Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Point of Sale Buying Tip: Dealing With New Products

It can be time consuming to find just the right point of sale solution for your specialty retail store, restaurant, bar, or similar business. A recent websearch shows that there are well over 100+ point of sale apps and software programs to choose from!  A websearch also shows that there are a lot of new programs and apps available.

Over the last 14 years I have seen multiple point of sale solutions come and go (anyone remember Regit2000?). The most common scenario is that someone develops a point of sale solution and then loses interest in continuing to support and develop the solution. Orphaned customers using discontinued solutions made up a good portion of my business when I worked in the point of sale industry.

Here are some things to consider/ask when dealing with newer point of sale programs and apps:

  • What sort of funding does the company have?
  • Staffing levels for support and development (stay away from 1-2 person operations working out of their basement or garage)?
  • What is the timeline to product updates, new features, improvements, etc.?
  • How is technical support handled and what are the average response times?
  • When possible, see a live demo of the software to look for how quickly the software functions. Slow response times within the software (or app) are signs of poor coding within the software.
  • Always get 2-3 references to contact as well as any valid reviews to read.
  • If available, a free trial or demo of the solution is good as well since it allows you to take the program for a test drive and shows confidence on the companies part in the solution that they are offering.
  • Will I always have access to my information (inventory items, customer information, etc.)?
This is not a comprehensive list by any means - feel free to comment or email me (kevinantosh@gmail.com) with your own suggestions. 


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