Today’s generation of smart retail business owners knows that the right point-of-sale software is critical to their business success. It automatically captures data associated with inventory, sales, customers, and employees. A great POS solution less work and a higher profit margin.
But what makes any POS great? An effective and powerful point of sale software combines inventory management, transparent pricing, excellent ease of use, and strong reporting tools. It should also have built-in loyalty and advanced marketing features to bring customers into a brick-and-mortar store. Also, it should pay attention to online selling features, such as buy online, pick up in-store and curbside pickup.
We have listed the top 5 POS software that are trusted by thousands of business owners across the world.
Square – Best POS Overall
Square is one of the first companies to enable card payments via mobile devices with a hardware that plugs into a tab or smartphone. This method proved to be hassle-free and affordable for business owners as they can accept payments without any expensive POS system. Although the software prides itself on its convenience and simplicity, it never compromises with its powerful suite of features. With time, others have introduced and adopted the same model but Square remains the top choice for mobile businesses. This free credit card processing and POS solution consists of a robust package with free online selling features, employee, and inventory management. Setting up the software is seamless and it is compatible with both Android and Apple devices. Some exclusive and handy features, such as Splitting a bill right from the product screen, offline mode, and PCI-compliant Cards on File make it a more powerful app.
For retail, Square narrows down the product scope to simplify a few aspects of the POS. Also, you can add the affordable Square Marketing add-on to receive built-in email and text marketing features. There are some best marketing automation software as well that you can check for excellent marketing solutions combining all your data and growth activities on one platform. Its services and features have grown significantly over the years to cater to businesses of all kinds and sizes.
Features
- Different versions are available for retail, restaurants, and professional services.
- It offers inventory management, multi-location setup, table and menu management, online orders, and appointment scheduling.
- You can link vendors to products in the item catalog.
- Customers can make an appointment and leave their details as a comment or note, which saves employees a few steps.
- Subscription fees are usually month-to-month and you can easily cancel it if needed.
Lightspeed- Best for Inventory Management
Lightspeed is a robust and rich POS system known for its exceptional inventory management and multichannel selling features. It is a perfect option for fast-growing retailers who want to track large inventories and sync their in-person and online sales. Centralized purchasing catalogs integrated with the POS software save you a great deal of time. It also enables you to sell in bundles and manage multiple products variations. Although Lightspeed is most suitable for restaurants, it works perfectly well for e-commerce and retail businesses as well. There are no off-the-shelf packages so for more comprehensive use, you have to sign up and get started. This may not be the right solution for smaller businesses looking for simple software but others can benefit from its customizability.
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Lightspeed offers a unique set of inventory features, which lets you create and complete purchase orders across multiple vendors. Leveraging its fairly advanced loyalty functionality, you can store customer information and offer specialized discounts. Moreover, you can get alerts for low-stock items, track unit costs, and sell out-of-stock products upon arrival. The POS system has a full-service key feature known as Stock Management that is built for retail and restaurants. Its highly customizable and extensive features keep up with Lightspeed’s MO. It is available for only Apple devices but the app is easy to use for even users who are new to iOS.
Features
- Keep complete records of all the products across multiple locations and set automatic reorder points with its comprehensive inventory management system.
- Lightspeed e-commerce allows customers to raise a support ticket directly from their profile, which simplifies returns and exchanges.
- Use customizable tags to create an inventory taxonomy to search for items.
- Organize, edit, and view shipments from the back end.
- The restaurant POS includes an adjustable floor plan, multi-location management, easy-to-edit menus, and reports that accurately show peak times and employee performance.
Shopify- Best for E-commerce
Shopify POS is one of the top all-inclusive solutions for retailers selling in-person, online, or a combination of both. Without hardware, it is a powerhouse software for e-commerce businesses. By adding a simple card reader, you can turn your smartphone or tab into a comprehensive POS solution for card and cash transactions. Its features include the ability to grant refunds, gift cards, store credits, order histories, barcode support, CRM, customizable receipts, detailed reporting, accept split payments, and inventory management that can flawlessly sync both on and offline. You can also consider the best CRM software for small businesses that are helpful for reaching global audiences. The inventory is managed and updated in real-time across multiple locations and you can also use Shopify to monitor transfers between locations and forecast inventory. The POS makes it easier to create loyalty using profiles and tools for building customer loyalty programs.
Using Shopify, you can sell products across multiple platforms, including Twitter, Pinterest, and Twitter. It supports all payment options and provides several socially-distant selling features, which include online ordering for curbside pickup, QR code shopping, and more. As your e-commerce and in-store solution is connected with Shopify POS, your customers can return or exchange an online purchase at a local retail location. Its basic version comes with sales channels, an online store, order creation, unlimited stock, discount codes, staff accounts, and 24/7 support.
Features
- Automatically send emails to customers who abandon carts and don’t complete purchases.
- Add custom line items at any time and price them as per your wish.
- Split tenders and accept more than one type of payment in a single transaction.
- You can “pause” your store for three months without any subscription fee or “pause and build” for a reduced monthly fee.
- It integrates with third-party apps so you can send your automated text/SMS/MMS marketing messages to customers.
TouchBistro- Best for Restaurants
As the name suggests, TouchBistro is a POS software exclusively designed for restaurants and food services. This one-stop solution lets you set up kitchen display systems, self-ordering kiosks, and customer-facing displays for takeouts. With its tablet and mobile-centric POS system, the software can manage reservations, menus, and tables along with customer benefits options like loyalty rewards. You also get support for online ordering, which helps expand delivery and food pick-up offerings. Small businesses can seek benefits from its single iPad POS solution that has one payment terminal. Medium-sized restaurants can use up to five iPads with the sixth one as the central terminal. As far as larger restaurants are concerned, there is a custom-built POS solution with a PC as a central hub that enables them to connect as many mobile devices as required.
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TouchBistro is everything that you need POS software to be in the food and restaurant industry. It integrates with online ordering and helps set up a customer loyalty program and take reservations. There is also an option to use your hardware and buy the software. As an alternate, you can combine the hardware and software with your plan. It is not an entirely cloud-based system so you need a local network to run it, not making it the best option for users who operate with unreliable and unstable internet connections. However, its competitive prices, rich features, and simple setup process make it an excellent value for money.
Features
- Includes tableside ordering, CRM, table management, payment processing, and reporting analytics.
- Great hardware solutions include a digital menu board, self-serve kiosks, and a kitchen display system with the latter streamlining FOH-BOH communications.
- The POS hardware and software utilize iPads and are easy to use and well-suited for a restaurant and bar environment.
- Dedicated 24/7 customer support via phone and email.
- You can also seek training services for large-scale operations.
Vend- Best for Retail
Vend is the first web-based POS software that uses offline cache capabilities of HTML5. Currently popular in more than 100 countries, this solution records over 20,000 installations. This cloud-based system doesn’t offer on-site server deployment, making it a great option for small businesses. However, for larger companies, this can be a bit restricted. Vend is a well-designed and intuitive software that works virtually on any system, as long as it is a Google Chrome web browser. Also, there is an iPad app. One of the biggest benefits of Vend is cross-platform consistency, which ensures the same look on the front end regardless of the device you are using. Moreover, there is an impressive suite of features, which includes purchase order capabilities, barcode creation, customer management, price books, inventory management, and more.
Vend integrates seamlessly with PayPal, Vantiv, Square, and other processors to support in-store credit card payments. One thing that makes Vend different from other POS solutions is, it doesn’t sell any hardware nor process payments. So, for an employee time clock, e-commerce, and email marketing, you will need to pay an additional amount for third-party software integrations. But the benefit that you seek here is the software’s simplicity, making it perfect for small retailers.
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Features
- Use the inventory management feature to forecast trends and automate reorder points so you never run out of stock.
- It maintains multiple price books, which can be used in several ways. You can keep separate price books based on a specific group of customers or store location.
- Increase your payment options, create branded gift and loyalty cards, and avoid issuing refunds by offering store credit.
- Add customer profiles and create custom loyalty programs.
- It offers layaway options and makes it easier to find customer information to track payment history and balances.
Conclusion
POS software does much more than merely process payments. These advanced solutions help you operate an entire business and promote it. The right system enhances the overall customer experience by elevating in-store sales processes, improving the accuracy of reporting, and eliminating manual tasks.