Is Tablet Ipad POS the right Solution for your business
Ipad or Tablet POS Review- Is this the right solution for you
Have you been in a situation when you are in a restaurant or retail shop and they handed you an Ipad or Tablet to complete your transaction? If it is your first encounter, you are for sure profoundly impressed, but this particular technology has been around the corner for quite some time especially on countries in UK, USA, Australia where it was widely used mostly by SME's.
There is no doubt that everything is changing and you have to adopt in order for you to stay relevant and not be labeled "outdated". Before you jump into the decision to junk your old clunky cash registers and shift to this POS Solution try to look into the list of Pro's and Cons and check if this is the suitable solution for you.
Pros
Portable/Increase Mobility
Perhaps one of the clear-cut advantages of a tablet/IPAD POS is that it can be easily carried around the corner of the shop. Gone are the days that you are tied to the cash register counter. You can move it around the event floor or bring it to your next pop up shop. You can sell wherever your customer is.
Aesthetically Appealing
Believe it or not, since people are used to seeing the bulky cash registers, having a tablet/IPAD doing checkouts has definitely a "WOW" factor to shoppers/buyers. There is a lot of sleek and modern style to choose from that is suitable for modern business. It would definitely give your business a trendy vibe.
Environmental Friendly
More and more people are showing their concerns about the environment. One thing that proves it to me personally are the signatures from the email I received from some of our clients. "Save the environment, Print this email if necessary." This is just one of the few signatures I found from my inbox. Using a tablet POS, with of course an email link it to it would give you the choice to send e-receipts to your customer rather printing it. You have helped the environment and somehow raised an awareness at the same time you have captured the heart of the consumer groups who are driving most brands to exercise Social and Environmental Responsibility.
Durability and Hardware Support
Maybe, there is a question in your mind about the durability of tablets versus your 10-year-old cash register. The mere fact that you can move it around heightens the possibility of it to be dropped and broken. I will discount you from doubting it. Luckily, phone manufacturers have seen the needs for rugged tablet brethren. That is why they have come out with a tablet with durable bodies that wouldn't break if you drop them.
Manufacturers like Samsung and Apple also have warranty/protection plan that you can renew every year. Screenguards and Casing are also available in the market to put an added protection to your devices.
Cost
Let's give a try to compare how much money you'll gonna shell out when you use IPAD/ Tablet compared to a traditional POS setup
- Ipad-iOS WiFi 32GB 9.7inches - AED 1,400.00
- Ipad Stand/ Belkin Portable Tablet Stand - AED 523.00
- Cash Drawer - AED 450.00
- Bluetooth / Wifi Receipt Printer - AED 950.00
- Bluetooth/ Wifi Barcode Scanner - AED 350.00
Total Hardware Cost= AED 3,673.00
Traditional Point of Sales Hardware
- POS Monitor - AED 1,700.00
- Operating System - AED 450.00
- Cash Drawer - AED 450.00
- Receipt Printer - AED 950.00
- Barcode Scanner - AED 350.00
Total Hardware Cost= AED 3,900.00
Cost provided above are based on the prices given to us by our third-party hardware providers. As to what brand they are, you can send me an email and I would love to share it with you. Now the price would depend on which brand you're looking into. You can do your own calculation based on your brand preference and do the comparison. Initially, based on our computation the initial cash outlay for Ipad/Tablet POS lesser than going into the traditional POS
Cons
No POS is perfect, there would always be considered a downside depending on how you see it.
Reliance on Cloud
If your planning to shift or go into Ipad/Tablet POS would mean going into the cloud. Ipad/Tablet have a limited amount of Internal Memory and years of using it would, of course, accumulate a large amount of data, that an Ipad or Tablet eventually couldn't handle. If you would go to software with perpetual license (Standalone software) you might have to invest to a WIFI ROUTER and use a laptop/Computer as a local server where you can store the data collected by the Tablet/IPAD POS. For this kind of Software Setup, IPAD/POS is definitely not recommended.
Security
During client meetings, security is one of the recurring topics of discussion. Cloud is perceived by most people as an unsafe way of storing data. Since you store your data on the cloud it was prone to hacking, and oftentimes hackers hijack small and medium enterprise's information because they don't have or they lack the means or resources to protect it. Is there any way to avoid it? Make sure to go into a POS Software company that leverages on highly secured web services like Amazon cloud, Google Cloud, Oracle Cloud, Microsoft cloud.etc
Final Thoughts
Now you're presented with the Pro's and Cons of a Tablet/ Ipad POS you are now an informed buyer and shifting to this solution is now depends on your discretion. After you decided and go for it, the next thing you have to hunt is perfect IPAD/tablet POS Software.
Why don't you try our Polaris Retail Pro, it works on Tablet/Ipad or laptop. Give it a shot for 15 days and see if this is the suitable software for your business
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