In our line of work we come across a lot of different point of sale systems (some much more sophisticated than others) and quite frankly none of them are 100% perfect!! You need to decide what kind of data you want to get out of your system and really analyze the options before picking one. The “point” of getting a point of sale system is not just to make ringing up sales easier … it’s to provide you with data that can help you understand your business.
Back in my retail days … I started with a POS that I personally really liked … it was very user friendly and it talked to my financial software seamlessly, but it had a couple things that it just didn’t do like reporting my orders at cost and retail (among other things). This is so important because when you are working with an Open to Buy budget – you need to know if the goods you are bringing in are going to be marked up enough for you to pay your bills.
I then switched to a POS that I had to learn and wasn’t as familiar with at first, but it reported all the data I needed which helped me grow my business and understand it better. So I had to put up with the temporary learning curve for the betterment of my business. And, in the end it was totally worth it, which change usually is, you just have to fight through the urge to be comfortable !!!
These programs come in a variety of price ranges – and if you pick the wrong one it can cost you even more money in the long run, so it’s super important to know what data you need and how you need to be able to get it out of the POS.
Choosing the right Point of Sale for your business is crucial!! One of the things we do here at The Project: Retail is help our clients make the best decision for their business by putting them in touch with a multitude of POS vendors who we feel provide the most accurate data (we have done the hard background work for you)…… Then the client can pick the program they feel fits their needs the best.