Convert a PC into a Low-Cost Cash Register

But these old-school retailers are leaving money on the table. Without automation, they can't track inventory in real-time, can't track customers, and can't automatically integrate their sales with financial software. Indeed, for every dollar the keep-it-simple merchant saves by using a cash register, they lose countless dollars in time and financial disorganization.

For system builders, however, this problem represents a business opportunity. Namely, a chance to build (and sell) low-cost retail systems that cost a lot less than $10,000 a terminal while still providing modern, automated functionality. The solution: build the system around a common, nothing-fancy PC.

Get on Yer Bike

For the purposes of this TechBuilder Recipe, I conjured the scenario of opening a small, independent, and single-store bicycle shop. The needs of this new bike shop would be relatively straightforward. The owner and employees would need to be able to scan and ring up cash and credit purchases, track inventory, and be able to call up pertinent data when away from the store.

I began by researching the hardware and software offerings that would be appropriate and/or available for a small business. I spoke with both independent and chain bike shops in the San Francisco Bay Area to learn what retail management systems and equipment they were currently using. Not surprisingly, I ended up with a massive list of products.

Winnowing this list down to something actionable took some time—and a little bit of outside thinking. After repeatedly hearing estimates in the $10,000 to $30,000 range for elaborate custom solutions that would require regular maintenance, I was forced to rethink my entire approach.

Enter Microsoft and Intuit. Both companies offer off-the-shelve solutions for retail businesses that—at least theoretically—let retailers quickly and easily set up shop. Intuit's QuickBooks Point of Sale, first released in 2001, lets retailers order a comprehensive software solution for POS and inventory management. Even better, for another $700, you can order an entire suite of hardware that's entirely compatible with the software package: bar-code scanner, cash drawer, thermal printer, and credit-card swipe. QuickBooks Point of Sale also allows fairly easy integration with QuickBooks, one of the most common financial/accounting software packages on the market. It's available both in retail stores like Office Depot and online.

Microsoft's Point of Sale is similar in concept to QuickBooks, although in my experience, neither the level of hardware integration nor the interface are quite as intuitive. For this reason, I decided to use QuickBooks Point of Sale.

Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to build this low-cost retail system:

* Software: QuickBooks: Point of Sale 5.0 comes in three flavors: Basic ($800 retail), Pro ($1,050), and Pro Multi-Store ($1,400). For this Recipe, I used the Basic version. Technical support for QuickBooks Point of Sale costs an additional $49 per month from Intuit, although the first 30 days are free.

Given the direct and fairly easy integration between the Point of Sale package and Intuit's award-winning QuickBooks Financial Software, you'll also want a copy of QuickBooks; it retails for about $200.

Here's a shot of QuickBooks: Point of Sale:

* PC: QuickBooks Point of Sale requires a PC with at least a 500 MHz Pentium III or equivalent, with at least 256 MB of RAM. However, Intuit recommends at least a 1 GHz Pentium III or equivalent with 512 MB of RAM. This means you could easily convert an older PC into Point of Sale usage. I tested the software and hardware on an older 2.0 GHz Pentium 4 system with 512 MB of RAM, and I experienced no significant slowdowns once the software was launched. While it's difficult to find a new PC with a 2.0-GHz processor today, but you can buy PCs with faster 2.53-GHz Intel Celerons from Dell and other resellers for about $600, including a display. You can also find similarly fast PCs equipped with AMD's Sempron processor in the same price range.

* Point of Sale merchandise: Conveniently, Intuit offers up a Hardware Bundle for sale with the QuickBooks Point of Sale software for an additional $700. This bundle—which, with the software, amounts to an affordable $1,500—comes with the following peripherals:

• Star TSP600 Thermal Printer (for printing receipts).
• Star CF Media Cash Drawer.
• Credit-card swipe.
• Generic bundled laser bar-code scanner.

* Aftermarket add-ons: You can also add extra QuickBooks-compatible equipment to this package, such as a tag printer for printing out bar codes, a PIN pad for ATM card purchases, a pole display that displays prices to customers, and more. (For more details, see this Intuit list of QuickBooks-approved hardware.) I decided to keep things simple and opted for just one addition: the CipherLab 8000 wireless inventory scanner. This lets the user quickly and easily scan inventory all over a store, then synch up the data with QuickBooks Point of Sale on the PC.

* Metrologic Voyager bar-code scanner: Finally, after using the generic bar-code scanner that came with the Point of Sale hardware bundle, I decided to upgrade by switching to a laser bar-code scanner recommended by several Bay Area retailers. I'm glad I did. In addition to faster bar code pick-up, the Voyager also comes with a stand you can mount it in. Using this stand leaves the scanner in an always-on mode, which allows you to scan items by simply passing them underneath the scanner. (For more information, check out this Metrologic hand-held scanners page.) Here's a look:

Set-Up and Installation

Intuit says the QuickBooks Point of Sale bundle is easy to set up, and they're right. I found set-up and installation amazingly simple and straightforward. Anyone can do it.

To assemble your digital cash-register-cum-retail-management PC, follow these steps:

• With the PC powered down, connect the credit-card swipe and laser bar-code scanner. These two peripherals both utilize PS/2 keyboard connectors, so you may need to daisy-chain the keyboard and these two devices together. Wireless keyboard users, have no fear; this daisy-chain sequence had no negative effect on my wireless keyboard.
• Next, connect the cash drawer and thermal printer. This is another straightforward installation: First, plug the printer's power cable into a surge protector. Then attach the printer cable to the PC's parallel port. Finally, plug the cash drawer into the printer via a supplied RJ-45 cable.
• Switch on the PC, pop in the QuickBooks Point of Sale disc, and install the software by following the on-screen prompts.
• Because this is the first, and possibly only, installation for our fictional bike shop, I set up the software as the "Server." Subsequent installations within the same shop would be clients. At the end of a business day, a manager would close out each QuickBooks POS register and the program sends the server a data file which it will use to update inventory, financial, and sales information for the entire store.
• When initially booted up, the software will walk you through a complete interview for the retail business. In this process, you will specify a number of details, such as the name and address of the user's company, any local and state sales taxes, and lots more. Conveniently, you can also use this interview to set up credit-card merchant authorization services; approval takes approximately two days and costs a certain percentage of sales per month. You can even set up gift-card services, a growing trend in the retail space.
• Part of the interview process entails initializing all the POS hardware. A convenient wizard displayed all my hardware that the QuickBooks POS had detected. You may also want to go into the Properties settings and test each device to make sure they work properly; I did. But I did encounter one minor hitch: Because the Star thermal printer uses a parallel port, I had to use Windows XP's Control Panel to add the new printer. I selected "Add New Printer," and then toggled the "Local Printer" option. Windows found the printer and installed it automatically—with no need for any driver disc. Here's a screenshot showing the software installing my cash drawer:
• This is optional, but you may want to next enter QuickBooks Point of Sale's "Practice" mode to practice adding products into inventory, execute fictional sales transactions, and experiment with the software as a whole. It’s truly amazing how easy the software is to use for these kinds of tasks. Because my fictional business was a bike shop, I quickly and easily set up a SKU for labor, which would allow an employee to enter a product number to specify the hourly charges for repair work. The next screenshot shows Practice mode at work:
• At the end of my practice session, I exported all financial data to Intuit's QuickBooks Financial software package. This lets store owners quickly and easily integrate their store operations with the business' overall financial information.
• If you're like me, you'll want the software to automatically print receipts without giving an annoying Windows printer prompt each time. If so, go to Preferences, select Print Options, and uncheck the "Print dialog" box for the printer.
• If you have selected a bar-code scanner other than the unit bundled with the POS software, now's the time to install it. In the case of my choice, Metrologic's Voyager, installation was a snap. I simply plugged it into an open USB port, and it worked. No set-up required.

Next!

As it turns out, no other recent PC project has elicited as much satisfaction as the first time I heard the distinct cha-ching! from my newly installed cash drawer the first time I activated it.

I confess to being surprised and impressed with the ease of use, functionality, and intuitive nature of QuickBooks Point of Sale. It's hard to imagine anything being easier. To execute a sale, simply click on the "Make a sale" button. Then scan or enter the items being purchased. Finally, accept payment. Receipts print quickly and easily on the thermal printer. Best of all, the software keeps track of everything.

Equally impressive, the software lets you specify reorder thresholds for all inventories. Another excellent touch is that QuickBooks POS can keep comprehensive data on all customers. Once a customer is entered into the POS database, a retailer can track all their purchases and spending habits.

But the best part is the low cost. By using a $2,100 solution—and less than $2,000 if you already have a spare PC lying around—instead of a more costly $10,000 package, our fledgling bike shop would theoretically be able to allocate the $8,000 difference to purchasing merchandise. In the world of small retail businesses, being able to spend more dollars on inventory means more potential revenue.

GEORGE JONES is a San Francisco-based technology writer and computer-games consultant. Since 1992 has worked at numerous computer publications, including PC Week, CNET.com, and Maximum PC.