New Point-of-Sale Software for Small Retailers

A new Microsoft point-of-sale application will take on Intuit’s retail offerings for single-store retailers. Microsoft Point of Sale (Microsoft POS) 1.0, a stripped-down version of the company’s existing Retail Management Systems product, will act as a PC-based cash register replacement. The product will compete with the similar QuickBooks Point of Sale, but it will also integrate with Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software. However, the company has not said that Microsoft POS will integrate with the forthcoming Small Business Accounting package, which is designed to compete with QuickBooks. Furthermore, Microsoft POS will not integrate with other Microsoft accounting products, such as Great Plains.

Where Microsoft POS Fits

Microsoft POS is a PC application designed to replace the traditional cash register and “dumb” point-of-sale devices (such as electronic cash registers or character-based terminals) that retail stores use to record and track sales transactions.

Microsoft entered the point-of-sale application market with the May 2002 acquisition of Sales Management Systems. The acquisition netted Microsoft a point-of-sale and inventory management application that it rebranded as Microsoft Retail Management System (RMS); its most recent update, RMS 1.2, came in July 2003. Microsoft deferred plans to update RMS in 2004, and instead spun off Microsoft POS from the RMS code base. An RMS update is planned for the third quarter of 2005.