Outfitting Your Grocery Store Checkout Counter: 5 Options for POS Hardware
How long are customers willing to wait in checkout lines at your store?
More than two-thirds of customers are only willing to wait 15 minutes before they’ll abandon their cart and walk out the door. You need a well-equipped grocery store checkout counter to avoid losing almost 70 percent of your customers!
You’ve put time and care into getting your grocery store ready. You have the perfect location, the best suppliers for the freshest produce, and the know-how to target your market and provide your customers with the products they want and need.
Now, only one thing is missing: the crucial final step allowing customers to make their purchases. You need to outfit your grocery store checkout counter.
This post will walk you through the top hardware you need for your checkout counter. Then, we’ll discuss the top five providers you can use to outfit your checkout stations and get customers out the door with their purchases.
Elements of a Grocery Store Checkout Counter
The grocery store checkout counter setup may seem fairly simple, but you need to consider numerous things to make your customers’ checkout experience smooth and efficient. Let’s break down the essential hardware components you’ll find in most grocery store checkout lanes:
- Point of Sale Terminal: The point of sale (POS) terminal is at the heart of every checkout counter. Your POS terminal processes transactions, manages inventory information, stores customer data, and more. Modern POS terminals often feature touch screens and user-friendly interfaces to speed up checkout.
- Barcode Scanner: To swiftly identify and ring up products, barcode scanners are a checkout counter staple. They read the barcodes on items and instantly pull up their information in the system, including price and product details.
- Cash Drawer: Cash drawers are a must for customers who prefer to pay with cash. They keep the cash securely stored and organized, ensuring transactions run smoothly.
- Receipt Printer: A receipt printer generates a transaction record as you complete the checkout process for your customers. Receipts contain transaction data, purchase time, store information, and applicable discounts.
- Scanner Scale: Some grocery stores employ scanner scales, which combine the functionality of barcode scanning and weighing. They're particularly useful for items sold by weight, like fresh produce.
- Customer Display: These screens face the customer. They show customers the prices and details of each item as they are scanned, ensuring transparency in the transaction.
- Security Cameras: Surveillance cameras at the checkout counter help deter theft and provide a record of transactions for security purposes. They're a vital component in ensuring the safety of both customers and staff.
- Payment Terminal: Payment terminals come in various forms, including chip and PIN card readers and contactless payment devices. They enable customers to make secure payments using credit or debit cards, mobile wallets, or other digital payment methods.
With these hardware components in place, your grocery store checkout counter will be well-equipped to provide a seamless shopping experience. However, the efficiency and reliability of these elements can vary depending on the provider. Let's take a closer look at some of the top grocery store checkout hardware providers today, so you can decide which system to choose for your store.
1. Clover
Best for: Grocery cafe and quick service dining
Clover provides customizable POS hardware, allowing you to easily tailor your system to suit your business requirements. As your business expands, Clover also offers a range of new devices, apps, and essential accessories to support your growth.
Clover's most extensive and fastest point of sale system comes pre-equipped with standard hardware components, including a cash drawer and receipt printer. The best part? You won't incur any extra costs or encounter hidden fees, ensuring you only invest in the hardware essential for your operations.
Plus, this station boasts ample processing power, enabling you to streamline your business operations efficiently. You can effortlessly update inventory, manage your staff, take orders, and generate reports in seconds, enhancing your business's overall efficiency.
Pricing: Clover’s standard option costs $1,799 upfront and $49.95 monthly.
2. IT Retail
Best for: Small business grocery and markets
IT Retail is a reliable point of sale partner dedicated to serving grocery stores, markets, and convenience stores. Our hardware solutions are rugged enough to last through thousands of transactions, all while looking sleek and professional.
Additionally, our dedicated support team understands the intricacies of working in a grocery store, thanks to our unique hiring process, which involves them spending a day as a cashier in one of our partner grocery stores. This firsthand experience enables them to provide tailored assistance that addresses your needs.
Our solution helps you streamline scanning processes and ensure that the labels on your shelves are accurate, minimizing pricing discrepancies. Say goodbye to costly back office and front end licenses, as we've shifted the entire back office operations to the cloud, simplifying your billing with a straightforward monthly payment. Our system also goes the extra mile by analyzing every transaction to identify potential theft, helping you maintain the integrity of your business operations.
Pricing: You can build your perfect hardware and software package using our transparent build and price tool.
3. Lightspeed
Best for: Enterprise retail
Lightspeed provides a comprehensive range of hardware solutions catering to business needs across various industries, including grocery stores, markets, and convenience stores.
Lightspeed's iPad hardware kit is a complete package with essential components such as a LAN receipt printer, a cash drawer, a Bluetooth scanner, an iPad stand, and an additional receipt printer. This comprehensive kit offers everything you require to kickstart your business operations efficiently.
Lightspeed also offers individual add-on hardware options. This flexibility allows you to select the exact hardware pieces necessary to meet your immediate business needs, ensuring a smooth and cost-effective transition into the Lightspeed Retail ecosystem.
Pricing: Cost is only available by custom quote.
4. Markt POS
Best for: Butcher shops and specialty stores
Markt POS offers a state-of-the-art POS solution designed for butcher shops and markets. Their solution offers a user-friendly interface built for speedy transactions and smooth inventory management processes.
Businesses dealing with goods sold by weight will appreciate the scale integrations Markt POS offers. This hardware is perfect for accurately pricing and managing deli products and other items sold by weight, making inventory control a breeze.
Markt POS’ hardware is designed with energy efficiency in mind, helping you reduce energy consumption by up to 60 percent.
Pricing: Markt POS offers solutions based on custom quotes through their website.
5. POS Nation
Best for: Small business retail
POS Nation offers comprehensive point of sale hardware and software solutions tailored to various business types, including retail stores, liquor stores, groceries or markets, convenience stores, and tobacco shops.
Established in 2001, POS Nation maintains a startup mindset, allowing them to empathize with the unique requirements of both new and established businesses. They’re committed to collaborating closely with customers to create a customized solution perfectly aligned with their needs. Additionally, they provide dedicated support to ensure your business's success, offering round-the-clock assistance.
POS Nation offers various features including personalized software, integrated payment processing, 24/7 customer support, and more.
Pricing: POS Nation’s packages start at $149 per month.
Level Up Your Grocery Store Checkout Counter
You need the right grocery store checkout counter and point of sale hardware to delight customers, make quick and efficient sales, and run a profitable grocery store.
The five providers listed in this post offer excellent hardware and software solutions to help you run your store. However, if you want the best results, you need to partner with a point of sale provider who knows the grocery industry inside and out.
IT Retail offers point of sale systems designed specifically for grocery stores and markets. Our solution is tailored to your needs, giving you all the features and hardware you need to succeed.
Build and price out your ideal point of sale and grocery store checkout counter solution today!
