Point of Sale (POS)

Point of sale can refer to a physical checkout in a shop, a restaurant table where payment is taken, or the checkout page of an online store. POS systems record sales, calculate totals and taxes, accept payments and print or send receipts.

Modern POS systems often do much more. They track inventory, manage customer loyalty programmes, generate sales reports and connect with accounting software.

For example, a café might use a tablet-based POS system that records each order, accepts contactless card payments, updates stock levels of coffee beans and milk and shows the owner daily sales figures.

POS systems handle sensitive card data, so they must meet security standards, such as the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. The term point of sale is also used in financing, for example point-of-sale lending, where customers are offered credit or buy now, pay later options at checkout.