Fully Mobile POS with Paypal Here, iPad, Vend and Mobile Peripherals
(PRWEB) January 02, 2014 -- Medisave is a global internet based supplier of medical supplies. Twice a year they attend two large medical shows to sell Littmann Stethoscopes. In the past, their POS solution involved clunky laptops running Microsoft POS in parallel with USB barcode scanners, networked printers, and manual credit card terminals.
The shows are incredibly busy with up to 1,000 sales over a two-and-a-half day period. Medisave always had to deploy a minimum of three manned registers, in part due to the time wasted re-keying the same payment information on the laptops and the credit card terminals. The solution was robust and served them fairly well but they always felt it could be better.
This year Littmann Stethoscopes decided to attend a lower profile show with Medisave. The stand size was less than half the size of previous events and there was physically just not going to be enough room for all of the laptops, scanners, printers and credit card machines. They had two months to find a new, leaner solution!
Medisave looked at every iPad based solution from Shop Keep to Vend. On the payment side they looked at everything from PayPal Here to Square.
In the end they chose Vend and PayPal Here. During testing these options seemed to work together extremely well, along with the peripherals. Everything just worked.
Here’s how they did it:
The Equipment
Sierra Wireless Elevate Mobile 4G WiFi Hotspot
Reason: Wireless internet access is often (but not always!) provided by the convention center. However, it is rarely reliable due to the understandably intense usage during an event like this. Medisave wanted to be self-reliant and bring their own private, reliable connection with them.
Paypal Here card reader (x2)
Reason: These tiny devices slot into the headphone jack on the iPads, barely adding anything to the form factor. It works seamlessly with the Vend app, plus the huge worldwide brand awareness of PayPal as a payment solution gives the customers (in this case from a huge range of nationalities) confidence.
Star Micronics SM-S220i bluetooth mobile receipt printer (x2)
Reason: Lightweight, small form factor (though seemingly drawing on the design aesthetics of a 1980s Sony Walkman), wireless, and can be clipped easily to a belt for hands free operation. The device spews out the receipt the moment the transaction is complete.
iPad Mini
Reason: The small form factor allowed Medisave, with the bluetooth peripherals, to literally take payment anywhere. They could walk down the queues, take customers aside, and generally manage and control the crowds much more effectively.
iPad (with heavy duty stand)
Reason: Whilst still mobile if need be, the stand added a hands free counter-top system to run in tandem with the roaming POS.
Socket Mobile Series 7 cordless bluetooth barcode scanner (x2)
Reason: Again the small form factor and the cordless operation were the main appeal. The scanners can be attached to a lanyard leaving your hands free when not in use. The Series 7 are also fairly robust in construction and scan well.
Vend cloud based POS software/app
Reason: Cloud based, enabling the merchant to add or replace devices with no additional setup. It can be accessed directly via the web or by iOS apps from the Apple store. The system is simple, keeps inventory, and works smoothly with everything else.
The Set Up
1. Setup the 4G hotspot, join the iPads to the network
2. Pair the printers and scanners to the iPads via bluetooth
3. Vend – Input the product inventory details (barcode, name, price, qty)
The Process
1. Scan barcode
2. Swipe card
3. Customer signs the screen
4. Optional: customer enters email address for digital receipt
5. Print receipt
Conclusion
And so we come to the important part – did it work? The answer is a resounding ‘yes’! For all three days of the show this system worked flawlessly. Medisave didn’t need any of the backup or extra equipment they brought – these two POS processed the same amount of orders as previous shows at stands twice the size.
In addition, the agility it gave them allowed the merchant to keep the hectic crowd levels under control, and the speed allowed their customers to get back to their conference with minimum waiting times.
For the full story: http://www.medisave.net/blog/paypal-here-ipad-vend-fully-mobile-pos/
Graham Wright, Medisave USA LLP, http://www.medisave.net, +44 7773888058, [email protected]
Share this article