The path to retail success is a hard mountain to climb. Constantly shifting buying habits push companies into unfamiliar territory, leaving even the most experienced business owners fighting to stay up.
However, establishing a solid unified commerce business model and having helpful, trusted partners may help make success a smooth and successful trip for businesses with numerous online sales channels and stores.
What Is a POS System
A point of sale system is a tool used by businesses to keep track of sales transactions. For example, a POS at a store used to be a large cash register with a book to track transactions and sales. Today, we have simple solutions that automatically handle most of the labor, from basic consumer purchases to inventory management.
A POS system may contain peripherals such as a barcode scanner, receipt printer, card terminal, or cash drawer. In addition, there is usually an internet-connected device (such as a laptop, phone, or computer) that can run a POS app. One company may require many accessories, but another may require the app. You may create your own to have what your company needs.
Because no definitive standards define what a POS is, it might be difficult to grasp what you need for your POS.
How Does a Point of Sales System Work?
A point of sales (POS) system is a combination of hardware and software that retailers use to take payments and track sales.
Most POS systems also come with retail management software that allows businesses to track inventory, customers, and employees. Many POS systems have gone mobile in recent years, allowing businesses to take payments anywhere.
This can be especially helpful for wholesalers and inventory management businesses that sell at trade shows or fairs or as a point of sale system for retail stores. Mobile business POS software often includes features such as GPS tracking and the ability to accept credit card payments offline. Whether you’re running a small business or a large retail chain, a POS system can help you take your business to the next level.
4 e-Commerce Friendly POS Systems for Online Vendors
- Shopify POS System
As you are surely aware, Shopify is one of the most successful online sales systems available. It has been a major player in the e-commerce business for over a decade. However, they have expanded into brick-and-mortar retail with the Shopify POS app they introduced in 2013.
In summary, Shopify POS is software that you can download on your iOS device or Android mobile. It’s an excellent approach for allowing company owners to sell goods virtually anywhere.
Shopify POS is a fantastic alternative for selling items locally or from your brick-and-mortar business. Contactless payment processing and card-based transactions are available features among the rest:
- Limitless product management
- Customer data
- Stock control
- Analytics capabilities
- eCommerce connection
- Remote selling
Shopify POS is also designed to:
- Produce receipts
- Accept payments
- Handle orders
- Search items while on the go
This is made possible by the Shopify web platform, which serves as a solid basis for the related POS app. You’ll also get an easy-to-use web-based dashboard for managing your retail operation.
Shopify can sync everything and give many brick-and-mortar businesses a uniform administration platform.
When it comes time to payment, the Shopify POS card reader accepts all major credit cards, including American Express, MasterCard, and Visa. But that’s not all. In addition, the system accepts partial payments, split tenders, shop credit, and gift cards.
Pricing: Shopify POS comes in two basic and a pro one. If your business is scaled on a higher level, you should consider using the PRO version to get more features.
- Square POS System
Square has primarily established itself as a payment processing provider. However, it just recently stepped into the area of business apps.
Square POS is a wonderful set of abilities for e-commerce businesses looking for flat and predictable pricing. Its simplicity and ease include powerful capabilities such as free credit card processing, inventory management, and personnel planning.
Square POS is generally used with an iPad device, but it may also be used with other devices, such as smartphones.
The Square POS software still has many functions, and you can always buy add-ons or upgrade to one of its paid enterprises. Here’s where the free software comes to play:
- Inventory Management
- Team management
- Reports and Analysis.
Pricing: It has a free plan available.
- Vend POS System
It is another cloud-based POS system well-known for its inventory management capabilities. It enables business activities to be conducted online or in-store. Aside from inventory management, popular features include customer loyalty, analytics, and e-commerce.
The system is designed to adapt to iPad, mouse, keyboard, and touch platforms. It seeks to improve product planning, monitoring, and database organization while providing a clear view of items and sales on the system panel.
Vend POS’s key features include:
Inventory management
Its customers may customize the system with several product variants such as material, color, and size. Its product bundling option, which allows businesses to create gift baskets, is a standout feature.
Customer management
This platform may help you organize customer data, view client buying patterns, transfer customer lists, and give discounts.
Payment processing
This tool provides payment options by taking cash, debit, credit card, and contactless wallet payments. It also enables several payments in a single transaction.
Pricing: Its price ranges from $100 to $250, depending on your business requirements.
Lightspeed Retail POS
Lightspeed Retail POS is a fantastic point of sale solution well-known for its inventory management and e-commerce capabilities. It is becoming a popular option for fast-paced merchants who wish to manage different inventories and sync sales online.
Lightspeed Retail POS key features:
Tag personalization
Allows inventory managers to create their inventory classifications for locating products in the warehouse.
Variations of items
Managers can add numerous trait grids to inventory management using lightspeed retail POS, such as blue, shirt, and cotton. This aids in the reorganization of commodities, including sequential inventory items.
Manage bulk purchases and sell them separately using custom tags and attribute matrices.
Shipping tools
Organize goods for checkout and enhance shipment efficiency with the help of lightspeed shipping tools. In addition to organizing, lightspeed POS enables backend viewing and modification of shipments, assigning relevant tracking codes to individual clients, and interacting with shipping APIs such as EasyPost.
Pricing: $79 per month plus $29 per additional register per month and up (when billed monthly).
Conclusion
Even though many POS systems promise to be all-in-one solutions, serving these businesses with the same system, each shop company has its own set of requirements that a specialized POS system solution can only meet.
To choose the most cost-effective alternative for your company, compare several POS systems based on their overall setup and operating expenses. Then, using the figures, calculate each choice’s possible return of investment based on the related feature advantages.
Square and Vend are excellent options for small to medium-sized enterprises.
If you are a Shopify store owner and wish to sell at events, tradeshows, or pop-up events, Shopify POS is an excellent fit for consistency since it can be added at no extra expense.
