What a pharmacy POS does
A pharmacy POS records every sale at the counter and keeps everything behind it in step: stock levels, purchases from distributors, payments and reports. For an owner, the point isn't the till. It's knowing what's happening in the business without standing at the counter all day.
Pharmacies need more than a general shop system. Medicines come in batches with expiry dates, distributors work on LPOs and credit terms, and margins depend on catching expiring stock and supplier errors early.
Pharmacy stock and inventory management
Good pharmacy inventory software should tell you three things at any moment: what you have, what's running low, and what it's worth. In Hornbill POS:
- Each product has a reorder (alert) quantity. When stock falls below it, Hornbill flags it in the low-stock report and the alert counter.
- Stock is held per location, with transfers between locations and stock counts and adjustments for stock takes.
- The stock value chart shows what your stock cost, what it sells for, and the profit estimate in between.
Pharmacy expiry management
Expired stock is money you've already spent. The fix is visibility: knowing months ahead which batches are close, so you can sell, return or stop reordering in time.
- Hornbill records the batch number and expiry date for every product and shows the months remaining next to each one.
- The product expiry alerts report lists what's about to expire, soonest first, across all locations.
“I don't have to worry about expired stock anymore! Hornbill POS flags them out automatically.”
Pharmacy owner
LPOs, distributors and purchasing
Most pharmacies buy from several distributors on agreed terms. Orders placed by phone or voice note leave no record, and that's where payment disputes start. A pharmacy LPO (Local Purchase Order) puts the items, quantities, prices and terms in writing before delivery.
- In Hornbill you raise an LPO with the supplier, payment terms, expected delivery date and each product line.
- Every purchase is tracked by grand total, paid, balance and payment status, so you know what you owe each distributor.
“The LPO management feature is also a life saver to me as the owner! No more payment disputes with suppliers!”
Pharmacy owner
Sales reports and pharmacy business management
Pharmacy sales software should answer the owner's daily questions without a spreadsheet. Hornbill includes 15 ready reports: daily and monthly sales, sales detail, best sellers, profit and loss, payments, purchases, products, quantity and expiry alerts, customers, suppliers, staff, warehouse stock and the register report. Every list downloads to Excel or PDF.
If you're not always at the pharmacy, Hornbill sends a daily sales summary by SMS, and you can open the system from your phone or laptop. Multi-branch owners manage all branches in one system.
eTIMS for pharmacies
eTIMS is KRA's electronic Tax Invoice Management System. Reporting in 2026 notes that, from the 2026 year of income, KRA expects declared income and expenses to be supported by valid electronic tax invoices. Check KRA's current guidance for your own situation. Hornbill POS has eTIMS integration, and keeping your supplier purchases recorded in one place makes it easier to match your expenses to their invoices.
M-Pesa at the pharmacy counter
Most customers pay by M-Pesa. With Hornbill, customers get an M-Pesa payment prompt on their phone at checkout, so the counter isn't held up typing numbers, and payments sit alongside your sales records. The payments report shows how you were paid.
10 questions to ask any pharmacy POS vendor
- Does it record batch numbers and expiry dates, and show me what's about to expire?
- Can I set reorder levels and get low-stock alerts?
- Can I raise LPOs and see what I owe each distributor?
- Does it issue eTIMS invoices?
- Does it take M-Pesa at the counter?
- What happens when the internet goes off?
- Can I see the business from my phone when I'm away?
- Will you load my product list, or do I enter it myself?
- Who trains my staff, and who do I call after you've sold it?
- Does it work with my existing printer and scanner, and who handles hardware warranty?
Hornbill POS answers yes to all ten. The best way to judge is to see it working on your own product list. Here's how that works.