POS Software Features Checklist: 25 Must-Haves for Indian Shops

This checklist is for shop owners, pharmacy and restaurant operators, and small retail chains in India who are comparing retail POS software and want a list they can hand to a vendor. By the end you will be able to mark each feature as must, should or could for your own counter, spot the gaps in a demo within 15 minutes, and know which features change when the trade changes from a kirana store to a garment showroom.

The 25 POS software features, grouped by what they do at the counter

Most feature lists from vendors are marketing. The list below is ordered by where the feature is used: at the billing counter first, then the back office, then the owner's phone.

Billing features (1 to 4)

1. Item search by barcode, name, short code or SKU with keyboard-only operation. A cashier should bill a 10 item basket in under 40 seconds without touching the mouse.
2. Hold and recall bills, split bills, item and bill level discounts so a second customer can be served while the first one finds their wallet.
3. Multiple price lists and rounding rules: MRP, wholesale, member price, and rounding to the nearest rupee on the total, not on each line.
4. Sales returns and exchanges linked to the original bill, with the refund going back to the same payment mode and stock coming back in.

GST features (5 to 7)

1. GST-compliant invoice format with HSN codes, taxable value, CGST and SGST or IGST breakup, and a consecutive invoice series per financial year.
2. B2B and B2C invoice types with GSTIN validation for registered buyers and a consolidated daily invoice option for small B2C sales.
3. GSTR-1 export and e-invoice readiness so your CA gets a clean file each month, and so the shop is not rebuilt when turnover crosses the e-invoicing threshold. Check the current threshold on the official GST portal.

Payment features (8 to 10)

1. UPI QR on the bill or customer display with payment confirmation posted against the bill, not checked manually on a phone.
2. Split tender across cash, card, UPI and customer credit, with a credit ledger per customer and a limit that blocks the bill when it is crossed.
3. Day-end cash reconciliation that shows expected cash versus counted cash per cashier per shift.

Inventory features (11 to 14)

1. Real-time stock deduction and reorder alerts at the item and variant level, with minimum stock per outlet.
2. Purchase entry against supplier bills with landed cost, free quantity schemes and purchase returns.
3. Batch, expiry and serial number tracking for pharmacy, FMCG, mobiles and electronics.
4. Stock take and adjustment with reason codes so shrinkage shows up as a number, not a feeling.

Customer features (15 to 17)

1. Customer master keyed on mobile number with purchase history visible on the billing screen.
2. Loyalty points, wallet balance and credit limits that the cashier cannot override without a manager PIN.
3. WhatsApp invoice and consent-based broadcasts: the bill goes to the customer's phone as a PDF, and festival offers go to opted-in customers only.

Multi-outlet features (18 to 19)

1. Central item master and price control with stock held per outlet, so a price change in the head office reaches every counter in minutes.
2. Stock transfer between outlets with a transfer challan, in-transit status and consolidated reporting across locations.

Hardware features (20 to 22)

1. Thermal printing on 58 mm and 80 mm paper plus A4 for B2B invoices, with a logo and GST details in the header.
2. Barcode scanner, label printer, weighing scale and cash drawer support without a technician visit for each new device.
3. Runs on the devices you already own: a Windows desktop, an Android tablet, or a phone for a second counter during festival rush.

Reports and owner controls (23 to 24)

1. Daily sales, item-wise margin, dead stock and hourly sales reports that a manager can read without exporting to a spreadsheet.
2. Owner mobile summary, user permissions and an audit log that records every deleted bill, edited price and manual discount with the user name.

Offline feature (25)

1. Offline billing with automatic sync: the counter keeps billing, printing and deducting stock when the internet drops, and pushes everything to the cloud when it returns, without duplicate invoice numbers.

Printable POS features checklist with must, should and could ratings

Print this table and take it to every demo. The priority column is a sensible default for a single-outlet retail shop in India; change it for your trade using the industry section further down.

#	Feature	Group	Priority
1	Barcode, name and short code search, keyboard-only billing	Billing	Must
2	Hold and recall, split bills, item and bill discounts	Billing	Must
3	Multiple price lists and rounding rules	Billing	Should
4	Returns and exchanges against the original bill	Billing	Must
5	GST-compliant invoice with HSN and tax breakup	GST	Must
6	B2B and B2C invoice types, GSTIN validation	GST	Must
7	GSTR-1 export and e-invoice readiness	GST	Should
8	UPI QR with confirmation posted to the bill	Payments	Must
9	Split tender and customer credit ledger	Payments	Should
10	Day-end cash reconciliation per cashier	Payments	Must
11	Real-time stock deduction and reorder alerts	Inventory	Must
12	Purchase entry with landed cost and schemes	Inventory	Should
13	Batch, expiry and serial tracking	Inventory	Could (Must for pharmacy, mobiles)
14	Stock take and adjustment with reasons	Inventory	Should
15	Customer master on mobile number with history	Customers	Must
16	Loyalty, wallet and credit limits	Customers	Could
17	WhatsApp invoice and opt-in broadcasts	Customers	Should
18	Central item master, outlet-level stock and prices	Multi-outlet	Could (Must for 2 or more outlets)
19	Stock transfer between outlets	Multi-outlet	Could (Must for 2 or more outlets)
20	Thermal 58 mm and 80 mm plus A4 printing	Hardware	Must
21	Scanner, label printer, scale, cash drawer support	Hardware	Should
22	Runs on Windows, Android tablet or phone	Hardware	Should
23	Sales, margin, dead stock and hourly reports	Reports	Must
24	Owner mobile summary, permissions, audit log	Reports	Must
25	Offline billing with automatic sync	Offline	Must

Twelve features are marked Must for a standard shop. A vendor that cannot show all twelve live in the demo is asking you to change how your counter works to suit their product.

Why offline POS billing software matters more in India than the brochure admits

Broadband in a Tier-2 city market is good until it is not. A fibre cut on the main road, a power cut that takes the router down for 20 minutes, or a mobile hotspot that drops during evening peak will all stop a cloud-only POS. The customer at the counter does not wait; they walk to the next shop.

Offline POS billing software keeps a local copy of the item master, prices, customer list and stock on the billing machine. Bills are numbered from a locally reserved series, printed, and queued. When the connection returns, the queue syncs to the server and stock is reconciled. Ask the vendor three questions in the demo: pull the network cable and bill an item; reconnect and show that the bill reached the cloud with the same number; and show what happens when two counters bill the last unit of the same item while offline.

POS software with inventory: how deep should stock control go

Every POS deducts stock when you bill. The difference between a billing tool and a POS software with inventory is what happens before and after the sale.

• Before the sale: purchase entry against the supplier's bill, with free quantity schemes, discounts and freight added to landed cost so the margin report is honest.
• During the sale: variant-level stock (size, colour, pack size) so a garment shop knows it has the 40 size in blue, not just 14 shirts.
• After the sale: reorder alerts per outlet, dead stock ageing, and a stock take screen a staff member can run on a phone with a scanner in one evening.

If your stock is worth more than a month's sales, treat items 11 to 14 in the checklist as Must. For a larger stockroom or a distribution business, a dedicated inventory management software behind the POS is the better structure.

POS features by shop type: kirana, pharmacy, restaurant, garments and mobile shop

The 25 features are the same; the priorities move.

Kirana and grocery

Speed and loose items dominate. Weighing scale integration, quick keys for the 50 fastest items, customer credit with a monthly statement on WhatsApp, and offline billing are Must. Loyalty and multi-outlet are Could.

Pharmacy

Batch and expiry tracking moves to Must, along with near-expiry alerts and a substitute item lookup by salt or composition. Schedule H prescriptions need a doctor and patient field on the bill. Returns to the supplier for expired stock need their own document. Purchase entry with scheme handling is Must because margins depend on it.

Restaurant and cafe

The billing model changes to tables, KOT tickets to the kitchen, item modifiers, and running bills that stay open for an hour. QR ordering from the table, split by seat, and a separate kitchen printer become Should. Inventory shifts to recipe-level consumption, which most retail POS products do not handle.

Garments and footwear

Variant matrix (size, colour, style) is Must, with barcode label printing at goods receipt. Exchanges without cash refunds, seasonal price lists and a dead stock report by season are Should.

Mobile and electronics shop

IMEI or serial number tracking on both purchase and sale is Must, with a warranty date on the bill. Financed sales with a finance company reference and accessory bundling are Should. B2B invoices with GSTIN validation are used more often than in other trades.

What we have seen on real POS projects in Rajkot and Gujarat

JK Tech Hub has built and supported POS and billing systems for retailers across Saurashtra since 2018, and the failures follow a pattern. A two-outlet pharmacy in Rajkot moved from a hosted billing subscription because expiry tracking was a paid add-on and the offline mode lost bills twice in a monsoon month. The fix was not more features; it was a POS built with local-first billing and batch tracking in the core.

A garment showroom on Kalawad Road had a POS that handled sales well but had no variant matrix, so staff created 300 separate items for one style and stock reports became useless within a season. A kitchenware retailer near Gondal Road needed a weighing scale on one counter and B2B invoices with GSTIN on another; the two requirements together removed half the products they had shortlisted.

On the positive side, a mobile shop in Morbi that insisted on IMEI tracking and a warranty date on every bill cut warranty disputes to almost zero in the first quarter.

Packaged POS subscription or custom POS: which one has the features you need

A hosted POS subscription will cover most of the Must items for a single-outlet shop in a standard trade, and you can be live in a day. The gaps usually appear at items 13, 18, 19 and 25: batch tracking, multi-outlet control and true offline billing are often paid tiers or partial.

A custom POS makes sense when three or more of your Must items are missing from the packaged options, when you run two or more outlets with different stock, or when the POS has to talk to a manufacturing or distribution system behind it. Our POS billing software page lists the modules we build and the trades we have covered. For a rough budget by module count, use the software cost calculator.

How to decide

Take the table, mark your own Must items in one sitting with the person who runs the counter, not only the owner. Then book three demos and ask each vendor to show every Must item live, on your data if possible, with the network cable pulled for item 25. Count the items shown, not promised. A vendor that shows 12 of 12 with your item file loaded is the one to negotiate with, regardless of price difference under 20%.

Related reading and next step

• POS billing software for retail, pharmacy and restaurants
• Inventory management software for multi-godown stock
• Accounting and GST billing software
• How to write a requirements document before asking for quotes
• Software company in Rajkot: what we build for local shops

Send your ticked checklist through the contact page or on WhatsApp at +91 7265004040 and you will get a fixed quote for a POS that covers every Must item, usually within three working days.