Easy methods to Set Up a POS System: A Step by Step Information to Getting Level of Sale Software program Up and Operating

As a retailer, your level of sale (POS) system is arguably an important software that you’ve got. Your POS system makes ringing up gross sales doable, permitting you to finish the checkout course of with ease. 

In lots of instances, your POS software program additionally serves because the retail administration platform on which to run your total enterprise. This implies the best answer doesn’t simply ring up gross sales; it tracks your stock, generates beneficial retail analytics and helps you handle your clients. 

To that finish, it’s extremely essential to not solely discover the best POS answer, you additionally must set it up for fulfillment. 

Properly, we’ve received you coated. Maintain studying to learn to arrange a pos system.

Earlier than anything, discover the best retail answer supplier

Take into account this “step zero” of establishing a degree of sale system. Earlier than entering into the precise steps or technical particulars, see to it that you’ve got a strong POS/retail administration system picked out. 

Do your analysis and weigh your choices to be sure that the answer is an effective match for your enterprise. Selecting the best retail software program and {hardware} for you’ll make the setup course of a lot simpler.

Selecting the best POS fundamentals

We received’t dive into an excessive amount of element in regards to the POS shopping for course of right here, nevertheless it’s price mentioning that selecting the best retail POS is about far more than paying the bottom worth. 

It’s a good suggestion to contemplate compatibility—with {hardware} you have already got, with fee processors, and with third-party integrations you need to use—in addition to scalability and customization. 

Compatibility. Examine that the POS system is suitable with any tablets or different POS {hardware} that you simply need to use, in addition to your card processor and fee terminals. Lastly, in case you use different software program which are important to your enterprise—resembling stock administration, accounting or advertising and marketing software program—you’ll need to be sure that your new system can combine seamlessly with these instruments.
Scalability. A scalable POS system is important for high-volume retailers and people with a number of areas. As your enterprise grows, your POS system wants to have the ability to deal with extra transactions and operations with out slowing down or crashing. Search for retail POS software program that may develop with your enterprise because it grows, permitting you so as to add extra gross sales channels and handle all of them from a single platform.
Customization. Customizable POS options are essential for assembly particular enterprise wants. Whether or not it’s customized workflows to streamline processes or person permissions to manage entry, versatile POS methods for retail let you tailor functionalities to your distinctive necessities. This adaptability not solely improves effectivity but in addition enhances safety by making certain that solely licensed personnel can entry your delicate info.​

You additionally need to be sure you select a POS system that’s PCI compliant. PCI compliance is essential to guard buyer fee info (and your enterprise from the implications of a safety breach).

For a whole deep dive into selecting the best retail POS system—together with tips on how to outline the wants of your enterprise, tips on how to choose the perfect POS {hardware}, tips on how to finances to your POS system and tips on how to examine totally different retail POS options—take a look at our POS Purchaser’s Information.

Now that you simply’ve chosen the POS answer you need, let’s check out establishing a degree of sale system.

Decide the shop arrange you’d prefer to have

The steps you’ll want to take to get your POS system up and operating is dependent upon your retailer’s setup and processes. Ask your self the next questions:

What gadgets will you employ to ring up gross sales? (e.g. computer systems, tablets, and many others.)
What number of registers do you want?
What varieties of funds will you settle for?

Answering the above will enable you to put together the supplies and gear you want which can make issues simpler for you and the individuals who will arrange your POS system. 

Which brings us to our subsequent level…

Resolve who will arrange your POS

There are a selection of how to go about establishing a degree of sale system. You may:

Go the DIY route

You probably have a easy retailer setup (e.g. all you want is an iPad), then you definately might be able to do your POS set up by yourself. Easy retail workflows sometimes contain launching or putting in your retail POS software program (which takes just a few clicks) and getting into your enterprise particulars. 

To make this course of smoother, take into account wanting up video tutorials, assist articles and documentation out of your supplier. In case your POS vendor affords free tech assist, hop on a name with their crew and seek the advice of with them to find out tips on how to greatest arrange your level of sale system.

The “do it your self” route is beneficial for single-store retailers who’ve brief and easy workflows. 

Get assist out of your POS vendor

In case your retail operations are barely extra complicated or in case you’re operating a number of shops with giant product catalogs, it’s a good suggestion to hunt help out of your POS vendor. 

Most answer suppliers provide onboarding providers to get retailers up and operating a lot faster. A few of them, resembling Lightspeed, will enable you to rise up and operating sooner with free, one-on-one onboarding and information migration providers.

Onboarding providers can embody issues like:

coaching your crew 
importing your merchandise 
migrating your retailer information  
configuring your settings 
integrating the answer with different apps 

Lots of this stuff are accomplished remotely, and your POS supplier acts as a extremely concerned sidekick who walks you thru the method. 

Have a POS skilled set every little thing up for you

If you happen to want somebody to do the setup for you and your crew, you may rent a retail tech skilled to come back into your retailer and set up your {hardware} and software program. Consider this feature because the Cadillac of POS system setups. It’s a hands-off expertise the place the specialists will do all the heavy lifting and prepare you and your crew on tips on how to use the system

This selection is good for giant retailers or those that have difficult workflows, particular know-how wants or massive groups. 

No matter which possibility you select, it at all times helps to have some basic information of the purpose of sale setup course of. Which is why within the following part, we’ll dive into the totally different steps retailers must take to get a POS system up and operating. 

Easy methods to arrange a POS system: the steps concerned within the course of

1. Launch the software program and log in

Step one in establishing a degree of sale system is operating the software program. With cloud-based POS software program like Lightspeed, there’s no set up required; you simply have to be utilizing a pc with web entry. Merely launch your browser and go to your retailer’s URL. 

If you happen to’re utilizing an iPad, you’ll obtain and set up the POS software program utility to your gadget. 

From there, you’ll must log in and configure your account. This step sometimes contains getting into your enterprise particulars resembling your retailer title, the place you’re situated, what number of shops or retailers you may have, tax settings, and many others. 

Most POS software program can have prompts or walk-throughs to information you thru the setup course of. Put together the information you want, then observe the directions.

2. Enter or add your merchandise

When you’ve launched the app and established your account, the following step in establishing a degree of sale system is to enter or add your merchandise. If you happen to solely have just a few objects to promote, you may enter them manually into the system. 

Nevertheless, if in case you have a big catalog, then you definately’ll need to add your stock data in bulk. Most fashionable POS methods will let you do that utilizing a CSV product listing containing most or all the following fields:

product title 
SKU 
provide worth 
retail worth
variant particulars (if the product is available in totally different sizes or colours) 
product description
product class
model title 
provider title 
amount 
reorder level

With Lightspeed Retail, for instance, you may shortly import 1000’s of merchandise and format product information utilizing a CSV, XSLX or XLS file to add stock in bulk to your retail POS. 

3. Arrange your person accounts

Now let’s speak in regards to the totally different customers of your POS system. 

Some extent of sale sometimes permits you to arrange accounts or profiles to your crew members who can be working the system. They embody:

Most POS methods gives you the choice to set person permission ranges, which allow or limit customers from accessing higher-level POS capabilities like money administration and monitoring, gross sales experiences or stock administration. 

Go over the totally different roles in your enterprise and arrange your customers accordingly. For instance, directors could have full management over the software program, whereas cashiers would solely have entry to the promote display. 

By limiting the quantity of people that have entry to your delicate info, you may enhance your POS software program’s effectivity and preserve your organization’s info safe. The very last thing you need is a disgruntled worker with the keys to the citadel—simply ask Money App, Yahoo or Tesla, who fell sufferer to information breaches attributable to “malicious insider exercise”. 

However don’t stress. Merely be sure you’re being cautious, grant customers solely the permissions they should do their job, and disable the person’s permissions as soon as they not want them. It takes actually one second in Lightspeed—test it out under. 

4. Arrange your {hardware}

The gear that you simply want varies relying in your retailer arrange. For some retailers, having an iPad and a fee terminal is sufficient. However many retailers will want a number of gadgets to finish their POS arrange—resembling  fee terminals, money drawers, barcode scanners and receipt printers. 

For some retailers, particularly these with very giant product catalogs, barcode scanners are non-negotiable. Metropolis Chook, a thriving boutique in downtown Detroit, MI, makes use of Lightspeed’s free scanner app to show their cellular gadgets into highly effective stock administration instruments. 

We used to spend actually days doing stock. We’ve got tens of 1000’s of things to rely, and it takes a very long time. However with the scanner app, we will have a number of employees members are available in at 7:00 after we shut the doorways and end by about 1 AM with the complete stock. It’s unbelievable. — Andy Linn, Co-founder, Metropolis Chook

The precise steps for establishing your retail gear is dependent upon the precise gadget, so seek the advice of together with your supplier to determine the best solution to go. 

Usually talking although, establishing gear like fee terminals entails:

Switching on the gadget
Connecting it to your WiFi community 
Pairing it to your POS system

5. Arrange your funds

As soon as your fee gear is linked to your POS system, you’ll must configure your software program’s setting so it acknowledges your fee processor. As soon as once more, the specifics will fluctuate relying on fee supplier, so seek the advice of together with your POS or service provider providers vendor to determine what steps to take. 

In case your POS system integrates together with your fee processor, this course of must be pretty easy, and sometimes entails going into your POS methods’s settings and including the best fee varieties. 

Selecting embedded funds (like Lightspeed Funds) is sort of at all times extra helpful for retailers. It ensures that transaction information easily flows out of your card terminal to your POS system, which reduces handbook entry and human error. 

Study extra about Lightspeed Funds. 

6. Join your POS with different enterprise apps

Probably the greatest methods to get essentially the most out of your POS system is to combine it with the apps that you simply’re already utilizing. Your retail enterprise will operate higher if the purposes that you simply’re utilizing are all “speaking” to one another.  

Relying in your retail POS software program, you might be able to combine it together with your:

ecommerce platform
accounting software program
advertising and marketing automation answer
loyalty program
ERP
worker administration app

Examine together with your supplier to study in regards to the totally different apps you could connect with the system and tips on how to do it. 

Bringing all of it collectively

The reply to the query of tips on how to arrange a POS system will fluctuate, relying on the retailer. The steps and time it takes to get your system up and operating will rely upon the scale of your enterprise, the complexity of your operations, and the way tech-savvy you’re.

In any case, one of the best ways to determine tips on how to do it for your enterprise is to judge your necessities and work together with your POS supplier to find out the best plan of action.

In search of a retail POS system that gives flexibility, time-saving instruments and insights that may assist your enterprise develop sooner? Lightspeed’s one-stop commerce platform has every little thing you’ll want to thrive in at present’s fashionable retail panorama. 

Plus with onboarding providers and free 24/7 assist, you may relaxation straightforward figuring out you may have a know-how accomplice who has your again all through the POS setup course of and past. 

Able to study extra? Speak to a Lightspeed POS skilled at present.

FAQs

What’s a POS system and why do I want one?

Some extent of sale (POS) system is a mix of software program and {hardware} that permits companies to facilitate and handle gross sales transactions. An entire retail level of sale system contains each entrance and back-end administration instruments that make it simpler for retailers to run their enterprise from a single platform.

What’s the greatest retail POS?

TL;DR: there’s no single “greatest retail POS”—selecting the perfect retail POS system is dependent upon the precise wants of your enterprise. If you happen to’re a smaller retailer with easy operations, you will get away with a extra primary system. 

But when your operations are extra refined—for instance, you’re an omnichannel retailer who sells each on-line and offline, you may have a number of areas that preserve separate stock ranges, you may have a big product catalog, and many others.—you’re going to wish a refined POS system to match. 

What are the fundamental elements of a POS system?

A typical retail POS system contains {hardware} resembling a pc or pill, receipt printer, barcode scanner, money drawer and card reader. Your retail POS software program handles gross sales processing, stock administration, reporting​, and many others. 

Can I arrange the POS system myself?

Planning on establishing a degree of sale system by yourself? Understand that whereas easy POS methods can usually be arrange utilizing on-line guides and buyer assist, extra complicated methods could require skilled set up to make sure all elements are correctly configured and built-in. 

How do I configure my POS software program?

Questioning tips on how to arrange a pos system? Configuring your POS software program usually entails getting into your enterprise info, establishing your fee strategies, configuring gross sales tax charges and including your stock. Your POS system supplier ought to provide onboarding assist, step-by-step guides and/or templates that will help you import your product information and buyer info.

What fee strategies can my POS system settle for?

Most POS methods settle for a wide range of fee strategies, together with credit score and debit playing cards, money and contactless funds. Level of sale methods like Lightspeed are geared up to take all main playing cards (faucet, swipe, chip and pin) and cellular pockets funds (Apple Pay, Google Pay, and many others.), in addition to assist offline funds​ to maintain you promoting even when your wifi goes down.

How do I handle stock with a POS system?

Stock administration entails including your merchandise to the system, setting inventory ranges and categorizing objects. Your POS system will replace stock ranges in real-time with every sale or return. Some POS methods additionally provide integration with on-line shops to sync stock throughout a number of channels.