What is Point of Sale and Why should you prefer it over cash?

point of sale

Have you gone into a supermarket and seen a centralized point for payment with lots of gadgets? Well, these gadgets are used to ease the payment of goods and such a set up is known as a Point of Sale. Point of sale (POS) is the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. At the point of sale, the merchant calculates the amount owed by the customer, indicates that amount, may prepare an invoice and indicates the options for the customer to make payment.

The point of sale (POS) system is comprised of both hardware and software. The hardware include, bar code reader, printer, cash drawer among others. The software includes; Netsuite, Lightspeed Retail, Nobly POS among others. These software are installed in the computer systems and are used in calculating the values of the different items bought and issuing of receipts.

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There are lots of advantages of using Point of Sale over cash. We have discussed some of them below.

Simplify The Accounting Process.

Using cash forces accountants to sort through hundreds of receipts in order to prepare books of accounts but with a point of sale system, the accountants can simply use the built in reports to prepare the books of account.

Management Of Stock.

Unlike cash, a point of sale system has a stock management system. Store managers use the records of a POS system to track their biggest items sold and reorder those products when stock gets low.

It is easy to look up past transactions.

A POS system come in handy when you want to track past transactions. For example, if you need to know how much you sold last Week, a point of sale system can give you that information immediately. It would on the other hand take many hours to find the same answer using a cash register.

Simplify the Ordering Process.

With a point of sale system, you can create your own purchase orders, eliminating an extra step in the ordering process. It is even possible to automate the ordering process to make sure you never run out of your biggest selling products.

Faster Service.

Every part of the transaction process, from reading the barcode on the product, authorizing a credit card transaction to printing a customer receipt, is faster on a point of sale system unlike cash registers.

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Limits User Errors.

Hitting a wrong key is always a risk when making a sale. Most POS devices and software have inbuilt checks to ensure that the Information is entered accurately.

Eliminates Hand Count of Stock.

With a point of sale system, you can see real time stock. This is practically impossible when using cash registers. This makes it easy in tracking the stock available in the business. You will not need to hand count your stock at the end of every day.

With the above advantages, it’s important to have a point of sale system installed at your shop. Many POS systems are available on the market. You are therefore advised to choose very carefully the best suitable system for your business. Point of sale system are needed to be faster, easier and cheaper to install. Their installation is needed to be simple.

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