The time and location at which a purchase is concluded are referred to as the point of sale (POS). The POS scheme is described by Laudon, K. C., and Laudon, J. P. (2016) as an updated variant of the standard register. Many components are used in the device, including apps, a screen, a display, a credit reader, a cash drawer, a receipt printer, and a barcode scanner.For a variety of factors, such as a rising competitive market in the retail sector field, such as restaurants, there has been a rise in the use of such systems as the POS scheme. In the contemporary world, the POS systems go beyond the point of sale and provide solutions in retail management by handling everything from the sales and inventory to the customer management and e-commerce.
Evolution of POS systems
According to Boddy, D., & Paton, R. (2005), the evolution of POS systems can be traced back to the nineteenth century having in mind that the system is a development of the traditional cash register. In 1879, James Ritty, a dealer of fine wines and cigars, invented the first cash register, Ritty was running a successful business but encountered a major problem of getting ripped off by some employees.Ritty then named the cash register an incorruptible cashier. In his invention, Ritty made the device to register transactions made at his business. He went ahead to get patent rights of his invention and later sold the invention to Jacob H. Eckert who is globally known as the founder of the National Manufacturing Company( NMC). However, Eckter did not stay with the invention much longer and sold it to John H. Patterson who, at that time, was a retail coal owner in Ohio.
Having bought the business invention from Eckter, Patterson renamed it to National Cash Register and added new features such as the paper receipts, custom employee drawers, and bells.In the twentieth century, 1906, Charles F. Kattering, a former worker at the National Cash Register (NCR) invented the first cash register capable of being powered eclectically by a motor. The invention meant that the device could work much faster and easier in as far as sales and other transactions were concerned.
After seven or so decades, in the late 1970s and early 1980s, constant innovations enabled the traditional cash register to evolve into a computerized point of sales systems. The innovation period also saw the introduction of credit cards and other touch screen displays as means of payment. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, the innovations had brought about the emergence of barcode scanners, electronic registers, credit card devices and the computer-based point of sales systems.
The twenty-first century has been the optimal century in the evolution history of the POS systems. In late 2000, POS systems did not only remain computerized but went mobile. There were mobile applications that enabled and still do enable customers of retails businesses and restaurants to make payments.One such example is M-Pesa found in Kenya, East Africa. In the United Kingdom (UK), fifty-three percent of retailers rated the mobile POS systems as the most necessary and helpful in-store technology for consumers.With the introduction of software such as cloud-surfing, it is possible for retailers and other small business owners to transact with customers from anywhere in the globe and receive payments (Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. 2016).
The evolution, in summary, can be said to have come from a simple cash register to a fully developed management solutions allowing retailers to make records of inventory, to have a comprehensive customer management, and to carry out e-commerce in one platform.
Uses of POS systems
The POS systems are used for many purposes within restaurants and retail businesses. Before delving into the specific uses of the POS systems, it is vital to consider the essential components of the systems that make them useful.
Touch Screen Display (TSD) is one of the components. The component accelerates the processing of transactions in the retail industry and the food service at the restaurants.Two, In-Built Customer Display (IBCD) enables one to run marketing messages for new customers who want to know the prices for the different products.
Three, the POS Software (POSS) enables the operation of the system as a whole.Four, the printer helps the restaurants and retail businesses to get customers their receipts.Five, the Magnet Card Reader (MCR) helps in receiving payments from both the debit cards and credit cards.Finally, security is critical for the effectiveness of the system (Mont, O. K. 2002).
Having fathomed the components of the system, it is easier to discuss how the system made up of these components is helpful in both restaurants and retail businesses.One, the POS systems help retailers in making buying decisions and ultimately in the proper use of cash. The POS systems provide sales pattern for different products and can, therefore, help a retailer in making important decisions, for example, the quantity of a given commodity to buy at a particular time. To avoid unnecessary holding costs, the systems also pint to the types of commodities in the retails business which is preferred and therefore would not last for long at the store. The system also opens up the opportunity for the retailer to identify the most affordable vendors in the market.
Two, the POS systems help in curbing impropriety of employees in restaurants and the retail businesses. Since the system is capable of taking track of all the sales, it is possible for one to compare the sales and the actual cash available to the business. The system, therefore, makes it much easier to identify the dishonest employees in the restaurants or retail businesses which then reduce the possibilities of losses as a result of such.
Three, the POS systems allow restaurant proprietors ad retailers to obtain customers' personal information which can be used to reach out to them in case of any need. For instance, a restaurant owner can easily call or email the customers in his or her database for updates on new services offered (Edwards, T. Et.al 2017). The close touch made possible by the POS systems is quite critical in the success of any business since it makes the customers not only loyal but marketers of the services offered.
Four, the POS systems allow a restaurant owner and a retailer to know the return on investment. With the system, one can find the products with the best margins, the best salesperson and the best marketing activities for the products. Consequently, one can optimize the sales processes, marketing and hence improving the profit margins.
Five, the system enables restaurants and retail businesses to speed up and optimize the check out processes. The bar code scanning helps customers in making payments without necessarily queuing at the restaurants. With efficiency in place, customers feel more satisfied and the barcodes ultimately boost the number of customers served hence boosting the profit margins.
Finally, the POS systems can be used by the restaurants and retailers to stabilize their prices and ensure that all products reflect accurate and consistent prices. The system enables one to change the prices in the main database and the new price would reflect in all their sub-systems making it easy for the same price change to be communicated to all the employees (Stoutenburg, et al. 2004).
Conclusion
In conclusion, the Point of Sales System (POS) is very useful for small business enterprises such as restaurants and retail businesses. Some of the uses include: enhancing efficiency in the business, reducing or eliminating impropriety in the business, keeping accurate prices and keeping in touch with customers. The paper has also elaborately delved into the history of the POS systems from the nineteenth century to date.
References
Boddy, D., & Paton, R. (2005). Maintaining alignment over the long-term: lessons from theevolution of an electronic point of sale system. Journal of Information Technology, 20(3), 141-151.
Edwards, T., Skoog, L., Babu, A., & Dorogusker, J. (2017). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/437,322.
Laudon, K. C., & Laudon, J. P. (2016). Management information system. Pearson Education India.
Mont, O. K. (2002). Clarifying the concept of product–service system. Journal of cleaner production, 10(3), 237-245.
Stoutenburg, E., Mollett, C. J., Price, J., Fillinger, C. A., Nelson, E. M., Seifert, D. A., & Singleton, J. (2004). U.S. Patent No. 6,827,260. Washington, DC: U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
