Imagine standing in a long queue at a retail store as the cashier is manually entering the prices of items bought into a cash register. Point of sale (POS) systems have made the process of transections resilient. Be it a retail store, a restaurant, or even a hospital, the demand for a quality POS is increasing everywhere. A good system adds value to the enterprises it serves including efficiency, better stock management and accuracy. POS systems can also be customized according to business needs. The main classifications include a Terminal POS, which is commonly used in all the businesses equipped with physical tools such as barcode scanners, cash drawers, etc., a Mobile POS, which is operated on smartphones or tablets making it ideal for small outlets and remote transactions, or a Cloud Hosted POS which features an online setup backed up by cloud data which is most useful in large corporations.
The quality of services provided by POS systems is refining due to the growing competition of its industry and PHP Point of Sale (PHP POS) is one of the leading players in this industry.
PHP Point of Sale provides cloud and on-premise/downloadable software for retail businesses. It delivers cost effective software that is user friendly and supported in numerous countries. Founded in 2010, the company’s primary focus is to assist small businesses that need flexibility and cost effectiveness built into their system. PHP POS’s software is used in a wide variety of markets such as cell phone/electronics stores, clothing sales, tree nurseries, hardware shops, and breweries.
The Leading Light of PHP Point of Sale
Chris Muench is the CEO and the Founder of PHP POS. His responsibilities include development, overall direction of the product, and customer service. He has done about 95% of the development of the system himself and manages the support. He believes in offering affordable yet powerful software systems to the market. According to him, “The point of sale industry is very competitive and there are hundreds, if not thousands of point of sale systems. It is an ever changing industry as retail evolves. Omni channel is becoming very popular to always be where the buyer is. Amazon has made it normal to purchase online where buying in the store is usually not as convenient.” He also adds, “While I don’t see brick and mortar businesses going away, companies will have to evolve to be price competitive to the big players. One way that I have found my customers help keep their customers coming back is through loyalty programs. This offers a stickiness factor to keep customers coming back and not use alternatives such as Amazon.”
Turning an Idea into a Business
The journey of PHP Point of Sale started when Chris was in high school. A local tennis shop asked Chris to help them find a software platform to keep track of their sales. Chris was learning computer science in high school at the time and decided to make a system for them from scratch. The owners loved the system so much that they used it all the way until they retired last year. Since the project worked great for them, Chris decided to turn his custom POS software into a business after graduating from college.
PHP POS believes in developing the software purely on the basis of his customer’s feedback. They recently released the 16.0 version which was successful due to the addition of customer requested features. Chris noticed that this particular release had the highest upgrade rate from new and existing customers as the release boasted features such as API and e-commerce integration. The company continues to innovate with each release while always listening to customers suggestions while making the program even easier to use.
Delivering Distinctive Products
Increased efficiency is one of the primary features of PHP POS’s software system. It automates the inventory, purchasing, receipts, and credit card processing to decrease manual processes. The company also has a tight integration with WooCommerce, an online extension to help enterprises sell their product so it can even connect to the pre-existing online stores. Business owners save a lot of time since the system manages all aspects of retail store including inventory. The system can also show which items are selling well and the ones that aren’t, so the purchasing department can decide what to buy more of based on PHP POS’s advanced reporting features.
One of the differentiating factors of PHP Point of Sale’s products is flexibility. It can deploy the system onto a client’s server directly or host in the cloud based version. Also, it is affordable and accessible to a wide variety of users.
A Smart Approach toward Hurdles
Chris says managing contractors/employees to work on aspects of the system has been the biggest challenges for PHP Point of Sale.
The company has hired several contractors and employees for development assistance. Some of them have worked out well, while others have taken excessive amounts of time to finish a feature making it difficult for Chris to estimate when a feature might be completed. As the company’s CEO, Chris has decided to only use contractors when absolutely necessary so the software can keep up with development sprints without compromising quality.
Innovation and Integration
PHP Point of Sale is planning to have more integration with accounting systems in the near future. The company has enough customers where most of the development is driven by its customers’ needs and requests. They will continue to pursue the Omni channel strategy by focusing on Amazon and eBay integrations as their customers typically sell products through these main platforms.
Source: The 10 Most Innovative POS Solution Providers 2018
