POP, POS, Point Of Purchase, Point Of Sale. What's the difference?

Sometimes referred to as POP (Point Of Purchase) and sometimes as POS (Point Of Sale)? Which term is correct and does it really matter?

 
 
 
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POP vs POS

POP or POS, what’s the difference?

Depending on which industry you work in, a brochure holder may be referred to as Point Of Purchase POP or it could be referred to as Point Of Sale (POS). 

Before the introduction of electronic cash registers, both terms were used to refer to an item such as a brochure holder situated either next to the product or on the shop counter. And it didn’t make any difference if the brochure holder was next to the cashier’s till or not.

With the introduction of sophisticated electronic cash registers, these terminals became known as Point Of Sale terminals in the electronic cash register industry and some organisations such as the industry body POPAI adopted Point Of Purchase to describe display items from a brochure holder to a very large floor display. [POPAI is an acronym for Point Of Purchase Advertising International.] 

So although there's some confusion out there and the two terms are intermixed, we believe that the industry bodies have settled on POP for brochure holders etc. and POS for electronic cash registers. At EZIPOP we prefer to use POP (Point Of Purchase) but do use POS (Point Of Sale) at times to cater for those people who think POS when they are after POP. 

Task Retail Technology is a company that we have been associated with for many years: They've got world leading and multi award winning Point Of Sale equipment and if you are interested in seeing just how advanced POS is now, take a look at their website www.taskretailtechnology.com.

There will probably continue to be a cross over of these two terms but with POPAI settling on POP for the industry they represent, we believe that in the end, the differences will be understood and correctly used by most in each industry. Take a look at the POPAI website to learn more about POP in all it’s forms www.popai.com.