There are so many POS options out there, it’s almost overwhelming when trying to decide which one to settle on. There are some POS that are great for the restaurant industry (hello there, TouchBistro),or the hotel industry, or the golf industry – you get the picture. There are all kinds of POS systems. But today, we want to go over the best retail POS for your businesses. 

First of all, what makes a POS good for retail? What features does a retail POS need?

Speed

When you’re checking through a long line of customers purchasing multiple items, you want the process to be as quick and efficient as possible. Taking longer than necessary to ring through your customers risks creating massive line of impatient and irate customers, and you may even risk losing a few sales if they decide waiting isn’t worth it. 

A good retail POS will not only load quickly, but it will also have an efficient navigation system that will let you physically ring through your customers as easily and quickly as possible. You don’t want to have to go through a series of clicks or pathways just to start a new sale or to add a new customer. You want as few clicks, or as few actions, as possible.

Easy Interface

Another aspect of your POS that makes your customer service speedy is an intuitive interface that takes no time to learn, and is easy to navigate. Not only will this make the learning process quicker when training in new staff, but completing even complicated checkouts will take less time. A retail POS interface should be easy to learn, and easy to use, so tasks such as adding products, adding a customer, adding a discount, or processing a refund should come easily to you and your staff. You don’t want a complicated process while you’re customers are waiting in line. 

Reporting Tools

The right retail POS will track your shop’s performance with in-depth reports. Knowing what products are selling, what ones aren’t selling, what times or days you sell the most,what staff sells the most, or what customers purchase the most, will help you understand how to run your shop more effectively. 

Inventory Management

As previously mentioned, keeping track of everything is the key to effectively running your shop. That’s why tracking tools are so important in a retail POS. Every retail POS should have some kind of inventory management to help you manage and track your stock, products, and sales. If you want to read why inventory management is so important, read this. 

Support

Like any POS, or – any product or service at all, really- you want to have excellent customer service. With any software, there’s a good chance you’ll run into some kind of bump in the road. A good retail POS will have the attentive customer support you need to figure out your issue as quickly as possible. Speedy, attentive, and accommodating customer service is always important. 

Now that you know what to look for in your retail POS system, let’s go over a few solutions that have all of the aforementioned features. All of the solutions listed below are retail POS systems that are fast, easy to use, and have inventory management, in-depth reports, and great customer service.

Oliver POS

Oliver POS is the best retail POS for ecommerce. Designed to sync to your ecommerce shop, Oliver is ideal for anyone with an online store and a physical store. It syncs all of your shop’s data automatically, and constantly, so you never have to worry about updating your inventory after a sale. 

On top of that, Oliver POS offers all kinds of features to run your retail shop effectively, including cash management, product reports, integrated payments, customer profiles, and custom integrations. With a completely free starting plan, and some of the most affordable paid plans on the market, Oliver POS is one of the best retail POS systems out there. 

To get started with Oliver POS, click here.

Square Point of Sale

Square is our next pick for the best retail POS system. With a simple interface and a built-in payment processor, Square POS for retail is a popular choice for a reason. Square also boasts a convenient inventory management system that includes stock tracking and bulk importing. Their free plan makes it one of the most cost effective solutions on this list. Because they’re also a payment processor, however, they do charge a small amount for every transaction.

Lightspeed Retail POS

Lightspeed may be the priciest option on the list, but don’t discount them quite yet. Lightspeed’s intuitive interface is easy to use, and they have a long list of POS features, including advanced inventory management and in-depth reports. Considering the price and the plethora of advanced features, Lightspeed is ideal for a medium to large business. 

Clover POS

Clover is another excellent option for a retail POS. However, unlike the other solutions on this list, Clover only works on its own hardware – meaning you can’t just use it on an iPad or laptop, like the others. This makes the pricing a little bit deceptive, as the costs can quickly pile up with all of their hardware. But to make up for this, Clover is an exceptional retail POS. With a built-in payment processor, an intuitive interface, and a ton of app integrations, Clover is one of the best retail POS systems out there.

ShopKeep

Upcoming POS Shopkeep is making a name for itself. Known for their top-notch customer service, ShopKeep is also very affordable, easy to use, and offers an array of features like inventory management and barcode scanning. They’re always adding more features, too, so it’s well on its way to being an all-in-one solution for retail.