Retail Portfolio Expands

A new point-of-sale application expands Microsoft’s portfolio of retail management products. Microsoft Point of Sale (POS) 1.0 is a PC-based application designed to replace the traditional cash register and “dumb” point-of-sale devices (such as electronic cash registers or character-based terminals) used in retail stores to record and track sales transactions. The product is based on the existing Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS), which was most recently updated to version 1.2 in July 2003. RMS targets multistore retailers, while Microsoft POS is aimed at retailers with a single retail store.

POS contains a subset of RMS’s features. For example, Microsoft POS provides core transaction processing, inventory management, and reporting capabilities. RMS adds features such as greater flexibility in report design and creation, inventory tracking against multiple retail stores, and integration with a range of accounting packages, including Microsoft products such as Great Plains and Axapta, and non-Microsoft products such as Peachtree and MYOB.