Retail operations depend on electronic equipment: registers, scanners, scales, receipt printers and credit card terminals. Without consistent, uninterrupted power, operations grind to a halt…and so do sales.
In the push to improve the customer’s shopping experience, stores and fast-food/casual restaurants have focused heavily on the time spent waiting to check out or order and pay. A study by RetailCustomerExperience.com showed that a third of customers who wait more than five minutes abandon the checkout line. Imagine how long the line becomes if power goes out and all the electronic POS equipment becomes inoperable.
While power outages are not within a retailer’s control, keeping POS equipment running during the outage is—with an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) system. The UPS plugs into a wall outlet, and your POS devices plug into the UPS system’s outlets. As long as electricity stays on, the UPS passes utility-supplied power to the connected equipment. The UPS also protects your equipment from other power problems, such as power surges and “noise” from electromagnetic interference.
If the power goes out, the UPS system provides the connected equipment with backup power from its internal battery. This allows your POS devices to stay on during a power outage, and allows you to keep ringing up sales.
