Description

POS stands for point of sale. A point-of-sale (POS) transaction is what takes place between a merchant and a customer when a product or service is purchased, commonly using a point of sale system to complete the transaction. To see different types of POS systems, click here.

So when you’re at your favorite restaurant or retail shop, and you make a purchase, you are completing a point-of-sale (POS) or a point of purchase (POP) transaction.

Merchants typically use a POS system to complete a sales transaction. In its most basic definition, a POS system is a combination of POS hardware and POS software to create a POS machine for processing a transaction and payment.

Cash registers are not as evolved as using a POS system and lack many of the functions and features of a modern day point of sale system. A cash register could be considered a point of sale solution technically, however, for our definitions, we will be focusing on point-of-sale machines (aka POS terminals) that involve both software and hardware. Continue below to learn more.