The Basics of A Modern iPad Point of Sale System
A few years ago, Point of Sale (POS) was only meant to manual entries of purchase and sale transactions in a cash register, but now it has a different definition.
The modern iPad POS system is an improved, efficient, and effectively integrated set-up of specialized hardware and software that function together for processing face-to-face payment transactions from customers, storing and maintaining databases, and making that available on time. It does not need additional support that means it can automatically function on commands of customers or staff. That’s really awesome.
If we see a couple of decades back, we could not even imagine it. We could just think about manual entries on cash registers. But, today we have a modern POS system. It is all because of the magic of unbelievable technology in the world.
For retailers, businesses, and corporates, this improved POS system is a boon blessed by modern technology. They use it and make the best out of it for the beneficiary of their businesses.
In this article, we will comprehensively talk about the basics of a modern POS iPad system. But, before moving to this, we would discuss the differences between modern and traditional POS systems.
Modern and Traditional POS System- The Differences
The cash registers were the most basic form of the POS system. It was the earliest one. After this, the POS system that was introduced had very limited functions and features. It was hardware with an inbuilt receipt printer and a manual entry system. Somewhat, it presented an easy and a bit faster way for payment transactions. But, it wasn’t very much effective. Also, there were no digital payment slips. The only payment slips there were printed receipts.
The evolution of the modern point of sale system including POS iPad and POS kiosk brought so many advantages for everyone. It is very useful for both customers and staff. As compared to traditional ones, it is far better as it has so many outstanding features and functions that can be used for making payment transactions easier, simpler, and faster.
The fast and secured payment processing, the automatically-generated digital payment slips, and automatically-operated data storing features make it the most useful innovation, especially for the retail industry and businesses. This is much more effective and attractive than traditional POS systems.
iPad POS System- Components Required
An iPad POS system is one of the most admirable innovations of this era. It is very useful. Unlike the traditional point of sale system, it does not need so many hardware & software. It just needs an iPad, a POS iPad stands for placement, a POS application with trusted and secure payment gateways, credit/debit card reader, printer (if needed), and a kiosk machine (if needed). These are the only components that you require to set up a POS system at your store. Here printer and kiosk machines are optional.
POS Application
Out of these, a POS android or iOS application is the main component. It consists of inventory management, pricing, payment transactions, data storing and maintaining, and frontend interface and backend interface. Frontend interface is used by the customers and frontend staff while the backend interface is used by the backend staff to monitor, manage, and secure the flow of payment transactions and databases.
In this system, data can be saved in two different ways that are; on-site and cloud-based. On-site data storing use your own server and therefore, it has limited space. On the other side, cloud-based data storing uses the server of your POS application provider, and therefore, it has unlimited storing capacity.
Use of Pos iPad Stand
A POS iPad stand is simply a stand or holder designed to firmly hold a device like an iPad and tablet. It comes in so many different sizes and shapes with outstanding features and functions. It is used by individuals, families, organizations, businesses for different purposes. Individuals use it for adding fun and thrill to their entertainment while businesses use it for providing improvement and pleasing experience to their customers.
The main purpose of iPad stands is to provide better functionality, security, and effective interaction, and therefore, it is used for installing an iPad POS system.
Credit Card Reader
As the name suggests, a credit card reader is a digital machine that reads the chip data and functions accordingly for processing payment transactions. This is a must-have component. If you think that online payment gateways can do the job of payment transactions, then you are wrong as most people prefer to pay by swiping their debit or credit cards.
Some retailers use small dongles as a debit/credit card reader while some use card reader machines with EMV and NFC capabilities. Out of all the available options, you can choose an appropriate option for your retail store.
Printer & Kiosk Machines
Printer and kiosk machines are optional when you are planning to install an iPad point of sale system. If you want to provide printed receipts to your customers, then of course you will have to have a printer as an iPad or tablet cannot function as a printer. On the other side, if you and your customers are happy with digitally-generated slips, then you need not buy a printer.
Kiosk machines are the needs of large businesses and retail stores to manage their daily transactions. And when you have a POS kiosk, then you do not need an iPad POS system.