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Epos Now

Epos Now POS system is an effective business management, sales, and payment system for single-site, multi-site and online businesses. The system offers an extensive range of management and sales tools, with the option to expand t...Read more about Epos Now

3.3 (371 reviews)

50 recommendations

Rain POS

Rain is an all-in-one point-of-sale, website, and marketing system for small to midsized retailers. Music, dive, sporting goods, paddle, craft, sewing, quilting, and clothing boutiques will find Rain is an excellent fit for their...Read more about Rain POS

4.2 (131 reviews)

48 recommendations

AmberPOS

Pacific Amber’s AmberPOS offers a point of sale software solutions to a variety of retail specialties, ranging from small to midsized, in the United States and Canada. In addition to point of sale functionality, AmberPOS incl...Read more about AmberPOS

4.1 (53 reviews)

35 recommendations

NetSuite

With an integrated system that includes ERP, financials, commerce, inventory management, HR, PSA, supply chain management, CRM and more – NetSuite enables fast-growing businesses across all industries to work more effectively by a...Read more about NetSuite

4.1 (1454 reviews)

27 recommendations

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Windward System Five

Windward Software's Windward System Five helps small to midsize businesses manage their operations by providing an integrated point of sale and accounting solution with real-time inventory management. Windward System Five is ...Read more about Windward System Five

3.8 (188 reviews)

15 recommendations

Agiliron

Agiliron cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) solution is designed to serve both in-store and mobile businesses as well as online sales channels. The system offers a host of features that work in tandem with the point-of-sale solution,...Read more about Agiliron

4.5 (41 reviews)

15 recommendations

Bravo Store Systems

Bravo Store Systems empowers small businesses innovative point of sale solutions. Bravo is the leading provider of an all in one Point of Sale (POS) solutions tailored for a diverse range of industries. With a deep understanding...Read more about Bravo Store Systems

4.7 (40 reviews)

15 recommendations

Epicor for Retail

Epicor retail POS and business management solutions are designed to help independent retailers work smarter, not harder. With more than 45 years of experience built-in, Epicor retail solutions help retailers in nearly 8,000 locati...Read more about Epicor for Retail

4.0 (5 reviews)

12 recommendations

Paladin Point of Sale and Inventory Management

For over 40 years, Paladin Data Corp. has been helping independent retail businesses run better. Paladin point of sale (POS) and inventory management software automates time-consuming inventory chores and provides business owners ...Read more about Paladin Point of Sale and Inventory Management

4.6 (21 reviews)

10 recommendations

MyPOS Connect

Designed for independent and enterprise retailers, MyPOS Connect is a SOC2 compliant, cloud-hybrid POS solution that allows businesses to create a POS experience for any retail business function and optimize customer engagement, s...Read more about MyPOS Connect

4.5 (41 reviews)

9 recommendations

Ordorite

Ordorite offers a fully end-to-end management software solution for furniture, bedding and related retailers. The system can manage every aspect of your business from point of sale, inventory control, warehouse management, deliver...Read more about Ordorite

3.7 (3 reviews)

9 recommendations

AIM

AIM is a secure end-to-end point of sale (POS) business solution that can be used in any retail environment. This retail management solution features customizable menus and screens, inventory management, complete POS activity and ...Read more about AIM

4.1 (200 reviews)

7 recommendations

SimpleConsign

SimpleConsign’s point of sale (POS) and inventory management software is the system of choice for the resale industry. With SimpleConsign, you can make transactions easy for customers and staff, manage multiple types of inventory ...Read more about SimpleConsign

4.7 (359 reviews)

5 recommendations

Rapid POS

Rapid POS is a certified NCR Counterpoint point-of-sale reseller and systems integrator providing software, hardware, installation, training, and support for retail stores in North America. The POS solution fits the needs of virtu...Read more about Rapid POS

4.5 (10 reviews)

5 recommendations

GOIS Pro

Goods Order Inventory System (GOIS Pro) is a cloud-based inventory management solution that provides users with order management functionalities. It caters to businesses of all sizes across various industry verticals. GOIS Pr...Read more about GOIS Pro

4.5 (8 reviews)

5 recommendations

STORIS

STORIS is the leading provider of modern technology solutions for home furnishings, bedding, and appliance retailers. From your showrooms and eCommerce website to your distribution centers, STORIS will enhance the customer experie...Read more about STORIS

4.3 (48 reviews)

3 recommendations

CellSmart POS

CellSmart POS is an all-in-one point-of-sale solution for cell phone and electronic store owners. We provide a full POS solution for business owners so that they can manage everything from new/used inventory coming in, to tracking...Read more about CellSmart POS

4.5 (17 reviews)

2 recommendations

Furniture Wizard

Furniture Wizard is an inventory management solution for retail stores and wholesale firms in the furniture industry. This solution is built to eliminate time-consuming tasks related to daily operations and helps customer service ...Read more about Furniture Wizard

No reviews yet

2 recommendations

iVend Retail

iVend Retail by CitiXsys is an integrated POS software application delivered on cloud. Our SaaS platform empowers retailers to provide exceptional customer experiences throughout the entire shopper journey. iVend Retail includes c...Read more about iVend Retail

3.9 (15 reviews)

1 recommendations

PayPal

PayPal is a digital payment platform that enables businesses and individuals to pay and accept payments through an online portal without revealing any financial details. The solution is suitable for businesses of all sizes. P...Read more about PayPal

Buyers Guide

Last Updated: March 16, 2023

From a technology perspective, it’s a glorious time to be a retailer. Even the most basic retail point of sale (POS) systems on the market today have evolved into full-fledged retail management systems. In fact, "retail management system" is probably a better name for today’s POS systems, given the many features they offer.

Here’s what we'll cover:

What is Retail Management Software?

What Are the Common Features of Retail Software?

What Are the Benefits of Adopting Retail Software?

Essential Hardware for In-Store Retail Management Systems

Retail Management Software Tips for New Buyers

What is Retail Management Software?

Retail management software is technology that helps business owners drive more sales with applications that include point of sale features, inventory management, retail customer relationship management and more. These solutions often include hardware for payment terminals and can support mobile devices.

Common Features of Retail Software

There are some core features that all retail management systems offer. The complexity and breadth of these features varies between systems, but in some capacity, a retail management system should offer the following five features:

Core Retail Management Software Features

POS/Transaction automation

Automates the assignment of prices to items at checkout and processes payments. Mitigates some human error from cashiers. Adjusts inventory levels accordingly.

Inventory management

Tracks inventory levels and makes real-time adjustments as products are purchased. Alerts retailers when stock amounts drop to defined level. Allows for more efficient and detailed organization of inventory. Offers reports on inventory movement to spot trends.

Reporting and analytics

Records and analyzes sales data and business performance and turns it into easily understood reports and dashboards. Incorporates inventory figures as well as other expenses to provide accurate snapshot of revenue leaks or opportunities.

Retail customer relationship management (CRM)

Stores customer information and purchase history. Enables retailers to track contact information, key dates such as birthdays and anniversaries and preferred items to market to customers.

Employee management

Completes tasks such as shift scheduling. Often provides ability to clock in and out. Keeps track of employees’ hours for payroll. Can also assign sales commissions.

For single-store retailers, a retail management system offering these core features is likely more than enough power to get you going.

For retailers with an online store or more than one brick-and-mortar location, there are some extra features you might want to consider folding into your retail management system. These additional feature could include:

Advanced Retail Management Features

Merchandise management

Enables in-depth structure and organization of inventory management, often broken into assigned stock keeping units (SKUs). Provides analytics for pinpointing purchasing trends. Interacts between multiple stores to create one master merchandise repository.

Warehouse management

Automates the tracking, locating and management of inventory within a warehouse. Commonly includes capabilities such as positioning/locating system for products, order receiving and invoice management.

Business intelligence

Similar to the retail reporting and analytics capabilities of a POS system, but with increased detail to accommodate larger businesses, e.g., multi-store data integration and analysis.

Benefits of Adopting Retail Software

A properly implemented retail management system should help business owners drive more sales, better manage inventory, efficiently direct employees and get back more time in the day due to process automations.

More specifically, the benefits of using a retail management solution include:

Increased efficiency at checkout. Perhaps the most important benefit of retail software is the improvement at the point of transaction for both employees and customers. Retail systems integrate with credit card processors, cash drawers, digital displays, receipt printers and barcode scanners to minimize transaction completion times.

Improved inventory and merchandise management. As you and your retailer peers know, maintaining proper inventory levels is a delicate dance. This is especially difficult with little or no software support for tracking and controlling inventory. Insights gained from inventory and merchandise management features provide unparalleled transparency for managing stock levels. For example, bakery software helps manage inventory for ingredients and products used at a bakery.

Actionable customer management insights. Retail CRM applications enable you to learn about and track customers, so you can offer more personalized interactions. Customer databases that house purchase histories, contact information and even loyalty program profiles allow for targeted emails and other marketing promotions. Developing a strong repeat customer base is often dependent upon the effectiveness of your CRM.

Overall increased efficiency and transparency into business. Retail management software eliminates much of the grueling time spent completing tedious manual processes. This gives you time back to spend deepening relationships with customers, monitoring and training employees and optimizing inventory and business performance.

Essential Hardware for In-Store Retail Management Systems

In our breakdown of what exactly a POS system is, we outline some key hardware features that should not be overlooked. These same must-have tools apply to new retail management software as well. Don’t let consideration for the following retail hardware slip through the cracks:

Crucial POS Hardware Components

Hardware-components-necessary-for-a-retail-software-system

If you’re looking to upgrade from a POS to a system with more retail management features, you likely already have most of this hardware. If so, you’ll want to make sure any existing hardware is compatible with a new retail management solution.

If this is your first system, you need to get all of these pieces in place.

Retail Management Software Tips for New Buyers

When it comes to reviewing and choosing your new retail management system, the many considerations and options can make it a daunting task. Our survey of software buyers (from a variety of industries) uncovered some effective, commonly-used tactics that work best for building a case and making a decision between systems. The most recommended methods from the survey include:

  • Research what’s available in the market. Begin by building a baseline understanding of what the market looks like in terms of common features, additional applications, prices, deployment models etc. Keep an eye out for industry terms or jargon that you’ll need to understand when working with vendors. Software provider websites are a good resource for this initial research.

  • Define and prioritize your business needs. Make a detailed list of what you want your new system to accomplish. Begin by gathering common pain points of current software or processes. Task managers with reaching out to employees to learn what would make their roles easier. Create a formal needs document you can share with vendors to keep the scope of conversation focused on your specific requirements.

  • Evaluate solutions based on demos and user reviews. Consulting retail software reviews is a fantastic way to start evaluating and eliminating specific systems from the running. Once you’ve narrowed down your choices to a list of three to five systems, you can start participating in software demos to get a snapshot of the different solutions in action and assess the usability and functionality firsthand.