Point of Sale Essay

The point of sale is the place and time at which a transaction takes place. Whenever a buyer and seller come together for the purpose of conducting a transaction, a point of sale is created. Also called a point of purchase, a point of sale can take a wide variety of forms. The cash register line in a gasoline fueling station is a point of sale, for example, as is the checkout page in an online store. The point of sale can be a salesperson’s desk in an auto dealership, as another example, as can someone’s front porch in a door-to-door sales transaction. Transaction Processing System A transaction processing system can be defined as a set of policies, procedures, equipment and technology designed to facilitate transactions at the point of sale. Transaction processing systems have evolved alongside advances in technology to add convenience, reliability and security to business transactions. Just like the point of sale itself, transaction processing systems can take a variety of forms. A cash box and a pad of paper at a lemonade stand is considered a transaction processing system, for example, as is a complex software package that connects digital cash registers, credit card processors, inventory databases and accounting software. Correlation For every point of sale there must be a transaction processing system to accompany it. The correlation is so close that software-driven transaction processing systems are often referred to as POS (point of sale) terminals. Different point of sale situations call for different transaction processing systems, and new transaction processing systems emerge to facilitate new point of sale types. An online retailer, for example, would be unwise to use a hand-operated cash register to process transactions over the phone; instead, online retailers often rely on software transaction processing systems. Other Applications The point of purchase is an important concept for other marketing disciplines in addition to sales. Point of purchase displays in retail outlets use advertising or sales promotions to encourage impulse purchases while customers stand in line, for example. The 21st century has seen the rise of mobile points of sale and transaction processing systems, bypassing traditional cash-register sales models for face-to-face selling situations. In Apple’s retail stores, for example, salespeople use smartphone credit-card readers and mobile transaction processing systems to ring customers up wherever they stand. http://smallbusiness.chron.com/point-sale-vs-transaction-processing-systems-17548.html 7 reasons to switch to a point-of-sale system By Jeff Wuorio If you’re a veteran retailer, you know the problem: Your inventory doesn’t match your tallies. Sales are going unrecorded. Your staff is spending far too much time chasing mistakes instead of tending to customers. Something is seriously wrong, and you’re just not sure what the problem is. These and other snafus suggest that it’s time that your business did away with its cash registers and stepped up to a point-of-sale (POS) system, such as Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System and Microsoft Dynamics Point of Sale (POS) . A POS system is a computer software and hardware network that records sales as they’re occurring; it solves a variety of operational and record-keeping headaches. If you need more proof, here are seven signs that your business could boom with a point-of-sale system. 1. Your â€Å"sudden shrink† no longer goes undetected. POS systems such as Retail Management System are designed to immediately record any and all sales. N ot only does that mean timely and accurate sales tracking, but a POS system also lets you readily identify inventory levels, particularly when what you have on the books doesn’t jibe with actual stock. â€Å"You see it with the onset of sudden shrink—when you realize that inventory is missing or your numbers just never seem to match up,† says John Rarrick of RBS Inc., a Nyack, N.Y., consulting concern specializing in startups and small businesses. â€Å"Almost every modern POS has a receiving and inventory module that, when used properly, can help pinpoint the cause of the shrink.† 2. Markdown management is much easier. A common land mine for many small to medium-sized businesses is price reduction—knowing which items have been marked down and recording those discounts accordingly. Rather than wrestling with cash-register receipts at day’s end, a POS automates the process of introducing markdowns and, in turn, tracking them accurately. â€Å"The trends in POS are not just inventory accuracy but the use of pricing models to allow for markdown management,† says Gary Ruffing, senior director of retail services for BBK Ltd., a business advisory firm in Southfield, Mich. 3. Promotions can be tracked more successfully. A similar dynamic holds true with promotions. Whether through coupons, special discounts or other vehicles, promotions can be central to attracting and retaining business. Trouble is, managing and reconciling short-term specials—not to mention pinpointing their impact—can be nigh impossible without the automation and immediacy of a point-of-sale system. â€Å"Many small retailers invest in things such as direct home marketing,† Rarrick says. â€Å"At the end of the promotion, those with manual cash registers are hard pressed to tell you how successful the promotion was. The POS store can pretty much tell you to the penny how they did.† 4. You can maintain control in absentia. You may be surprised to discover that you actually run two businesses: one when you’re there and its evil twin when you don’t happen to be around. Many operations suffer in employee efficiency and customer service when the boss is away. Automating a host of functions via a POS can help boost those areas, no matter where the head honcho happens to be.†You simply can’t be there all the time,† says Jim Melvin, chief executive officer of Siva Corp., a Delray Beach, Fla., company which provides point-of-sale systems to restaurants. â€Å"A POS lets you have that important level of control when you’re not there.† 5. Your prices are consistent from one location to the next. Nothing can prove more embarrassing than having a customer question why one item has one price at one store, yet a different price at another. If your business operates at more than one location, a point-of-sale system ensures pricing consistency.Even better, a POS system automates overall inventory control, helping to keep stocks in proper balance depending on demand and other factors, which can vary from one location to the next. â€Å"It really lends itself to a better overall customer experience—the sorts of things a customer expects when he walks through the front door,† says Melvin. 6. You get many tools in a single package. Buying business equipment piecemeal can be pricey. If you find your checkbook wearing thin from the expense of software and other gear, a comprehensive point-of-sale system may include them in a single package. â€Å"Most POS systems have add-on modules like payroll time clocks and customer preference databases,† says Rarrick. â€Å"That removes the need for small businesses to invest in separate systems for those purposes.† 7. You can make better use of your personnel. Little is more maddening to a business owner than watching his or her staff bogged down with inefficient, unproductive responsibilities, from double-checking inventory disparities to seemingly endless cash-register reconciliation. Perhaps the greatest advantage to a comprehensive point-of-sale network is the freedom it can afford your personnel to devote their energy to what genuinely matters the most: helping customers.†A good POS allows you to allocate your human resources to the customer service area of the business,† Ruffing says. â€Å"That means they no longer have to be counting, calculating, ordering, and checking cash-register accuracy.† http://www.microsoft.com/business/en-us/resources/technology/business-software/7-reasons-to-switch-to-a-point-of-sale-system.aspx?fbid=o1kGJp5H1vJ Since it opened its doors to the Philippines in December 2000, MINISTOP has always envisioned becoming the leader in the convenience store industry. MINISTOP has made its presence felt by being the community’s warmest and friendliest modern combo store. It takes pride in its wide range of quality products, at affordable prices and value-added service. An introduction to point of sale software Point of sale software gives business owners a convenient way of checking out customers and of recording sales. It can keep a record of the store inventory, updating it when an order is processed. It can also print out receipts, carry out credit card processing, track customers, etc. Point of sale software eases the flow at checkout terminals, while recording all the information that can help you make better business decisions. Point of sale software allows users to input via keyboard or mouse, and some even have a touch screen interface. You can install the software on your checkout register. When checking out a customer you can either input the sales item yourself or use a bar code scanner. The point of sale software will look up the item in the inventory and bring up the price. It can also calculate tax on the item and change for the customer. POS software can print out receipts and reports. Point of sale software makes your business accounting a lot easier by creating reports on inventory, sales, customers, etc. Since it is already recording each sale, it can easily tell you the sales and revenue of the day. Point of sale software can also help with credit card processing. Credit cards are the preferred method of payment. People do not want to carry around cash for all their purchases. Credit card is a convenient method of payment and if you do not have credit card processing, your business can lose some of its competitiveness. Point of sale software receives input from the POS hardware, which is the scanning station for the credit card. The software will process the credit card payment for you. It can check that the card has not expired and is valid. You will need a merchant account for the point of sale software to do its job. POS software is generally easy to install and easy to use. You will need to know how to update inventory and record a price change for an item. Point of sale software. 15 November 2004 Proposal: Point of Sale for The Brighter Side Most small businesses under estimate the importance of managing their inventory. They do not realize that many headaches and fire drills are caused by the lack of control and knowledge of their inventory. Whether it is a lack of knowledge of the quantity or specs of a certain product, businesses too frequently use outdated inventory systems. Insufficient systems do not allow them to get the most out of their inventory, because when used properly, inventory management systems allow businesses to make a concise, real time analysis of products and markets that help them make better business decisions. Inventory management systems also allow businesses to better serve their customers since they keep a detailed and accurate record of purchase histories and trends so they can reorder products more efficiently. With a controlled inventory, management will be notified when products need to be rendered, are selling quickly or are disappearing due to theft. In essence, the business becomes organized and by controlling inventory, profits can increase. Inventory management allows businesses to make smart and informed decisions about promotions and specials since they are better able to monitor rate of turn for their merchandise. In addition, they let management know when a product is no longer profitable. Products are the heart and soul of a business. Even with the best customer service, they will not be profitable without a commodity to sell. It is the purpose between the business and its customer. It was interesting to hear from Kelly O’Donnell, an owner for The Brighter Side, tell that her company does not use any inventory control whatsoever. The Brighter Side spends thousands of dollars on merchandise but does not systematically control how the products are doing or how much is left. During our interview I said to her, â€Å"Do you send your daughter to school to learn and not see how her.. Chapter 2: Review of Related Literature This chapter tackles about the related literature of this certain system and also the theory of the author about her system. Related Literature The hardware of a POS system is also distinctive and important. A typical system includes a display screen for the clerk, a customer display, a cash drawer, a credit card swiping system, a printer, and a bar code scanner, along with the computer loaded with the POS software. Custom features may be added or removed, depending on the industry. A restaurant POS system, for example, may have a feature which prints order tickets directly in the kitchen, or a grocery store may have an integrated scale for weighing goods. Early electronic cash registers (ECR) were controlled with proprietary software and were very limited in function and communications capability. In August 1973 IBM announced the IBM 3650 and 3660 Store Systems that were, in essence, a mainframe computer packaged as a store controller that could control 128 IBM 3653/3663 point of sale registers. This system was the first commercial use of client-server technology, peer to peer communications, Local Area Network (LAN) simultaneous backup and remote initialization. By mid-1974, it was installed in Pathmark Stores in New Jersey and Dillard’s Department Stores. Programmability allowed retailers to be more creative. In 1979 Gene Mosher’s Old Canal Cafe in Syracuse, New York was using POS software written by Mosher that ran on an Apple II to take customer orders at the restaurant’s front entrance and print complete preparation details in the restaurant’s kitchen. In that novel context, customers would often proceed to their tables to find their food waiting for them already. This software included real time labour and food cost reports. In 1986 Mosher used the Atari ST and bundled NeoChrome paint to create and market the first graphical touch screen POS software.