2019 POS TECHNOLOGY SHOWCASE: How Guest Preferences Drive the Point of Sale in 2019

The customer is powering the point of sale as we move into 2019, and tech and trend prognosticators agree that guest preferences are driving what the POS of the future will look like. As restaurants grapple with how to enable more and more ordering channels and fulfillment from in-store, drive-thru, curbside and delivery, they are facing a — perhaps uneasy — reality in which sales are up despite a decline in in-store traffic. The point of service is becoming untethered from the point of sale. The next-generation point of sale is being shaped by the call for the POS to be all things for all people. To achieve this, suppliers and operators must pinpoint customers’ biggest pain points and solve for that.   

Every year, Hospitality Technology polls restaurant technology executives to gauge buying plans and track what features and functionalities are shaping the path to POS purchase for restaurants. We compare this with input from the POS supplier base to see how their responses and strategies align and where there might be a disconnect. The combined insight helps to elucidate how the POS of the future will take shape.

Results indicate that restaurants planned to take an active role in the evolution of the POS in 2019. More than half are testing and researching new POS solutions for 2019 and beyond, and 46% plan to add functionalities to current software in 2019 (Fig. 1).