Small Business Blog

Are you currently running your small business without barcoding and POS equipment? Certainly many small business owners do–I even know a few who are using the paper-and-pen method of inventory management. It’s true that advanced barcoding and POS equipment isn’t for everyone: it’s expensive to buy and it takes a bit of effort to deploy. To justify the investment of time and money, you need to have relatively stable sales volumes and medium-term visibility into your business’ future.

If your business is large enough and stable enough, the benefits of using technology to manage inventory are often substantial. A POS system improves efficiency by decreasing the man-hours necessary to take in and track your products. It improves customer service by expediting the checkout process and empowering your staff to answer customers’ questions regarding items in stock. It saves money by reducing inventory shrink. The businesses that get the maximum benefit out of their POS systems are those that have a relatively predictable product offering. Once products are set up in the system, your employees can quickly print out the barcode, tag the product and get it on the shelf.  

Once you’re ready to make the leap into inventory technology, be prepared to do a lot of research. The options available to you are many, and the right set up depends entirely on the details of your business. If you have no idea where to start researching, see this guide from eBay about buying POS systems.

The next step is comparison shopping, to keep your costs down. Check with manufacturers and suppliers who carry various makes of product. One established supplier to check out is L-TronDirect.com. L-TronDirect.com has been a leading supplier of bar code, data collection products, POS systems and industrial computers since the 1970s, and offers technical support as well as competitive pricing. Orders over $125 qualify for free ground shipping too. Another perk is that the folks at L-TronDirect look to be very focused on customer education–which is always a good sign from your vendors. The site has informative articles, plus a blog that’s updated regularly.