Setting up a business is expensive but the internet has given small business owners a slight edge in today’s competitive market. All they have to do is set up a website and display their items for sale. Customers come along one way or the other, and the business is good to go. Most online sellers now sell exclusively online but what if you want to expand your business. Consider stores like Abercrombie & Fitch. The huge retailer already had several international stores but it opened a store in London says Tweakyourbiz because its website had a large number of London-based customers. Techrepublic states that this process has now started in reverse with large stores and small businesses being driver to set up realtime stores just because their websites are doing so well.

What Is The Problem?

The problem lies with expansion. Expansion for any kind of store is difficult and expensive. If you are in a similar situation, you already know that you are investing in a store, hiring employees, stocking it with goods and this is expensive. According to legal requirements and tax rules, you will also have to buy a POS system to help you with the billing and taxation process but you just cannot afford it, you should not worry, as you do have an alternative. One way to save money is by using the same POS system you have on your website but integrating it to an iPad. With an iPad POS system, you can link your store and your website together to complete billing and sales for both simultaneously. As you need a POS for your store, you stand to save a lot of money as the point of sale system is already in place. All you have to do is buy hardware and integrate it with the website.

Setting Up The POS System For Your Store

As you already know, you can use the same POS system as you have on your website. However, as a vendor, you should know that most retailers now encourage the use of iPads for selling in store. There is a very simple reason for this. As your website is online, it makes sense that you need an internet connection to view your website and check sales. As you already have an internet connection, a cloud-based POS is a far better option for your store. The cloud-based system uses an internet connection to connect to an online server. The POS system is on the server and you only have to use an iPad in your store along with minimal hardware to set up your POS system. This is what any POS vendor would usually recommend.

Find Out How Big Your Store Is Going To Be – This is important as you will have to invest in iPads. If you plan to set up a small store, two iPads with backup hardware is fine. For larger stores, vendors recommend getting one iPad for two employees or one per employee.

Invest In Hardware – By now, you already have an idea of how many employees you have and based on this you can invest in hardware.

• iPads and Credit Card Terminals – Each employee will require an iPad for a big store. As the iPads are given to roving staff, each store staff is usually provided with a miniaturized credit card reader. These roving systems are actually billing systems that are already connected to the store POS and they are very useful says Ecommerce. For example, a browsing customer may approach a store salesperson for help at a clothing display. If the customer is happy with the product, they can be encouraged to bill immediately by the store personnel. The mobile iPad and miniaturized credit card terminal can be used to swipe a credit card, take the customer signature, and wirelessly print a receipt for the customer. This not only simplifies the sale process but also encourages spot sales and reduces queue time. Most POS vendors recommend you invest in two to three miniaturized terminals.
• Printers – Wireless printers are also an integral part of a store POS. The printer will print receipts of online sales and also print receipts of in-store sales made by store staff at the billing counter and all over the store. Most vendors recommend you buy two printers. One printer will be used to print receipts while the other can be used to print barcodes. As you will have a lot of inventory, barcode labels are essentialto keep track of what you have in storage.
• Barcode Scanners – Your entire stored inventory is usually tagged with a barcode label to ensure tagging and verification. At the time of sale, sales personnel swipe the scanners on the label and the POS system reflects cost price, discounts and deals.
• Cash Drawers – Some stores still accept cash and a cash drawer is necessary to ensure safety. However, most stores do use alternative methods of payment like PayPal and Bitcoin and cash drawers are being phased out slowly.

Setting Up Your Store

As you can see, setting up your store POS should not be a problem. The cloud-based system has minimal hardware and it is far cheaper than traditional POS systems. Get in touch with your vendor and negotiate a good deal to have your store up and running as fast as possible.