The Future of POS

By Kinjal Banerjee

“A Point of Sale or POS is a point at which a customer makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods and services rendered.” (Source: Wikipedia)

But, the definition of a point of sale has always been evolving, from hand written notes to the massive machines with integrated hardware and software. These started from the days of the retail boom in the 1980s till very recently. With the advent of the internet and cloud, the POS has further evolved into what is now being called as the “point of service”. An m-POS (mobile point of sale) is a smartphone, tablet or dedicated wireless device that performs the functions of a cash register or electronic point of sale terminal. Some m-POS software vendors also provide optional hand-held docking stations (called sleds) that allow the mobile device to read barcodes and print receipts.

m-POS implementations will not only reduce the infrastructure expenses, but also provide a significant improvement in customer experience. With m-POS implementation, retailers can actually increase or decrease the point of sale terminals based on the needs, and resolve various issues like big queues at the counters. This will minimize the problem of cart abandonment.

Advantages of Using m-POS:

Retailer Benefits:

• Encourage spur-of-the-moment buying and decrease shopping cart abandonment 
• Monitor and control seasonal demand more effectively 
• Increase shopping conversions 
• Manages influx of customers more easily 
• Frees up floor space 
• Reduced investment and increased ROI 
• Reduced maintenance 
• Avail email receipts and collect customer Information 
• Increased security 
• Instant update across all POS 
• Instant increase in number of POS

Customer Benefits:

• Consultative selling 
• Reduced time in queue 
• Gives customers more freedom in shopping across floor space 
• Access to product information / suggestions 
• Allow customers to get help immediately with questions about features, pricing and purchasing details

As more and more retail partners start enabling integration, like payment partners, banks, technology partners, m-POS will be used increasingly in retail as well. It has become a norm that all the brick and mortar retailers are implementing m-POS along with regular POS terminals.

Feature Highlights of m-POS:

• Web based POS 
• Responsive UI 
• Designed to work across all platforms 
• Wireless connectivity with all hardware devices 
• All major functions accessed from the main screen like a regular POS 
• Easy integration with other mobile applications / store systems 
• Training mode for price audits and scanning efficiency 
• In store audits 
• Communication module

Mobile POS certainly looks to be the future of POS in retail and other sectors as well. A number of diversified industries are finding that mobile POS is the right choice for their particular needs. Mobile POS use cases range from across all formats of stores, though they might be used for different purposes.


The evolution of POS systems will continue from the original “point of sale” to the current “point of service” and beyond. It might not completely take over from traditional POS, but it will rather grow to complement traditional POS, addressing specific needs of retailers and creating value, leading to a more integrated and converged store solution.