Death of POS
Jim was munching on a cold sandwich at 37000 feet above Colorado fiddling with his phone and trying to pass time. The clock didn't seem to tick as he eagerly waited to see his girlfriend who was to receive him at the airport. Suddenly, his Google calendar blinked his girlfriend's birthday and all hell broke loose. He had forgotten about it entirely and didn't buy anything for her as his business trip was very hectic. It were still three hours for the landing. He logged on to the website of her favorite flower shop, customized multi-colored bouquet comprising of the loveliest of flowers and shipped it to her place. Being a platinum customer, they arranged for an instant delivery within 30 minutes. Relaxed, he promptly loosened his tie and ordered for a nice drink.
Jim contemplated, what would have happened if it was 2005! He imagined dealing with an irate girlfriend after a failed deal. It combined packed a punch strong enough to shatter a relationship which was about to blossom. He closed his eyes and thought of the mobile phone which made it possible. He wondered is the POS with all its peripherals worth its weight? Isn't its end inevitable? OR Will it undergo a metamorphosis and culminate into a website which can be used at a store or opened at home or while flying on a mobile phone? So, was the conventional POS dying OR just transforming itself to be omnipresent?
POS- the Point of Sale as it is called has had quite an eventful journey since its inception. In its earliest avatar, it was an electronic cash register which replaced the cash drawer and the accounts book. It was a terminal which was accessed by the sales person and managed the sales process and receipt generation.
Slowly the POS terminals evolved to become more functional with in-built processing capability, data storage, networking, and graphical user interface. The peripherals like bar code reader, printers, touch screen monitors; magnetic readers, etc. made it more and more user friendly.
The POS systems became more advanced with web based POS hosted on secure servers with ability of synchronized back-up. Slowly the POS engulfed the customer centric functions such as loyalty systems, promotions, store assortment, etc. The back office of the POS enveloped the inventory system, sales information, basic reporting functions and many more functionalities.
With the advent of ecommerce, the journey of the POS took forked at this juncture. The basic premise of a POS, which was to sell, was questioned as a customer could buy at a store, buys while at standing in a queue, at their homes on websites or could buy at 17,000 feet on their mobile phones. A website could do what was done by all those cumbersome systems at the store. Few smart retailers have started combining their POS and e-commerce both in IT and business. Ecommerce functionalities have been extended to the POS at the store
So, what does it mean for a POS?
The traditional or the conventional POS, as we all know it, is almost in the verge of death now. Nothing is constant in life but change. POS is no exception to this golden rule of life. Everything is changing - the customer profile, the customer buying behavior, the selling strategy, the marketing strategy and the market place as a whole. Technological advancement is another key component that has pushed the conventional POS system into the grave. POS, which was traditionally seen as a simple operational tool has undergone a complete makeover. The perception is changing. It is now becoming a selling tool to drive the sale. POS nowadays is used not only to sell but suggest the customer, help the customer search, service the loyal customer and many more functions. Handheld POS is becoming more and more prevalent these days which helps the salesperson to walk along with the customer and help them complete the sale. Cross-selling and up-selling naturally follow.
This post which is a first in the series to discuss the current state of play and the future of POS will be explored in the forthcoming blogs.
Co-authors: Harshad Deshpande (harshadhanumant_d@infosys.com)
& Bharath Raghunathan (Bharath_R05@infosys.com)
