Web-Based POS: The Low Cost and Hassle Free Alternative to Traditional Point of Sale Software

13Sep/110

Web-Based POS: The Low Cost and Hassle Free Alternative to Traditional Point of Sale Software

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POS software is expensive and hard to maintain. Anybody that has purchased one knows what I'm talking about. Even if you manage to find a POS provider that's willing to rent it out to you for a low monthly fee, you still have to worry about high-priced equipment, installation & support costs, updates, upgrades and back-ups. For the business owner who's already busy and broke, that's just too much time, money, and hassle.

Enter the web-based POS, aka "cloud-based POS" or "online POS."

Web-based point of sale software is hosted in the cloud by software-as-a-service (SaaS) vendors. What does that mean? It means that instead of you having to download and install the software on your local system, you can access your POS by logging into it online...from anywhere, and at anytime. You just pay a monthly subscription fee for access to the service.

Most importantly, because that software is hosted on the venders servers; updates, upgrades and back-ups become their responsibility, not yours. Leaving you with more time to focus on your sales transactions, not maintenance.

There are plenty of other benefits to going with a web-based POS:

Low Equipment Cost
All you need is a web connected computer to process transactions through a web-based POS.

Multi-Device Access
Process transactions from a Mac, PC, iPad, iPhone or Android based smartphone.

Multi-OS Compatibility
Use any operating system...doesn't matter.

Compatible w/ Most POS Equipment
If you need to have the touch screen monitor w/ card reader, the cash drawer and the receipt printer, you can. Most of the vendors that I researched are compatible with the majority of POS system equipment.

Data Protection
Since you won't be storing any data on your local computer, you don't need to worry so much about security. That'll be the vendors job.

Online and Offline Functionality
What happens when your internet connection goes down? Most of the vendors I researched have both online and offline functionality, so even if you don't have an internet connection, you can still accept credit cards.

Mobile Access
Since the software is hosted online, you can access it at anytime, from anywhere in the world.

Free Support
Although the service isn't free, support is included at no extra cost.

Built-In Inventory Management
Almost all the vendors that I researched had some sort of inventory management/control built-in.

Integration w/ Companion Software
Some of them seamlessly integrate with other complementary software, like Shopify, Magento, XERO, QuickBooks, FreshBooks and MailChimp.

I found some vendors that I think are well worth a look...

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