Choosing the Right POS Technology for Your Small Business

This article was written in partnership with ShopKeep, an iPad POS System used by over 20,000 small businesses in the United States and Canada.

Choosing the right point of sale (POS) technology is one of the many tasks for setting up your small business, and like other areas of building your business, it is complicated by the variety of choices available. There are hundreds of POS systems to choose from, and they’re certainly not created equally. Choose the wrong system and you’ll encounter headache after headache, including lost productivity and unhappy customers. Make the right choice and you’ll streamline your processes, with the ability to simplify and automate tedious tasks that you used to handle manually. In an effort to help you make the RIGHT choice of POS technology for your small business, ShopKeep has just released a free resource called the Ultimate Guide to Choosing a POS System.

Goodbye Cash Register, Hello Modern POS Technology

Historically, the cash register has been the go-to device for ringing up sales. However, today people pay with a variety of methods, including credit cards, debit cards, and even contactless payments. These multiple payment methods make calculating daily transactions much more difficult than simply counting up the cash in your till. POS technology can efficiently handle daily, weekly, monthly, quarterly and annual sales tracking, and it can even perform additional duties, such as inventory management.

The earlier generations of POS systems were PC-based, which came with drawbacks such as software costs, crashes, repairs, maintenance and more. However, technology has progressed so that today small business owners can choose iPad-based POS systems that are cheaper, more reliable, and easy to use.

What to Look for When Choosing POS Technology

The guide walks small business owners through what to look for when choosing POS technology. This includes:

• Usability – The technology should be easy to set up & use.
• Customer Support – The system should come with 24/7 support.
• Simple Pricing – You should look for simple, pay-as-you-go pricing.
• Quality Hardware – The hardware should be both durable and stylish.
• Cloud Data – The POS data should be held in the cloud and accessible anywhere.
• Security – The technology should keep customer and business data safe and secure.

The guide reviews these and other important aspects of POS technology. You’ll learn how making the right choice in POS can also help you with sales reports, business insights, accounting, and even building better relationships with your customers.

It’s Time for a POS Makeover

Whether you’re just starting out, or you’ve been in business for a while, it’s definitely time to look at the latest POS systems and update accordingly. The ShopKeep Ultimate Guide to Choosing a POS System features a variety of quotes about payment systems, and this one by Greg Burch, VP of Strategic Initiatives U.S. for the Ingenico Group, really stood out to me:

“It’s crucial for small retailers to keep their payment technology up to date both to ensure security and to let customers pay the way they want to pay. Ultimately, small merchants who don’t keep up with payment technology are likely to lose business to their competitors.”

Your customers ARE looking for the convenience and security of modern systems, where their transaction with your business can run smoothly. Having the wrong POS can make your business look dated, and any mishaps with the POS transaction will cause customers to shop elsewhere.

Choosing the right POS technology can also help small business owners who run brick-and-mortar businesses to streamline their processes.  Since modern POS systems can automate many tedious manual tasks, business owners can become more efficient and productive. This gives them more time to devote to the most important aspects of running and growing the business.

The ShopKeep Ultimate Guide to Choosing a POS System has everything you need to make an informed decision about POS technology. Grab your free download today and you’re one step closer to choosing the right point of sale system for your small business.