The point-of-sale system is the heart of any retail business. The right choice saves time, cuts errors and lifts sales. The wrong one costs you customers every single day. Here is the complete guide.
What is a POS system?
POS stands for point of sale. It is the system that runs every transaction in your store: scanning the barcode, totalling the bill, taking payment, printing the receipt, and issuing the ETA electronic invoice.
The types of POS
1. Traditional cashier POS
A terminal with a screen, cash drawer, receipt printer and barcode scanner. Suits small retail and supermarkets.
2. Tablet or mobile POS
A tablet or phone that works anywhere. Suits restaurants, cafés and field sales reps.
3. Smart cloud POS
Like Hunt ERP POS — browser-based, runs on any device, data in the cloud, live reporting, and integrated with inventory and accounting.
The features a serious POS needs in 2026
Cashier speed
Under 2 seconds per transaction. A slow checkout loses customers.
Inventory integration
Every sale decrements stock automatically, with an alert when quantities run low.
ETA integration
Issue tax-authority-approved electronic invoices instantly.
Multiple payment methods
- Cash
- Visa / Mastercard / Meeza
- InstaPay / Vodafone Cash / Fawry Pay
- E-wallets
- Partial payment and pay-later
Barcodes and QR
Read with any scanner, generate barcodes for your own products, QR codes on invoices.
Multi-branch
Run dozens of branches from one system, transfer stock between them, and report on the group or each branch separately.
Loyalty programmes
Points, VIP discounts and customer tiers.
Reporting
Best-selling products, peak hours, top-performing cashiers, and tax reports.
POS by sector
Supermarkets and retail
What matters: checkout speed, barcodes, multi-payment, inventory integration.
Restaurants and cafés
What matters: kitchen display system (KDS), modifiers, table management, Talabat/Mrsool integration.
Clothing stores
What matters: variants (colour/size), bundles, fitting-room holds.
Pharmacies
What matters: drug database, expiry tracking, medical insurance, prescriptions.
Clinics
What matters: EMR integration, medical insurance, doctor commissions.
Pricing
| Type | Upfront cost | Monthly |
|---|---|---|
| Traditional cashier POS | EGP 5,000-15,000 | Zero |
| Tablet POS | EGP 3,000-8,000 | Zero |
| Cloud POS (Hunt ERP) | EGP 0 | EGP 1,000 including the full system |
| International POS (Square) | $0-300 | $60-300 |
Common mistakes when choosing
- Choosing on price alone: a cheap POS without ETA integration means a fine of up to EGP 50,000
- Ignoring inventory integration: you will be counting stock by hand every week
- Not planning for growth: a single-store POS will not run five stores
- Ignoring reporting: no reports means no improvements
- Underrating support: when the POS goes down, you lose the day's sales
Our recommendation
For retail, cafés, restaurants and pharmacies in Egypt:
Hunt ERP POS is the strongest option because it is:
- Cloud-based — runs on any device
- EGP 1,000/month for everything (POS + accounting + inventory + reporting)
- ETA-integrated out of the box
- Multi-branch
- Fully Arabic
- Integrated with WhatsApp, Talabat and Mrsool
- Supported 24/7 at no extra cost
Try Hunt ERP POS free for 5 days.
Ready to see your company reports done right? Request a custom quote or start with a free trial .