Point Of Sale Equipment - Getting Your Business Ready For Profit

For any small to medium business, investing in point of sale equipment can be a real challenge and also a serious business decision. The

investment you choose today will impact your profitability in the long run, so it is important you are well-informed before choosing the right type of POS hardware for your business.

The type of POS equipment you require will depend on your business, and your requirements can range from a simple credit card terminal to conduct simple card transactions (signature or ATM card pin transactions) to full-blown POS systems (that will cost you thousands of dollars) that offer a lot more functionality such as inventory management and employee payrolls. Here are the types of POS equipment you might require:

Barcode Scanners

Bar code scanners are one of the essential POS hardware/peripherals most retail businesses invest in.

Without barcode scanning, the checkout process would be slowed down considerably.

These devices can really range in terms of pricing and functionality, but you don't need to spend big if you're a small to medium sized operation. There are cheaper and low-end barcode scanners available that utilize CCD technology (ie. they have a much shorter scan range), but they're more than sufficient for bringing up information on price tags. More sophicated devices would include long range scanners that use laser technology are more expensive and are mostly utilized in warehouse and shipping businesses where getting to the bar code might be more difficult - if you were faced with a 10 ft sq crate for example.

Deciding upon the type of barcode scanning device you'll need will depend directly on the volume of customers you get. If the business has a constant flow of purchases, then you'll probably need to spend a little more cash and pick up an "autosensing" bar code scanner that has a higher scan rate and has the ability to automatically turn itself on or off whether something is placed under its scan range. For extremely high volumes of traffic, consider an omnidirectional scanner that will allow you to easily scan bar codes from almost any angle, increasing efficiency overall during checkout.

Touch Screen Registers Or POS Keyboards?

Touch screen registers are what most modern businesses go with these days in terms of point of sale hardware. Whether they're retail or restaurant businesses, most of them will opt for touch screens.

However POS keyboards are still widely used and you might want to consider this option if you're running anything similar to a grocery store operation, and the price ranges anywhere between $150 -$300 depending on if you choose the ones with magnetic stripe reader functionality for handling credit card transactions.

If you don't  you can always get a handheld terminal for card reading separately. The programmable keyboard versions are versatile in a way that that the user can program unique item codes as well as prices and tie them to specific keys, making checkout a whole lot more efficient.

A touch screen cash register on the other hand are a lot more user-friendly compared. The visual interface can be customized specifically for the business and this allows for a lot more flexibility in how you want to deal with checkout transactions.

You can expect to fork out anywhere between $600-$1000 for a good LCD touch screen system, but these are more preferable to the CTR monitors that take up a huge amount of space on the checkout counter. They're quite durable and look professional (allowing your customers to see the entire list of items as they're tallied up) so it's well worth the investment in the long run.

Other POS Hardware To Consider: Handheld Terminals

Handheld terminals are not new on the market and are utilized in more and more ways today. These POS devices usually come in the form of a PDA and their job of which is to transmit orders, prices and data back to the main base station.

If you run a large warehouse, retail or restaurant business, a handheld terminal might be a lot more efficient. They save you time from running back and forth between the main terminal especially if your staff have a large floor area to work with. As they say, time saved is money earned.

These devices come in several flavors including the latest models that feature handwriting recognition, allowing you to freely write and send the order back to the kitchen or wherever the base station is located. You can save a lot of money in the long run by using a handheld POS devices but do make sure they're sturdy enough to survive drops.

Most manufacturer websites have specifications on the range of "drop tests" that have been performed so that you can make a better informed buying decision on your POS equipment.