Today's guest post is from Houston Neal of Software Advice.

If you're like most retailers we talk to, you know a lot about running your business and selecting the right merchandise, but when it comes to choosing a POS system, you're having a hard time deciding what's best for your store…

Here are three simple steps for selecting retail POS software. There are hundreds of retail software packages on the market and you can quickly narrow them down using this criteria:

1. Determine your needs.
   Only you know how best to run your business and where you need to automate for the greatest return on investment. Therefore it's critical to map out your core retail business processes and feature requirements. Are you looking for a high-end cash register, or do you want integrated inventory management, automated purchase orders and an integrated e-commerce system? Build an exhaustive list of features and then prioritize them based on what will give you the most bang for your buck.

2. Get the right package for your industry and be sure to select a system that has features specific to your unique retail segment.
   Highly focused packages will more closely map to how their users operate. Broadly-focused "mega vendors" may have big dollars and broad reach, but are not always specialized in your industry. Ask them for customer references from within your market segment. At the same time, keep in mind that there can be a tradeoff between how narrow a software vendor focuses and what level of investment they can afford to make in ongoing development and infrastructure.

3. Buy for your size and growth plans.
   One size does NOT fit all. Retail systems range from shrink-wrapped packages for a small, single location store to "enterprise-class" systems for national retailers. Prices vary accordingly, from just a few hundred dollars to literally millions. When building a short list of systems to evaluate, consider your current scale and future growth plans. How many registers do you need to automate? Do you need to support multiple stores or just one? Do you know each of your three employees or do you need a sophisticated system to manage HR and payroll for hundreds of staff?

Start with these tips and it will lead you in the right direction to finding a system to meet your store's needs.