Originally posted by virusn3t All of that works if all POS systems works togheter, if BH, Adorama and Amazon use a diferent system beetween them and Ricoh use another is very difficult (if not very expensive) to make all the software talk with each others.
That POS system you talk is very common in chain stores, like Mcdonald, Lowes, Waltmart etc, but hardly all of them can work togheter with other systems
Actually no, POS systems don't (usually) work together. Most POS systems are organizationally "internal only" by design and generally are just a "front end" to an overall ordering system. Sometimes an organization will have two POS & ordering systems (for example when one company buys another). There are some that can and do tie-in to B2B, reporting, inventory management, and ERP/financial type of systems on the server side. Specifically what you are talking about is supply chain management and B2B software. The simplest and most common example is for organizations that supply others to include Fedex/UPS/freight weighbills and tracking info as a part of their ASN (advanced shipping notification) process. Pretty much everything happens inside of the SQL databases driving the overall software. Realistically, a B2B data interchange of a small XML file via AS2 managed file transfer would be all that's needed whenever a tracking number or shipment has been generated for knowledge of inventory ordered, en route, spoken for etc.
Usually the hardest part is getting the two companies to talk to one another. Sorry, I've just been there and done that.