POS Software Buying Checklist
Choosing POS software usually comes down to more than a features list on a sales page. Here’s a practical checklist of what to actually check before deciding — organized by what the counter needs to do, not by price.
Billing & checkout
Check how fast the till can find an item — by name, SKU or barcode — and whether it supports the order types your business actually uses (dine-in, takeaway, delivery, walk-in, quick sale).
Inventory
Look for live stock visibility, purchase orders tied to suppliers, and alerts before something actually runs out — not just a static product list.
Receipts
A receipt should break a sale down clearly — subtotal, discount, tax, total, amount paid and amount due — and be reprintable if a customer needs a copy later.
Reporting
At minimum, check for a daily closing report that reconciles cash against sales, broken down by payment method — that’s what actually gets used at the end of a shift.
Taxes and FBR-related considerations
If your business needs to meet FBR-related requirements, check whether the POS gives you a place to configure that — for example, a field for a tax or POS registration ID — rather than assuming every system handles it the same way.
Offline capability
Ask directly: does billing stop if the internet drops, or does the till keep working and sync later? This matters more in areas with an unreliable connection.
User permissions
Check whether the system lets you control what each team member can see and do — a cashier and an owner shouldn’t have the same access.
Payment methods
Confirm the POS actually supports how your customers pay — cash, cards, and mobile wallets like JazzCash or EasyPaisa where relevant — not just a generic "cash" field.
Product & customer management
Check how products are catalogued (by SKU, barcode or category) and how customer records work — some systems require a saved customer for every sale, others let you bill a walk-in by default and only save a record when it’s worth keeping.
Industry-specific requirements
A restaurant needs kitchen ticketing and table management; a pharmacy needs batch and expiry tracking; a retail store needs barcode-driven inventory. Generic POS software often treats these as afterthoughts — check whether the workflow is actually built for your industry.
Support and implementation
Ask what happens after you sign up: is there help migrating existing data, training for staff, and someone to contact if something breaks — or are you on your own after setup?
A note on cost
Cost matters, but it deserves its own comparison — total cost of ownership against what’s actually included, not just the monthly number on a pricing page. This checklist is about what the software needs to do, not what it should cost.