What is a modern point of sale (POS)?

What does POS mean?

POS is the acronym for Point of Sale, or Point of Sale. It is the system—software and sometimes hardware—where a transaction takes place: the exact time and place in which a customer pays for a product or service. In Spanish we know it simply as "point of sale".

The common confusion is to think that a POS is a cash register. It was decades ago. Today a modern POS is a complete platform that, in addition to charging, updates inventory, registers the customer, applies promotions, issues invoices and sends all that information to the business's central system in real time.

What does a modern POS do?

The difference between a traditional checkout and a modern POS is everything that happens around the payment. A current POS includes:

• Multi-method collection: cash, card, transfer and digital payments.
• Live inventory control: every sale discounts stock instantly.
• Catalog with quick search by name, code or barcode.
• Customer registration: purchase history and loyalty programs.
• Promotions and discounts applied automatically.
• Electronic billing from the same collection point.
• Sales reports by branch, ATM and time.

What differentiates a modern POS from a cash register?

The key is in the connection. A cash register is an island: it collects and stores the money, but knows nothing about the rest of the business. A modern POS is connected to your inventory, your accounting, and your customer base. When you sell, you don't just get paid: you discount stock, record the sale in your finances and add customer loyalty points, all in the same act.

Another big difference is that modern POS lives in the cloud. That means you can see the sales of all your branches from your cell phone, anywhere, in real time. If you have three stores, you don't need to go to each one to "cut cash": the system consolidates everything automatically and shows you which branch, which product and which seller are performing best.

A modern POS also turns each charge into valuable information. You know what is selling with what, what time is busiest, and what products are stagnating. With this data you can make decisions that a cash register would never give you: adjust prices, plan purchases, set up promotions and even recognize your frequent customers to reward them. Collection is no longer the end of the sale and becomes the beginning of a measurable relationship with each customer.

What should a good POS have?

When choosing a point of sale, regardless of whether it charges, it is advisable that it comply with the following:

• That works in the cloud to consolidate several branches.
• Discount inventory in real time and avoid selling what is not there.
• Issue electronic invoices without leaving the system.
• Register your clients to build loyalty, not just charge them.
• Connect with your online sales so you don't have two inventories.
• Keep charging even if the internet goes down for a moment (offline mode).

How Aura solves it

Aura's point of sale is not an isolated app: it is the same platform where your inventory, your CRM and your accounting live. When you collect at the counter with Aura, the inventory is deducted from the same pool used by your online store and your marketplaces, the customer is registered in the CRM and the sale enters your financial reports instantly.

Since Aura's POS is in the cloud, you can have multiple branches and see the performance of all of them from wherever you are. It also issues CFDI 4.0 invoices directly from the cashier, accepts multiple payment methods and artificial intelligence gives you readings of the business without you having to create reports: you can ask "what was my best hour of sale this week?" and responds. It is a point of sale that also thinks with you.