What is an electronic point of sale system?

An electronic point of sale system can make it much easier to run your business. It can help prevent errors when taking payment and keep track of your sales data. 

So if you’re ready to improve your business day-to-day operations, read on. We’ll look at:

• What are electronic point of sale systems?
• Why do you need an electronic point of sale system?
• What should you keep in mind?
• Can you use a financial manager with your point of sale system?

Otherwise known as EPOS, an Electronic Point of Sale system is a system designed to record sales, take payment, and generate sales reports. Different EPOS systems can have different features, but those are the basics. 

An EPOS system consists of two things: software and hardware. The hardware is the actual devices you use, like certain card machines and tills. Meanwhile the software is what’s used to record all the data and transactions. 

The point of sale software is essentially the brain that controls everything. It’ll store information, including stock levels and prices, and can link these to the connected hardware devices. 

Clover’s POS software is cloud-based, meaning that your data is kept secure and easily accessible from anywhere. Your business doesn’t have to stop just because you’re not there. 

If used correctly, some EPOS software is able to monitor your stock levels. It can even send you alerts when your stock reaches a certain level. 

There are various pieces of hardware that you can get as part of your EPOS system. These include:

• Card reader — payment terminal for taking card payments
• Cash drawer — for storing cash sales
• Receipt printer — for printing receipts after a transaction
• Tablet — portable EPOS manager
• Barcode scanner — Scans a product’s barcode and brings up the item on the system

The EPOS system you choose may provide you with all the hardware, or you might need to select which pieces your business needs. 

Sometimes, you can buy hardware with the software already installed. The Clover Station Pro, for example, does exactly this. Choosing a pre-installed system is a great idea for minimising the amount of set-up you need to do. 

Now you know what an electronic point of sale is, let’s consider why you should use one. 

EPOS systems are perfect for managing anything related to stock and goods sold for your business. Because you can directly upload specific products, it shows exactly how many of each product sold during any given time. 

If you sell clothes, do you sell more t-shirts in the morning and more jeans later in the day? 

Paying attention to these trends can help point your business towards higher sales revenue — and that’s just one use. 

With an EPOS system, your card reader is tied directly to your till. That means when you process a transaction, it automatically appears on the card reader. 

Compare this to systems with separate tills and card readers. Instead of the exact amount automatically appearing on the card reader, you have to manually key in the amount. This can occasionally lead to errors, such as charging a customer too much or too little. 

It also speeds up each transaction, reducing the chance of queues and improving a customer’s overall experience. 

When running a business, access to detailed and accurate information can dramatically improve your operations. You can see customer spending habits, and better predict the times you’ll have higher and lower income. 

This type of data is essential for writing accurate sales forecasts — which you may need to better run your business and help get investments. 

The EPOS works on one system, meaning each piece of hardware is connected. Any time you issue an update, it should automatically spread across to each device. 

This can make menu changes super simple for a food truck business, or help keep your prices up to date. In general, management of the sales side of your business should become easier too. 

Some systems are capable of recording how many times a specific customer has purchased from you. This can be really useful if you want to implement a loyalty program. 

Since you know how often they’ve ordered (or even what their average order cost is), you could give loyal customers a voucher related to their typical spend. 

Using an EPOS system to do this is much more elegant than trying to do it manually, and much less likely to result in mistakes. 

Choosing the right EPOS system can be tricky, so here’s some things to bear in mind before you buy one. 

As a new business, it can be tempting to cut corners and use the cheapest option. We strongly recommend you don’t do this. 

Cheaper pieces of technology (software and hardware) have a greater chance of failure, and less support when it comes to resolving the issue. Instead, spend a little more on a reliable piece of kit. This is one area where you won’t regret it. 

It’s all too easy to think about what your business needs right now, and forgetting about the future. If you feel that’s the case, step back for a moment. 

EPOS systems are expensive, so the last thing you want is to need an upgrade in a year or two because your business has outgrown the system. Take some time to think about what your business needs, and consider what would be a better long-term solution. 

Since an electronic point of sale system helps collect money from customers, you can definitely use it with accounting software. Some EPOS systems let you connect directly to accounting software, but we prefer connecting it to your business account instead. 

That’s why we recommend using the Countingup app — a two-in-one business current account and accounting software combo. Countingup has several features that help provide a crystal clear overview of your finances. 

For example, the automatic categorisation feature sorts all of your expenses into HMRC-compliant categories. This makes filing your Self Assessment each year super simple, and it can even help you pay less tax due to your business purchases. 

So what are you waiting for?

Download the Countingup app today!