Gone are the days of the old mechanical till. Current point-of-sale (POS) technology is paving the way for integrated software solutions that can perform a variety of functions beyond that of simple billing.
They allow shop owners to track consumer-buying habits, manage inventory, and even order products online.
Local MD at DigiPoS Systems, Paul Jules, says POS systems are also becoming more practical and robust in design.
"There has been a trend for sometime towards smaller, modular systems. Slim-line, small profile computers are ideal because they fit easily where there is already limited space."
Slowly but surely the traditional till is being replaced by computerised technology and Jules believes the trend is set to continue.
"The till will eventually die out and the ever-increasing demand for retail hardened PC technology is helping this along."
Of benefit to the retailer - and therefore to the consumer as well - is the fact that the cost of developing POS systems is decreasing, says CIO of Edcon, Henri Slabbert.
"Costs for POS systems have reduced over the last couple of years, especially now due to the rand strengthening. The main reason for the reduction in costs is that the hardware associated with POS has reduced in price, and so have software costs. Business process efficiency improvements also lead to lower POS costs per transaction," states Slabbert.
Project manager of Engen, Saul Gorin, says it is important to retailers that POS systems meet the demands of the consumer. "Speed is essential. Consumers are always in a hurry, so these systems must minimise queuing time.
"To facilitate this, POS systems must add that extra dimension. For example, it is now possible for our consumers to pay for goods and petrol, and buy airtime all in one go."
Business development manager for DigiPos systems, Regan Atkins, says there are various options available to the retailers to speed up the payment process.
"Some retailers are redesigning their check-out queues where space is a problem, often setting up vertical lines to minimise the amount of queues consumers wait in, thereby speeding up the check-out time.
"Scanning of items the consumer is purchasing has also decreased the amount of time the consumer spends at the till; scanning a product is far faster than punching in the price for each product.
"There is also a fair amount of talk among retailers about `queue-busting`: cashiers can go up to people in the queue and process smaller transactions using a PDA linked up by RF or GPRS to the POS system.
"This can be highly effective manner of processing transactions, especially over peak trading times for retailers who sell lots of small items per transaction."
In terms of the broader POS industry, Atkins says the most significant change will take place in the consumer`s wallet. "I think the biggest trend in the POS arena is the transition from normal debit/credit card-based transactions through to smart card transactions.
"All the information is stored on the chip in the card and is updated before the consumer even leaves the store, so it is always current. This is the biggest thing that we are going to see influencing POS systems."
While new technology is designed to be beneficial to the consumer, research company Gartner says it is offering benefits to the merchants as well.
Gartner states that merchants in the US alone spent approximately $23 billion (R161 billion) in 1999 on cheque-handling costs, fraud and losses.
POS cheque conversion allows financial service providers and merchants to reduce the costs of processing paper cheques by converting the transactions to electronic payments at the POS.
Gartner says such systems also reduce the risk of fraudulent cheques. By scanning the cheque and capturing the data stored on the magnetic ink character recognition line, the merchant can verify that a cheque payment is drawn from a current demand deposit account with sufficient funds at the time of the transaction.
While these new POS functions offer a lot of promise, the most important aspect is that they meet the demands of the retailers and consumers. Says Slabbert: "The functionality retailers require from POS systems is extensive and, regardless of what is presently available, improvements are always needed."
Personalisation is one area retailers are looking at using POS systems to enhance the consumer`s shopping experience.
Atkins says it will become possible for regular consumers at a specific store to be greeted by name at the till, and to be informed of specials on any of their favourite items by the cashier.
"Some retailers offer the consumer a card for their store. When the card is swiped, the consumer`s details and shopping history will be shown on the operator display at the POS," says Atkins.
However, while this could be beneficial to certain consumers, Atkins says it must not be pervasive. "It must be consumer-generated. If someone wishes to remain anonymous, then they must have that option."
While technology may be opening many doors, the challenge remains to make it financially viable for retailers to invest in.
"Retailers are generally aware that continuous investments are necessary if they want to maintain and improve their service to consumers, while at the same time meeting demands from within the business," maintains Atkins.
"Systems need to be continually monitored to ensure that, from a business versus cost perspective, objectives are achieved."
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