The hospitality industry is keeping up with the ever-quick evolution of business technologies. And its pursuit to provide excellent customer service through efficient business operations continues to be a priority. And a restaurant pos system? How does it blend into the mix? Read on below.
A Basic And Quick Definition Of Terms
A Quick Look At A POS System
Before we take a glimpse at a simple definition of what a POS system’s functions are, let’s get to what a “point of purchase” is.
POP a.k.a. Point Of Purchase
A point of purchase is typically viewed as the preceding action from a point of sale. It is NOT a sale, with the definition of a “sale”. A POP has nothing to do with buyers exchanging goods for their equivalent financial value.
Instead, it revolves around the strategic planning and placement of showcasing products and/or services. This branch of marketing is the “how” of making said products and/or services be displayed in ways that are appealing to target audiences.
POPS a.k.a. Point Of Sale
The point of the sale is the crucial and anticipated follow-up to a point of purchase. After all, the purpose of POPs is to actually sell the goods and/or services. To have potential customers buy into the POP, and eventually, make a purchase.
But what it is, is the “place” where the purchase takes place, to use a non-jargon term. It’s the “where” of payment executions and often, it refers to apparatuses that allow these purchasing transactions.
Said “where” of payment executions transpire in what are known as POS terminals.
POS Terminals
These are electronic devices that run on a hardware network so that card transactions are processed. They are used especially in retail locations. Credit and debit cards are and scanned to check if they contain sufficient funds. These funds are to be transferred to the merchant and/or seller.
Every sale and sale transaction is “recorded” or archived. Proof the transaction is listed in detail in a printed or online receipt (depending on the type of POS terminal being utilized).
Buying Versus Leasing POS Systems
The decision of whether to buy or lease POS systems depends on the merchants and the enterprise’s business needs. Leasing POS systems will have you remunerate for it on a monthly basis and within a fixed period of time. In contrast, buying one may be costly upfront. But this one-time payment is all you will shell out for as you stand to own this dependable device.
History Of The POS System
Its genesis can be traced way back to the 1870s. And during that era, it sprung to life along with one of the world’s first cash registers. Then tagged as “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier”, a saloon-owner from Ohio in the name of Jason Ritty invented said incredible contraption.
The Daytonian inventor designed the “incorruptible cashier” so that theft amongst employees who handled sales cash could be avoided completely. After selling the rights of his invention to Jacob H. Eckert, who later became the founder of the National Manufacturing Company.
Innovations were, since then, made on the cash register, from the addition of electric motors, currency exchange functions, computer-based and software-based enhancements, and even to SaaS (software as a service), it has since made the lives of business owners and their workforces in the sales field operate better.
POS Systems As We Know Them Today
But it wasn’t until tech giant IBM debuted ECRs or electronic cash registers in the 1970s that said device became established as the POS system the world is most familiar with today. Its backend workings functioned as a store, while it was presented as a mainframe computer, as a whole.
Although its capacities were limited at the time, it served as the basis for many pivotal inventions and enhancements done to the same, by a myriad of other companies and developers.
Why POS Systems For Restaurants?
- Accuracy To A T In Accounting
Much like the very reason behind why the first every conventional cash register came into being, a Point-Of-Sale system primarily works to bring the level of accuracy in following through and monitoring accounting.
Human error will be eradicated. At least, when it comes to transacting payments. Although experts recommended that you still have a separate team who’ll be solely focused on all-things accounts, a Cafe EPOS solutions system will aid them on the front end, too.
When it comes to the importation of data from the device to the accounting software, you can be certain that every single piece will reach the latter without hassles. And lacking no large and/or minute detail.
- A Gorgeous Menu Display
You’ll be amazed at how visuals can make menu-item searching so much easier. A menu display, and a gorgeous one at that, will help your staff match up customer orders with checkout items without delay, and with increased precision.
You can even organize each one according to categories, for checkout to be faster and smoother, both for the employees utilizing the system and for your customers.
- Inventory Organization
When restaurants that handle both deliveries, packages, in-house orders, you name it, keeping up-to-speed with the inventory can be challenging. There so many avenues wherein overlooking a few details will end up ruining correct itemization and tallying. It will be tough to search through archives as well.
Since a Point-Of-Sale system can track and save particulars like sales and pricing, dates of sales, POCs (persons in charge during said sales completed), collation of data, inventory will be a breeze to go through.
Above all, it will be easier to compare and analyze data side by side. This can be utilized as a tool for customizing better (and smarter) purchasing decisions, looking into the future of the restaurant. Said data analyzation may also be a step towards enhancing sales targets. For instance, how your business framework can adapt to times within a week, month, or season when sales are at their lowest, or at their highest.