What’s the Difference Between POP vs POS?

Point of purchase (POP) refers to any location within a shop or online store where the customer makes a purchasing decision.

Point of sale (POS) refers to the location within a store where customers exchange payment for the products they want to buy. The point of sale is usually in the cash wrap area near the entrance or exit of a store. A POS system contains hardware and software that allows store staff to process the transaction and collect customer payments.

A quick way to see the difference between POP vs POS is to think of POP as things that encourage customers to decide what to buy or whether to buy—marketing materials, ads, posters, and the like. Whereas POS is the part of the store where customers go to pay for these items after they’ve decided to buy them.

POP vs POS Key Takeaways

Point of purchase (POP) can be signs, posters, displays, advertisements, and other elements that let customers interact with and learn about products.
Point of sale (POS) is where the actual exchange of goods or transaction takes place.
POP and POS can exist in both physical stores as well as in online stores and ecommerce spaces.
A POS system is a tool that a store uses to facilitate these transactions.
Optimizing your points of purchase lets you gain greater brand recognition and promote specific products, deals, sales, and discounts.
Optimizing your point of sale encourages customers to buy more, and makes your business run more smoothly and efficiently.

While some consider them to mean the same thing, knowing the difference between POP and POS will allow you to optimize both and maximize your business’ profit and brand awareness. Here, we go through both POP and POS and best practices and examples for each.

Point of Purchase

A store contains many points of purchase; you could even consider the entire store itself a point of purchase, because it contains elements that display and promote items with the goal of driving sales. This section will cover both why and how to design your POP marketing to achieve this goal.

Why Optimize Your Point of Purchase?

Thoughtfully designed points of purchase within a store help achieve the following:

Greater brand awareness for specific products: A point of purchase within a store can be designed so as to draw attention to particular products.
Targeted marketing and detailed product information: Point-of-purchase signage, posters, and floor displays can be customized to market to a specific customer demographic or profile. They can be designed with lots of visuals to quickly grab the attention of passersby, or they can contain detailed information if that is more appropriate for the product being marketed.
Promotion of deals, sales, and discounts: Point-of-purchase optimization also helps to make buyers aware of discounts and special sales that they might not have known about. This helps customers be more engaged and excited, and could even promote impulse buying.

Point-of-Purchase Strategies, Best Practices & Examples

Because the point of purchase directly influences customers’ decisions about whether they will buy (and what to buy), retailers stand to gain a lot by optimizing their POP. Here are some tips on how to craft your POP materials to achieve the strongest possible effect on potential buyers.

Use displays, signage, and strategic item placement: These visual markers all serve to draw buyers’ eyes to products that the store wants to emphasize, such as expensive items or items for which the store wishes to increase brand awareness. For example, grocery stores often place popular or more expensive food products on a shelf at eye level, ensuring that these are the first items that buyers see when browsing the aisles.
Customize POP displays as needed: You can easily change up posters, signs, floor displays, and other similar materials to line up with what the store currently needs. Seasonal sales, new product combinations, and changes in foot traffic can and should all be adjusted for.
Create point-of-purchase displays that promote attractive deals: Stores can accomplish this not just by using signage that indicates discount and deals, but also by using POP displays or devices that communicate the message, “There’s a good deal to be had over here!” Dump bins, clip strips, and other devices imply affordable prices and bulk purchase opportunities; use these for appropriate products and put them somewhere that customers can’t help but see. This is also a good opportunity to place complementary items beside each other to increase cross-selling.

Even if you forego written signage, the way in which you display items can serve to make them stand out and catch customers’ eyes. This is a simple but effective point-of-purchase marketing. (Source: Pinterest)

Woman paying for coffee at the checkout counter of a coffeeshop using a credit card with Square Stand.

A point-of-sale area within a store is where customers pay for and claim their chosen goods and services. These locations offer some last-minute opportunities to encourage additional purchases or build customer loyalty. (Source: Square)

Your point-of-purchase displays become more effective at maximizing revenue when you combine them with a smart retail store layout.

Point of Sale

Point of sale (POS) is where the exchange of goods, or transaction, takes place in a physical or online store. In other words, it is the space where customers pay for the products that they have chosen to buy (after having been influenced by POP materials).

Though the customer encounters the POS near the end of their time in the store, the POS space still offers retailers an opportunity to encourage customers to buy a bit more, engage further with the brand even after they leave the store, and experience good service that makes repeat visits more likely in the future.

Why Optimize Your Point of Sale?

Encourage more impulse buying: Your cash wrap and point of sale are prime real estate for driving impulse buys—small but convenient items that encourage buyers in the checkout line to add to their cart at the last minute. This is also a chance for you to cross-sell additional items.
Advertise new products and promotions: Even when the customer has decided what to buy and is preparing to pay for it, there’s no reason not to show them more products and promos that might get them interested in something else too. You can use the POS space to display a few more ads, deals, and POP materials to get buyers to think about purchasing something different—if not this time, then maybe next time they visit your store.
Encourage further engagement via social media: The more connected a customer is to your store via channels such as social media, the easier you’ll find it to reach them wherever they are and get them thinking about visiting you again. As part of the checkout process, have your store staff encourage buyers to follow your store or brand on social media or similar channels. Keep up a regular schedule of ads and content in those spaces to maintain customer engagement.

Point-of-Sale Strategies, Best Practices & Examples

The point of sale isn’t merely a place to receive customers’ payments in exchange for the products they’ve already chosen to buy. A POS also represents one more opportunity to get buyers to add a bit more to their cart, and make your store or brand stick in their minds even after they leave. These best practices will help you do just that.

Place impulse items strategically around your checkout: Even if your customers have already decided on their main purchases, there’s still time and opportunity to entice them with convenience-based, low-cost items like candies, lip gloss, keychains, small toys, and sunglasses. Think about what would make customers say “I might as well buy this too” and stock your cash wrap area accordingly.
Make checkouts as fast and easy as possible: Fast and easy checkouts mean less stressed store employees as well as happier customers. Speed up your checkouts by offering flexible payment options, and using POS technology like apps and mobile systems as well as QR codes. Also consider self-checkout systems if you believe that customers will appreciate these. Regardless of what tools and tactics you choose, make sure your staff are trained to make the checkout process as efficient as possible.

How POS Systems Can Help Optimize the Point of Sale

A POS system is the combined hardware and software tools that store staff use to process transactions and accept customer payments. Modern POS systems also perform many crucial business functions such as inventory management, reporting and analytics, customer relationship management, marketing, ecommerce, and more.

Showing a graphic of what a pos system can do.

A point-of-sale system’s core purpose is to process transactions and collect customer payments, but modern POS systems perform lots of other crucial business functions as well.

POS systems help optimize a store’s point of sale not only by facilitating the customer’s purchase (ringing up items, taking payment, and providing change and receipts), but also by offering tools and functions that make buyers happy, pique their interest, reward their loyalty, and speed up the checkout process. Here are some of the tools in POS systems that can help improve your store’s point of sale.

Loyalty & Rewards Programs

Many POS systems incorporate loyalty programs (either as built-in tools or as third-party integrations) designed to entice customers into buying more items, racking up points, and eventually redeeming these points for rewards. This can be as simple as awarding customers points for each purchase, and then converting accumulated points into discounts for future purchases. Check out our Loyverse review for a POS system with a simple, functional, and built-in loyalty program.

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Accessories & Devices for Checkout

Faster and easier checkouts mean happier customers as well as store employees. Modern POS systems can integrate with a wide variety of POS hardware designed to increase speed and convenience for all parties during a transaction. These include barcode scanners for faster item and price scanning, customer display screens to show buyers what they’ll be getting, mobile terminals to let customers buy items without even walking up to the counter, self-service kiosks to let customers handle their own purchasing and payment should they choose to do so, and more.

Centralized Multichannel Selling

Not only do modern POS systems let retailers create an online store and manage ecommerce sales, but these systems also centralize all sales and inventory management—physical as well as online—onto a single platform. This makes it much easier for retailers to track and manage sales and inventory across all channels in real time. This, in turn, makes transactions of all kinds faster and easier for customers as well, leading to greater levels of satisfaction and retention.

POP vs POS in Ecommerce

The same definitions and best practices apply when looking at POP and POS in the context of ecommerce vs in-store operations.

Point of purchase in ecommerce could take the form of banner ads that mention sales and discounts, automated pop-up messages encouraging impulse purchases or last-minute additions to customers’ carts, or even live chat features in which store staff can listen to buyers’ questions and make product recommendations. In general, points of purchase in ecommerce serve the same purpose as they would in a brick-and-mortar store: increasing brand awareness and promoting products.

Point of sale in ecommerce could refer to an online store checkout page, “Buy Now” buttons on websites and online marketplaces, or even instant-messaging or direct messaging systems; any space in which a customer can officially buy something from an online store and make their payment. These are all things over which the retailer has control in terms of design, layout, advertising, offering payment options, and other methods that make point of sale a better experience for customers and a more lucrative one for sellers.

For example, sellers can opt to include a quick information form or survey as part of their online store’s checkout process. This can help sellers capture information about buyers, which can help with projects such as developing more effective marketing campaigns and more personalized deals and promos.

Learn more about your software options for selling online with our guide to the best ecommerce platforms for small businesses.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Here are some of the most common questions around point of purchase vs point of sale.

Point of purchase (POP) refers to any location or time in which the customer makes a purchasing decision or decides to buy. Point of sale (POS) refers to the location in a store where customers pay for the items they are buying.

Use displays, signs, and store layout strategically to promote high-value items to customers. Customize and adapt your displays as needed in response to new deals, seasonal sales, and other ad hoc events.

Encourage impulse buying and cross-selling by placing low-cost convenience items near your checkout counter. Make sure your POS software and hardware are set up in a way that lets you process sales quickly and efficiently. Integrate reports, inventory management, marketing, and other functions into the software platform.

Bottom Line

Point of purchase and point of sale refer to different parts of your physical or online store, but both are important and can be optimized to improve brand recognition as well as increase sales. Follow the strategies we recommend above, and you’ll be able to maximize your business’ profits as well as create the most satisfying customer experience possible.

What’s the Difference Between POP vs POS?