We all think the hardware for a POS station is all the same. It’s just a POS computer, a cash drawer, a thermal printer, and a pin pad or credit card reader. For a lot of small business owners, that is all they are going to need.
However, certain industries, in both the retail and hospitality sectors, can benefit from additional or specialized POS hardware. This can range from a simple cash drawer with a small addition feature to a whole new system for your business.
In this guide to choosing the right POS hardware for your business, we will go over some of the POS hardware options that can benefit you, based on the industry you’re in. Read on to learn what additional POS hardware to add to your business.
The Best Options for Hospitality Businesses
There is a whole host of additional POS hardware options for restaurants, bars, and any other business selling food.
Counter-Serve Restaurants
For counter-serve restaurants, there are kiosks. These are often one big screen with a printer and card reader at the base. They have their own stand and are placed near the checkout line. They are great for line busting. During a rush, customers will be more likely to use them to get their order in faster.
Despite kiosks costing significantly more money than a regular POS station, if you do a cost analysis on them, you will discover a great benefit—which is that a kiosk is cheaper than the onboarding and monthly payroll of a human cashier. Kiosks can save a business money in the long run.
Server-Based Restaurants
With server-based restaurants, a big improvement you can make is giving every server a handheld POS tablet. With access to a tablet, they will not have to walk back to the POS station to put in every order. This will save them a bunch of time, which they can then spend serving more customers and turning more tables, therefore increasing the tips the servers make with the higher turnaround.
Hosts can also benefit from unique POS hardware. If you put a POS station with host control at the host stand, the host can get reservations from the website as well as put reservations in the system as calls come in. Then with the press of a button, the host can seat a table. The host can also add notes for the server. The POS station at the host stand can also be used to put order in without major shifts from host to server function.
The kitchen in a server-based restaurant is another place special POS hardware can go. A kitchen video system, which turns paper order tickets into a video monitor, can increase the speed and the accuracy of a kitchen. Your kitchen staff will never have to worry about losing a paper ticket again. Also, a kitchen video system monitor can be hung at every section of the kitchen and show just the pertinent information from each order.
Bars and Nightclubs
While they might not all serve food, bars and nightclubs can also benefit from some specialized POS hardware. Nightclubs and bars that have a low-light atmosphere can have issues when it comes to handling money and bar tickets. A thermal POS printer that has a light and makes a buzzing sound when a ticket prints will help alert bartenders to new drink orders coming in, so no order goes unfilled. Identifying and counting money in low light can lead to costly mistakes. Cash drawers with a light inside the drawer will help bartenders see the bills and make correct change.
Food Trucks and Pop-Ups
Food trucks and other businesses on the go like pop-ups can also gain some advantages from unique POS hardware. Space is always an issue on a food truck. You can gain a little bit of it back with a smaller 13” cash drawer. Unlike most cash drawers that have five bill slots, the 13” cash drawer only has four bill slots. This is rarely an issue when space comes at a premium.
With food trucks and pop-ups finding themselves in different locations every day, maintaining a stable internet connection can be an issue. A credit card terminal with Wi-Fi makes for a great solution. It can be tethered to any smartphone, so it can be used wherever the smartphone has a signal.
POS Hardware for Retail Stores
Food-focused businesses are one example of an industry that can benefit from specialty POS hardware. But they aren’t the only type of business that should look into acquiring unique hardware. There are some business types in the retail space that can advance with the help of special POS hardware options.
Boutiques
Boutique clothing stores, which are likely to purchase products from small local vendors, will find that these vendors’ products don’t come with barcodes. A label maker connected to the POS system will allow the business to print their own barcodes. This will lead to faster checkout and smaller lines.
Convenience Stores and Grocery Stores
Convenience stores and grocery stores have a lot in common and can benefit from the same specialized POS hardware. In both types of businesses, a large customer display can help the customer see as their order is rung up and discounts are taken off. This leads to clearer communication and an overall better customer experience.
Another commonality between convenience stores and grocery stores is the sale of alcohol. With the use of a 2-D scanner, a clerk can scan a driver’s license to ensure the customer is of age and is not trying to use a fake license. This can remove unneeded risk and heavy fines from government oversight agencies.
Determining Which Options Are Right for Your Business
While a POS station can be simple, it can also be customized and complex. The better you can make a POS system work for your business, the more value you will get out of it. Use the ideas in this guide to choosing the right POS hardware for your business to familiarize yourself with the options available to you. Then have a chat with your employees and managers. They are a good indicator of what additional POS hardware your business might need.
After that, contact Total Merchant Supply to see how we can improve your POS experience. As an experienced POS supplier, we can help you pick out POS hardware best suited for your business needs and provide any technical assistance you may require. With our assistance, you can make your POS system more efficient and effective and enjoy increased profits and customer satisfaction.