The year is only a few weeks old, but programming work on JTL-POS is already in full swing again. After all, we have made important New Year’s resolutions for our POS software, which we don’t just want to pay lip service to, but want to put into practice in the best possible way. All in all, we are making numerous adjustments to significantly increase the convenience, performance and functionality of the POS system.
In this developer diary, I give you a little insight into the new features we are currently working on and what we have planned for this year.
Extended recording of bar codes and weights
We want you to be able to use JTL-POS flexibly and independently of product range and industry. The prerequisite for this is that the POS system can read different bar code schemes for item recording. As you probably know, vouchers from vending machines have a specific bar code, and the same applies to press articles such as newspapers or magazines. If you sell food in your store that is weighed individually, then the receipt printed out by the store scales also has a specific bar code scheme that transmits the respective quantities or weights during the checkout process.
Since version 1.0.5.0, JTL-POS has been able to recognize user-defined bar codes from store scales, deposit machines and magazines and assign them to the correct items. However, we would like to expand the range of applications of the POS system even further and therefore also successively expand its recording.
Optimization of the input method and input mask
We are currently working hard to ensure that you will be able to enter weights as standard with version 1.0.6.0. To do this, we first had to optimize the input method in JTL-POS, as the entry of weight units requires the option of entering an additional decimal place (0.000). We have now added a third decimal place in all quantity input fields and in the input interface so that you can now calculate items to the nearest gram instead of having to round to the second decimal place as before. This is an innovation that those of you who sell a lot of items in small quantities have been eagerly awaiting.
And you can expect even more optimizations to the input method: In future, the values in the input field will no longer be filled ‘from the back’, but ‘from the front’, which makes typing in multi-digit numbers more convenient and less error-prone in the often turbulent day-to-day operation.
Recording of sales orders, customer and employee cards
With user-defined bar codes and weights, the capture potential of JTL POS is far from exhausted. We also have corresponding enhancements on our agenda for the coming months, all of which are aimed at making the checkout process faster and more convenient. From version 1.0.8.0 at the earliest, you should be able to scan not only individual items but also entire sales orders and open them automatically without the need for manual input. We are also working on allowing you to scan customer cards and assign them directly to the current receipt. It should also soon be possible to log in quickly at the checkout by scanning an employee card. The tedious typing in of sales order, customer and employee numbers will soon be a thing of the past for you.
JTL-POS CustomerDisplay 2.0
There will be a major update of JTL-POS CustomerDisplay in the course of the year. With the free app, you can show your customers their purchase on a separate screen at the checkout. You can also use the display for advertising purposes, to enter customer feedback or to transmit the digital receipt via QR code.
More comfort right from the start
The new version of our customer display will bring significant improvements both for you as a cash register operator and for your customers. One of our most important concerns is to make setting up the app and connecting it to JTL POS easier and more intuitive. To achieve this, we will automate the setup to a greater extent and harmonize the functionality of the customer display and the POS app. For a more convenient connection and faster commissioning, it will be possible to scan a QR code as an alternative to manually entering the IP address. In addition, an integrated tutorial will support you with the initial setup in future.
We automate and simplify the setup of JTL-CustomerDisplay.
Full screen width for undivided attention
We have fundamentally improved the display itself. The most visible new feature is that the screen is no longer split into two halves, but is now displayed across its full width as standard. As a result, receipts and other dialogs with important information are displayed larger and more clearly, so that they are better perceived by your customers than before, even on 10-inch monitors, which many of you use as customer displays, and at a distance.
Speaking of distance: With the new version of JTL-POS CustomerDisplay, you will be able to suspend the display of the receipt at any time if it can be read by someone other than the current customer, e.g. the person behind them in the checkout queue – an important new function for data protection reasons!
Improved and customizable display
We have given the user interface of JTL-POS CustomerDisplay a general fine-tuning, for example the digital receipt has been integrated more beautifully into the display. But we also want to open up new scope for your individual ‘look’: You will soon be able to choose between the light mode and a chic dark mode, define your own colors and integrate slideshows with your advertising graphics and videos.
By the way, to exploit the full marketing potential even without a split screen, you can easily equip your point of sale with two customer displays: You then use one monitor to display the receipt and the other monitor for your advertising banners. This way, your marketing content remains constantly present during the checkout process. In principle, any number of customer displays can be integrated into our JTL-POS checkout software.
The new inventory module in JTL-POS WebManager
For development reasons, the JTL-POS WebManager, which gives you access to the “Digital receipt” and “Customer reviews” functions, can no longer be booked and will be discontinued on 31.12.2025. We will inform you as soon as we offer an alternative solution. JTL customers who are currently still using POS WebManager can continue to do so until the end of 2025.
The retailers among you who operate more than one store will be particularly pleased with the progress made in the development of our inventory module: it will go into open beta this year and take the functionality of JTL POS to a new level. As you know, up to now you have needed our JTL-Wawi integration ERPConnected if you want to integrate several cash registers or stores operated with JTL-POS. The inventory module will offer you an alternative multi-checkout solution: You will no longer necessarily need our ERP JTL-Wawi to control your distributed cash registers at a central location. This will be conveniently possible in JTL-POS WebManager, which we released last summer.
Cross-store item & customer management without integration to JTL-Wawi
With JTL-POS WebManager you can already manage your receipts and customer reviews. The dashboard shows you an overview of all cash registers and stores that are connected to the online portal. With the inventory module, we are now going one step further: We are building on the already integrated store management and are currently creating the conditions for you to soon be able to maintain your item and customer data in this central location. All StandAlone-operated cash registers and stores will then have access to the shared database in JTL-POS WebManager and will be kept synchronized around the clock thanks to continuous automatic inventory reconciliation.
JTL-POS WebManager becomes the control center of your cash registers
For development reasons, the JTL-POS WebManager, which gives you access to the “Digital receipt” and “Customer reviews” functions, can no longer be booked and will be discontinued on 31.12.2025. We will inform you as soon as we offer an alternative solution. JTL customers who are currently still using POS WebManager can continue to do so until the end of 2025.
The inventory module will be another milestone on the way to establishing JTL-POS WebManager as the control center for your entire retail business. We are currently working on integrating our voucher software JTL Vouchers directly with the online portal. From now on, you will be able to control all essential functions (cash registers, stores, inventory, vouchers, receipts, customer reviews and much more) from JTL-POS WebManager – completely independently of JTL-Wawi. In addition, we are planning an open REST API in the long term so that you can also integrate third-party systems into WebManager and include them in your inventory reconciliations. But this is still a long way off.
Outlook: Austria, we are ready!
First of all, this year we will reach another important milestone in the history of JTL-POS: With the start of the new five-year certificate period, we want to make our POS software fit for the Austrian Cash Register Security Ordinance, or RKSV for short. This means that in future you will also be able to use JTL-POS to make legally valid payments in the Alpine republic. In order to meet the technical fiscal requirements of the RKSV for the manipulation security of your cash register, you will have access to a certified cloud solution from A-Trust that is compatible with JTL-POS. We will keep you up to date!
As you can see, we still have a lot planned for JTL-POS. There will even be more hot news to report soon: We will be welcoming Viva Wallet, a new payment provider, to the ranks of our payment partners. But we don’t want to reveal any more at this point. Stay tuned!
