Shopping on line can be easy, simple and save you lots of money. It can also take a lot of your time, frustrate you, and result in unwanted purchases. Now the same can be said for regular high street shopping, but with the vast opportunity presented by the Internet it will pay you to spend a few minutes reading this and understanding how to better optimize your Point Of Sale shopping experience:
1. Compare - without doubt the biggest advantage that the Point Of Sale offers shoppers today is the ability to compare thousands of Point Of Sale at a time. This is a great thing, but not necessarily all the time! Too much can be daunting at times so take advantage of the great comparison sites and where possible let them do the hard work for you.
2. Research - if it has been said it will be on the internet. Ignorance is no longer a justifiable reason for buying the wrong thing. Take the time to research in detail everything that you could possible want to know about
3. Testimonials - don't know anybody that has bought a Point Of Sale? Wrong! If the Point Of Sale is good the internet will let you know. Use the Internet as a friend and get testimonials before you buy.
4. Questions - Got a question about Point Of Sale then search the Forums, FAQ's, Blogs etc. Don't be afraid to ask .....
5. Reputation - Never heard of the company selling Point Of Sale? Don't worry, no reason why you should know every company in the world, but you know someone that does! Use the internet to find out what people are saying about Point Of Sale and build up a picture of their reputation for sales, returns, customer service, delivery etc.
6. Returns - still worried that even after all of the above your Point Of Sale wont be what you want? Check out the returns policy. There is so much competition now that someone, somewhere is bound to offer the terms that you are comfortable with.
7. Feedback - happy with your Point Of Sale then let people know, after all you are depending on others people input in your buying decision, so why not give a little back.
8. Security - check for the yellow padlock on the Point Of Sale site before you buy, and the s after http:/ /i.e. https:// = a secure site
9. Contact - got a question about Point Of Sale, or want to leave a comment then check out the sites contact page. Reputable companies have them and respond.
10. Payment - ready to pay for your Point Of Sale, then use your credit card or PayPal! Be aware of companies that don't accept them, there may be genuine reasons but given the huge amount of choice you have when buying online there is no reason at all not to buy via credit card or PayPal.
store.
Point of sale or
point of service (
POS or
PoS) can mean a
retailing, a checkout counter in a shop, or the location where a
financial transaction occurs. More specifically,
point of sale often refers to the hardware and
computer software used for checkouts -- the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point of sale systems are used in restaurants,
hotels,
stadiums, and casinos, as well as almost any type of retail establishment.
Point-of-sale technology
POS systems evolved from the mechanical cash registers of the first half of the 20th century. Examples included the
NCR Corporation registers, operated by a crank, and the lever-operated Burroughs registers. These cash registers recorded data on journal tapes or paper tape and required an extra step to transcribe the information into the retailer's accounting system.
Later cash registers moved to operation by electricity, such as the NCR Class 5 cash register. The first computer-based systems were introduced in 1973, such as the IBM 3653 Store System and the NCR 2150. Other computer-based manufacturers were
Regitel, TRW, and
Datachecker. 1973 also brought about the introduction of the Universal Product Code/European Article Number
barcode readers for POS systems. In 1986, the IBM 4683 introduced PC-based POS systems.
During the late 1980s and 90s, manufacturers developed stand-alone credit card devices to easily and securely add credit card processing to POS systems. Some popular models include the VeriFone Tranz 330, Hypercom T7 Plus, and Lipman Nurit 2085. These relatively simple devices have evolved to handle multiple applications (credit card processing, gift card activation, age verification, employee time tracking) on one device. Some wireless POS systems for restaurants not only allow for mobile payment processing, they also allow servers to process the entire food order right at tableside.
Most retail POS systems do much more than just "point of sale" tasks. Even for smaller tier 4 & 5 retailers, many POS systems can include fully integrated accounting, inventory management, open to buy forecasting, customer relation management (CRM), service management, rental, and payroll modules. Due to this wide range of functionality, vendors sometimes refer to POS solutions as retail management software or business management software.
Early POS software
The early electronic cash registers (ECR) were programmed in proprietary software and were very limited in function and communications capability. In August of 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
Dillards Department Stores.
Programmability allowed retailers to be more creative. In 1979 Eugene 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 labor and food cost reports.
Today, most major retailers use POS software or systems.
POS hardware interface standardization
Vendors and retailers are working to standardize development of computerized POS systems and simplify interconnecting POS devices. Two such initiatives are
OPOS and JavaPOS, both of which conform to the
UnifiedPOS standard led by
National Retail Foundation.
OPOS, short for
Object linking and embedding for POS, was the first commonly-adopted standard and was created by
Microsoft,
NCR Corporation, Epson and Fujitsu. OPOS is a Component object model-based interface compatible with all COM-enabled
programming languages for Microsoft Windows. OPOS was first released in 1996.
JavaPOS was developed by
Sun Microsystems,
IBM, and
NCR Corporation in 1997 and first released in 1999. JavaPOS is for Java (programming language) what OPOS is for Windows, and thus largely platform independent.
POS communication command protocols
There are several communication protocols POS systems use to control peripherals.Among them are
- EPSON Esc/POS
- UTC Standard
- UTC Enhanced
- AEDEX
- ICD 2002
- Ultimate
- CD 5220
- DSP-800
- ADM 787/788.
There are also nearly as many proprietary protocols as there are companies making POS peripherals. EMAX, used by EMAX International, was a combination of AEDEX and IBM dumb terminal.
Most POS peripherals, such as displays and printers, support several of these command protocols in order to work with many different brands of POS terminals and computers.
Point of sales in the restaurant industry
Hospitality point of sale systems have revolutionized the restaurant industry. This is particularly found in fast food service and sales. A number of restaurant chains employ systems which use computer networks. In the most recent technologies, registers are virtual computers, sometimes using touch screens. They will connect to a server, often referred to as a "store controller" or a "central control unit." Printers and monitors are also found on the network. Additionally, remote servers will connect to store networks and monitor sales and other store data.
The efficiency of such systems have decreased service times and increased efficiency of orders.
Currently, POS systems are manufactured and serviced by several firms; see List of point of sale companies.
Point of sales systems in restaurant environments operate on DOS, Windows or Unix environments. They can use a variety of physical layer protocols, though Ethernet is currently the preferred system.
In the fast food industry, a number of configurations may be used in able to aid in the speed of operations. Registers themselves may be in front counter, drive through or walk through cashiering and ordertaking modes. Front counter registers will take and serve orders at the same terminal. Drive through registers will allow orders to be taken at one or more drive through windows and cashiered and served at another. In addition to registers, drive through and kitchen monitors may be used by store personnel to view orders. Once orders appear they may be deleted or recalled by "bump bars", small boxes which have different buttons for different uses. Drive through systems are often enhanced by the use of drive through wireless (or headset) systems which enable communications with drive through speakers.
See also
External links
store.
Point of sale or
point of service (
POS or
PoS) can mean a retailing, a checkout counter in a shop, or the location where a
financial transaction occurs. More specifically,
point of sale often refers to the
hardware and computer software used for checkouts -- the equivalent of an electronic cash register. Point of sale systems are used in
restaurants,
hotels, stadiums, and casinos, as well as almost any type of retail establishment.
Point-of-sale technology
POS systems evolved from the mechanical cash registers of the first half of the 20th century. Examples included the NCR Corporation registers, operated by a crank, and the lever-operated Burroughs registers. These cash registers recorded data on journal tapes or paper tape and required an extra step to transcribe the information into the retailer's accounting system.
Later cash registers moved to operation by electricity, such as the NCR Class 5 cash register. The first computer-based systems were introduced in 1973, such as the IBM 3653 Store System and the NCR 2150. Other computer-based manufacturers were
Regitel, TRW, and Datachecker. 1973 also brought about the introduction of the Universal Product Code/European Article Number
barcode readers for POS systems. In 1986, the IBM 4683 introduced PC-based POS systems.
During the late 1980s and 90s, manufacturers developed stand-alone credit card devices to easily and securely add credit card processing to POS systems. Some popular models include the
VeriFone Tranz 330, Hypercom T7 Plus, and Lipman Nurit 2085. These relatively simple devices have evolved to handle multiple applications (credit card processing,
gift card activation, age verification, employee time tracking) on one device. Some wireless POS systems for restaurants not only allow for mobile payment processing, they also allow servers to process the entire food order right at tableside.
Most retail POS systems do much more than just "point of sale" tasks. Even for smaller tier 4 & 5 retailers, many POS systems can include fully integrated accounting, inventory management, open to buy forecasting, customer relation management (CRM), service management, rental, and payroll modules. Due to this wide range of functionality, vendors sometimes refer to POS solutions as retail management software or business management software.
Early POS software
The early electronic cash registers (ECR) were programmed in proprietary software and were very limited in function and communications capability. In August of 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 Dillards Department Stores.
Programmability allowed retailers to be more creative. In 1979
Eugene 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 labor and food cost reports.
Today, most major retailers use POS software or systems.
POS hardware interface standardization
Vendors and retailers are working to standardize development of computerized POS systems and simplify interconnecting POS devices. Two such initiatives are OPOS and JavaPOS, both of which conform to the UnifiedPOS standard led by
National Retail Foundation.
OPOS, short for Object linking and embedding for POS, was the first commonly-adopted standard and was created by Microsoft, NCR Corporation,
Epson and
Fujitsu. OPOS is a Component object model-based interface compatible with all COM-enabled programming languages for Microsoft Windows. OPOS was first released in 1996.
JavaPOS was developed by
Sun Microsystems,
IBM, and
NCR Corporation in 1997 and first released in 1999. JavaPOS is for
Java (programming language) what OPOS is for Windows, and thus largely platform independent.
POS communication command protocols
There are several communication protocols POS systems use to control peripherals.Among them are
- EPSON Esc/POS
- UTC Standard
- UTC Enhanced
- AEDEX
- ICD 2002
- Ultimate
- CD 5220
- DSP-800
- ADM 787/788.
There are also nearly as many proprietary protocols as there are companies making POS peripherals. EMAX, used by EMAX International, was a combination of AEDEX and IBM dumb terminal.
Most POS peripherals, such as displays and printers, support several of these command protocols in order to work with many different brands of POS terminals and computers.
Point of sales in the restaurant industry
Hospitality point of sale systems have revolutionized the restaurant industry. This is particularly found in fast food service and sales. A number of restaurant chains employ systems which use computer networks. In the most recent technologies, registers are virtual computers, sometimes using touch screens. They will connect to a server, often referred to as a "store controller" or a "central control unit." Printers and monitors are also found on the network. Additionally, remote servers will connect to store networks and monitor sales and other store data.
The efficiency of such systems have decreased service times and increased efficiency of orders.
Currently, POS systems are manufactured and serviced by several firms; see
List of point of sale companies.
Point of sales systems in restaurant environments operate on
DOS,
Windows or
Unix environments. They can use a variety of physical layer protocols, though Ethernet is currently the preferred system.
In the fast food industry, a number of configurations may be used in able to aid in the speed of operations. Registers themselves may be in front counter, drive through or walk through cashiering and ordertaking modes. Front counter registers will take and serve orders at the same terminal. Drive through registers will allow orders to be taken at one or more drive through windows and cashiered and served at another. In addition to registers, drive through and kitchen monitors may be used by store personnel to view orders. Once orders appear they may be deleted or recalled by "bump bars", small boxes which have different buttons for different uses. Drive through systems are often enhanced by the use of drive through wireless (or headset) systems which enable communications with drive through speakers.
See also
External links
UK Point of Sale - The UK's No.1 P.O.S Manufacturer
Manufacturer and designer of point-of-purchase display products. Includes locations, catalog, and contacts.
POS, Point of Sale, Display Stands, Shop Display, Shop Equipment
At GPX Group we specialise in manufacturing and designing POS (point of sale) products, as well as display stands for all retail outlets, shop display units and essential shop ...
Point of sale - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Point of sale or point of service (POS or PoS) can mean a retail shop, a checkout counter in a shop, or the location where a transaction occurs. More specifically, the point of ...
Hospitality EPoS Suppliers, Point of Sale - Zonal
Suppliers of point of sale terminals, encompassing banking, payroll and stock control facilities, designed for pub companies, breweries, restaurants and hotels.
Welcome to The Point of Sale Centre Online
The Point of Sale Centre Online: The UKs leading supplier of merchandising, sign and display accessories
point of sale terminal from FOLDOC
point of sale terminal < hardware > (Or "POS") A computer, probably with a bar code reader, serving as a glorified cash register. (1997-11-23) Try this search on Wikipedia, OneLook ...
Acrylic point of sale display products
Acrylic point of sale display products, leaflet holders, ticket holders from Acrylic Design. Welcome to Acrylic Design, the UK's leading point of sale display ...
B&P Group - The Print & Point of Sale Specialist
B&P Group are print and point of sale specialists, utilising the largest sheet fed litho in the world and highest specification litho machine in Europe, providing large format ...
Epson UK systems for the point of sale - PoS printers & EPoS terminals
Epson UK - manufacturer and supplier of point of sale equipment: receipt and cheque printers, touchscreen terminals and EPoS systems for retail and hospitality PoS solutions.
Premier Point of Sale
Premier Point of Sale Premier House, Unit 8D Newby Road Industrial Estate Newby Road Hazel Grove Stockport SK7 5DA United Kingdom. Tel. + 44 (0) 161 487 3131
