Bookstore Retail POS & Inventory Software

OVERVIEW

No specialty retailers have been affected more by the emergence of online superstores than book and music shops. Book and music store inventories typically contain just a few duplicates of a large number of items. Special orders are common. Many book stores and music shops sell used stock which they buy from customers. Books and magazines are usually identified with a number in the form of a bar code, called the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and the International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) respectively. CDs (and albums, cassettes, and 45s produced after the 1970s) have Universal Product Codes (UPCs). Shops are differentiating themselves from Internet retailers by becoming a destination instead of a store; many offer coffee and food items and an expanded selection of non-core items.

Inventory and point of sales (POS) are the key modules for book stores and music shops. Customer relationship management is also important since it is the basis of a customer loyalty program; music and book stores are embracing social media to attract and maintain customers. Ideally, the system should support both traditional stores and online sales, “bricks and clicks” operations. If the store buys product from customers to resell, the POS and accounts payable need to interact for the payments to be processed properly.

Accounts receivable, general ledger, and payroll are all standard. Most book stores use on-premises systems; in fact, paper-based systems are still used by some. However, software as a service (SaaS) systems are available and provide an attractive alternative for book stores and music shops that are upgrading or replacing current systems.

Key Requirements for Books/Music Retailers

Book and music retailers should consider the following functions to meet their unique requirements:

Online inventory A book or music store should have access to an online inventory system for the latest books and special orders.
ISBN and ISSN lookup The system should be able to look up the ISBN or ISSN for any book or magazine. The information, such as title, publisher, and publication date, can be imported into the inventory system.
Non-book/non-music items The system should support the sale of non-book/non-music items such as beverages, snacks, and toys.
UPC lookup Access to a UPC library for CDs and other inventory is critical. The system should be able to populate the inventory system with stock numbers and descriptions from the UPC library.
Online store The system should support online sales of items through a web storefront. If there are both an online store and a physical store, there should be an option to share the inventory between them or to keep the inventories separate.
Promotional pricing The system should allow sale and promotional pricing. The pricing should change in the POS and inventory automatically at a specified time and date, if desired.
Customer loyalty program As part of CRM and to further solidify customer relations, many music and book stores have customer loyalty programs. The store system should track sales history and monitor loyalty program points awarded and redeemed.
Spoilage reporting If the store sell perishable goods; the “sell by” dates must be tracked, expired inventory must be collected and disposed of, and the process properly documented.
Gift set packaging One of the key promotions for book and music stores are gift sets. The POS system must support gift set sales for a single price but correctly decrease inventory levels for the individual items when a gift set is sold.
Book/music buying If the store buys used books or music for resale, the system should have access to an online database to help determine the price. The POS should support the buying process and handle the transaction correctly through accounts payable and general ledger.
Online music and e-book sales If there is an online store, it should be able to sell music downloads and e-books in popular formats. It should handle the digital rights management (DRM) and royalties.

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Top 10 Most Recommended Systems

MultiFlex RMS Books

We recommend MultiFlex RMS for bookstore owners interested in a web-based solution. Focuses on e-commerce, inventory management, CRM, and point of sale. The system can also integrate with accounting applications, like QuickBooks.

Vision Suite

We recommend Vision Suite for bookstores that need a full-featured retail suite that can manage everything from inventory analysis and online sales to employee comissions and hours. Great fit for both single and chain bookstores.

POS Prophet Systems

A great solution for small and medium-sized retail operations. Accounting integration, inventory management, and sales processing are included. POS Prophet Systems offers both monthly and up-front pricing for its solution.

CounterPoint by Radiant Systems

A wide range of book and music retailers can use Radiant Systems’ CounterPoint retail software. The system includes rental and layaway processing, loyalty programs, e-commerce integration, and detailed inventory management.

Visual Retail Plus

Both traditional shops and stores with a web presence can use Visual Retail Plus to manage their point of sale, inventory, and customer relationships. Includes automated and bulk ordering, as well as purchase order integration.

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LightSpeed

Retailers can integrate e-commerce and in-store sales with LightSpeed. Xsilva Systems has designed this solution to run on both Mac OS X and iOS. Includes strong inventory and CRM functionality in addition to POS features.

AmberPOS

Many bookstores sell more than just books, with products ranging from music and movies to coffee and pastries. AmberPOS includes an advanced SKU and inventory database, in addition to point of sale and customer management modules.

Microsoft Retail Management System

With Microsoft Dynamics Retail Management System, bookstore retailers can track and manage inventory using any stock and type including standard, serialized, matrix, and voucher. Features customizable POS interface.

Cegid

Strong inventory management is required in an application designed for bookstores, and features like inventory matrix/reports, multiple inventory databases and data import/export make Cegid a good choice for bookstore owners.

GoldTech Retail Manager

Offered as both an on-premise and cloud-based solution, GoldTech Retail Manager software includes everything bookstore retailers need to manage one or multiple stores. Includes POS, inventory management, work orders, and CRM.

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