Guide to Retail and Restaurant POS
A Guide to Retail and Restaurant Point of Sale Systems Are you having problems managing your company financial statements? Are you tired of manually taking inventory? Do your eyes hurt from trying to read the handwriting of your cashiers, servers or managers? Read this article carefully and understand how to make your business life easier. Leave those labor-intensive, tedious, and time consuming tasks behind because a robust POS system will take care of them for you. What is this System? A POS system utilizes a computer instead of a cash register in goods exchange transactions. Basically, a point of sale system can handle transactions such as inventory, printing receipts and invoices with facts about the transactions, and it can also handle card payments. A point of sale can be utilized by retail stores, restaurants, hospitals, hotels or any establishment that requires payment transactions. Retail Point of Sale System For the retail industry, their POS is rather complex and less standardized compared to that of the Restaurant POS industry. For this system, it usually consists of a monitor, cash drawer, printer for receipts, scanner for barcodes and inventory, debit/credit card scanner, and of course a computer. More advanced systems have all-in-one units with touch screens. A retail POS system is capable of handling sales, returns, gift card transactions, exchanges, layaway and loyalty programs. Most systems also can handle advanced features such as promotional sales and multiple forms of payments. In some retail environments, there are a number of POS units available on the floor in various locations for actual checkout while a back office computer handles the inventory and other financial aspects of the business. The back office “brain” all-encompassing machine is also capable of producing sales reports, trends, and cost analysis. You can see this kind of system in supermarkets and malls where there are multiple cashiers using this system. Restaurant Point of Sale System The restaurant point of sale system is simpler and a more versatile system compared to retail. This is because in the restaurant industry, the point of sale’s main function is to track orders, print checks, receipts, customer orders and financial reports. These systems are usually used by big fast food chains and sit down restaurants and bars / nightclubs; however they are also commonly used in café and quick service environments. For fast food chains, you might have noticed that the cashiers have headphones; this headset system is actually an additional feature for the restaurant point of sale system to allow the employees to communicate easily. Similar devices are also available for the kitchen including, impact printers to deal with heat and customized kitchen display units. The POS Industry Point of Sale does not only provide easier financial transactions but enhances the overall management scheme of a company. It is advisable to choose wisely when selecting a particular POS system especially when picking the software and reseller / servicing company. Most companies provide trial software as well as interactive demos; restaurant POS expert like Dinerware have many online demos and videos that restaurateurs can check out. Other major players in the restaurant POS are Micros, Aloha and Harbortouch. For the retail industry the choices are much more diverse with larger merchants creating their own customized solutions. However, many smaller merchant have had success utilizing Intuit’s POS and Apple’s Checkout. Because there are so many different companies that provide point of sales software and systems, as a buyer, you really can design your own system to suit your own needs. So what are you waiting for? There is a system out there that would help you with all the cumbersome...
Read MoreWhat is a Point of Sale System?
A common question that new business owners ask is, “What is a point of sale system?” More accurately business owners want to know how a POS system can help improve commerce for their business. There are many benefits from a transactional and financial standpoint that new or existing business owners should know. This is specifically true for retail and hospitality businesses where tracking inventory and multiple customers simultaneously is critical for operations. For a basic overview of what a point of sale system is and the three (3) most common configurations be sure to check out our Point of Sale page. For a more in-depth look at restaurant and retail POS along with a look at POS hardware and software check out our series of posts starting below. What is a POS System? POS is an acronym for Point of Sale and is often used interchangeably with the term Point of Purchase (POP) or checkout. However typically when the term POS or Point of Sale is used the user is referring to the hardware and / or software configuration used at the place of commerce. While historically this was the only option, even today it is common to see a basic manual cash register. However with the advent of bank cards and credit card processing, the need for electronic components such as a credit / debit card terminal became necessary. This has led to the development of fully integrated Point of Sale configuration or ePOS setups which today can be anything from a full computer station to an iPAD and custom app. Point of Sale configurations vary widely depending on the application. What is used in a restaurant or retail environment can be very different than what is needed for mobile or online merchants. While the basics are the same, the specific requirements of the merchant can change the solutions drastically. For more information on the different type of point of sale configurations use one of the following links to navigate directly to a POS specific page. POS defined and basic modern configurations – Point of Sale Overview Advanced and integrated solutions – Dedicated Point of Sale Systems For more specific information about point of sale in both a restaurant and retail environment as well as hardware and software applications use the links below. You will also find consumer friendly information on this site including “How to Choose the Right POS” and top brands among other topics. Point of Sale Further Defined (Click Link Below) Guide to Retail and Restaurant POS POS Evolution: Retail and Hospitality Point of Sale Software Point of Sale Hardware How to Choose the Right...
Read MorePoint of Sale (POS) Reviews
What is the Best POS Solution? Many small business owners ask “What is the best point of sale system?” This largely depends on the type of business and the scope of transactions. The first determining factor that an owner must look at is the industry that their company competes in. There is a large difference in the type of POS needed for the following industries… Hospitality: (Restaurants, Nightclubs, Quick Service, Fast Casual, Take-Out Food, Hotels) Retail: (Grocery, Convenience Stores, Clothing, Boutique, Shops, Consumer Goods) Mobile: (Home Delivery, Contractors, Repair, Technicians, Painters, Plumbers) Online: (eCommerce) For the most part, the need for point of sale is the most critical in hospitality (restaurants) and retail due to the need to track inventory and multiple customers simultaneously. Mobile merchant typically have custom needs and online merchants can typically handle their needs with a robust shopping cart software solution. When it comes to the basic local merchant there are a few standout software solutions that are the best. We highlight and review these two solutions, Dinerware for restaurants and Cash Register Express for retail, in detail at BestPOSSystem.com our partner educational site. These two solutions were picked not based solely on amount of features but a combination of price, functionality, features and ease of use. For more details be sure to check out Best POS...
Read MoreThe Merchant Statement Fee
The Fee is not Just for the Paper Every month millions of businesses are charged a statement fee in association with their card processing merchant account. Many ask the question, “Why am I getting charged so much to get a few sheets of paper each month.” Merchant statement fees are commonly $10, $12 even $15 and there is a large misconception that this fee is only related to the packet of paper that summarizes the card processing for the previous month. The truth is that most organizations have an “account on file fee” associated with every merchant account they board. This fee is typically based on how many accounts an ISO (independent sales organization) has with the processor and can be anywhere from $0 to $5. It is also common for sales agents to be restricted by a statement fee “buy rate,” meaning that they can not charge less than say $5. The account on file fee is designed to account for the monthly cost of doing businesses associated with each account, which includes, preparing and sending a paper statement to the merchant, even if they do not process a single card. How to Eliminate the Statement Fee It is common to see statement fees from $5-$15, if you are paying much more than this, call your account representative and find out why. Additionally, most processors and sales organizations offer to remove or reduce the statement fee if the merchant moves to paperless (online) statements. If this is not an option, or if you prefer paper statements, it is likely that the sales organization or agent will reduce this fee should you ask. This is especially true if you have increased processing volumes since the account was first established. An important piece of information to know is that, the two major tools that sales organizations use to protect or keep their merchant accounts are via the statement fee and monthly minimum. These fees are commonly used in calculations for termination clauses. They are also used as ways to guarantee a minimum level of revenue, should a merchant account become dormant for any reason. So do not expect to completely eliminate this fee, however ensure that what you are paying is...
Read MoreCapture, Settlement & Batch
Authorize & Capture: Process Solution The authorize capture process for charging credit cards is a method that provides both automation and flexibility for the merchant. It is rapidly become adopted by merchants who provide products or services where the price can fluctuate during time of use or there is a delay between order and fulfillment. This is popular among, online merchants, gas stations, travel as well as bars and nightclubs. Authorization Capture Definition from Authorize.net “A credit card transaction request to authorize and capture, or settle, funds for a purchase. The payment gateway submits the request to the card issuing bank for authorization and upon approval, will automatically submit the transaction for settlement.” Authorization & Capture Definition from PayPal “Authorization & Capture, or Auth/Capture, allows you to authorize the availability of funds for a transaction but delay the capture of funds until a later time. This is often useful for merchants who have a delayed order fulfillment process. Authorize & Capture also enables merchants to modify the original authorization amount due to order changes occurring after the initial order is placed, such as taxes, shipping or gratuity.” Depending on the business environment and configuration of hardware/software, even if an authorize/capture process is used, a settlement or batch of the transaction may still be required. – To learn about authorizations learn about Authorizations – To learn about settlement and batch continue reading below Settlement & Batch: Clearing Transactions In a basic sense regardless of how a transaction is authorized it must be settled in order for the funds to physically move from one bank account to another. This is typically done in a batch, which can affect cash flow or how quickly funds are deposited in the merchant’s bank account. Settlement from Authorize.net: “For credit card transactions, settlement occurs at the completion of transaction processing between the involved financial institutions and processing entities, and funds for the credit card transaction have been successfully deposited into the merchant’s bank account.” Batch from Authorize.net: “A group of transactions that have been gathered over a certain period of time and are submitted together to the appropriate processing networks for clearing and settlement.” Potential Batch Processes All transactions for a given business day are kept in a queue and batched manually at closing time for that particular business. Transactions are kept in queue but batched automatically at set time such as 11pm or another time when equipment is not in use. Transactions are batched at fiscal close of business 3pm PAC (money transfer deadline for financial institutions) regardless of when physical business closes. Transactions are batched in real time. Each batch process impacts cash flow and fees associated with batching differently. Which process is correct, will vary from business to business and processor to processor. If you are unsure which process is correct for your business please contact us at...
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