Digital Transactions Authoritative, insightful and timely information for payments professionals
Eric Goldberg Vice President of Sales
Traditionally retail was easy — install a payment terminal or PC POS system, connect to a common database, and you were ready to go. Things have changed. POS systems now need to tie in with other systems. These systems may be your cloud, e-commerce site, kiosk, mobile, order delivery service and of course your payment solution.
The challenge is how you get all these systems to work together. If you buy them in separate pieces you may find yourself with disparate systems that you have to run independently with a lot of double entry. Your best bet is to find out from your POS company who they work with. Flexibility should be part of the selection criteria, especially if you are looking to upgrade to a new system.
Given the opportunity in petroleum (due to the liability shift mandate in 10/2020), I am going to use a convenience store as an example. At a minimum a convenience store has the in-store POS, pumps and a forecourt controller. The forecourt controller traditionally has the payment application and controls the pumps.
In order for a convenience store to be integrated, the in-store POS need to be able to be able to authorize the card as an attended solution and turn the pump on via the forecourt for the authorized amount. Once the fuel is pumped it needs to complete the transaction for the amount of fuel pumped. The payment system must also support unattended payments for pay-at-the-pump.
The challenge for stations is to ensure the attended POS system works with their unattended pay-at-the-pump solution and they both work with the forecourt controller. This is further complicated with EMV and the difference between full integration and semi-integration. With full integration the card reader is separate from the payment application, which typically sits on the forecourt controller. With semi-integration, the device in the pump is a payment terminal so it has the payment application on it.
Selling POS systems has become a solution sale, which means the POS needs to supports all the options your customer wants and that they can all work together. If you can get the complete solution from one vendor you know that they should work together and have only one place to go for support. Otherwise, see if your POS company has recommendations.
Sound Payments Sound POS is a cost-effective, all-in-one point-of-sale solution for merchants that seek the convenience and tools to make better decisions and grow their business. This results in a more profitable, in-demand solution for resellers. Sound POS runs on a variety of devices. Sound POS Lite can operate as a stand-alone or companion solution for line busting, deliveries or the option to take payments anywhere in the store. For more information on how we can help provide an end-to-end solution, contact us at info@soundpayments.com or 844-319-5635. Learn more at https://www.soundpayments.com/sound-pos-reseller/.
