If you're running a stall that only operates for a few weeks a year — Chinese New Year cookies, bak kwa, mooncakes before Mid-Autumn, festive hampers, a Ramadan bazaar stand, a Christmas market booth, or a regular pasar malam pitch — you don't need to sign up for a full 12-month POS plan to run it properly. Popcorn POS offers two short-term paths built for exactly this: a bring-your-own-device monthly subscription from RM35/month, or a ready-to-go hardware bundle from RM1,335 that includes its own device and a month of software. This guide walks through both, what they include, and an honest look at when the flexibility is worth paying a bit more for.
Why a seasonal stall needs a different kind of POS
A CNY cookie stall or a bak kwa counter typically runs for two to four weeks a year, not twelve months. Signing up for a standard annual POS plan for a business that's only open a few weeks doesn't make sense — you'd be paying for eleven months you're not using. At the same time, running a cash-only operation isn't realistic either: festive shoppers increasingly expect to pay by e-wallet or card, and you still want real sales numbers to know what's moving and what to reorder before the season ends. The gap this leaves is a POS that can be switched on in days, doesn't demand a year-long commitment, and works whether you've got your own tablet already or need a full setup, device included.
Two ways to run Popcorn POS for a short-term stall
Popcorn POS covers this with two distinct options, depending on whether you already have a suitable device.
Option 1: Use your own device
If you already have a tablet or smartphone you can use at the stall, you can subscribe to the software alone, billed monthly instead of annually:
- Cashier Lite — RM35/month, for straightforward, single-station selling.
- Cashier (full) — RM90/month, for a fuller feature set on the same monthly, no-annual-commitment basis.
Both are available on a 1- or 2-month subscription, so you pay only for the weeks you're actually trading. Implementation and setup for this option is offered as a separate add-on service — ask Popcorn for current setup pricing when you sign up, since it isn't part of the monthly software fee itself.
Option 2: Device + software bundle
If you don't have a device suited to taking orders and payment at a stall, Popcorn offers two ready-to-go bundles, each including one month of Cashier Lite and online implementation:
| Bundle | Price | What's included |
|---|---|---|
| iMin M2 Max | RM1,435 | 8-inch NFC mobile POS tablet with built-in 58mm thermal receipt printer, 2GB RAM / 16GB ROM; Cashier Lite (1-month subscription); online implementation |
| Swift 2 Pro | RM1,335 | iMin Swift 2 Pro handheld mobile POS with 5.5-inch touchscreen, 4GB RAM / 64GB ROM; Cashier Lite (1-month subscription); online implementation |
Both bundles are built to be quick to set up and easy to carry — useful if you're moving between a bazaar pitch, a market booth, and storage between selling days. Because the hardware is yours afterward, this option also makes sense if you plan to run a stall every festive season rather than just once.
What both options give you
Whichever path you pick, you get real-time sales tracking, cloud-based management (so you can check how the stall is doing without being physically there), and support for multiple payment methods — cash, cards, and e-wallets — rather than being limited to cash-only trading.
Which occasions this fits
This isn't limited to Chinese New Year. The same short-term setup suits any seasonal or pop-up F&B and retail selling window in the Malaysian calendar: CNY cookie and bak kwa stalls, mooncake sales ahead of Mid-Autumn, festive hamper sellers, Ramadan bazaar (Bazaar Ramadhan) stands, Christmas market booths, and regular pasar malam pitches. If your selling window is measured in weeks rather than a full year, this is the category of buyer it's built for.
An honest look at what the flexibility costs
Short-term pricing carries a premium over the standard annual plan, and it's worth seeing the numbers plainly rather than glossing over it. Popcorn's standard Lite plan, billed annually, works out to RM350/year — about RM29/month. The monthly Cashier Lite option here is RM35/month, which is RM420 if run for a full year (RM35 × 12), or about 20% more than committing to the annual plan. For a stall that's genuinely only open a few weeks, that difference is small in absolute terms — RM35 or RM70 for one or two months — and still far cheaper than paying for an unused annual subscription. The trade-off only starts to matter if you'd realistically use the software most of the year, in which case the standard annual Lite plan is the better deal.
Worked examples, software only: a 3-week CNY cookie stall on your own tablet, Cashier Lite for one month, costs RM35. The same stall wanting the fuller Cashier app for two months (to cover setup and a buffer week) costs RM180 (RM90 × 2). A first-time seller with no suitable device, choosing the Swift 2 Pro bundle instead, pays RM1,335 once and keeps the hardware for next year's season, on top of which implementation for the software portion is already included in that bundle price.
Don't skip compliance because it's short-term
Running a stall for a few weeks doesn't automatically exempt you from LHDN's e-Invoice and SST rules — whether you need to comply depends on your revenue threshold, not how many weeks you're trading. If you're not sure where your seasonal sales fall, it's worth checking the current thresholds and consolidated B2C rules before the season starts rather than after.
Which option to choose
If you already own a tablet or phone that can sit at a stall comfortably, the bring-your-own-device monthly option is the cheaper way in for a one-off or occasional season, since you're not paying for hardware you may only use once. If you don't have a suitable device, or you know you'll be running a stall every year at CNY, Ramadan, Christmas, or Mid-Autumn, a hardware bundle is worth it — you're paying once for a device you keep, with the first month of software already bundled in.
Get set up before the season starts
If you're planning a seasonal or festive stall and want to see which of these options fits your setup, talk to Popcorn POS about current short-term subscription and bundle pricing, and get it running before your selling window opens.
