We recommend only purchasing cash registers manufactured by reputable and established international brands, such as Sharp, Sam4s and Casio.

These cash registers are proven, the machines, spare parts/accessories and consumables are readily available and the cash registers are known to be £Sterling compatible and comply with UK tax and accounting requirements.

Sharp XE cash registers have the added benefit of being supplied with the manufacturers on-site warranty as standard.

It is usually a false economy to buy a cheap, simple cash register and then perform other business tasks manually, erroneously or not at all. We advise you to carefully consider the potential efficiency gains, customer service improvements, security controls and powerful management information benefits of the sophisticated tills and to reflect on these benefits when deciding on your cash register budget.

In addition to the physical size of the cash register and your budget, here are the main 10 questions you should consider when choosing cash registers for your business.

1. Do you need PLU's on your cash register?
P.L.U. stands for Price Look Up. Rather than having to remember the price of each product, you simply assign it a code number. Depending on the features of your chosen till, the cash register operator then can do one of the following to register a sale of an item:

• enter the PLU code and the till automatically looks up the associated price; or
• scan the product's barcode using a barcode scanner. The associated PLU with its description will be looked up; or
• press a 'One-Touch' button associated with that PLU

Most of the cash tills also allow you to define a product description to be printed on the receipt for each PLU, as well as categorise products into 'departments' for reporting purposes. The more sophisticated tills can maintain and update stock levels as items are sold.

For example:

If you dont have barcode scanning, many stores print PLU code labels using a pricing gun and stick these labels onto the products. The mini label has the 4 or 5-digit code rather than the price. If the price of an item changes, the items dont have to be re-labelled, you simply change the price on the till for that particular PLU code.

On our tills for cafes, bars and restaurants, your most popular PLU codes can be assigned to one-touch keys on the keypad.

When considering which cash register to buy, you should decide whether you want to simply enter monetary amounts in order to print receipts, operate a cash drawer and accumulate daily totals or whether you wish to record sales of individual products using PLU's. The latter allows you to obtain reports as to which items are selling in the store. Whereas if you simply punch in amounts, you will not be able to obtain Sales by Item reports.

If you do simply wish to enter amounts, then any of cash registers, starting with the entry-level Casio 130CR and Sharp XE-A102 will be suitable. However, on these 2 basic cash registers, bear in mind the limited cash holding capacity and the fact they dont print name/address and VAT number on receipts. To overcome these issues, you should consider the Casio TE-M80 or the Sharp XE-A113 which are also more robust cash registers better suited to frequent usage.

If you wish to use your cash register to record sales of individual products, then you should select from the cash registers which have PLU's. The PLU feature allows you to pre-store the product description and price of each particular product. The PLU is accessed by numeric codes (usually 4 or 5 digits). On cash registers with one-touch keys (see below), you can assign the most popular PLU's to a one-touch button. Cash registers that support barcode scanning allow you to link a PLU with a barcode.

PLU codes can also be assigned to 'departments (see below), allowing you to group and report on related products.

Take a look at all the cash registers in our Cash Register Comparison Chart to check your chosen cash register has sufficient PLU's for your entire product range.

2. Do you wish to track staff activity on your cash register?
Cash registers which support clerk identification allow you to log each clerks sales activity, as well as to produce sales totals by clerk/staff. Some tills allow you to enter the clerk name, which also prints on the receipts and journals.

If you wish to record which member of your staff operated the cash register for any particular transaction, then you should choose from the cash registers which support 'Clerks'. Most cash registers which support Clerks also provide reports so you can report sales by each Clerk. This is a useful management feature for measuring staff performance and paying bonuses and commissions. On some tills, you can also use the facility to control which features can be accessed.

Take a look at the cash registers in our Cash Register Comparison Chart to see the list of cash registers which have Clerk support. Make sure the capacity is enough for the number of active staff you will have at any one time.

3. Do you wish to analyse product category performance?
Many cash registers have a Department feature which allows you to group products into categories ("Departments"). Departments allow you to group your products/services into different categories. This is a useful cash register feature to track and analyse sales for different types of products.

For example, if you operate a grocery store, you could create separate departments for Fruit, Veg, Dairy products, Cigarettes, Newspapers & Magazines , Sweets & Chocolates etc and then at the end of a specified period, you can use your cash register to print out total sales figures for each department. You may also use the department facility to pre-program set prices on your cash register as well as specify different tax/vat rates for products.

Many cash tills allow you to label the department keys as required with your own description. If you only have a handful of products, you can use the cash register's department keys as product keys and pre-set the price and description.

Many people use the product categories as a compromise to setting up individual PLU's. You can program departments onto individual pre-set keys. When entering the monetary amounts you press the corresponding Department key to record the sale under that product category.

Take a look at the cash registers in our Cash Register Comparison Chart to see the list of cash registers which have the Department feature. Make sure the capacity on your chosen cash register is enough for the number of departments you will require.

4. Do you require stock control and barcode scanning on your cash till?
If you require cash registers with stock control and barcode scanning, then only the high end cash registers (starting with the Casio TE-2200 and Sharp UP-700) are suitable choices. Stock control facilities allow you to book stock into the cash register, and the levels are deducted as items are sold. You can run a stock listing or use the stock enquiry function to check stock levels.

For a cash register with basic barcode scanning (without stock control), the Sam4s ER-380M is an excellent cash register at an affordable price and is one of our most popular cash registers.

On the more sophisticated cash tills, you can set minimum stock levels and re-order quantities. If a till supports barcode scanning, you may optionally purchase and install a compatible barcode scanner to speed up the sales and stock control process.

5. Do you require multiple cash registers to be linked on a network?
Some of the cash registers have the option (with a network board) for multiple cash registers to be linked together in one network. You can in some cases start, amend and complete transactions across different cash tills.

The Sharp UP-800, UP-810 and UP-3500 cash registers include networking features as standard, with real-time update of stock and sales information.

6 . Do you require one-touch keys on your cash register?
In busy hospitality environments, cash registers with one-touch keys are invaluable. They make the sales transaction much faster to process and the cash register very easy to use for staff. The individual menu items are programmed onto each one-touch key on the cash register. During till operation, you simple press the one-touch key for the product description and price to come up automatically.

When choosing from the pre-set cash registers, check whether it has enough one-touch buttons (and/or shift levels) to accomodate your menu of items.

All our range of tills for cafe, bar and restaurant use feature 'one touch' keys on the keypad. Check the specification to ensure your chosen till will have sufficient one-touch keys for your most popular food/drink menu items.

One-touch buttons are also useful for non-food retail stores who have a limited product range.

7 . Do you require a cash register with Pull-Down Menus?
In restaurant environments, pull-down menus allow you to setup a menu structure to make staff operation simpler. For example, for sandwiches, a context-sensitive menu can prompt for fillings, white/brown bread, dressings etc. The Casio cash registers from the model TE-8500 upwards, and the Sharp UP-700 and UP-800/UP-810 support pull down menus.

8. Do you require a Dual Station Printing cash register?
With a 2-station printer, the cash register will print customer receipts on one printer and a duplicate journal copy on another printer. This will provide you with a transaction by transaction audit trail of everything performed on the cash register.

Cash registers with a single-station printer can either be set to Receipt Mode or Journal Mode. You can still print your end-of-day reports, but you will get a summary report, not an audit trail. However, some of the newer cash registers with single-station printer do feature an Electronic Journal facility which will permit a certain amount of audit trail activity to be stored for later printing.

Many cash registers support paper saving mode to prevent automatic printing of receipts. You can press a 'print' button when a receipt is required from the cash till.

9. Do you require Table Tracking on your cash register?
Table tracking is an invaluable feature on cash registers for cafes, bars and restaurants as it allows you to build-up a bill or tab for a particular table, adding items as you go. You may then produce the interim bill or final bill for a table. Check the cash register supports sufficient tables for your restaurant.

Beware of a restriction on some cash registers which lets you use either the Table Tracking feature or the Clerk Interrupt feature, but not both together. Clerk Interrupt allows cash tills to handle multiple transactions at a time. For example, if one member of staff is part way through preparing a round of drinks or a customer has gone to replace a stock item, you can continue with another transaction.

If you will require both Table Tracking and Clerk Interrupt feature, then make sure your chosen cash register allows both these features to be enabled. On some cash registers, the choice may need to be made at the outset so the till can be programmed.

10. Do you require a Touch Screen till?
While integrated touch screen systems are much easier for staff to use and enhance the cosmetic appearance of your business, they are more expensive than the conventional keypad-based tills. The Sharp UP800 and UP810 feature a 6" colour touch screen as well as a keypad with sophisticated facilities, as does the UP-3500. which is also an advanced 12" touch screen till with a wide range of sophisticated features integrated into the unit, and optional facilities such as link to backoffice computer, link to wireless waiter terminals, link to kitchen printers and much more.

Also take a look at our PC-based touch screen EPoS systems:

EPoS Systems for Retail Stores

EPoS Systems for Take-aways, Bars, Cafes & Restaurants

Salon EPoS Systems

Browse through the list of cash registers above, and check the product profile for the required features.

Primemark also supplies a huge range of commercial catering equipment for restaurants and takeaways as well as retail refrigeration - visit our online Catering Equipment Store