When you run a business, selling stellar products and providing exceptional customer service should be at the top of your priority list. Even so, you should be equally mindful about the method you use to accept those all-important payments that keep your cash flowing and your business thriving. Specifically, your task should be to determine whether to use a basic cash register or a point of sale system (POS).
The old-school cash register.
A legacy payment system, cash registers ring up items, calculate taxes, tally the total, print out a receipt, and provide change if necessary. More sophisticated models are capable of storing a day’s worth of transactions in order to make the bookkeeping process easier.
The POS system.
Some people mistakenly believe that a POS solution is nothing more than an updated cash register that is equipped to accept credit card payments. The truth is, that’s only a partial description of what distinguishes modern POS systems from traditional cash registers.
Yes, POS systems allow you to accept credit and debit cards. They use a combination of hardware (a card reader, barcode scanner, server, etc.) and software to input the data on a customer’s card and securely send it to the processing company for identity authentication, verification, and acceptance or declination. However, that is only the tip of the iceberg...
The enhanced capabilities in a modern POS system.
As it turns out, transacting payments is just one of the tasks a contemporary POS system can complete. In addition, this streamlined marriage of hardware and software can complete a number of important business tasks.
- Acceptance numerous types of payments, including: NFC contactless, EMV chip cards, recurring billing, gift and loyalty, and EBT cards.
- The tracking of sales data.
- Inventory management.
- Automated invoicing.
- Customer tracking.
- Sales, financial, and employee report generation.
- Seamless integration with your ecommerce payment platform to facilitate secure, multichannel sales.
In many respects, adding a modern POS system to your business is similar to hiring a highly skilled partner who never grows tired and is always ready to perform any job you request of them. Furthermore, it offers the checkout experience today’s customers have come to expect.
Which is right for your business: The bottom line.
As you can see, POS solutions offer a far more powerful and robust set of features than traditional cash registers. In addition, wireless models are highly portable and can facilitate the acceptance of payments from anywhere – allowing you to take your business to your customers.
Before you make your final decision on which payment solution is right for your business, balance your current financial situation against your goals and priorities. If it seems likely that you’ll expand your operations in the next few years, it might be worth your while to shell out the extra dollars for a POS system that could help you to take your business to the next level.
