POS Software Blog

The cash register was invented in 1879 by James Ritty.  James Ritty was a saloonkeeper in Dayton, OH whose bartenders often pocketed the profits instead of turning them over to their boss.  James’ brother John was a mechanic who helped him design the first, most basic of cash registers to preserve profits in their saloon.  The original device did not even provide a drawer for storing cash.  It consisted of a series of keys that represented specific amounts of money.  The concept came to Ritty while he was on a steamboat trip to Europe.  He found himself intrigued by a device that counted the number of rotations in the ship’s propeller.  Brilliant!

With Hurricane Sandy wreaking havoc on the entire East Coast and a large portion of the Mid-Atlantic, I am reminded of the importance of backing up POS data.  Independent merchants often lose sight of the importance of this concept.  Often times, it is a simple case of “out of sight – out of mind.”  Other times, merchants assume that their POS provider is taking care of these tasks for them.  Although this may be the case in some instances, it is critical that independent merchants understand the importance of backing up the POS data as well as how it works, where the backup resides, etc.

Grocery stores are convenient.  Grocery stores typically have most of what the average household needs to survive.  Grocery stores are often open 24/hours/day.  However, nothing compares to the quality of the fresh goods you can purchase at a local farm market.  Most of the available items were never transported eliminating the need for preservatives and additives that take away from the quality or the health benefits of the food.

A couple of vertical markets have managed to perform extremely well during this prolonged economic downturn.  It seems that consumers have continued to spend money on their pets and their kids regardless of the situation.  I suppose it makes sense that people continue to invest in what makes them happy and what brings them the most joy and satisfaction in their lives.  Hence, the pet industry and several industries that focus on children continue to experience growth.

One of these successful markets focused on the kids is the family fun center market.  Some larger franchise chains like Bounce U have continued to build new units across the U.S.  However, most of these family entertainment centers are local start-up entrepreneurs.  These business owners enjoy the satisfaction of serving their communities while earning reasonable profits along the way.  Further, the concept comes with special perks like reasonable hours, a fun and playful atmosphere and far less headaches then running a restaurant or retail establishment.  No late nights.  No returns.  No liquor license required.

Gift shops are some of the finest hidden treasures in the retail segment.  They come in many shapes, sizes and flavors.  Most focus on specific target audiences while others provide gifts of all kinds depending on the location and other factors.  Aside from resort and airport locations, most gift shops are independently owned and operated by small business people.  Consequently, it is very rare that a gift shop business enjoys the luxury of the budget and/or the technology infrastructure you would find in corporate America.

Multi-site merchants are faced with numerous challenges.  This is why the franchising model continues to grow in its success.  However, many independent business owners continue to operate multiple locations without going out to the franchise market.  Obviously, it is impossible to be in more than one place at the same time.  So, owners must build a solid and trustworthy team of people around them to ensure profitability.

5 Benefits of Automated POS Systems for Farm and Feed Stores:

As a small business owner/operator, you are faced with day-to-day challenges that affect your bottom line and ultimately, your livelihood.  Obviously, the best way to increase the bottom line is to increase the top line through growing your sales.  However, in the current economy, this is sometimes a greater challenge than putting controls in place to increase the bottom line through gained efficiencies.  The perfect balance of building new revenue and protecting the current revenue and assets yields the most significant positive outcome.

In the past few years, quite a bit of buzz has revolved around “the cloud.”  Consequently, quite a bit of confusion exists around “the cloud.”  Cloud computing, affectionately dubbed as “the cloud” is the wave of the future.  It allows end users and business owners to rely less on their own hardware and technology infrastructure.  By definition, “Cloud computing is the delivery of computing and storage capacity ^[1] as a service ^[2] to a community of end-recipients. The name comes from the use of a cloud-shaped symbol ^[3] as an abstraction for the complex infrastructure it contains in system diagrams ^[4]. Cloud computing entrusts services with a user's data, software and computation over a network.”  However, like all things technical, cloud computing comes in a few flavors which can create even more confusion on the topic.

Restaurant operators were generally early adopters of POS technologies.  Even smaller independent owners and operators recognized the business benefits of an automated POS solution.  Both full service restaurants and quick service establishments jumped on the POS bandwagon early and often to maximize efficiencies and control costs in their operations.