POS know-how has impacted the retail trade far and vast ever since its debut within the Nineteen Seventies. Earlier than the fashionable POS system, transactions have been handbook, cash-based, and tangible. Nonetheless, with the arrival of know-how, the POS has modified how retailers do enterprise and the way customers do their procuring.
Although the primary POS was centered on processing money funds in a clear, trackable manner, it shortly advanced to facilitate credit score and debit card transactions. And now? POS techniques can do a complete lot extra than simply course of funds. They’ve become mini enterprise administration command facilities!
So, what are the newest tendencies in POS techniques? Beneath, I break down the POS retail tendencies of 2024 which might be impacting the trade now and into the longer term.
Cloud POS
Enterprise has transitioned to principally cloud-based options — and that features the POS. Cloud POS techniques are more and more changing into the norm, changing the old-school conventional point-of-sale terminal that makes knowledge tough to entry and handle.
In accordance with Straits Analysis, the worldwide cloud POS market dimension was value $3,987 million in 2022 and is forecasted to be greater than $30,205 million by 2031 — that’s a compound annual development fee (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. Particularly 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 places, 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 may entry your corporation know-how from anyplace, 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 notice!
The pattern can be impacting the POS — and in a great way. 100% of retail enterprise house owners surveyed by Sq. Way forward for Retail report say automation has improved their enterprise not directly.
That very same 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. One other 45% have seen improved worker retention and profitability due to automation.
What position does AI play in trendy POS techniques?
With regards to POS know-how, AI and automation occur in a ton of potential use instances:
- Automated reordering for stock
- Fraud detection and prevention
- AI-powered pricing changes
- Loyalty and rewards applications
- E-mail advertising and marketing
Consumers from Sq.’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 opinions: 15%
Seemingly, the probabilities are actually limitless. I’m excited to see this pattern play out and develop every year with revolutionary point-of-sale techniques.
Cost choices
Right now’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, clients can select to pay for his or her purchases in some ways.
In accordance with Sq., right here’s the way it breaks down when it comes to the fee strategies retailers settle for:
- Money: 58%
- Cellular pockets apps like Apple Pay or Google Pay: 57%
- QR code funds: 52%
- Conventional card funds: 47%
- Touchless card funds: 44%
- Purchase-now, pay-later (BNPL) choices like Clearpay: 43%
POS know-how is advancing in a manner that accommodates these ever-changing fee preferences. In actual fact, trendy POS tendencies present that the platforms have integrated new options and performance to course of completely different fee strategies and supply choices like subscriptions, cryptocurrency, saved funds, invoice splitting, and reward playing cards.
Cellular POS
Cellular POS, or mPOS, is one other sizzling pattern. The worldwide mPOS market is estimated to be value round $3.78 trillion, in accordance with Statista. Greater than 2 billion mPOS customers are anticipated by 2028. And practically 1 / 4 of consumers wish to use cell checkout choices.
So why is that this trending? Identical to customers are extra cell, so are associates. Now, associates can meet consumers the place they’re on the gross sales flooring and course of the transaction on the spot. Prospects don’t have to attend in line on the POS terminal — they’ll take a look at wherever they’re at.
However this extends previous transactions, too. An mPOS makes it simpler for retail workers to carry out numerous duties, akin to barcode scanning, stock counts, and so forth.
Buyer 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. That is largely consumer-driven — with Sq. Way forward for Retail reporting that two-thirds of consumers favor to do duties independently, like testing or seeing if a product is in inventory.
Customers are more and more feeling empowered to do issues independently, influencing the way forward for POS.
When requested what duties they’d prefer to carry out on their very own with the assistance of know-how versus with a reside workers member, right here’s what the respondents stated:
- Checking product stock: 29%
- Ordering out-of-stock merchandise: 26%
- Gathering details about a product: 26%
- Selecting up an merchandise ordered on-line: 24%
- Utilizing cell checkout or in-store terminals: 24%
- Arranging dwelling supply: 23%
Why? They love the effectivity and comfort of with the ability to do issues themselves. “Prospects are on the lookout for velocity,” writes Bob Phibbs, The Retail Physician. Self-checkout can present that effectivity.
These client preferences proceed to influence point-of-sale market tendencies.
Biometric safety
Safety ought to be a prime concern for companies — to guard each themselves and their clients. 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.
Nonetheless, one safety pattern that may influence 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 Analysis forecasting a CAGR of 113.6% from 2024 by 2028. Some even count on it to turn out to be the norm inside the subsequent decade.
Companies are more and more implementing these safety measures on their POS techniques. This may be for workers or admins who log in to the POS system and authentication for buyer funds.
And never solely does biometric authentication assist enhance safety, however it additionally makes login and connection extra environment friendly. And bear in mind, consumers love effectivity and comfort.
7 finest POS techniques to attempt in 2025
These are our picks for the finest POS techniques obtainable to small companies trying to faucet into these tendencies:
- Greatest general small enterprise level of sale system: Sq.
- Greatest POS for retail and e-commerce: Shopify
- Greatest restaurant POS: Toast
- Greatest for desktop compatibility: Lightspeed Retail
- Greatest iPad restaurant POS: TouchBistro
- Greatest for common fee processor compatibility: Clover
- Greatest for high-risk companies: KORONA POS
