Evan Schuman's StorefrontBacktalk

Despite recession fears, retail POS purchases increased some 5 percent last year, which is more than twice as much as had been projected, according to a new report from the IHL Group.

There are several reasons for the unexpected spike, chief among them PCI demands hitting smaller retailers and new profit-enhancing techniques that require new POS equipment, said IHL President Greg Buzek.

Even if recession fears were going to impact POS sales, Buzek said, the evidence wouldn’t be in yet. "These are considerable capital expenditures and they tend to be planned for years in advance," he said.

But he also believes POS tends to be recession-proof, as it’s the frontgate for a wide range of other capabilities, including inventory visibility, cross-channel and getting a single view of the customer. "It’s the core part of the customer interaction and it’s also the part where you are going to drive differentiation."