Point-of-Sale (POS) software/hardware

[jwboyd]

My daughter and her husband own a small business.

They have two principal revenue streams. The first is construction, mainly installation (not sales) of mechanical equipment in factories, warehouses, and fitness centers. Their other revenue comes from retail sales of (1) welding equipment and supplies, and (2) cut-to-order steel such as sheets, plates, rods, bars, angles, etc.

She has asked my advice on a point-of-sale system for the retail side of their business. I can't help her much -- this is not one of my fields of expertise.

They do their own day-to-day bookkeeping in MYOB (similar to QuickBooks). Their heavy-duty accounting is done by a CPA. I have suggested she contact the folks at MYOB to see which POS systems will integrate with their software.

They do all their computer work in Windows on PCs, but perhaps some of my friends here at TS can help with this. Any suggestions?

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P.S. Be sure you understand what "POS" means in this context. I hear there are multiple meanings for the term.

[kps]

There are so many retail systems out there from a bjillion vendors that it's difficult to find one off the shelf that's just the right one for your business.

I think the best solution is to look at what the competition or a similar business is using. Such as an industrial supply house.

Your daughter and son-in-law need to research it well, because you don't want the limitations of the POS system to limit the business itself. If large part of the sales is by unit lenght (as in the iron bar and angle) and the POS can't handle that... what do you do? Stop custom cutting the iron and sell only stock lenghts?

If you can find an off the shelf POS system that can do sales by linear foot or by weight as well as regular retail, your search has been considerably narrowed down.

Then there's inventory, receiving, stock management, purchasing, printing of barcodes and customer receipts or invoices...lots to think about.

Interestingly enough, MYOB sells a POS system, but only in Australia by the looks of it.