The average mom and pop shop doesn't have the resources or technology to offer the same streamlined checkout experience customers come to expect at large retailers and department stores. And while customers choose small businesses over larger corporations for a myriad of other reasons, the discrepancy has long been a challenge that the former has had to overcome.

There will always be a sizable gap between what Sears or Target can offer their customers versus the neighborhood convenience store, but small businesses have begun to close that gap by implementing mobile technology into checkout operations.

The implementation of tablets as standard POS tools has opened up new opportunities for retailers of all sizes. Not only are small organizations capitalizing on the advantages gained by processing payments on a tablet platform, they are overcoming a number of challenges that are typically prevalent in the small business environment. 

An article in ZDNet featured a story about the Manly Food Co-operative, a non-profit that transformed its business by adding two iPads to its infrastructure. The organization was able to not only implement a tablet POS system to facilitate its mobile commerce initiative, it was able to overcome several other challenges as well.

"Before, we didn't really have inventory control, CRM, or any great reporting capacity via the custom written software. Being able to run stock reports, sales reports, download customer information for mail outs etc. is great. Best part if you don't have to be in the store. As it is all web based it can be done from anywhere," director Mark Kelly told the news source.

Small businesses will always have challenges, but implementing a mobile commerce solution and integrating systems to manage other operations will help. With this technology, small businesses can overcome a number of issues and thrive as growing organizations.