What is a Point-of-Sale System?
Published By
Mike Sorrentino
Published On
May 2024
Share it...
The global POS software market was worth $13.74 billion in 2023
A POS system, or point-of-sale system, has three main components; Software, Hardware and Payments. As the name suggests the system usually resides where the actual sale takes place. To get a full understanding let's look at the evolution of POS systems. The most basic would be someone taking payments for anything and putting it into a box. No reporting, no security, no receipts, just the basic sale. Next came the cash register. This gave us the till or cash drawer and bit of reporting and security but definitely no frills. Finally the POS system will have a minimum 1 terminal, a cash drawer and receipt printer. You will get much more reporting and all sorts of bells and whistles depending on the system.
At a high level the POS system will have a server that will store the database that holds all the information gathered by the system. This server will control any additional terminals that might be onsite, it might also control printer routering and possibly be the controller for Online Orders. In a small location there might be just one terminal that is the server and terminal all in one computer or tablet. Or in a very large location the server could be a powerful computer in the back office that controls all the stations in the Front of the House. More and more common the server could be up in the clouds.
The global market size for POS terminals is just over $100 billion
There are 3 main types of POS systems. On site where their server is located on premises, Cloud based where the server is located at a data center somewhere and reachable through the internet, and the last is the hybrid of the two. They also can come with all sorts of accessories. There are receipt printers, remote printers for kitchens, label printers to create labels for scanning, scanners to scan the labels, customer facing displays to name a few. That is just the hardware part. There are many different POS software vendors that sell all different types of software. Then there are the payment devices and payment processors.
Nearly 90% of restaurants use POS data to support various business offerings
As you can see there is a lot that goes into a Point-of-Sale System. I hope this post gives you a high level overview of what makes up a POS system. They come in all sizes and shapes and most can be configured to what you`re looking for.