Retail Point of Sale systems

C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
Anyone have any systems they like? Specifically I'm looking for one with the ability to print a reward in the receipt. Spend $100 , get a reward on the receipt for $5 to spend within the next 2 weeks etc.

I'm looking for more functionality than Square or Shopify etc.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
Unfortunately most of the ones I'm familiar with are geared towards restaurants, not retail. So I don't have any specific recommendations off hand but I'll ask around to some people I know in retail. I know my favorite homebrew shop just started moving to a computerized POS system and I would imagine that would translate to your business so I'll pick their brains a bit on what they went with.

Shopping for a POS system can be a pain in the ass, you need to be aware of any hidden costs (for example, they might have all the marketing tools you list but will charge an extra fee for the "marketing package") and the salespeople often seem like they were rejected from used-car sales school. Is there any sort of fish/pet store trade shows or something you can attend to get some hands on experience with them?

Also do you want to purchase hardware or get a system you can load onto any computer? What about things like receipt printers and cash drawers, have those already or looking to buy? Other features you might consider is remote access, possible online ordering integration, employee scheduling and time punch management, etc. Finally what kind of budget are you working with? Willing to pay a monthly service fee?
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
I'm currently paying roughly $150 a month for the functionality I have where my inventory is real time in store and online for shopping at the same time, includes an app for phones that is connected real time also and can do push notifications, signup to notify when stock I'm out of is back in. etc.

The problem is there is no loyalty program at all, and there are lots of little annoyances that aren't being fixed. On top of that I pay a flat rate of 2.4% per swipe no matter kind of card. If I find a different system I think I can do better swipe wise.

As for hardware I'm probably comfortable spending up to 5k or so. I currently have Ipad, cash drawer, receipt printer, and scanner. But moving away from ipad PoS would require new hardware most likely.
 
opiate82

opiate82

Bronze Squire
3,078
5
On the card swipes, 2.4% for a flat rate isn't too terrible but I think you are correct in thinking you could do better with an interchange-plus program instead. Thing that I hate about dealing with merchant processors is that it is nearly impossible to decipher what your actual charges will be until you have a few months of statements and can crunch those numbers. If possible try to find a deal that gives you some sort of out within the first 90 days just to be safe.
 
C

Corndog

Lord Nagafen Raider
517
113
I agree, I haven't met a processor yet, that won't guarantee they can beat everyone else on the market etc. And in the fine print you find where they are going to just rape you. I'd had them take 3 months of statements before and run the numbers then come back with, uh actually we can't beat that.
 
6

66617274626f78_sl

shitlord
53
0
It's custom and can run on any platform and can be paired with a variety of peripherals, e.g. cash drawer, card swipe. The current hardware I've been deploying it with is a touchscreen monitor and raspberry pi. But laptip, desktop, tablet, anything works. Even smartphone. Integrated with email and telefony services for receipts as well if you wanted to go that route. It can also be managed in the cloud.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.