Impacts of a POS system on retail store operations

Abstract

This study experiments with an implementation of a Point of Sales (POS) system. In order to evaluate the system's performances and find suitable operating conditions before it will be implemented in full scale in the case study operation. The case study is a chain of convenience store which currently uses an Electronic Cash Register (ECR) sytem. The case study plans to implement a POS system to improve performances of store operations. Since the system requires a large investment and involves many complicated steps in implementation, a pilot implementation is needed in order to study the impacts of the system on store operations and to prepare for suitable condition to facilitate the full scale implementation. The study was conducted at three pilot stores. It involves repreentatives of fast, medium, and slow moving merchandises. The evaluation was done by comparing the performances obtained from the POS system and the ECR system. The criteria for evaluating the system are service quality (which consists of service level, service speed, and service accuracy), inventory level, quality of information, store image and other intangibles. The system implementation improve the service accuracy, the quality of information, the store image and other intangibles. However, it does not show any improvement in service level, service speed, inventory level. This is due to the fact that suitable environment, which need to be implemented company-wide, is not in operation.