Question

You may purchase a cup of coffee at a coffee shop, pay your telephone bill, purchase stamps at the post office, or so forth. In many cases, the transaction is documented using a point-of-sale system. Using the Internet, find the definition of a point-of-sale system and read about the controls that have been established by the University of Toronto (Links to an external site.)Links to an external site. related to these systems to answer the following question: What is a point-of-sale system?

Answer 1

POS stands for point of sale. A point-of-sale (POS) transaction is what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction.

So when you are at your favorite restaurant or retail shop, and you make a purchase, you are completing a point-of-sale (POS) or a point of purchase (POP) transaction.Merchants typically use a POS system to complete a sales transaction. In its most basic definition, a POS system is a combination of POS hardware and POS software to create a POS machine for processing a transaction and payment.

Cash registers are not as evolved as using a POS system and lack many of the functions and features of a modern day point of sale system. A cash register could be considered a point of sale solution technically, however, for our definitions, we will be focusing on point-of-sale machines (aka POS terminals) that involve both software and hardware. Continue below to learn more

A POS system is synonymous with POS terminal. However, a POS terminal is the electronic equipment performing the sales transaction and processing the credit card payments. Used in most storefront businesses, a computer terminal combined with the POS software helps to manage everyday sales transactions and operations

A point of sale system is the heart of a business and used for many essential tasks such as inventory management, labor reporting, menu customizations, price adjustments, staff management, sales reporting, customer management, marketing initiates, and so much more.

Controls using for POS in some types of systems

Restaurant POS Systems

The main reason you need a point of sale for a restaurant is to accept cash and credit card payments. In addition to receiving payments, need to be able to track all your financial and tax data. Most POS solutions like the Harbortouch restaurant POS have reporting features built-in to monitor your transactions by date, time and type. But that’s only the beginning of the awesomeness.There can be hundreds of features that can streamline your operations and make your restaurant more efficient. For instance, most restaurant POS systems allow you to put in an order and send the request directly to a kitchen printer reducing errors in the kitchen and increasing staff and food prep efficiency. Another benefit would be tracking inventory and food usage. You can also follow payroll with built-in time clock feature.

Bar POS Systems

Although there is software designed specifically for bars, most point of sale systems used by restaurants can also be an excellent solution for bars. A fast, efficient and reliable bar and restaurant POS system, like Harbortouch Bar & Restaurant, can mean the difference between success and failure in the bar and restaurant business. Particularly for busy bars, your system needs to have speed functions and features for quick order input and fast check out.

The quicker you’re able to process a transaction; you’ll have happier customers and generate more revenue for the business. Most iPad-based systems fall short for bars in this regard because they rely solely on a fast and stable internet connection and internet speed can be unreliable or go down sometimes. The features to look for in a nightclub or bar system would be bar tab management, customer management, employee management, inventory controls, recipe features, easily reorder drinks and express check out. For the reporting side, you’ll want to see your labor costs compared to sales, product reports, and all your sales and tax reports

Retail POS Systems

Retail point of purchase (POP) systems is primarily for retail environments, most likely never use restaurant software for a retail shop and vice versa.Some software or Apps on the market claim to be cross-platform, but that doesn’t mean you should ever use them.

Retail businesses can have some particular requirements and features that other programs will not have. They can have retail shop features such as color and size matrixing, inventory tracking, employee commissions, gift registry, customer database, layaway, and purchase orders.

Also, a retail POS system, may include a digital scale or barcode scanner for weighing or scanning items respectively.Retail technology has developed to such a degree that you can get nearly any report you could ever desire, with the right point of purchase software of course. Specifically look for reports such as detailed sales reports, customer reports, vendor reports, and inventory reports