How to Choose a Point-of-Sale System for Your Retail Business

A point of sale (POS) system is the hardware and software a business uses to sell: ring up items, take payment, print a receipt, and record every sale. It replaces the traditional cash register. A modern POS also runs much of the business behind the counter: stock control, staff, customer loyalty, reporting and accounting exports, all in one system.

POSable is a cloud POS for independent shops, cafés, market traders and seasonal businesses. It includes features usually found in enterprise systems as standard, from £20 a month for up to 5 tills.

How does a POS system work?

Every sale follows the same basic flow:

1. Ring up the sale. Scan a barcode or tap a product on the till screen.
2. Take payment. Cash, card on a connected terminal, or a split between the two.
3. Print or skip the receipt, and send food orders to the kitchen printer if needed.
4. Update everything automatically. Stock levels, sales reports, loyalty points and VAT records update in the cloud dashboard.

The parts of a POS system

Types of POS system

• Traditional (on-premise) POS. Software is installed on dedicated terminals, often with long contracts and bundled hardware.
• Cloud POS. Data is stored securely online, so you can manage your business from anywhere. Many cloud systems stop working when the internet drops.
• Mobile POS (mPOS or ePOS). It runs on tablets, so it suits pop-ups, markets and events.

POSable combines all three: a cloud dashboard, tablet and PC tills, and offline-first selling, so you keep trading when the connection fails.

What does a modern POS system do?

• Sales and payments: fast checkout, cash, card, split payments, refunds and receipts
• Stock control: real-time stock levels, low-stock alerts and supplier ordering
• Staff management: individual logins, permissions and rotas
• Customer loyalty: points and offers that bring customers back
• Reporting: live sales, best-sellers, staff performance and end-of-day (Z) reports
• Accounting: VAT records and exports for your accountant

POSable: enterprise features as standard

Large retailers pay for enterprise POS platforms with offline resilience, role-based security, warehouse tools and compliance features. Smaller businesses are usually offered cut-down versions, or have to pay extra for each add-on. POSable includes all of this on every plan.

1. Resilience: keep trading when the internet fails

• Offline-first design. The till switches to offline mode automatically, so staff keep selling, printing receipts and taking sales.
• Automatic sync. Sales, refunds, till floats and staff sessions queue on the device and upload as soon as the connection is back.
• Offline staff sign-in keeps working during an outage.
• Secure cloud backups: incremental backups at regular intervals, stored with several off-site backup services

2. Payments: your choice of provider

• Several card providers: Dojo, Teya and myPOS in the UK and EU, and Gravity Payments in the US. You’re not locked into one payment company.
• No POSable transaction fees. You keep your negotiating power with your provider.
• Split payments across cash and card
• A card terminal assigned per till in Device Management
• For Gravity Payments customers in the US: tip prompts, partial approvals and credit card surcharge notices

3. Security and control

• Role-based access for administrators, managers and staff
• Manager authorisation. Refunds, till floats and cash deposits need a manager’s or assistant manager’s PIN.
• Individual staff PINs on the till, so every sale is recorded against a named person
• Two-factor authentication (2FA) for dashboard sign-in
• Device management. Tills register themselves automatically, and you can rename or remove them centrally.
• UK GDPR compliance, with a Data Processing Agreement available on request

4. Stock, warehouse and supply chain

• Real-time stock control across all tills, with low-stock alerts by Telegram
• Product variants such as sizes and colours, plus barcodes and bulk price control
• Supplier management and ordering, with reminders before each supplier’s order cut-off time
• Warehouse goods-in with case barcodes and master products
• Ingredients and recipes:
  • batch production
  • FEFO stock rotation
  • stocktakes and wastage tracking
• Shelf label printing with barcodes
• The Shop Floor web app. Staff can count stock, adjust it and receive deliveries on their phones, even offline, with no extra till licences.

5. Compliance

• A Health & Safety toolkit for temperature logs, cleaning, hygiene and damage records, with audit exports
• Allergen management synced from the dashboard to the till. It helps you meet UK food information rules, including Natasha’s Law.
• VAT handling:
  • standard, reduced, zero-rated and exempt products
  • the VAT rate is recorded at the time of each sale, so past records stay correct if a rate changes later

6. Reporting and finance

• Live sales tracking as sales happen across your tills
• Z reports (end-of-day reports), which can be emailed
• Sales, product, staff and payment reports
• Accountant-ready exports in CSV and Excel
• Till float and cash management

7. Customer engagement

• A loyalty programme:
  • points and Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum tiers
  • 7 offer types, including percentage off, Buy X Get Y, free items, points multipliers, bonus points and cashback
• QR code sign-up and push notifications to loyalty members
• Loyalty reports that show which offers work

8. AI and digital signage (AI plans)

• AI.MEE business reports: daily, monthly, quarterly and yearly analysis with recommendations
• Demand forecasting using machine learning, with weather and holiday signals
• AI loyalty offer suggestions
• A digital display and menu board creator
• Voice commands on the till

Also included on every plan

• Android and Windows tills, with layouts for different screen sizes and Light and Dark themes
• Kitchen printing, with a backup kitchen printer used automatically if the first one fails
• 25 languages
• Staff rota scheduling
• CSV import for moving from another POS
• All updates and support, with no paid upgrades

Often a paid add-on elsewhere

Based on our POS comparison of epos Now, Shopify POS and Lightspeed Retail. Competitor features and prices change, so always check with each vendor.

POSable in practice

• Café. Staff tap colour-coded products and Hot Products for fast service. Food orders print straight to the kitchen, and allergens show at the till. The weekly best-seller report guides ordering, and loyalty offers bring regulars back more often.
• Pop-up shop and market stall. Two tablets on one Plan 1 subscription keep queues short at busy events. When the venue’s Wi‑Fi fails, sales carry on offline and sync afterwards.
• Butcher or deli. Recipes and batch production track ingredient stock. FEFO rotation and temperature logs support food safety checks, and case barcodes speed up deliveries.
• Seasonal shop. Run one or two tills in the quiet season, move to a larger plan for the summer, then move back down. There’s no contract.

What should I look for in a POS system?