As a mid-sized retailer, point of sale is crucial to your business, and you want to ensure you have the best tech for your business. You need to stay on top of trends, understand where point of sale is going, and what (else) it could be doing for your retail operation.

The trend towards cloud POS technology – and away from ‘on-premise’ systems – continues to gather momentum. Predicted growth of cloud POS systems is 18.3% per annum between 2025 and 20331. Within this overall pattern, the trend is particularly towards hybrid cloud rather than ‘pure’ cloud – that’s because pure cloud relies on network connectivity. Whereas hybrid cloud software can run in standalone mode if the network is unavailable, and seamlessly sync back to the cloud when connectivity is restored.

• Hybrid cloud is ‘best of both worlds’
• Cost benefits of cloud software
• Reliability of on-premise
• Confidence you can operate during a network outage
• Resilience for your business

Customers will expect to be able to engage with your retail business in multiple ways – including instore, online, and mobile. They often combine these within a single transaction – such as click and collect or buy online, return in store (BOPIS). If you’re to meet these customer demands, you need your different channels to be integrated into a single, unified commerce system.

• Disconnected systems mean missed sales
• Today’s shoppers want to use multiple channels
• Omnichannel enhances customer service
• Shoppers are turning their backs on retailers with no omnichannel

AI is moving into the store – the growing trend is that AI is no longer simply a back office analytics tool, but is increasingly embedded into the point of sale, for example being used for real-time inventory recommendations, dynamic pricing, fraud detection, and customer behavior insights during transactions. POS systems will increasingly offer prescriptive analytics and decision support for frontline staff, particularly in fashion and specialty retail.

• AI provides deep customer understanding
• Empower associates to deliver great customer experience
• Make recommendations that drive sales
• Smarter front end operations generate greater profit

Tomorrow’s point of sale systems will be about more than simply managing sales transactions – the trend is towards ‘unified commerce’, where the POS system is the nerve centre of all the key touchpoints in your operation, including instore and online sales, loyalty, promotions and inventory management. Unified commerce brings these functions together in a single platform for a consistent customer experience.

• Loyalty, promotions and inventory in the same system
• Single source of information
• Opens opportunities for advanced insights
• Streamline operations for greater efficiency

Payment preferences are evolving rapidly – customers want to pay using digital wallets, Buy Now Pay Later (BNPL), and embedded finance. POS technology is therefore becoming central to managing and integrating multiple payment types and digital receipts.

• Payments landscape is changing fast
• Retailers must be flexible
• Customers demand new payment types
• Failure to adapt could alienate customers

The trend for personalized service will continue to grow. Personal service is the new luxury, and retailers will respond by equipping store staff with mobile POS technology so that they can provide side by side service in the aisle.

• Staff have real-time inventory information
• Personal service avoids lost sales
• Upsell and cross-sell to increase basket size
• Rapid checkout – no queuing for shoppers

As recent high profile cases have proven, retail is unfortunately trending as one of the most targeted sectors for data attacks and cybercrime. Privacy regulations are becoming tighter and changing how retailers handle POS system data.

• A data breach risks your reputation
• Ransom demands are very costly
• Cloud-managed POS offers centralized security control
• Retailers can’t afford to be non-compliant