Find Any Product in 2 Seconds with Smart Search
How to use AskBiz POS smart product search to locate any item in your catalogue faster than a barcode scan — essential for unlabelled goods, bulk bins, and custom items.
Key Takeaways
- Typing the first 3 letters of a product name in the till search bar finds it faster than scanning for loose goods.
- Product names must be consistent in your Inventory for search to work reliably — avoid abbreviations and typos.
- Combine search with quantity multiplier to process weighed or bulk goods without barcodes.
- Use category filters in Inventory to keep the product search list clean and short.
When is search faster than scanning?
Barcode scanning is fastest for labelled, packaged goods. But the moment a cashier picks up an unlabelled item — loose fruit, a bakery roll, a handmade product — scanning is impossible and search takes over. At AskBiz POS, the product search bar at pos.askbiz.co is always visible at the top of the checkout screen. Typing 3 characters produces a filtered list in under 0.5 seconds. With a clean, well-named product catalogue, 'ban' returns 'Banana', 'ban bread', and 'banned items' — cashiers learn within one shift which abbreviations work.
Hack 1 — Standardise product names in your Inventory
Go to Operations > Inventory and audit your product names. Remove abbreviations like 'Rce' (Rice), 'Sg' (Sugar), and inconsistent capitalisation. A product called 'Basmati Rice 5KG' is found instantly by typing 'bas'. A product called 'BR5' requires memorising a code. Spend 30 minutes standardising names and search becomes a reliable shortcut rather than a gamble. The Inventory page allows inline editing — click 'Edit' next to any product.
Hack 2 — Use category tags to shorten search lists
Assign every product a category in Inventory. At the till, cashiers can filter search by category — tap 'Beverages' and then type 'wat' to see only water products rather than every product containing 'wat'. This filter combination finds products in highly stocked catalogues (50+ items) far faster than unfiltered search. Categories set in Inventory appear automatically at the till with no additional configuration.
Free — no card needed
See this in action for your business
AskBiz tracks these metrics automatically — just connect your data and start asking questions.
Start for free →Hack 3 — Search + quantity multiplier for weighed goods
For products sold by weight (deli items, loose grains, bulk spices), search for the product name, then change the quantity to a decimal — for example 0.5 for half a kilogram. AskBiz calculates the price proportionally. This avoids needing a separate price-per-weight calculation or a manual override. Set up weighed products in Inventory with 'per kg' pricing so the multiplier works correctly at the till.
Hack 4 — Create shorthand product names for the fastest searches
For products your cashiers search constantly, consider adding a short prefix to the name. For example, rename your top 10 search items with a '#' prefix: '#Water 500ml', '#Bread White'. At the till, typing '#' returns only these 10 items instantly — a de facto Quick Key list for search-based products. This is a low-tech hack that works immediately without any configuration change.
Keeping your catalogue clean long-term
Every time you add a product via Inventory > Scan to add, complete all fields before saving — name, category, sector, price, and cost. A product added with only a barcode and price becomes hard to find via search a month later. The 5 extra seconds at product registration save 3 seconds per search, thousands of times over. Run a monthly catalogue audit using the CSV export from Inventory to spot missing names or duplicate entries.