by Tillpoint Editorial Team

For those who don’t know, ‘POS’ is an acronym for Point of Sale and it’s the time and place where a retail transaction is completed. Think of the last time you paid for something in a supermarket or restaurant; it’s the point where you, the customer, makes a payment to the merchant in exchange for goods or after the provision of a service.

The primary advantages of implementing an iPad POS system as opposed to using a traditional cash register or cash box is the sophisticated automation, ease of access and high level of security it can provide.



1. Improving Efficiency

With an iPad POS system you can effortlessly look-up past transactions at the tap of a button. If, for example, you needed to know the quantity of sales from last Wednesday, a point of sale system can give you that information promptly. Finding the same answer with a cash register would take many, arduous hours of work.

Each part of the process, from authorising a credit card transaction to printing a customer receipt, is faster on a point of sale device. This can help you stay organised, leading to faster service and therefore the time to focus more attention on improving customer care and overall satisfaction.

Correctly using an iPad POS guarantees a far higher degree of control over cash management. Assuming all transactions are entered, with an added feature of inputting the reason each time cash goes in and out, the system will show the expected and actual amount of petty cash taken. Even the most basic iPad POS system will show the smallest of discrepancies.

2. Inventory Management

You can view all your inventory, flag items for re-order and look-up information on products all in real time, something even the best cash register simply cannot do. Another benefit of implementing a good iPad or tablet POS is that it virtually eliminates the need for an inventory clerk.

With an iPad point of sale system you can create personalised purchase orders, essentially eliminating an extra step in the ordering process. You can even automate aspects of the ordering process, ensuring you never run out of your highest selling products.

3. Reducing Human Error

A prime example of this would be in hospitality, it would enable servers to take orders directly onto an iPad instead of memorising orders or writing them down, both of which have the potential for error. Orders taken straight onto an iPad can also be sent directly to the kitchen, eliminating that extra step of physically taking orders either written on paper or by memory to the cash register. A good POS system should also have built in safeguards, ensuring information is entered correctly before the transaction takes place.

The generation now entering the workforce have grown up surrounded by computer technology and as a result, modern workers are typically more comfortable using a computerised POS system as opposed to the older, more traditional cash register.

4. Increasing Sales and Profit

A good iPad point of sale system can analyse sales patterns to identify the top selling items, and their equally important counterpart, the low selling items. This eliminates the need to manually keep track of what’s selling and what’s not. Proper use of an iPad based POS system can have a significant impact on sales, enabling you to maximise profit.

5. Maintenance and Repair Costs

Maintenance and repair costs are typically far lower on an iPad POS device than a traditional cash register. The number of companies that fix broken cash registers are on the decline, and that translates to increasingly higher repair costs. Due to a surge in companies adopting iPad and tablet POS systems, vendors who specialise in mending those devices are increasing in number, with much lower repair costs than their cash register counterparts.

Another benefit of using an iPad or tablet POS system is customer support. Many point of sale vendors will offer a customer support feature in the event anything happens to go wrong, in which case all that’s needed from you is to contact them so they can promptly get the problem rectified.