Turn your iPhone or iPad into a POS or Point of Sale device?

Answer 1

The world of entrepreneurial innovation just got a whole lot more exciting in recent times with the advent of the mobile POS.

From splitting the bill at a restaurant to using your iPhone or iPad to sell your work at a local trade show, craft fair, or flea market -- the tech exists at this point in time to make every individual a potential participant in the seller’s market.

What POS or point of sale apps are available for iPad and iPhone?

Square is the leading app in this category, offering their basic app (simply entitled “Square” or Squareup) as well as Square Register, a newer iteration on the same theme which introduces handy-dandy features such as sales tracking, inventory control, and improved statistics.

Payfirma is an up and coming contender seeking to dethrone the encumbent Square, a difficult task but one that the app developer seems to be taking seriously. Payfirma offers the standard functions as per Square, but also adds some interesting new twists in the form of brandable receipts, employee management, and currency conversion on the fly.

What sort of businesses would benefit by using a mobile iPad or iPhone POS app?

Freelancers may have been the group to bring the mobile POS systems from Square and Payfirma forward into the limelight, but they are hardly the only self-sellers out there using the software.

Book publishers, craftspeople, artisans, and tradespeople are picking up on the mobile POS at unprecedented rates. The ability to sell produce hand-to-hand, directly to a client, means that small businesses are able to offer payment flexibility to their potential audiences in a way that historically was simply not possible. Simply swipe the stripe, deduct 2.5% to the app developer, and off you go.

Direct sellers and independent sales reps are another segment of workers who are flocking to Square in droves. The ability to secure payment as you are there, with a client in their own home is a wondrous sales tactic and improvement. Closing never felt so good!

While brick and mortar buildings housing retail operations may not think they have a direct need to utilize this mobile form of POS (sticking with Moneris or any number of other entrenched service industry POS providers), they would be wrong. They are among the many sectors of contemporary business who would directly benefit vis-a-vis a POS upgrade. Consolidation of sales numbers, employee information and statistics, and actual POS capability speaks for itself.

What percentage do Square and other POS providers take from each transaction?

The usual percentage deducted from the sale is 2.5%, which is why Square and Payfirma must be quite happy to see sales surge with the help of their free apps.

Whether you're having a yard sale and everything must go or you're engaged in high level business with some cutting edge partners, the ability to carry a fully functional POS system in your pocket is an ace in the hole that can't be emphasized enough.