopping for the right POS system. This article will help you understand what to look for when comparing retail POS systems so you can make the best decision for today and the future.

A point-of-sale (POS) system is the hardware and software that lets you check out customers, accept payments, and manage your physical retail stores.

The best retail POS systems help you capture more sales in-store, unify your online and in-person customer experience, and reduce time spent on administrative tasks like inventory management.

A POS system is made up of three parts:

1. Software
2. Hardware
3. Payments

If you want to accept in-person payments, track sales, and manage inventory, you need a retail POS system.

While you could manually record each sale in a spreadsheet, it’s much harder to get an accurate understanding of your sales and control your inventory. After all, how can you make good decisions if they’re based on inaccurate information?

Modern POS systems do all the work for you and ensure your sales and inventory data is accurate. They automatically keep track of every sale and store important product information, like its wholesale price, retail price, and gross and net profit margin. Inventory levels and sales data are updated whenever you buy, sell, return, or exchange a product in-store or online.

All that point-of-sale data feeds into your reporting and analytics, which help you understand your business better and make decisions with confidence.