EPoS and Chip & PIN: Ready to roll...
Every licensee can benefit from installing an EPoS system, and with many of them incorporating Chip & PIN, now is the time, writes Phil Mellows.
Twenty years ago, when EPoS began to revolutionise retailing, you could still find pubs that stowed the cash in a shoebox on the back-bar. Maybe you still can. But the modern world has steadily asserted its influence on the way the trade operates.
When once publicans may have benefited from the informalities of running a cash business, today it's not so easy. Control, efficiency and professionalism are the things in an increasingly competitive marketplace and EPoS has proved to be a key advantage that managed estates have gained over independent publicans who have not seen the investment in fancy systems as worth the extra outlay.
At least, not yet. While take-up of EPoS by freetraders, lessees and tenants has been grindingly slow, there is an inevitability about it becoming as essential to every pub business as the cash register became.
Many small multiples have made the upgrade and even one-pub operations have been able to make EPoS a profitable investment - and there are signs that this trend will accelerate.
As the technology has moved on, EPoS suppliers have increasingly targeted the independent pub trade, coming up with systems that are designed to be scalable from an estate of hundreds down to a single freehouse or tenancy. Today, the potential is there for every licensee to gain from installing EPoS - and the message is getting through.
Sharp, the famous electronics firm, has even been attracted back into the pubs market after a 10-year break.
Supplier Wedderburn has worked with lessees on the Scottish & Newcastle franchised estate for the past four or five years. Its machines are in about 850 of the company's pubs where EPoS plays an important role in giving stocktakers the sales information they need to make sure the businesses are in a healthy state.
Wedderburn director Tim Smith has noticed a definite change in attitude by licensees.
"Publicans today will tell you what they want and expect you to satisfy their requirements," he says.
"Technology has moved on so much they expect you to do things which, in some cases, you can't. That's a complete reversal of how things used to be, when we had to persuade them that they needed EPoS."
The introduction of Chip & PIN credit card accreditation is giving retailers another excuse to look hard at updating their till systems. From January 2005 retailers become liable for any card fraud on their premises and installing Chip & PIN hardware is the defence.
Machines can be bought or rented, but if you buy a new EPoS system now it should already incorporate the technology needed for Chip & PIN, so you can kill two birds with one stone.
The approach of Chip & PIN, for instance, recently prompted London brewer Fuller's to install a new EPoS system across its managed estate.
Ciaran Meagher, technical director at EPoS supplier I-Control, which is focusing on individual licensees and smaller groups, has seen a growing interest among operators looking for a combined EPoS and Chip & PIN solution.
"Chip & PIN is fully integrated into our machines," he says. "As soon as a bill is printed it is sent to the Chip & PIN device. It saves a lot of time."
As well as Chip & PIN, Ciaran believes the advantages in EPoS for pubs are in cash and stock control - and the flexibility of systems to change with the growing demands of pub businesses.
"A cash register is no more than a shoebox with a calculator on top of it," he says. "Each of our EPoS clients have one or two upgrades a year, the system grows over time."
What is EPoS?
EPoS stands for electronic point-of-sale. It's been around for 20 years or more but the pub industry has generally lagged behind supermarkets and other retailers in exploiting its full potential.
In simple terms it's a till, or series of tills, whose functions are enhanced by computer technology. Tills can be linked to a back-office PC to give licensees full control over transactions at the bar.
EPoS represents a bigger investment than a regular cash register but it can do much more. In fact, new applications are being invented all the time. It makes EPoS a solution that can adapt to the changing needs of your business.
The EPoS system at the Bambuubar in Southampton.
More on EPoS and Chip and PIN:
The advantages offered by a sophisticated EPoS system are numerous - even for smaller businesses. Phil Mellows outlines some of the benefits for pubs.
Joining the Chip & PIN scheme is not compulsory, but it does make sense in light of forthcoming legislation. Click here.
