Choosing which software to use for your new retail business is one of the biggest decisions you will make during the start-up process. The number of choices can make the process confusing for those with little retail experience. There is software to control inventory, software for accounting, software for employee management, and packages that promise to do it all.

An EPoS system or electronic point of sale is the most convenient system to use for retail. You can count sales numbers more effectively with bar-coding. You also get the benefit of cash registers which combine a cash register till with retail technology features. Your business will run much more efficiently with an EPoS system even thought eh price of the investment may seem massive.

However if you do not want to buy an EPoS system, these are the alternatives.

Primarily you will need databases for stock control and spreadsheets for your accounts. If you use something like Excel to do your spreadsheets ion then it will be a huge drag on your time. Database applications are complicated for those without experience.

This is where the all-in-one packages step in. There are already packages available that are aimed at the retail market. Choosing a package that does almost as much as an EPoS system will mean you pay more. Be honest and think about how many customers will visit you on a weekly basis. For businesses which sell large expensive items that only a few get sold every week, they can afford to use a small package that consists of one machine. You can use a cash register till to carry out the sale. You can take a recording of the sale on your computer after the sale.

If you will be selling many more items and have a larger inventory, you will need more. You need the accounting package to record each sale as it is happening which a simple till will not do. But the downfall is that you will still need another machine to print receipts and do credit card sales.