All About Retail POS

In the retail end of business, the emphasis for Point of Sale systems is accuracy (scanning is more accurate than punching in numbers from a sticker, or expecting the cashier to remember what each item costs); the opportunity to manage inventory (and even flag items for reorder); report analysis (to figure out sales patterns); and cost (as you grow, the number of terminals starts to add up!).

One expert we talked to in researching this Scoop On buyers guide is Tim Millen, VP of Information Technology for Elephant Pharmacy , a small but growing retail chain in California (with the slogan, "The Drug Store That Prescribes Yoga"). Millen is in charge of Elephant's POS technology. He used to work in the apparel, so he has seen different kinds of retail in action. He had many tips for you, which we've sprinkled throughout the retail end of this guide.

Now let's take a look at components and peripherals for POS systems.