point of sale systems

Retail Point of Sale Systems

2009-01-01T01:40:00.001-08:00

Point of sale systems are very important commodities to have to successfully run a business in which sales are your specialty. This is especially true for businesses that specialize in retail. The success of this type of business relies heavily on making sure you have an accurate count of your inventory, recording which products are the ones that see the most within your business, and which ones do not sell. Being able to make credit card transactions is also an important part of being able to stay in business as a retail store.

Inventory

Knowing which products in retail stores sells and the products which do not sell is an important knowledge to have when running this type of business. This is important because a business owner will not want to order more of the items that his customers are not buying. At the same time, the items that are really popular with your customers need to be identified so that you will be able to carry more of them in your store.

The point of sale system will help you do this by keeping track of your inventory and recording every sale you make. It will then tell you which products you will need to order and which ones are just taking up shelf space in your store. The key to running a successful business is efficiency. You will be able to accomplish this by implementing a point of sale system.

Credit Card Transactions

Being able to accept credit cards as a way of payment in a retail store is another important part of being able to stay in business. Studies have shown that businesses that do not accept credit cards have about 60 percent less business than those that have the capability of processing credit card transactions. For new and small business owners you cannot afford to lose customers due to your inability to accept credit cards. With a point of sale system you will be able to process those types of transactions, and in the process gain more customers.

Point Of Sale Systems provides detailed information on Point Of Sale Systems, Restaurant Point Of Sale Systems, Affordable Point Of Sale Systems, Retail Point Of Sale Systems and more. Point Of Sale Systems is affiliated with Point Of Sale Hardware.

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Insurance Sales - Keep Your Focus on Sales

2008-08-18T20:53:00.001-07:00

Keeping your focus on sales may sound a little odd to you. You're in sales of course your focus is on sales, or is it? Wouldn't it just be a piece of cake if all you had to do was sell? But there's really so much more to it than that, isn't there? The actual sale is just a final portion of the whole process: obtaining or generating leads, making a connection with those leads, securing the appointment, holding the appointment, and then making the sale.

There are a variety of point systems used in sales with the intention of motivating you to close more sales. These systems work quite well for some people, and for others they really don't seem to move you any closer to an actual sale than using no point system at all. The objective of the point system is to gain a certain number of points each day with the idea being that if you consistently reach your point goal each day you'll eventually start increasing your sales. The problem is that you can get all your points each and every day, and yet see no increase in sales. Why, because it's too easy to have your focus on the wrong things.

The first step is getting leads. Sometimes you get very caught up in getting leads and you spend the bulk of your time working on leads. You have to have leads to have anyone to sell to, but you of course have to get an appointment with those leads for them to have any potential value for you. Plus when you're only focusing on leads rather than the desired end result a lot of those so called leads may be pretty big long shots. When you meet with long shots the likelihood of making a sale becomes an even longer shot.

When you focus on the appointment you may hold lots of appointments and still have few sales. You have a full appointment calendar, and you're running yourself ragged meeting with all these potential clients. Yet few seem to materialize into a customer because you aren't focusing on the sale.

When you focus on the sale you have to get leads, make a connection, secure the appointment, and hold the appointment. But because your focus is on the sale all those things are just the underscore to the real symphony. At each step along the path you're focused on doing the things you need to do to make the sale. So when you finally get your appointment you're entire focus is on the sale. You're listening to the prospect, gaining a full understanding and helping the prospect to discover what you know to be true and together you reach a decision that you need to close this sale. Focus on the sale and get the desired prize.

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POS - Point of Sale Explained

2008-08-04T20:28:00.000-07:00

The term point-of-sale is used to describe a variety of things. This can include the checkout counter in a store or a place where transactions occur. More frequently, the phrase refers to a computerized cash register. The commonly used abbreviation for point-of-sale is POS. Each letter in the abbreviation is pronounced individually (e.g. P-O-S) versus pronouncing the abbreviation itself (e.g. paws).

When computers were first invented, large retailers were the first to implement point-of-sale systems to help automate many of the tasks involved with operating a retail store. These computers were very large and expensive. This limited the adoption of point-of-sale systems to large retailers such as grocery chains. The introduction of low cost personal computers during the 1980s allowed retail stores of all sizes to improve efficiencies with the help of pos systems.

A common point-of-sale system includes a computer, cash drawer, receipt printer, pole display, bar code scanner, magnetic swipe reader, modem and point-of-sale software. Each piece provides the following functionality:

- Personal Computer - Operates the POS software and provides hardware interfaces for devices such as printers, credit card readers and so on.
- Cash Drawer - A lock box that stores cash and is triggered to open by the pos software.
- Receipt Printer - Prints a paper copy of the sales transaction for the customer.
- Pole Display - LED display that faces the customer and shows each item and price scan.
- Bar Code Scanner - A laser type of device (gun style, counter style) that when triggered over a bar code, converts bar code lines into numbers. This number or SKU (Stock Keeping Unit) is then transmitted back to the pos computer for automatic price lookup.
- Magnetic Swipe Reader - Reads the magnetic strip on the back of a credit or debit card. The information stored on the magnetic strip includes the credit card number, expiration date, customer name, and address. The information is transmitted to a credit card processing network through the point-of-sale system for payment of merchandise.
- Modem - Allows the point-of-sale computer to communicate with bank credit card processing centers and to other locations of the store chain.
- Point of Sale Software - Software that runs on the computer, controls the various devices, and performs traditional cash register functions such as ringing a sale.

Today's point-of-sale software contains many more features in addition to the computerized cash register. As a result, the term POS System is slowly being replaced with the phrase Retail Management System. POS is now commonly referred to as only the cash register feature within a retail management system.

When point-of-sale systems were first introduced, their sole function was to ring sales by department codes. This simple automation allowed retailers to view their daily sales summarized by department. The automation saved a retailer many hours in determining which departments contained the best selling items and how many sales dollars were generated. Once these computers were in place, the rapid evolution of today's sophisticated retail management systems began.

The next step in the point-of-sale evolution was the addition of automatic pricing. Rather than entering a department code and then the price of an item, cashiers could now enter the SKU (Stocking Keeping Unit) of the item and the point-of-sale would retrieve the price. Automatic Pricing saved retailers money by removing the need to place a physical price tag on each item and in reducing pricing errors made by cashiers.

Since the point-of-sale system was now keeping an individual record for each inventory item, retailers wanted to maintain their stocking levels in the computer. This ushered in the era of real-time perpetual inventory. By placing a bar code that represented the SKU on each inventory item, the On Hand quantity of inventory was automatically reduced each time it was scanned at the point-of-sale. This feature allowed retailers to query their point-of-sale systems for up-to-date balances at a moment's notice.

Once inventory stocking levels and retail pricing were being managed by the point-of-sale system, the next logical step was to add purchasing and receiving modules to complete the inventory management loop. This closed loop inventory automation allowed a retailer to:

1. Issue purchase orders to buy goods
2. Create inventory records and SKUs via the purchase order
3. Receive goods against the purchase order
4. On hand stock levels are increased based upon receiving
5. Print price tag with bar codes
6. Sell the goods via the point-of-sale cash register
7. On hand stock levels are depleted based upon SKU scans
8. Perpetual Inventory is automatically maintained
9. Generate reports on sales, inventory levels, purchases, and receiving
10. Manage inventory buying and markdown behavior based upon sales trends

As you can see, the simple point-of-sale system grew into a powerful information system for managers and store owners. Today, point-of-sale systems continue to innovate and some even include:

- eCommerce integration

- Integrated accounting

- CRM - Customer Relationship Module

- Electronic payment processing

- Gift card management

- Service order management

- Marketing

- Revolving accounts receivable

- Customer traffic counters

- Integrated video surveillance

- Open To Buy planning

- Linear inventory modeling

- Special order management

- EDI (electronic ordering)

- And much more...

As retail management systems continue to add more robust features, the term point-of-sale will continue to refer to just a module within the overall system.

Chester Ritchie is the Vice President of Sales & Marketing at CAM Commerce Solutions, Inc. (NASDAQ: CADA) located in California. For more information regarding point of sale systems please visit http://www.camcommerce.com.

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Affordable Point of Sale Systems

2008-07-27T02:24:00.001-07:00

A very good point of sale system can be very expensive. A new business owner may not want to spend too much money on an expensive system right away. Even though a point of sale system is a very important part of a successful business you do not want to buy one you cannot afford as of yet. You should purchase and implement a system that is affordable for you business at this moment, and later on when your business becomes successful you could upgrade to a more expensive system.

Expensive Point of Sale Systems

The cost of a point of sale system will depend on the features you want included in the package, as well as its ability to make online connections with the main central computer.

The most advanced and sophisticated point of sale system can cost over $1,500. These systems will usually have online capability and instantaneously connect to the central main computer to update inventory as well as check the credit balance for credit card purchases. A system such as this one will include everything you will need to have an efficient and successful point of sale system. Included in the price of this type of system will include the necessary software, a printer, cash drawer, magnetic card swipe, and barcode scanner.

Stand-alone Systems

A new or small business owner will likely not need a very advanced system. They often just need a simple system that can record transactions and track inventory. These types of systems do not need to have online connections to the central computer. Purchasing a stand-alone system which stores all transactions and keep track of inventory is all they need to have. These stand-alone systems will store all necessary information for the purpose of delivering or transmitting the information to the central computer at a later time for processing.

These systems are considerable less expensive and much more affordable for the small and new business owner. These can cost as little as $65, with the better packages costing as little as $175.

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Point of Sale Systems

2008-07-25T21:29:00.000-07:00

A point of sale system is a type of computer or specialized terminal that is used to instantly record a transaction. This system uses computers and combines it with the necessary software, cash registers, barcode readers, optical scanners, and magnetic strip readers.

Types of Point of Sale Systems

There are two main types of point of sale systems available. The first one is an online type of system that is connected to a central computer for credit checking and inventory updating. The other type of point of sale system is called a stand-alone machine. This type of machine will store information concerning sales, credit card information, as well as keeping track of your inventory. At the end of the day this information must be delivered or manually transmitted to the main central computer. These two types of systems work in a similar manner, with the only difference being the way and how fast the information gets delivered to the main central computer.

Uses for Point of Sale Systems

A point of sale system could significantly help a business owner in keeping a business run smoothly and efficiently. The most important use of this system to a business owner is its ability to allow your business to process credit card payments. Consumers today tend to prefer paying with a credit card rather than using cash. Majority of the consumers do not even carry cash in their person most of the time. It has been proven that businesses that do not accept credit cards for purchases will have at least 60% less sales than similar business that accept credit cards.

Cost

The cost of point of sale systems will depend on how sophisticated of a system you wish to implement. There are some systems available that cost over $1500, while some can cost as little as $65. The type of system you will need to buy will depend on the needs of your business, and the amount of transaction you will need to process at any given business day.

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