By Melanie Heyns

With Epson’s new point of sale (POS) printers, the schlep of trying to get your bill will become a thing of the past. Epson’s technology development enables users to print out receipts, tickets and coupons at the point of sale and kitchen environments, directly from tablets and other mobile devices. The printing can be done using any web browser that supports HTML5 (most smart phones do have this browser), without the need for a computer, servers or drivers.

These printers are best suited for hospitality environments, such as restaurants and bars, in which tablet devices are commonly used to take customers’ orders and, these solutions will improve the customer experience and precision of each order. The printers are also ideal for retail stores using mobile devices to cut down on queuing times at the various till points. Not only will these new POS printers make people’s lives easier, they will also use less energy. According to a recent comparative study, Epson’s latest POS printers can reduce power consumption by up to 85% when compared to previous and competitive products – reducing costs for retailers and helping to improve green credentials.

They will also reduce the amount of paper used when printing receipts by scaling down the receipt length by up to 30%. This is achieved without influencing the readability of the receipts, with the average receipt length being 20cm.This reduces paper use and leads to substantial financial savings.

Kelvin Reynolds, general manager for Epson in South Africa, said at the product launch: “With the cost of energy and operational resources continuing to rise, identifying ways in which we can help our customers to save money is becoming increasingly important. Both energy and paper reductions are tangible solutions that can be delivered through our products, which can equate to significant financial gains for the retailer – not to mention the support both of these factors provide in helping retailers become more eco-conscious.”

“These average reductions in paper use will lead to an estimated R2 400 per printer over five years, and over 144kg of saved paper. Translated to a fleet of 1 000 printers, these reductions deliver a cost saving of up to R2.4-million.”
Epson POS printers only require a network connection to operate and work with most operating platforms, which include iOS, Android and Windows. Their remote functionality and Epson’s web configuration tools, make them simple to integrate into any existing IT system, as well as easy to use and update. The printers can also communicate with multiple devices at any time, using different applications, without users having to change any settings on their mobiles or tablets.

Reynolds says: “These new intelligent systems offer many cost-saving and IT streamlining advantages to retail businesses. We recognise the growing demand from the industry to have printing solutions that work with cloud-based IT infrastructure, and our new printers not only do this, but they also offer a range of extra benefits to make it easier to do business, and reduce costs.”