Retailers have more tools than ever to manage sales, inventory, customer relationships, payments, accounting, and online orders. But for many small businesses, those tools still do not work together as smoothly as they should.

That is the challenge Zoho is trying to address with the launch of Zoho POS, a new point-of-sale system built for independent and growing retailers. The platform is designed to help businesses manage in-store billing, inventory, purchasing, customer data, reporting, and day-to-day retail operations from a connected system.

In this interview, Leland McFarland of Small Business Trends speaks with Hari Hara Prabu, Head of Product for Zoho POS, about the company’s entry into the U.S. POS market and what the product offers small retailers at launch.

Hari explains how Zoho POS fits into the broader Zoho ecosystem, including integrations with Zoho Books, Zoho Commerce, Zoho CRM, Zoho Analytics, and Zoho marketing tools. He also discusses migration support, hardware flexibility, payment processing, real-time inventory tracking, multi-location management, product variations, barcode scanning, and future roadmap items such as retail AI agents, fraud analytics, marketplace extensions, and restaurant-specific features.

For small business owners still relying on disconnected systems, spreadsheets, or outdated POS tools, the conversation offers a closer look at how Zoho POS aims to simplify operations and give retailers better visibility into what is happening across their business.

Below is the full interview transcript.

Leland: Hey there, small business community! I’ve got a special episode here for you. I’ve got lined up an interview with Hari Hara Prabu, who is the Head of Product of Zoho POS, and he’s going to be talking about their new announcement of Zoho POS coming out. Hari, it’s great to have you on.

Hari: Thanks, Leland, and thanks for having me. It’s great to be here, and I’m looking forward to the conversation. Yeah, we can go ahead. Yeah.

What is Zoho POS?

Leland: Perfect. All right, let’s get into it. Zoho has announced Zoho POS, or Point of Sale, this week. What is Zoho POS, and what gaps in the market is Zoho trying to address?

Hari: Zoho POS is a modern retail point of sale system which is built for independent and growing retailers. It helps you with managing your in-store billing, inventory, purchases, customers, and other day-to-day retail operations.

The biggest gap that we are finding in the market is that retailers are still using disconnected systems. So they have their inventory in one system, accounting and CRM kind of tools in another system, and their marketing and analytics are all disconnected. So we are trying to address that gap. Zoho POS, being part of a broader Zoho ecosystem, we have the right tools to cater to different aspects of the market.

Yes, and we are launching in the US market. We already did a study of the market, we already have retailers and customers who are using the product in live retail environments, so we have also worked with vendors to shape up the product, and we are happy we are doing the launch here.

Timing of the Launch

Leland: Perfect. Why did Zoho decide this was the right time—right now—to enter the POS market?

Hari: I would say that we have a couple of reasons. The first one is that retail itself has changed. So people are not trying to still use disconnected systems. The retail environment has changed; people are managing their inventory across multiple channels. They are selling online, they are selling in-store. So that’s the first reason.

And the second one is about Zoho itself—where Zoho is today. So we have been building products for retail for a lot of years now. We have products such as Books, CRM, and marketing tools that we have built for the retail ecosystem. So the Zoho POS launch is just a natural extension to what we already have in our ecosystem. And yeah, we felt that this is the right time to enter into the market considering our position and the current state of the market.

Target Audience

Leland: Great. So what type of small businesses are the best fit for Zoho POS at launch?

Hari: The best way to think about it isn’t by industry. I would say it is by the shape of the business itself. So for businesses who are independent and growing businesses who have one location or maybe a handful of locations, and have already outgrown a basic point of sale system and do not want an enterprise retail level of complexity—so that’s where Zoho POS would fit in. That’s the sweet spot for us.

So we cater to a wide range of industries such as apparel, home and gifts, hobbies kind of industries, electronics, and all other such categories. But the common thread isn’t about the industry itself. It is for retailers who are already using disconnected systems and are facing friction with them. So that’s the area that we are targeting.

Common POS Problems

Leland: Great. Let’s see… What is the most common problem retailers face with their current POS system?

Hari: Yeah, just like I said, retail is always a chain of events. So you do a customer sale, and it connects through multiple systems. So when your tools are disconnected, they do not flow well. So your customer information has to flow into your CRM, which in turn will flow into your marketing. Your offers and promotions, your loyalty programs have to be updated to your CRM systems. So whatever kind of sale you do, your bookkeeping needs to be updated.

The nature of current disconnected systems is one major area that we see as the problem with current POS systems. And also, from talking to our customers in the market, we feel that the flexibility that the existing system has to offer is also another concern. So flexibility with respect to the payment processing options or the hardware that they would want to connect with is also another common problem or area that we feel that the current retailers are facing.

Managing Operations from One System

Leland: Right, great. How does Zoho POS help business owners manage sales, inventories, purchasing, and customer data all from one system?

Hari: Yeah, so just like I said, it is a flow of events. Let’s say that you process a sale, your inventory should be updated. So once your inventory drops, your purchase decisions have to be automated, and that has to kick in your replenishment rules. So you’ll have to place orders with your vendors.

At the same time, you do have a CRM. Since a sale has happened, your loyalty points have to be accumulated. So you have new offer rules that are unlocked, and you would have your marketing automation rules that should trigger based on it.

So since this flow of events will have to happen, the Zoho POS system has one single system that can cater to all your inventory, retail, and customer-related operations. And since it connects with the broader Zoho ecosystem, we have the tools that have the flow of data intact and help retailers run their businesses efficiently.

Integration with Other Zoho Apps

Leland: Great. How does Zoho POS integrate with other Zoho apps?

Hari: Yeah, that’s our biggest strength! So we do connect with a lot of Zoho applications. I’ll highlight a few. Let’s take Zoho Books. Whenever a sale happens, all your sale or even all transaction-related information, your inventory valuation, flows into Zoho Books. So with that, you do not have to have your reconciliation done manually at the end of your business cycle, or even you do not have to have a bookkeeping entry imported from another system; everything flows automatically.

Let’s take Zoho Commerce for example. Zoho Commerce and Zoho POS are built on the same business data ecosystem. So once you enter the business data or product catalog in Zoho POS, you can just go to your Commerce application, select a theme, and publish an online store.

It is the same with other marketing tools in Zoho as well. All your business data flows into your marketing tools so that you can target the right people with the right message at the right time. We do have a lot of integrations—the list goes on—but I’ve highlighted a few.

Transition for Existing Zoho Users

Leland: Great. For businesses already using Zoho Books and other Zoho apps, what changes when they add in Zoho POS?

Hari: It only adds up the value that Zoho has to offer. For instance, let’s say people are using Zoho Books with a third-party billing application, or for instance, any accounting tool with any third-party POS application. They will have to manually import every transaction, and they will have to create journals, and they will have to reconcile manually.

But if Zoho POS is connected with Zoho Books, the data flows in naturally. It’s automated, so you don’t have to break your head to look at what is happening around your accounting and your finances. Similarly, every application in Zoho connects with the counterpart of it, or it’s contextually connected so that relevant data flows between them. So you can look at it as not adding a new app, but as a natural extension to the functionalities that you already have with the application that you have in Zoho.

Data Flow After a Sale

Leland: Right. After a sale is completed in Zoho POS, what information automatically flows into the rest of the business system?

Hari: Yeah, just like I said, the finances information flows into Zoho Books. Zoho POS already has the capability to manage your inventory, customer data, and procurement-related data. So your finance data flows into Zoho Books, and your CRM-related information like purchases and loyalty points and promotions or offers that unlock flows into your CRM.

And these data will be consolidated and pushed into your marketing tools as well, so that you create new triggers on when to push or reach your customers, and when you can reach them, and what is the best time to reach them, and which kind of offers to reach them is being done by the marketing tools.

We also push all this information into Zoho Analytics, where you get to crunch data from multiple different applications and even with third-party applications. You get to do that with all these applications, and this is how the data flows.

Real-Time Inventory Tracking and Stockouts

Leland: Great. So how does Zoho POS help owners track inventory in real time? Are there tools available to help businesses avoid stockouts?

Hari: Yes, absolutely. Yeah, so we do have inventory tracking inbuilt into the Zoho POS system. So you can set threshold limits or restocking levels for each product across your locations. So once your restocking level is reached, you will get automated messages informing you that there is a depletion of the item and whether if you want to decide on replenishing them. You also have a lot of inbuilt reports on which you can check your inventory summary, your stock across your locations, and also decide to raise purchase orders or even do transfer orders across your locations.

Support for Multiple Locations

Leland: Right, great. How does Zoho POS support businesses with multiple locations, warehouses, or outlets?

Hari: Yeah, you can configure all your locations in the point of sale application. So you will have to configure the locations, map products to those locations, add users, and also define the level of access the user will have in each of these locations. Once that is done, you can configure the stock levels, and you can manage transfers across these locations.

So let’s say you will be having a centralized dashboard of all the items that you sell across locations, and also, you can initiate transfer orders and move items across these locations. With respect to sale performance, you can know on which store is performing well, what kind of items is selling in what kind of stores.

And also with respect to purchases, since you have a centralized dashboard, you get to monitor the movement of items across your locations—say for example, you will have a central warehouse to which you will receive requests from multiple locations. So you can also distribute items from your central warehouse, or you can decide to purchase or stock up the items from your vendors. So all these happens in a centralized flow, and multiple locations gets tracked easily.

Product Variations and SKUs

Leland: Right, great. How does Zoho POS handle product variations such as size, color, style, or SKU differences?

Hari: This is one important requirement for retailers such as apparel, or footwear, or even electronics. They usually tend to sell multiple variations of the same item. So with Zoho POS, you can configure multiple variations based on different attributes like the size of the item or shape, or even the configurations with respect to the electronics industry.

Once you have defined these attributes and split items into variations, you do have identifiers for each variation. For example, you can have SKUs, EANs, or other such identifiers for each item. You can set different prices for each of the variations, track stock for each of the variations. So since these variations are considered as separate items, you get to know on which variation is selling the best, which one has to be restocked, and which one have to be moved out of your inventory.

Barcode Scanning and Label Printing

Leland: Great. Does Zoho POS support barcode scanning and label printing for small retailers?

Hari: Yes, we do support barcode scanning. That’s one most important feature for billing counters. Yeah, for billing counters and people who handle inventory or stock-related handling. We do support printing of those barcodes from our system itself.

So the users can generate barcodes based on different identifiers like SKU, MPN, EAN, UPC, etc. They also have the option to generate barcodes based on items’ serial numbers or even the batch number of those items.

You also have another option called embedded barcodes, where you get to embed the item weight or item price in a barcode format so that once you scan those items at your retail counter, the system intelligently identifies the type of barcode, and it fetches the information from your inventory system.

Data Import and Migration

Leland: Great. What import tools are available for businesses moving forward? For example, what kind of data can businesses import from another POS system to Zoho POS?

Hari: One of our important focus is to have the onboarding or migration straightforward for retailers who would want to migrate to our system. So we do have a system that supports importing data from third-party applications or even spreadsheets. So users who are trying to migrate can bring in their product information, variance information, or pricing, stock-related information.

Or let’s say that they are trying to migrate in the middle of a financial year, or maybe bring up historical transaction data into the system, we do have the tools to bring in those data. Say for example that the user doesn’t want to manually import, we do have bulk import APIs which the users can leverage and directly connect it with their system to import the data.

Onboarding and Migration Support

Leland: Right. So I mean, importing can be pretty technical, it can be kind of complicated and a little bit of scary. Does Zoho offer onboarding or migration support for businesses that just don’t have that IT support team?

Hari: Yes, we do have it. We understand that small business retailers do not have an IT team to handle these kind of things. So we have retail experts who have already worked with multiple retail industries, understand on how the migration or onboarding things will happen. They also understand the user business requirements. So they do help businesses prepare their data, or help with setting up the system, and bringing it into our own system.

There are also scenarios where you get to handle complex data such as multi-location or transaction-level settings that you would want to bring into the system. So we do have separate assistance programs where our team can help businesses bring data into our system.

Preparation Before Migrating

Leland: All right, great. So what should a small business owner do before migrating from an old POS system into Zoho POS?

Hari: Yeah, so they should first understand that they are not moving to yet another software; they are just trying to migrate their entire business operation into a system. So I would say preparation would be the most important step.

So I would say that they will need to have a clear understanding of their data, so they should have their system of records updated to their latest information, like clearing out inactive items or having their vendor information up to date, or having all the item identifiers configured properly. So that’s the first step.

They will also need to have a clear understanding on what they would want to do with the POS system, like configuring the business locations, or what kind of tax registrations they would want to impose in each of those locations, and things like whether if I would want to handle returns and refunds in a particular location. So all these kind of information will be needed. And on top of that, as I said, we have a dedicated team who can help them with setting up or preparing the data.

Hardware Compatibility

Leland: Right, great. All right, let’s talk equipment. What hardware works best with Zoho POS?

Hari: The application works across iOS, Android, and Windows. So you can use it in any desktop, tablet, or mobile phones that runs on any of these OSes. It’s also tightly integrated with all peripherals in a retail environment—say for example like payment terminal, barcode scanner, or a receipt printer, or maybe say your cash drawer, weighing machine, or pole displays, or even your customer-facing displays. So the application is designed to work on such retail environments, and most hardwares will work well with the POS system.

Avoiding Hardware Lock-in

Leland: So it’s not locked down to Zoho-only hardware. You know, you don’t have to buy something specifically through Zoho; there’s a wide range of options for them, right?

Hari: No, we do want to offer that flexibility to the users because every retail business need different. Say for example, they would want to have their own processing terms discussed with the payment vendor, and also their own hardwares since—let’s take a boutique for example. They wouldn’t be having an high-intensive hardware that they would want to deploy in the store; they would want an lightweight system that they would want to deploy in the store. So we do want to offer that flexibility. So that’s the reason on why we designed the system to work with most popular hardwares in the market.

Hardware Restrictions

Leland: Great. Are there any hardware restrictions or compatibility requirements for receipt printers, barcode scanners, cash drawers, tablets, payment terminals, or weight scales?

Hari: No, we do not have any such things. Most cases, it will work, and also we have tested it on most popular hardware or most essential hardware in the market. As I said, we have been in the market for quite some time now, we have done an early access program tested with retailers in the live environments. So we don’t have any such restrictions for the application.

Leland: So when switching over, small businesses can potentially use the hardware that they already own, so there’s not going to be any kind of need to buy Zoho-approved devices?

Hari: No, you do not have to do that. Investing in hardware is pretty much more than investing in your point of sale software! So we understand that, and we would want people to carry over with their current hardware that they already use and just switch over to the point of sale application. And that said, there could be some device compatibility issues with respect to the OS that they use and the type of connection that they would want to do with their external peripherals. So we have a team who can help with setting up the correct configurations and stuff to get started with the point of sale application.

Payment Processing Options

Leland: Right, great. So how does Zoho POS handle payment processing?

Hari: We do support all modern payment workflows in the point of sale system. So for example, a retailer can configure what kind of payments to accept at the store. So they can decide to enable integrated card payments, cash payments, or decide even to go with store credits, or even pay with loyalty credits for the system.

We have also integrated with a few payment processors, so that the payment processing is integrated and automated. For example, let’s say that the user has initiated the payment from the point of sale application. Your payment device will automatically receive the amount for the sale to close. So once the customer swipes, dips, or taps their card in the terminal, the payment gets processed, and the sale will be closed automatically. The information will be pushed to your accounting system, and the payment information will be reconciled automatically.

Choosing a Payment Processor

Leland: All right, great. Can businesses choose their own payment processors, or do they need to use specific providers supported by Zoho POS?

Hari: We have integrated with a few payment processors in the US market, notably Worldpay. We are also integrating or we are also working with top payment providers in the market. We want to enhance or expand the current payment ecosystem. That said, if a payment processor—if a particular retailer request for a payment processor, we also have the provision to look up upon the request and see how we can support them.

Omnichannel Sales and Syncing

Leland: All right, great. How does Zoho POS support businesses that sell both in-store and online, and how does it help keep online and in-store inventories synchronized?

Hari: Yeah, just like I said, we have Zoho Commerce. So Zoho POS and Zoho Commerce are two facets of selling for retailers. For instance, let’s say that you get started with Zoho POS, you have configured all your product catalogs and all your inventory stock up set in Zoho POS. Now, if you log in to Zoho Commerce, you don’t have to repeat that again.

Both the applications are built on the same business data layer. So you just log in to Zoho Commerce, where you see all the product catalog already configured in Zoho POS visible in that application. You just will have to select a theme, configure it to match your business preferences, choose on which items you would want to sell online, and even maybe configure a different payment processor for your online store alone, and get started with payments. So you are not essentially doing it in two different systems; it is one system that is operating—meaning it’s two different applications operating on top of one business data layer.

Essential Reports at Launch

Leland: Right, great. So what—so a business owner has gotten Zoho POS, they’re all set up, they’ve started selling—what reports should small business owners look at first when they begin using Zoho POS?

Hari: I would say that they would want to know the answer for a few important questions like: what’s selling for them and what’s not? Which kind of products are generating more revenue for them? And also knowing on what kind of products needs attention. So I would say that sale performance is the kind of reports that they would want to focus on first. So they would want to know on their top-selling items, or average revenue per bill, or the peak hours of sale, and all other such sale-related information.

And then I would say that they should focus on their inventory-related reports like your inventory valuation or inventory aging summary, where you get to know on what kind of items are held in your inventory. So that’s where the cash is being held. So that’s the second most important thing.

And then you would also need to focus on customer-related reports—like which kind of segments are buying which kind of categories, or do you get repeated customers? So these are the basics of reports that the small business retailers should focus on, and once the basics is done, I would suggest them to focus on profitability and a report such as vendor versus a product mapping, so which vendor is offering you the best selling rates kind of reports.

Tracking Best Sellers, Slow Stock, and Trends

Leland: Right. How can Zoho POS help business owners identifying best-selling products, slow-moving inventory, or even seasonal trends?

Hari: Yeah, so we do have a lot of inbuilt reports that we offer across categories such as sales, inventory, purchases, customers, and locations. So customers get to know about a lot of insights in these categories like your best-selling items, your inventory aging summary, or maybe your receivables, or your store-wise performance, and your even your end-of-the day reports or session-related reports. So you do get all relevant reports that are most essential to run your day-to-day operations.

On top of it, you also get the option to build custom reports on top of the data that we already have. So that provides retailers with the flexibility to know key operational insights for their businesses.

And then, we also offer an application called Business Manager, which is an installable application in your mobile or tablets. So with that, you can also have a look at your reports and insights on the go.

Head-to-Head Comparison

Leland: Right, great. So head-to-head, how does Zoho POS compare to other POS systems?

Hari: I would say that most current POS systems in the market do a pretty good job in the basics of retailing, like they do have a very good sale processing and a basic of retail that they already do. What differentiates Zoho POS is its ability to connect with the rest of the business operations.

So for example, most POS systems start outward with the point of sale application as the core, and then other things are built around it or either built or maybe integrated with third-party systems. But in Zoho, we have built the core retail environment stack for years. So you have Books, you have CRM, you have inventory, you have marketing, you have analytics. Zoho POS is just the retail layer that we have built on top of that. So that’s the first most important thing.

And the second most important thing I would highlight is the flexibility. So most POS systems currently in the market try to curb retailers with their proprietary software, but we do want to offer that flexibility to go out in the market, have people or retailers get accustomed the POS system with their own hardware or the payment processing terms.

Future Roadmap and AI Features

Leland: Right, great. So looking into the future, what features or improvements are on the roadmap for Zoho POS after launch?

Hari: Yeah, so we are focusing on deepening our vertical-specific features, so that’s one. We are also working on retail fraud analytics, where you get to have insights on any unusual billing patterns that you see in the system. So we do get proactive notifications on that so that the user can fix the problems upfront.

The next most area is that we have 60-plus applications in Zoho. So we are trying to integrate contextually with every possible application in Zoho, that’s the next most important thing.

We are also working on a POS marketplace, where we get to invite partners and even developers to build on top of the ecosystem. So you already have a POS ecosystem, we have a lot of partners who have expertise in specific vertical-specific needs, so they can build on top of the platform and they can publish extensions which will be helpful for retailers. So they can just come in, install the extension, and the product changes to their vertical-specific needs. So that’s one area we are focusing on.

We are also working on a full-fledged restaurant-specific vertical, so we have—we are building restaurant-specific features like a full-dining capability or a table management module, modifiers, recipes, or even a tip management kind of a feature, so we are working on that.

Yes, the world is evolving around AI. So we are building retail AI agents to automate your routine tasks. So the agents can help you with suggestions on which items to promote, which items to move out of your inventory by rolling out promotions. It will help you with what to buy and when to buy them. So that’s another area.

And yes, we are also expanding to other regions. We already have launched the Canadian edition, the US edition, we are launching the Mexican edition next, and also we are focusing on other markets like the African markets, ANZ, and the Middle East, yeah.

The Ultimate Reason to Switch

Leland: Right, great. Final question: for small business owners still using a cash register, spreadsheet, and an outdated POS system, what is the strongest reason to consider switching right now?

Hari: The most important reason that I would say is to get visibility and offer a better customer experience to their customers. So with the current system that they are using, they will have to do every process manually—so updating spreadsheets, reconciling, looking up stock, or even getting to knowing their business operation when everything is already being done, so they are not real-time.

So you will need to have a system like Zoho POS where your business processes are automated. For example, your sale will automatically update your inventory, you can take informed purchase decisions, your customer activities are actually tracked, and even your reporting is real-time. So to get better visibility, you will need to have a system like Zoho POS. So that’s when you can actually focus on growing your business rather than focusing more on tooling.

And the next one is customer experiences. So even in a small business retail store, customers expect that kind of an experience. So they walk into a store expecting that the item they would want to buy is already available in the store, they want to have flexible payment options, they want a smoother checkout process. So customer experience is another major important area on why you would want to switch to a tool like Zoho POS.

Outro

Leland: All right, thank you. That is all I got for you today. Where can they find more about—find out more about Zoho POS?

Hari: So you can log in to our website, which is zoho.com/pos. So you will find all the information that you need in the application.

Leland: All right. Well, thank you so much for coming on and dealing with my barrage of questions. I appreciate it.

Hari: Yeah, thank you for having me, Leland. It’s exciting time for retail, and we are very much excited about the launch in the US market. It was great talking to you. So thank you, Leland, yeah.

Leland: All right, thank you.

Hari: Thank you so much.

For small retailers, the launch of Zoho POS reflects a larger shift in how businesses manage their operations. A point-of-sale system is no longer just a checkout tool. It is increasingly expected to connect inventory, accounting, customer relationships, marketing, online sales, payments, and reporting.

Throughout the interview, Hari Hara Prabu emphasized that Zoho POS is designed for independent and growing retailers that have outgrown basic systems but do not want the complexity of enterprise retail software. Its value, he explained, comes not only from processing sales but from connecting those sales to the rest of the business.

That connection could be especially important for retailers managing multiple locations, tracking stock in real time, selling both online and in-store, or trying to reduce the amount of manual work required to reconcile transactions and make purchasing decisions.

Zoho POS also appears to be positioned around flexibility. Hari noted that retailers may be able to use many existing hardware devices, import data from spreadsheets or other systems, and connect with supported payment processors. For small businesses concerned about switching costs or technical complexity, Zoho’s onboarding and migration support may be an important part of the product’s appeal.

Looking ahead, Zoho plans to expand the platform with more vertical-specific features, retail fraud analytics, a POS marketplace, restaurant-focused capabilities, and AI agents designed to help retailers make better decisions about inventory, promotions, and purchasing.

For retailers evaluating whether their current POS setup is holding them back, Zoho POS gives them another option to consider—particularly if they already use Zoho apps or want a more connected system for managing sales, inventory, customers, and operations.

This article, “Zoho POS Interview: Inside Zoho’s New Retail Point-of-Sale System” was first published on Small Business Trends