Finding the ideal point-of-sale solution for your business can be tough. There are tons of things that you have to keep in mind. Based on your business type, scale, industry, and more you’ll need a unique point of sale system. Fortunately, modern POS systems are flexible and they offer a huge range of features for businesses. Whether you want to replace your current POS software, or you want a completely new tool, this guide will help you find one.
Why Do You Need a POS System?
Today’s point of sales software does more than just process payments. The best POS software can make it easy for you to operate your business. Some POS software offers a wide range of functionalities that make business operations more seamless.
- Manage inventory and employees
- Track and analyze crucial sales data
- Integrate your POS with customer loyalty programs
- Integration with email marketing tools to keep in touch with customers
- Access crucial business data from anywhere
While it does help in improving your business operations, it also helps in improving customer experience by reducing the checkout time, eliminating manual tasks, and improving reporting accuracy.
Best POS (Point of Sales) System for 2023
1. Square – Best for Online and Offline Selling
Square is an industry-leading point of sale system available for online and offline sales. It is a perfect tool for small business owners who sell their products online and offline. You don’t need to invest in expensive hardware, and there’s no need for hardware in online sales. Square is famous among users because of how easy it is to use. All you have to do is plug Square Reader into your phone.
The Square Reader supports traditional swipe payments, chip payments, or contactless payments. The system is worth your money. Your need for the hardware solely depends on your business type. But regardless of the type of hardware you choose, all of your sales will be tracked using a single system.
Square makes it easy for business owners to view, manage, track, edit, and update their inventory. Plus, real-time analytics and reporting help you create better customer experiences.
2. Lightspeed – Best POS System for Brick and Mortars
Lightspeed is not that known throughout the industry, but it’s still a robust POS system. It offers powerful inventory management functionalities as well. The POS System is perfect for retailers, restaurants, hotels, and several other businesses.
Lightspeed is a great tool if your retail business needs special requests such as custom items, work orders, purchase orders, etc. You can use Lightspeed with your own hardware, regardless of the operating system.
You can also set up customer profiles for creating purchasing history and lifetime value, and it allows you to separate customers into different categories.
If you want to add a customer loyalty program, then you’ll need to get a high-end plan. If you want data analytics, you’ll need to get the top-end plan.
3. Shopify – Best POS System for eCommerce
Everyone has heard of Shopify. But not a lot of people know that Shopify offers a POS system as well. It offers seamless integration with your online store and helps you improve customer experiences.
Shopify allows business owners to create loyalty programs with customer profiles. Plus, you can use the Shopify POS system to accept payments anywhere in the store, which will lead to faster checkouts.
As your eCommerce and in-store hardware will be connected with Shopify POS, customers will be able to return or exchange online purchases at a physical store. The best part is that the Shopify POS software comes included in your monthly Shopify plan.
If you want to sell at multiple physical locations, then you’ll need a more sophisticated solution than Shopify. But if you’re in the beginning phase, then Shopify POS software is a good choice.
4. PayCafe – Best POS System for Advanced Reporting
PayCafe is a complete payment processing system with sophisticated reporting. It offers the solution to handle and process in-person credit card payments and online payments. If you want to run an eCommerce website alongside your physical store, then give the PayCafe POS system a try.
The card processing solutions allow you to optimize to accept one-time subscriptions and create invoices in a few simple clicks. You can also accept all the major debit and credit cards in over 135 countries.
What makes PayCafe stand out is their level of reporting, they provide you with real-time metrics and data to help you track your business’s success. You’ll also be able to customize your dashboard so you receive the type of metrics you need to improve sales.
5. TouchBistro – Best POS System for Restaurants and Food Service
TouchBistro is an industry-focused POS solution, and it is perfect for restaurants, bars, clubs, food trucks, breweries, and other food-related businesses. The software aims to make business operations seamless and smooth by offering easy setups, reservations, table seating, deliveries, menu changes, and so much more.
TouchBistro is an all-in-one solution that allows users to set up self-ordering kiosks, a kitchen display system, and customer-facing displays for takeout restaurants. If you’re looking for a food industry-focused POS system, then look no further than TouchBistro.
