Retail & POS
POS System Features Checklist: 25 Must-Have POS Features (2026)
EEloERP Team··5 min read
The POS features that matter most are fast barcode checkout with split payments, stock that updates on every sale, offline selling, customer credit and loyalty, shift cash-up reports and staff permissions. This POS system features checklist lists 25 in six groups, with what to test in a demo.
Choosing a POS without a checklist is how businesses end up with software that does not fit how they work. Use the list when comparing vendors, during demos, or to audit the system you have.
What features should a retail POS system include?
Every retail POS should cover the essentials in the first two groups below: checkout and inventory. Customer, reporting, hardware and integration features decide how well it fits as you grow. The printable table at the end marks what is essential and what depends on your business.
POS software features for sales and checkout (essential)
- Multiple payment methods: cash with change, card, bank transfer, mobile wallets and split payments across them.
- Barcode scanning: USB or Bluetooth scanners, plus search by name or SKU when a label is missing.
- Discounts and promotions: line and basket discounts, percentage or fixed amount; ask about multi-buy offers if you run them.
- Tax management: several tax rates, tax per item, tax shown on the receipt and reported for filing.
- Receipt customisation: your logo, contact details, return policy and message, in the paper sizes your printers use.
- Offline mode: selling continues when the internet is down and syncs when it returns. Essential where connections are unreliable.
Inventory features (high priority)
- Real-time stock updates: every sale, return and adjustment shows immediately on every till and location.
- Low-stock alerts: a threshold per item, shown on the dashboard or sent as a notification.
- Purchase orders: raise, send and receive POs; turn low-stock items into a PO quickly.
- Multi-location inventory: see, transfer and manage stock across branches and warehouses from one login.
- Batch and expiry tracking: essential for pharmacy, grocery and food; batch numbers, expiry dates and near-expiry reports.
- Variants and units: size and colour variants under one product, and one item sold in several units (box, pack, piece). Essential for garments, cosmetics and hardware.
- Bundles and recipes: combo products and bills of materials that deduct component stock.
Customer features (medium priority)
- Customer profiles: contact details, purchase history, balance and notes.
- Loyalty: points earned and redeemed at checkout.
- Credit accounts: sell on credit with limits, statements and aging.
- CRM and messaging: customer records linked to follow-ups and SMS, email or WhatsApp campaigns.
Point of sale software features for reporting (high priority)
- Daily sales summary: revenue, transactions, average sale and payment-method breakdown, live.
- Product performance: top sellers, slow movers, dead stock and margin by product.
- Staff performance: sales by cashier and salesperson, refunds and shift cash differences.
- Inventory valuation: stock value at cost, for the accounts and insurance.
- Filterable, exportable reports: filter by date, branch, product or customer and export to Excel or CSV.
Hardware compatibility (practical)
- Peripherals: receipt printers (thermal and A4), cash drawers, barcode scanners, label printers and, if you sell by weight, scales.
- Devices: runs on the computers, tablets or phones you plan to use at the counter.
Integrations and scalability (future-proofing)
- Accounting: sales post to the books automatically, either through a built-in accounting module or a tested link to your accounting package.
Bonus features worth asking about
- E-commerce: online store orders and stock in the same system.
- Mobile POS: selling from a phone or tablet away from the counter.
- Kitchen display: for restaurants, orders sent to a kitchen screen instead of paper.
- Table management: orders tracked by table for dine-in.
- Multi-currency: if you buy or sell in more than one currency.
- Role-based access: what cashiers, supervisors and managers can see and do.
POS system functional requirements: turning the checklist into a requirements list
A checklist tells you what exists; functional requirements say what your business needs it to do. Rewrite each item you care about as a testable sentence, give it a priority, and note how you will test it:
| Requirement | Priority | How to test |
|---|---|---|
| A cashier can split one bill between cash and card | Must | Ring up a sale and pay part of it each way |
| Selling continues when the internet drops | Must | Disconnect, sell three items, reconnect, check stock |
| One item sells in boxes and pieces with stock converted | Must (if relevant) | Sell 1 box and 3 pieces, check stock |
| Expiring stock is listed 30 days ahead | Must (food/pharmacy) | Receive a batch with a near date, run the report |
| Credit sales stop at the customer's limit | Should | Sell above the limit and see what happens |
| End-of-shift report shows expected vs counted cash | Must | Close a shift with a deliberate difference |
Send the list to every vendor and ask them to answer line by line, then test the "Must" lines yourself.
How to use this checklist during a demo
- Ask the vendor to show each feature live, not on slides.
- Test edge cases: partial payments, returns, transfers between locations.
- Ask: "What happens to my data if I cancel?" and "How do I export it?"
- Run a trial of at least two weeks on your own products and hardware before committing.
How EloERP POS maps to this checklist
EloERP's POS is part of a cloud ERP, so stock, customers and accounts are in the same database as the till. Against the checklist:
| Checklist area | In EloERP |
|---|---|
| Checkout | Barcode, SKU and name search; cash with change, card, bank, cheque and any method you configure; split payments; line and invoice discounts; tax per line; held orders; returns; receipts in 80mm, 58mm, A5 and A4 |
| Offline | Offline POS keeps selling without internet and pushes to the cloud when it reconnects |
| Inventory | Real-time stock, reorder levels and low-stock alerts, Min Stock report to purchase order, multiple warehouses and branches with transfers, batch and expiry, variants, multi-unit products, combos, barcode labels |
| Customers | Customer profiles, loyalty points, credit sales with credit limits, statements and aging, CRM, SMS/email/WhatsApp messaging |
| Reports | X and Z shift reports, sales by product, customer and period, salesperson leaderboard, profitability, stock valuation, dead stock, Excel and print export |
| Integrations | Built-in double-entry accounting; Shopify, WooCommerce and Daraz connections; multi-currency; FBR digital invoicing through PRAL in Pakistan |
| Restaurant extras | Tables, kitchen order tickets, kitchen display, modifiers, dine-in, takeaway, delivery and drive-thru |
| Control | Role-based permissions, audit trail, inactivity lock, receipts printed only after the sale is saved |
A POS mobile app is available as an add-on, priced separately. Pricing is on request and billed yearly (monthly on request). You can start the 15-day free trial with no credit card and work through this checklist on your own products, or book a free demo to go through it with us.
POS features checklist: printable summary
| Category | Feature | Required? | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sales | Multiple payments | Essential | Include split payments |
| Sales | Barcode scanning | Essential | Plus name/SKU search |
| Sales | Discounts | Essential | Line and basket |
| Sales | Tax management | Essential | Tax per line |
| Sales | Offline mode | Essential | Syncs on reconnect |
| Inventory | Real-time stock | Essential | All locations |
| Inventory | Low-stock alerts | High | Threshold per item |
| Inventory | Purchase orders | High | From shortage list |
| Inventory | Multi-location | If 2+ branches | Stock transfers |
| Inventory | Batch and expiry | Pharmacy/food | Near-expiry report |
| Customers | Credit and loyalty | Medium | Limits and statements |
| Reporting | Daily sales summary | Essential | Live |
| Reporting | Product performance | High | Margin by product |
| Reporting | Exportable reports | Growing businesses | Excel/CSV |
Related: Retail POS software features for small business · How to choose a POS system
Frequently asked questions
What features should a retail POS system include?
At minimum: fast barcode checkout, cash, card and split payments, discounts and tax per line, offline selling, real-time stock with low-stock alerts, purchase orders, customer credit and loyalty, shift cash-up reports, sales and margin reports, and role-based access for staff.
What are the most important POS features?
Real-time inventory, offline mode, multiple payment methods with split payments, low-stock alerts and sales reporting. Most other features build on these.
What POS features do restaurants need that retailers don't?
Table management, kitchen order tickets and a kitchen display, modifiers (add or remove ingredients), bill splitting and order types such as dine-in, takeaway and delivery.
What are POS system functional requirements?
They are the features from a checklist rewritten as testable statements about your business, for example: "a cashier can sell one item in boxes and pieces and stock converts automatically". Each one gets a priority and a test you will run in the demo or trial.
Should I choose cloud POS or desktop POS?
Cloud POS gives remote access, automatic updates and multi-location stock; check that it also keeps selling offline. EloERP is cloud-based and its offline POS keeps selling without internet, pushing sales to the cloud when the connection returns.
How do I evaluate POS software for my industry?
Start with the general checklist, then add your industry's needs: batch and expiry for pharmacy and food, multi-unit selling for hardware, table and kitchen management for restaurants, service billing for salons.