What Features To Consider When You’re Buying a Point of Sale

When you`re going through the POS selection process, it`s important to see this purchase from a holistic standpoint. Here are three factors everyone in the market for a point of sale should consider before making a buying decision.

We get it an account executive comes in hot offering you discounts or free upfront costs on hardware, epos software, and services. They dazzle you with words like cloud-based platform, third party app integrations, and 24/7 customer support. However, even "free" comes with a cost, which you`ll find in the terms and conditions of any merchant agreement.

The terms in the merchant agreement are important as they are the base that calculates your total financial exposure. A shorter agreement term compares to less financial exposure, while a long term can be detrimental to your business. To set you up, here are a few things you have to look for in your merchant agreement:

• • Does the POS supplier have the ability to raise processing rates during the lifetime of your agreement?
• • Could the POS supplier increase the cost of software charges? What`s the expected increase?
• • What occurs if you cancel while under contract? What amount would you have to pay if you do need to cancel?

Luckily, you don`t need to be a genius to consider your long term budget when choosing a POS supplier. By doing math before you sign, you will save yourself from being trapped in a raw arrangement.

Know Your Features

Every epos system will offer similar basic capabilities; these include credit and debit card acceptance, reporting, and stock management. While most of POS suppliers offer similar features, each supplier will execute these features in a different way.

Take delivery management, for example. While all POS suppliers offer this feature, one supplier`s offer may better serve your business. Certain suppliers will have fee implementation inside their systems designed to save you time and increase your efficiency yet at a monetary cost. What`s more, if your business serves a large audience, search for a supplier whose delivery management capabilities support bigger geological impressions.

Whatever features you organize, make sure your POS supplier offers solutions that line up with your service (and revenue) needs. The following are a few highlights you need to consider:

• • Online Ordering
• • Delivery Management
• • Customer Loyalty
• • Data Security
• • Offline Capability
• • Third party App Integrations

As you consider about your options, explicitly ask suppliers how they vary from their competition on any features that matter to you.

Choose a POS that will Grow with You

Growing and expanding your business may or may not be something that is as of now in your thoughts. In the event that it is, make sure the POS solution you select is capable for growing with your business. If you will likely extend to an extra 10 locations over a specific period of time, you`re going to want the peace of mind realizing that your POS can handle with that type of exponential growth. Where growth is concerned, choosing a cloud-based solution is the perfect choice. Yes, I`m aware that I`ve mentioned "cloud-based solution" in every main point.

A cloud-based solution allows you to handle with your whole business, regardless of what number of locations, from one central point. Data and reporting are available on a central console, and changes like menu updates can go live with the push of a button. Choosing the correct cloud-based solution will without a doubt lead on ongoing success for your business.