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This guide will help you choose the best POS hardware for your business in 2018. It covers everything from price to features, including benefits and drawbacks of each type.
The “point of sale pos software” is a type of computer program that allows businesses to process transactions such as credit card payments, invoicing, and payroll.
A POS system combines hardware such as touch-screen terminals and payment processors with software designed to receive payments and monitor sales. Because the gear you’ll require is determined by the POS software you employ, it’s critical to select a POS software system before buying hardware. We’ll go over all you need to know about POS hardware in the sections below.
Basics of POS Hardware
A point-of-sale system is more than a sophisticated cash register. POS hardware, like POS software, comes in a variety of configurations to fit your requirements. You can require as little as an iPad or as much as a whole system with Drawer with Cashs, Scanner for barcodess, and a kitchen display system (KDS). Many POS companies provide beginning bundles that include the essentials for selling and receiving payments, with additional features available as add-ons.
The kind and size of your company will determine what hardware you’ll need and how much your POS system will cost.
Starter Kits for POS Hardware
*The iPad is not included.
You may also put together your own hardware package by buying individual pieces. The most convenient approach to buy POS hardware is via your POS software supplier, since you’ll know that every component is compatible. Furthermore, several prominent POS software suppliers give interest-free financing on hardware purchases, allowing you to pay over time. However, you may receive a list of suitable hardware from your software supplier and buy the pieces separately for a reduced price.
The following are some of the most frequent point-of-sale hardware components, along with their usual prices and when they should be used:
Costs of POS Hardware
Monitor with a Touch-Screen
For most businesses, the Monitor with a Touch-Screen is the main hardware component of the POS system.
Serving as the backbone of the system, the Monitor with a Touch-Screen lets your cashiers run the front end of the POS program to ring up orders, clock in, set appointments, and more. A few monitors have an integrated Reader for credit cards. In many cases, you’ll need to use a tablet and purchase a stand that may connect to a customer-facing display and peripherals. Non-tablet monitors usually come in kits with a Drawer with Cash.
Approximately $350–$2,000 per monitor is the price range.
Separate displays and card readers are suitable for many brick-and-mortar firms since they allow for more complex software. Mobile enterprises, service-based organizations, and anybody else who simply need basic POS features may profit from a single, streamlined piece of hardware such as Square Terminal.
POS hardware may be simplified for service-based organizations that don’t need a full POS system with complicated inventory or sales monitoring.
For further information, go to: Our guide to the top touch-screen POS systems can be found here.
Drawer with Cash
Though simple, integrating the Drawer with Cash with your POS system can streamline the checkout process.
This seemingly simple device gets an upgrade when applied to a POS system, with drawer-open sensors and signals to protect your cash flow, along with the ability to integrate with your POS terminal. You can choose from several styles, colors, and locking options. Before purchasing a Drawer with Cash, inquire about its durability and whether it includes a till.
Approximately $100 per drawer is the price range.
Tip: Some high-volume cash businesses, such as cafes and coffee shops or those in the hospitality industry like gift shops in tourist destinations and hotels, may benefit from dual Drawer with Cashs. This allows multiple Drawer with Cashs to connect to a single terminal or Printer for Receipts. Multiple Drawer with Cashs allow Drawer with Cashs to be assigned to one employee at a time for easier cash tracking.
For further information, go to: Our guide on the best cash registers for small companies can be found here.
Reader for credit cards
Traditional countertop card readers are big but safe, with credit, debit, and contactless payment choices.
Reader for credit cardss come in various styles, from a small card-swipe device you plug into your tablet to a full terminal with a touchpad and Printer for Receipts. Some work for contactless payments, an increasingly popular payment option. If you go simple, be sure to get a terminal with at least a chip reader. Chip payments are EMV compliant and offer greater security for your POS system.
Range of prices: $10–$500
Traditional countertop card readers are fine for static sales, but any company that wants to complete transactions on the sales floor, at events, or at the curb would benefit from a more portable option like a Bluetooth reader, a handheld terminal with a card reader, or a card reader that plugs into a smartphone or tablet.
Learn more: Read our guide on the best Reader for credit cardss.
Printer for Receipts
Most Printer for Receiptss can be connected to any POS system.
Even in this digital age, some people prefer a printed receipt. Most Printer for Receiptss use thermal printing. Some offer multiple grayscale levels or limited color options, a useful feature if you’d like to include coupons in your receipts.
Range of prices: $150–$600
Tip: Even if your setup calls for multiple monitors and Drawer with Cashs, you can likely share one Printer for Receipts between two monitors. You’ll also want to consider sending email receipts to make returns easier for your customers and also cut down on the environmental and financial impact of printing physical receipts.
Learn more: Read our guide on the best thermal Printer for Receiptss.
Accessories for POS Hardware
Stands, routers, caller ID devices, specific cables, and rolls of label or receipt paper are also available from several POS system vendors. Because they are meant to be interoperable, it may be more convenient to acquire them together with your POS equipment. However, such products are seldom exclusive.
Additional point-of-sale hardware products typically used in retail businesses and restaurants are listed below.
- Scanner for barcodes
- Printer for Labels
Scanner for barcodess help quickly ring up sales and take inventory counts.
Like Monitor with a Touch-Screens, Scanner for barcodess have improved a lot. You can still get the pistol-grip wired models, but now there are alternate hand-held styles, scanners built into kiosks and scales, and even apps for your phone.
Be careful to match the scanner to the sorts of barcodes you’ll be scanning (1D, stacked, and 2D) as well as the area you’ll be scanning (a flat surface or a flexible tag, for example). The most limiting and ineffective are laser scanners. 2D area imagers can scan in any direction and are quicker and more accurate than 3D area imagers.
Range of prices: $50–$800
Tip: Mobile Scanner for barcodess can also quickly take inventory counts and upload the data to your POS system.
Printer for Labelss are essential for retailers organizing complex inventory or creating products in-house.
Labels not only help customers but allow your POS system to track inventory and pricing. Printer for Labelss range from simple black-and-white barcodes to complex designs in color (think things like visitor passes or items crafted in-store).
They also usually use thermal printing, which means you need to get paper specific to your needs. (Paper for color differs from that for grayscale.) Many Printer for Labelss support more than one paper size to make it easier to create labels for multiple purposes.
Range of prices: $100–$500
Most items are tagged with a manufacturer’s UPC code for retail shops. Internal barcoding and SKU number label systems, which enable you to categorize items by category, vendor, and more, make managing and maintaining inventory much simpler.
Learn more: Read our guide on the best barcode Printer for Labelss.
Additional POS Hardware for Restaurants
To meet their complicated operations, restaurants often need specialized POS gear. Extra components like as kitchen display systems, self-ordering kiosks, and handheld POS systems are common in streamlined restaurant POS systems.
Here are a few of the most popular choices:
Impact printers are used in kitchens to prevent smearing. (Image courtesy of the Star Kitchen Impact Printer)
They may look similar, but kitchen printers and Printer for Receiptss actually use different technology. While the former uses thermal printing technology, kitchen printers use impact printing, which does not smudge easily.
If you own a restaurant, café, or bar where orders must be prepared in a kitchen and you aren’t utilizing a digital KDS, you’ll need to buy separate kitchen printers.
Range of prices: $50–$350
To make any modifications or allergies stand out, kitchen printers generally come with color choices.
Because they enable personnel to concentrate on preparing orders, kiosks are widespread in fast food and counter-service businesses.
Customers may order and/or pay for their purchases using POS kiosks. They’ve grown in popularity as a result of the COVID-19 epidemic, which provided a slew of new methods to shop and do business that don’t need face-to-face interaction. According to Restaurant Business, Technomic Insight study suggests that up to 46% of customers demand self-service kiosk or tabletop ordering alternatives at restaurants. Furthermore, 13% of Americans will only eat at establishments that provide contactless dining.
The types range from modest restaurant pads to grocery store self-service checkouts. Kiosks are also used to check into medical institutions and hotels, as well as to buy petrol. Originally designed for consumer convenience and labor cost savings, they may become more popular if social distance grows more common.
Range of prices: $200–$7,000
Tip: Kiosks allow consumers to personalize their purchases while also allowing vendors to prompt customers with offers and add-ons, resulting in greater average order values. While kiosks are an initial investment, they may save your firm money in the long run by increasing overage orders or ticket amounts while freeing up personnel to concentrate on order fulfillment.
For further information, go to: Take a look at our list of the finest POS kiosks.
Grocery stores, delis, and specialized food stores are the most typical places to find POS scales.
With pricing computations, label printing, and other features, POS software elevates scales to a new level. Make sure to look at their accuracy, load capacity, and ease of calibration.
Range of prices: $300–$1,500
Businesses that must weigh commodities such as meat and vegetables would most likely need a specialist POS system. Solutions with native scale integration are included in our list of the top supermarket POS systems.
Toast POS comes with a built-in kitchen display system that works in tandem with the POS.
A KDS allows waitstaff or cashiers to submit orders to the kitchen staff through the POS system, reducing mistakes and keeping track of the time it takes to create a meal. A KDS may be as basic as a touch screen or as complex as a printer with a bump bar. A KDS should be simple to see from a distance and long-lasting in hot, greasy conditions.
Range of prices: $100–$1,500
Tip: KDSs prioritize orders effectively, ensuring they don’t fall through the gaps, and separating them by course. Some systems can link to online ordering, allowing such orders to be added to the queue.
For further information, go to: Our guide to the top kitchen display systems can be found here.
Digital menu boards are ubiquitous in movie theaters and are great for any establishment with shifting menu items or promotions.
Digital menu boards are a wonderful alternative for any business or shop with a limited but changing offering or where orders are accepted, not only restaurants or movie theaters. You can develop a digital menu with many POS software systems, so all you need is a screen and a router. There are, however, specialized signs boards and portable choices available.
Range of prices: $130–$1,000
Tip: Digital menu boards are a terrific method to professionally display your promotions and specials, but they can also be utilized to assist consumers in navigating around shops or as an advertising to entice window shoppers.
Tableside ordering using handheld devices allows waiters to accept orders and process payments immediately at the table.
A portable or mobile POS (mPOS) device can accept orders and process payments while staying connected to your main POS system, whether you’re taking orders on the floor or operating at an off-site venue like a craft fair or trade show. These devices also interface with KDSs in eateries.
Range of prices: $150–$600
Tip: Durability, range, ability to function offline, and payment processing capabilities should all be considered while selecting a mPOS.
For further information, go to: Take a look at our list of the finest mobile POS applications.
What to Think About When Buying POS Hardware
Here are five points to consider when selecting a POS system for your business:
It’s pointless to invest in POS hardware that doesn’t operate with the software you’re already using. On their websites, several POS software suppliers include a list of suitable hardware. If you can’t locate the information you need, go to their POS integrations page or contact support. Similarly, your POS hardware should be able to give a list of software systems that are compatible.
If you’re still undecided about which POS software to employ, check out our guide to the top POS systems.
Because each piece of POS hardware has its unique price structure, you’ll want to think about your present company demands and income before making a purchase. It’s worth noting, however, that most POS gear has high upfront prices but minimal operating expenses.
Overall, you should assess the benefits and drawbacks of buying POS gear vs leasing it. Fees for leasing POS hardware are often 20%–50% lower than those for equipment loans, although there is usually a big payment needed at the end. You may use our equipment leasing calculator to help you figure out which approach is best for your company.
It’s critical to pick POS hardware that you and your employees feel comfortable with. Look for remarks on the system’s simplicity of use and dependability on review sites. You may also see what user tools the POS hardware provides, such as an online knowledge library, lesson videos, or a training mode to assist new staff get up to speed. Some even provide installation and setup assistance (free or for a fee).
In POS hardware, inventory management is an important aspect to look for. You should be able to identify when you’re out of stock, do inventory analysis, manage variations, estimate demand, and handle special orders all from your POS system.
Choose a point-of-sale hardware solution that won’t be obsolete in a few years. Sure, it will cost you more money now, but it will pay off in the long term.
Customer profiles, appointment management, and marketing automation are more things to consider.
Set Up Your Point-of-Sale (POS) Hardware
It’s time to set up your POS hardware and software after you’ve made your decision. You have a few options here: do it yourself, engage an outside specialist, or utilize your POS supplier, who may provide installation services for free or at a reduced rate.
Installing a POS system on your own isn’t necessarily difficult, particularly if you’re a tiny company with just one location to sell from. It’s also a wonderful way to save money and have a better understanding of the system.
DIY, on the other hand, still requires a certain amount of technical know-how. And, if there’s a high learning curve, it may take a long time—not to mention a lot of frustration.
Using a professional guarantees that your system is fitted correctly. You may also request assistance with onboarding and training to help you and your workers get more familiar with the system. The disadvantage is that it is more expensive, and you may have to wait a long time for a professional to set up your POS system.
Another thing to think about when it comes to your POS system is how it’s set up. Traditional, cloud, and hybrid setups are the three main options, each with its own set of advantages and disadvantages.
The standard POS arrangement enables you to take payments and store customer and inventory data on a closed network or server, which means you’ll have to be in the same physical place (like your cafe or shop) to view any data. It is more secure, yet it is restrictive.
Unlike conventional POS systems, cloud POS systems enable you to store data online and access it from any device with an internet connection. While this configuration is flexible, it is also less secure and may be quickly disabled by a weak internet connection if you don’t have offline functionality.
Finally, there’s the hybrid POS configuration. You get the flexibility of cloud settings with the security and stability of conventional configurations when you go hybrid. This means that even if the internet is down, you can still conduct transactions and manage your inventory.
Conclusion
POS systems have gone a long way, with advancements that make it simple to handle all parts of your company, including sales, inventory, marketing, and personnel administration. The tangible tools you need to make the most of your POS software are provided by POS hardware.
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