The use of barcodes is already well established and highly visible in retail sales institutions. Today, majority of Retailers/Supermarkets use bar code scanners in combination with electronic POS terminals/PC Based billing systems. These scanners are used for reading the barcode symbols that appear on prepackaged food and convenience products. 

Solution Spotlight: Point-of-Sale (POS) Automation

Let’s look at how a barcode system works in a Retail store

On its packaging, each product carries an EAN (GS1) barcode which uniquely identifies it and distinguishes it from all others in a shopping basket. At the checkout, an automatic scanner (slot scanner or handheld reader) reads each barcode on the product. The barcode is decoded to reveal the Article number it represents. This number is passed to a computer, which matches it against a file and retrieves the price to be charged along with a description of the product and related details. Both price and description (and other relevant data) are then printed on the billing receipt.

With the help of barcode technology, retailer can record the identity of every item sold. They can re-order more quickly, reduce their stocks and have financial and marketing information at their fingertips with unbelievable speed, accuracy, and detail. For consumers, it means accurate billing, faster checkouts (and a happy shopping experience).

With increase in consumer footfalls, retailers are now progressing to use mobile-POS systems. Mobile devices enable shopping clerks to carry these handheld computers in rush time for on-the-spot transactions. Mobile POS devices feature an integrated reader (to scan individual items), MSR (for credit card authorization), and wireless-connected portable mobile printer (to generate bills).