History of the POS System
It’s hard to believe, but the beginnings of the first Point-of-sale (POS) system dates back as far as the late 1800s. James Ritty, a Dayton, Ohio, saloon owner, was known as the “father” of the cash register. He invented a device that could register the amount of cash transactions recorded at his saloon because he wanted stop employees theft. He called it “Ritty’s Incorruptible Cashier,” or as we know it today, the cash register.
He would later sell his rights to the cash register to Jacob H. Eckert. Eckert wanted to manufacture cash registers to a wider audience. So he founded the National Manufacturing Company. That company would later be sold and the name changed to the National Cash Register.
In 1906, Charles F. Kettering created an electric motor for the cash register. This made it easier for employees to process transactions quickly, rather than ringing up sales by hand.
In the 1950’s in London, brothers Sam and Henry created a manufacturing company called Gross Cash Registers where they built, sold, and exported cash registers. In 1971, they created the only cash register that could handle the conversion of currencies, which made their business boom.
Then the first POS systems were introduced to the market in 1973. IBM announced the electronic cash register (ECR), as a mainframe computer packaged as a store back end. It was limited in capability and functionality, but ECR’s were the first computer-based client-server technology to be used in a commercial atmosphere. This system was able to pinpoint top selling items, and print out a summary of the report. By 1974, the system was installed in Pathmark Stores in New Jersey and Dillard’s Department Stores.
In 1979, Gene Moshel, a New York restaurateur, used this technology to pioneer a system for his deli. Mosher wrote software that worked with his computer where customers would order at the restaurant’s front entrance. Then their order would print out in the kitchen.
In 1985, Mosher introduced the first color touch-screen driven POS interface. This software operated on the Atari ST, which was the world’s first consumer-level color graphic computer. This was the beginning of POS system helping business owners to track reports, keep inventory, and monitor employees.
Through the 90’s and into the 21st century the point-of-sale system would continue to evolve, moving from bulky systems to back office services, and tablet based mobile systems. Also, cloud computing would allow POS systems to run as SaaS software, a service accessed from the internet.
Bepoz made it’s mark in POS history, starting in the early 70’s as Business Electronical Pty Ltd. Established in Sydney Australia, the company sold office products and cash registers. Through the years the company would move with customer demand distributing electronic programmable cash registers in the 80’s, and in the 90’s selling POS system solutions.
In 2004, after years of reselling other solutions Bepoz decided to develop it’s own POS software called Bepoz. This revolutionized the POS market with a fresh, intuitive, feature rich, yet easy-to-use, point of sale software. They became both an end-user solution provider and a major software developer in the Australian market.
In 2007, Bepoz started building a worldwide distributor network in New Zealand, the UK, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Canada, and of course the United States.