Hospitality POS vs. retail POS systems
Point of Sale Systems | Buyer's Guide
The POS market is divided into two segments with very different
needs: retail operations and hospitality businesses like
restaurants, bars, and hotels.
Retail POS Systems
Of the two groups, retailers have simpler POS needs. Their
transactions are completed all at once, and there is often less
variation in the types of products they sell. Some POS features
retailers may specifically want include the ability to support kits
(e.g. 3 for $2 deals), returns and exchanges, and support for
digital scales.
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A potential complication in some retail
environments is the need for a product matrix. Your retail POS
system will need to support matrixes if you sell items that come
in a variety of styles, like clothing or shoes. For example,
matrixes let you create one inventory and price entry for a
particular sweater, but still track sales according to size and
color. Hospitality POS
Depending on the type of establishment, restaurants and other
hospitality businesses have different requirements from POS
systems. |
Efficiency is the key focus for casual restaurants. For
retail-style restaurants like sub shops, POS systems that relay
inputted orders cut down on time-per-transaction and reduce the
errors that can happen when hastily-scrawled orders are passed back
to the kitchen. For quick-service restaurants, POS systems are
practically a requirement for living up to their name: orders taken
on terminals in the front are automatically displayed on monitors in
the food preparation area, ready to be quickly assembled and
delivered to the customer.
For table-service restaurants and fine dining, POS requirements
are somewhat different. They include the need to be able to create
and store open checks, as parties order more over time, as well as
track which server is responsible for which table. The efficiency
gains from better management can be impressive. If a restaurant with
20 tables and an average check of $45 can increase turnover by one
party per table, that is an extra $900 on a busy night.
Well-integrated hotel POS systems allow you to transfer meal
charges from the dining room to guests' rooms with just a button or
two. Hotel managers need to be aware that not all POS systems
integrate with all property management software).
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