There is no doubt that the entrepreneurial spirit has taken hold of a generation in a way that hasn’t happened in decades, and part of what makes it possible is the flexibility to take both
POS software and payment processing is no longer important for small businesses alone. More and more people are eking out a living with their own daily grind, by selling a product or service as an individual rather than a business, or even just by doing odd jobs. In the last several years many pop up retailers have been taking advantage of either a way to swipe cards in person or a way to pay online, usually through a PayPal account (or similar).
An integrated, cloud based POS system allows you to do both in a singular platform synchronized across ecommerce stores, online listings, and linked to the same tools that allow you to take payments in person now. It can even be tied to your inventory and bookkeeping. Because they have become so commonplace so quickly, a complete point of sale software is affordable for all with monthly fee options that can scale up as your business grows.
Being able to process payments from Apple Pay, PayPal, credit and debit cards, and any other payment option your customers are likely to have is necessary if you want to be successful. Many of the options for accepting digital and credit card payments are not this comprehensive, but a full POS that integrates everything together gives your small business the edge you need over your direct competition.
Before jumping into the top five best POS software, let’s talk about what needs the right POS system should include.
What to Look For in POS Software
The best POS systems have tools that integrate every aspect of payment processing and retail or service business sales receipts, but you don’t have to stop there. An all in one mobile pos solution can give you many more tools that you would otherwise get elsewhere. Getting everything you need to automate your business operations so you can focus on the
Here are a few of the other tasks that should be a part of your overall POS system.
- Integrated inventory management that automatically deducts from your inventory for every sale, whether they buy online or
in-person. Small businesses can even use the same system across multiple locations. - Customer relations management can be of equal importance, and you should be able to pull customer data into the POS for every sale. The right tools even allow set up and automation of loyalty programs to nurture customer management relationships.
- Employee management is also important, especially if you will be having them processing payments with an integrated cash register.
Certain types of retail businesses should consider some other needs specific to what they sell or provide to their customers. For example, a restaurant POS system needs to be a bit more comprehensive than that for other retail businesses, particularly because tracking inventory, food costs, server tips, and other processes really need to be automated if you don’t want to hire another person just to run your restaurant POS software.
For a retail business with or without multiple locations should look for systems that gives you a physical cash register or other POS hardware that all employees on premises can use. It should also tie into your online sales, if any, so that you don’t have to worry about selling the same inventory twice. Meanwhile, mobile businesses like craft and hobby sellers — those at swap meets, flea markets, and pop up sales — are going to need a mobile pos that goes with them wherever they go.
Now that you have an idea what to look for in a complete point of sale system, here are our top picks. These options can all be incorporated into your Ecwid online store for an integrated POS and inventory system, as well as many other powerful features for managing every aspect of your business.
#1 Best Overall Complete POS System — Ecwid with Lightspeed
Ecwid and Lightspeed have teamed up to give you everything you need to run your business so that you can focus on what is important — your products, services, and ultimately your customers. Lightspeed is a complete point of sale solution that integrates ecommerce, brick and mortar retail, and mobile businesses the ability to seamlessly and automatically process payments, track sales, and send inventory out the door.
If you’re already using Ecwid, adding the Lightspeed POS system is a cinch, and if you have any issues setting it up were are here to help. Once everything is ready to go, you’ll enjoy having more time available for your favorite operations tasks with far less time for bookkeeping required. This app team is great for almost any business, with a lot of customization and features available.
#2 Best for Integrated Retail with Inventory Management — Vend
If you’re running a private label or retail arbitrage business model (selling items made by others), you could have quite a lot of inventory to track even though your business is small. Your POS system should allow for taking payments online at your ecommerce store, on the road at corner
Even a
#3 Best for Use with a Cash Register — Square
Square is a great option if you have multiple locations in addition to ecommerce sites and sales funnels. If you try to take advantage of every opportunity to sell your products, having a system that includes POS hardware and mobile POS that syncs across sites is vitally important.
Just as important is your ability to track sales and employee activity. Square allows you to require login to the POS for employees to be able to ring up customers, and the integrated POS system hardware gives them a way to process payments without accessing the primary functions of the system.
#4 Best for Integrated Internal Payment Processing — Clover
With or without accompanying POS hardware that does the job of a cash register, Clover is a great option for small businesses. Regardless of what you sell, either products or services, Clover will work well for you if you have a need for a versatile brick and mortar, online, and mobile POS system. One of the best things about this system is that you can start small and scale up as your business grows so that you never pay more than you need to.
The hardware is reasonably priced, and the plans start at just under $10. You can also use their internal payment processing features so that there is no need for a separate merchant account. That service is provided at slightly higher fees than the average, but it can be worth the cost to have everything in sync and integrated into one system.
#5 Best for Small Businesses — Quickbooks POS
QuickBooks is the most popular bookkeeping software among small businesses and solo entrepreneurs. About 80% of all small businesses in the US use QuickBooks to track their sales, find tax deductions, pay employees, and monitor expenditures. There has been an invoicing feature for some time, but now they have launched a complete POS system as well. You can even get hardware.
For solo entrepreneurships already using or familiar with QuickBooks especially, using their POS system is the best way to go. It keeps you from having to take the time to learn a new system, while also automatically pulling all of your sales data to populate your general ledger as well. They also offer internal payment processing at standard rates.
