First Considerations for Retail POS Planning

Here are some things you should think about as you plan for your retail store point-of-sale system.

Standalone, or Chain of Stores?

The first choice you have to make, says our expert, Tim Millen, VP of IT at Elephant Pharmacy, is whether you plan to stay a standalone store, or whether you are or plan to become a chain of stores. This basic decision will divide the available software into two groups for you.

Pay attention to the use of the term "multistore" when shopping. Elephant initially went with a retail system that claimed it could support multistore operations, but it turns out it was actually limited to three or four stores, so they had to switch to another system.

Having to make that switch underlined for Millen an important detail to keep in mind while shopping for a system: The database used to collect and analyze all the data should be one that uses an open, nonproprietary data format. This would let you transfer your data should you have to change systems (which is why some vendors would prefer proprietary data that can't easily be exported, to keep you tied to their system).