POS know-how has impacted the retail business far and large ever since its debut within the Nineteen Seventies. Before the trendy POS system, transactions have been guide, cash-based, and tangible. However, with the appearance of know-how, the POS has modified how retailers do enterprise and the way customers do their purchasing.
Though the primary POS was targeted on processing money funds in a clear, trackable means, it rapidly developed to facilitate credit score and debit card transactions. And now? POS programs can do an entire lot extra than simply course of funds. They’ve was mini enterprise administration command facilities!
So, what are the most recent tendencies in POS programs? Below, I break down the POS retail tendencies of 2024 which are impacting the business now and into the long run.
Cloud POS
Business has transitioned to largely cloud-based options — and that features the POS. Cloud POS programs are more and more changing into the norm, changing the old-school conventional point-of-sale terminal that makes knowledge troublesome to entry and handle.
According to Straits Research, the worldwide cloud POS market dimension was price $3,987 million in 2022 and is forecasted to be greater than $30,205 million by 2031 — that’s a compound annual development charge (CAGR) of 24.7%.
The cloud POS is a major level of sale innovation as a result of it has made knowledge, agility, and mobility accessible to companies of all sizes. Especially in a world the place retail is not single-channel, cloud POS know-how permits companies to sync knowledge and guarantee operations run easily no matter their enterprise dimension or location(s).
A retailer with 100 bodily areas, its personal web site, and a thriving Amazon presence can profit from the cloud POS similar to the small mom-and-pop store that’s managing a single retail location plus on-line channels.
With cloud POS know-how, you’re not tethered to a selected place or a hardwire connection. You can entry your corporation know-how from wherever, at any time.
AI and automation
AI and automation are additionally altering just about each side of the enterprise panorama. I wager there are methods you already use these applied sciences that you simply don’t even understand!
The pattern can also be impacting the POS — and in a great way. 100% of retail enterprise homeowners surveyed by Square Future of Retail report say automation has improved their enterprise not directly.
That similar survey discovered that monitoring is the highest space of automation for 43% of companies, and the most important profit is an improved buyer expertise for 47% of companies. Another 45% have seen improved worker retention and profitability because of automation.
What function does AI play in fashionable POS programs?
When it involves POS know-how, AI and automation occur in a ton of potential use circumstances:
- Automated reordering for stock
- Fraud detection and prevention
- AI-powered pricing changes
- Loyalty and rewards applications
- Email advertising and marketing
Shoppers from Square’s report say they’d assist retailers automating:
- Checkout: 31%
- Product search: 22%
- AI-generated product descriptions: 22%
- Dynamic pricing: 21%
- Product suggestions: 18%
- Product critiques: 15%
Seemingly, the chances are really limitless. I’m excited to see this pattern play out and develop every year with revolutionary point-of-sale programs.
Payment choices
Today’s customers like comfort and choices. And that is true for funds made on the POS terminal. I bear in mind when it was only a money or credit score world—now, prospects can select to pay for his or her purchases in some ways.
According to Square, right here’s the way it breaks down when it comes to the fee strategies retailers settle for:
- Cash: 58%
- Mobile pockets apps like Apple Pay or Google Pay: 57%
- QR code funds: 52%
- Traditional card funds: 47%
- Touchless card funds: 44%
- Buy-now, pay-later (BNPL) choices like Clearpay: 43%
POS know-how is advancing in a means that accommodates these ever-changing fee preferences. In reality, fashionable POS tendencies present that the platforms have included new options and performance to course of completely different fee strategies and provide choices like subscriptions, cryptocurrency, saved funds, invoice splitting, and reward playing cards.
Mobile POS
Mobile POS, or mPOS, is one other sizzling pattern. The international mPOS market is estimated to be price round $3.78 trillion, in response to Statista. More than 2 billion mPOS customers are anticipated by 2028. And almost 1 / 4 of customers wish to use cell checkout choices.
So why is that this trending? Just like customers are extra cell, so are associates. Now, associates can meet customers the place they’re on the gross sales flooring and course of the transaction on the spot. Customers don’t have to attend in line on the POS terminal — they will take a look at wherever they’re at.
But this extends previous transactions, too. An mPOS makes it simpler for retail workers to carry out numerous duties, comparable to barcode scanning, stock counts, and so on.
Customer self-serve
Self-checkout is one other pattern in retail, and whereas it initially made its mark in grocery shops, different verticals are exploring the pattern, too. This is essentially consumer-driven — with Square Future of Retail reporting that two-thirds of customers favor to do duties independently, like trying out or seeing if a product is in inventory.
Consumers are more and more feeling empowered to do issues independently, influencing the way forward for POS.
When requested what duties they’d wish to carry out on their very own with the assistance of know-how versus with a dwell workers member, right here’s what the respondents mentioned:
- Checking product stock: 29%
- Ordering out-of-stock merchandise: 26%
- Gathering details about a product: 26%
- Picking up an merchandise ordered on-line: 24%
- Using cell checkout or in-store terminals: 24%
- Arranging house supply: 23%
Why? They love the effectivity and comfort of having the ability to do issues themselves. “Customers are looking for speed,” writes Bob Phibbs, The Retail Doctor. Self-checkout can present that effectivity.
These client preferences proceed to impression point-of-sale market tendencies.
Biometric safety
Security must be a prime concern for companies — to guard each themselves and their prospects. POS know-how typically comes geared up with safety to safeguard all events concerned. PCI compliance, knowledge encryption, and two-factor authentication are only a few examples.
However, one safety pattern that can impression POS know-how in 2025 and past is biometric security measures. This contains issues like fingerprint identification and facial recognition.
Biometric funds are experiencing a surge in development, with Juniper Research forecasting a CAGR of 113.6% from 2024 by means of 2028. Some even count on it to change into the norm inside the subsequent decade.
Businesses are more and more implementing these safety measures on their POS programs. This might be for workers or admins who log in to the POS system and authentication for buyer funds.
And not solely does biometric authentication assist enhance safety, but it surely additionally makes login and connection extra environment friendly. And bear in mind, customers love effectivity and comfort.
7 greatest POS programs to attempt in 2025
These are our picks for the greatest POS programs accessible to small companies trying to faucet into these tendencies:
- Best general small enterprise level of sale system: Square
- Best POS for retail and e-commerce: Shopify
- Best restaurant POS: Toast
- Best for desktop compatibility: Lightspeed Retail
- Best iPad restaurant POS: TouchBistro
- Best for common fee processor compatibility: Clover
- Best for high-risk companies: KORONA POS