Why a Tablet-based Point Of Sale Solution May Not Be a Good Fit For Your Business

Tablet POS systems are everywhere, and the popularity of mobile devices continues to grow in the technology world.

We’re all for staying on top of advances in technologies. We trust and recommend PayAnywhere and Revel for our merchants.

However, we wouldn’t recommend them to every merchant or business.

Why?

Tablet POS systems are not a one-size-fits-all solution

We’re going to be brutally honest here and bring down some of the hype over tablets as point-of-sale systems. Yes we praised them highly in our earlier blog, and yes we still love them.

But they are not the best solution for certain types of businesses.

If you own a restaurant or a bar, a tablet will not meet all of your needs for a POS system.

Tablet POS systems are limited in how much they can process

If you have a restaurant or bar, or run a large retail store, a tablet will not give you the best return on investment, or help you manage your store like a traditional POS system would.

When you have multiple products to track, a tablet simply does not have the capability to manage all of the applications needed.

Let’s put some perspective on this.

Imagine your tablet POS system is a regular Tablet or iPad device. Now picture a laptop or desktop computer. You have to complete a project where you will have to use Photoshop, InDesign, and Adobe Acrobat. Which tool is going to be best for the project?

Technically, a tablet can run Photoshop, InDesign, and Adobe Acrobat, but switching back and forth between the programs will be a pain, as will running all three simultaneously.

Any tablet POS system will have some limitations

Aside from Revel, no tablet POS system can run off of an Ethernet connection. Wifi can be finicky to use at times, and it becomes impossible to run online if it goes down, meaning you could take a credit card and not find out it was declined until you submit your batch of transactions for the day to be processed.

We get that traditional POS systems are pricey compared to a tablet

Even if you want a tablet based POS, in the long run you’re going to spend the same amount as a traditional POS anyway.

If you buy Restaurant Manager, it’s going to more expensive than an iPad or Tablet POS, because it essentially comes with all the hardware you’ll need to run your restaurant or bar. Restaurant manager also interfaces with more technology hardware than a tablet system would.

You could buy a tablet based system and all the pieces needed individually, but you would have to manually interface all the hardware you bought separately with a cloud based system, and you’ll manually have to program all of the hardware to work with your tablet based POS system.

So you’ll have to spend extra time programming it, and interfacing it yourself.

Restaurant Manager and StoreTender will still interface quicker than any POS tablet combined with any miscellaneous bought hardware.

Times like these, it’s better not to DIY in businesses technology.

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iPad Point Of Sale Systems, Are They The Future?

The rate of Point-of-Sale technology has upgraded over the last 100 years is staggering. We’ve seen traditional cash registers, which dominated merchants way of taking payments with clunky and noisy presence, to the clunky but efficient computer based models.

They’ve all changed to a newer, sleeker models, as the iPad begins to dominate the market as they new wave of POS systems.

Why are they so popular?

iPad’s have been popular for their sleek look, among small and large merchants. They tend to take up less space, and are usually cheaper than their clunky $20,000 siblings.

In truth, most of our sales are for sleek Pay Anywhere models, and Revel has become a popular POS amongst our customers.

It marks the desire for sleek technology, in the same way flat screen tvs have replaced their boxy counterparts.

Are they as good as traditional POS?

In many ways, yes.

Many iPad’s can run multiple POS apps, and tablet devices tend to run higher volume transactions over phone, which work for small volume merchants.

iPad’s also have come a long way in the types of jobs they can do. Recently, Revel, introduced an iPad to the world that is a POS system, rather than just an iPad with POS apps. It also became the first product on the market to have the ability to run off an ethernet cord.

One of the biggest complaints of iPad POS was their inability to run off of an ethernet cord, and instead had to run off of wifi.

Wifi is often finicky, and will more oft than not wave in and out. While you can still run transactions offline, you do not have a way to see if a card was declined or not. Putting yourself as financial risk.

Having an ability to run off the ethernet as well prevents the risk of having to run transactions offline.

Will everyone use an iPad Point-of-Sale system?

Sadly not.

While iPads are becoming a great fit, for some merchants and iPad will not be able to process the work a traditional POS would.

Grocery stores, for example, would not be the best for an iPad POS systems. They often require a studier POS with a table for weighing that’s part of their system.

Liquor stores also, are not the best fit for an iPad. These large volume transactions are best suited for a classic computer POS system.

Does that mean you can’t use them?

No. You could use an iPad POS and it will work.

It just won’t work excellently.

There’s much better POS systems that would excel in a grocery or liquor store, like StoreTender.

As the iPad POS movement continues to grow over the years, new technology may one day see all Point-of-Sale systems adapt a tablet style.

Want to see what POS system is best for your business?

If you’d like to learn more about what technologies steps to take with your own business, or would like a free demo, contact us here.

What Can a New POS System Do For Your Business?

If you run a small or mid-sized business, you are more than likely a very busy individual. Between keeping up with sales, inventory, analytics, and everything else, you might be wishing there was a simpler way to manage your business.

What is PayAnywhere Storefront POS?

The PayAnywhere Point-of-Sale system could very well end up saving you valuable time and money. This POS has an assortment of features useful to nearly any business.

With the ability to make sales on the go, gather customer information, analyze and report important data, and easily customize your product options, PayAnywhere Storefront offers impressive capabilities considering the intuitive and streamlined nature of the system.

How Will PayAnywhere Save You Money?

PayAnywhere charges a low flat rate of 1.69% for the major card companies Visa, MasterCard, Discover, and American Express. You will also receive a free tablet and POS stand with a built-in card reader. The only stipulation to this program is that your business must process at least $5,000 per month.

Though if your business processes less than $5,000 per month, you are not out of luck. You can still receive the exact same package, and pay either 1% or 2% more in processing fees in addition to a $79.00 monthly equipment fee.

What Can the PayAnywhere Storefront Features Do for Your Business?

Depending on what type of business you run, the ability to take instant payments by card wherever you are could be incredibly beneficial. Though if you don't plan on taking payments on the go often, there are still plenty of benefits to this POS.

PayAnywhere Storefront has a simple and intuitive design that is aesthetically pleasing and user-friendly. This makes managing your store items and analytics easier, in addition to featuring a hassle-free checkout process for the customer.

The item options and store customization aren't as expansive as some of the larger, more expensive POS models, but have just about everything that a small to mid-sized business could ever need in a POS system. Everything from discounts, multiple forms of payment, accepting tips, express payment, inventory organization, items with variable options and pricing, custom receipts and more are easily accessible and simple to use.

Another area that is surprisingly robust for such a streamlined POS system is PayAnywhere Inside. This feature allows for account information and reporting. Sales trends reported here will help you gain valuable insight into the success of your business. Information found in this area will assist in growing your business if utilized correctly.

What Sets PayAnywhere Apart From Other POS Systems?

The thing that really sets PayAnywhere apart is its ease of use and customer service that work together for you. PayAnywhere doesn't sacrifice customer service for it's user-friendly interface, nor does it sacrifice any amount of it's user-friendliness for customer service. PayAnywhere has help available by means of phone, email, and chat. In addition to direct correspondence, PayAnywhere has created several training videos on how to set up, navigate, and utilize the Storefront POS to it's full potential.

Improve Your Business With PayAnywhere

For a relatively small investment, the PayAnywhere Storefront POS could improve your day-to-day operations, simplify payments, do analytic work for you, and save you time and money in the process.