Banking and payments
Point of sale
Do you need a point-of-sale system, and which kind fits your counter?
Six short steps. No email or account.
- Who needs it
- Retail counters, food service, salons and anywhere customers pay before leaving a premises.
- When it matters
- Before opening a location. Retrofitting a till onto a running shop is disruptive.
- Compare first
- Hardware lock-in
- Matters most when
- just started, established, growing, mature
Is this the right tool for you?
A cash register and a separate card reader do not tell you what sold, what is running low or how each staff member is performing. A point-of-sale system handles the sale, the payment and the record together, so stock counts, sales tax and daily reports come out of the same transaction.
Signs you need it now
- You count stock by hand to find out what sold.
- End-of-day cash-up takes a long time or rarely balances.
- You cannot see which products or times of day make money.
- Sales tax is calculated by hand or inconsistently.
- You sell in store and online, and the two do not share stock.
When another area fits better
- You take payment at customers' homes or by invoice, not at a counter. Read the card payments guide
- Your main need is stock across a warehouse, suppliers and purchasing rather than the checkout. Read the inventory and materials guide
Recognise two or more of these? Sort out point of sale next.
Tell us how your business runs and get a plan that puts point of sale in order with everything else: what to set up first, your must-haves and what to compare.
What matters at your size
Working alone
A tablet-based system with a card reader, product list and basic reports usually covers a market stall or small shop.
A small team
Staff logins and permissions, inventory tracking, customer records and a sync to accounting. Hardware durability starts to matter.
Several teams or locations
Multiple registers and locations, central stock and pricing, purchasing and detailed reporting by store and staff.
How the way you work changes the choice
- Retail shops
- Product variants, barcodes, stock counts, returns and online store sync are the core needs.
- Food and drink
- Menus, modifiers, tables, kitchen tickets and tipping. Restaurant-specific systems handle these better than retail ones.
- Service counters: salons, repair shops, parts counters
- Appointments, service plus parts on one ticket, and customer history. Check whether the system handles services as well as products.
What to compare
Hardware lock-in
Most point-of-sale hardware only works with its own processor. This is a long commitment.
Offline mode
If the internet drops, can you still take money?
Staff permissions
Refund and discount rights need to be controllable per person.
Cost and setup effort
- Costs come from hardware, software subscriptions and payment processing. Some systems require their own processing; check whether you can choose.
- Setup means loading products, prices, tax settings and staff, and training everyone at the counter. Plan it for a quiet period.
- Ask how the system works if the internet goes down, and how you would export your product and sales data if you switch.
Trade-offs to weigh
- Tied processing or free choice
- Systems that include processing are simpler to set up but lock you in. Systems that let you choose may cost more to integrate but let you shop for rates.
- Buy or lease hardware
- Buying hardware costs more up front but avoids long leases. Check whether the hardware works with other systems if you switch.
- General or industry-specific
- General systems suit most retail. Restaurant, salon or specialty retail systems fit those workflows better but have fewer alternatives.
When to sort it out
Before opening a location. Retrofitting a till onto a running shop is disruptive.
Your next step
Answer six short questions about how your business runs. You get an operating plan: where point of sale fits among your priorities, the must-haves to hold every option to, and what to compare when you choose.
Where this comes first
Trades and businesses that usually sort this out early.
Often decided alongside
Other parts of banking and payments.