
11 Best POS Systems for Small Businesses: Features, Costs & More
POS systems are an essential tool for small business owners and our guide reveals the best point-of-sale options right now
A Point of Sale (POS) system combines hardware and software to centralize business operations. The best can not only track sales and inventory, but help manage employees, improve internal communications, and plan marketing campaigns or customer loyalty programs. A POS might be as simple as a single iPad with a quarter-sized card-reader for a mall kiosk, or it might cover multiple registers in multiple locations for a big restaurant chain. In all cases, the right POS system should pay for itself several times over, since it streamlines every aspect of a business’s typical operations.
A restaurant-specific POS should allow servers to place orders, communicate with the kitchen, track the stock of individual ingredients, track customer reservations, staff sales and tips, and more.