RetailSTAR 2026: Benefits, Features & Pricing

We have been using retail management software from Cam Commerce Solutions since August 1, 1997. Our store consists of ten departments within a 22,000 square foot building. We carry over 40,000 active products from Estee Lauder and Clinique cosmetics, Brighton jewelry and handbags, TrollBeads, John Medeiros jewelry, Vera Bradley, women's and children's clothing, Hallmark greeting cards, home décor and decorative accessories, dinnerware, kitchen and gourmet products, natural products, pharmaceuticals, hearing aids, giftware, bath & body items, toys, books, gourmet candy and cookware. Last summer we added another checkout in our children's department making a total of eleven POS stations on the sales floor. The main reason I chose CAM Commerce Solutions back in 1997 was the fact that their system tracked each and every customer’s purchase and allowed us to target our direct mail advertising to those customers based on what products they bought during a specified period of time. Our customers are impressed with the ability of the Retail Star system to keep track of their purchase history. If a person wants to know what color Estee Lauder eye shadow she purchased six months ago, our sales associates have the data at their fingertips. If a mother forgot what brand of vitamins she purchased for her child three months ago, we just look it up for her at the POS station. CAM's Report Star application is the best I've ever used. Customized real-time reporting is a snap and large segments of data can be analyzed in just a few minutes. I can generate any report I could possibly need to run the business. It’s very easy to use and displays the results on-screen for review prior to printing. It will also convert the report to an Excel file so I can play with the numbers to my heart's content. Taking physical inventory has always been a chore, but with Retail Star and wireless portable data terminals, we completed our inventory in record time last January (2016) Purchase order receiving is a breeze because our wireless PDT is directly connected in real time to the Retail Star product table. If an item isn't in the database, the device audibly notifies the user so the product can be added to the system in product maintenance. Retail Star will create a purchase order based on various criteria and then allow us to transmit the order to the vendor electronically. We've been using this process since 2003. It cut the time it took for orders to arrive from a major cosmetic company by 50% and increased inventory turns. Driving traffic with frequent sales and promotions is another key to success in the competitive retail environment of today. Running items on sale and creating promotions is easy and fast with Retail Star. Last spring (2016), there were significant improvements to the sales promotion application within the Retail Star system which further automates and reduces checkout time because sales associates are not required to manually edit the sale price to match a specific promo in our marketing campaigns. I could go on and on about the features, advantages, and benefits of Cam Commerce Solution's Retail Star POS system. It would be difficult to imagine a retail operation that is more complex than Tobin’s, especially when you add the fact that we also provide first class pharmacy services. If Retail Star can handle our business, I’m confident it can handle yours.

We have been using a POS system to help run our business since 1987. Our store consists of ten departments within a 22,000 sf bldg. Our business will be 103 yrs old in July. We have over 100,000 items in our database and 11 POS stations on the sales floor. I chose CAM back in 1997 because their system tracked every customer purchase and allowed us to target our direct mail advertising to those customers based on what products they bought during a specified period of time. Customized reporting is a snap and large segments of data can be analyzed in just a few minutes. It's easy to use and displays the results on-screen for review prior to printing. Physical inventory was taken in record time last January using the wireless PDT provided by CAM. The PDT also makes purchase order receiving a breeze because it's directly connected in real time to the Retail Star product table. If an item isn't in the database, the device audibly notifies the user so the product can be added to the system. RS will create a purchase order based on various criteria and then allow us to transmit the order to the vendor using EDI.. It cut the time it took for orders to arrive from a major cosmetic company by 50%. Driving traffic with frequent sales promotions is another key to success in today's competitive retail environment. Running items on sale and creating promotions is easy and fast with RS. Recently, there have been many improvements to the sales promotion application within the RS system which further reduces checkout time. I could go on and on about the features and benefits of the Retail Star POS system. I didn't rate the system with five stars because there is always room for improvement. Due to the complexity of the retail environment and the large number of variables that occur at POS, there will always be enhancements that can make the system better. If you're looking for a retail management solution that is problem free, good luck. There will always be glitches but with almost 19 years of history with CAM, I can attest that they will concentrate development resources on problems that are business critical and have always been receptive to enhancement requests. By the way, Tobin's has been accepting and reading the new EMV chip based credit cards since last November using the Ingenico ISC250 signature capture device. We beat many of the major big box department stores to the draw on that one!

We started out as a one store antiques/gift/home decor/children's clothes store and bought Retail Star in 2002. Since then, we opened a second location in 2004 and have just closed the second store at the end of 2011. We had never used another system before, so there was a learning curve. If I had it to do all over again, I would have bought something else. The same negative comments I have read here sound like a broken record. Lacking customer support, multiple bugs in the software, sitting on hold sometimes for more than 30 minutes just to get a live person during a major crash, no return phone calls, and varying levels of expertise in tech support. If I called and left a message that I wanted to buy something, then I received a call back quickly. If I just wanted support, no one wanted to listen. The supplies they offer as a "convenience" are outrageously expensive, and can be found much cheaper online from multiple other sources. They nickel and dime you for everything. And, when the company was sold, they insisted that I purchase additional licenses for thousands of dollars if I wanted any of the updates. So, I didn't do it and haven't updated in quite awhile. We can still ring up sales and run a few reports. Since I stopped the updates, I went from having to call my IT company from every week to now about three or four times a year. The barcode software that they sold me was extremely complicated. I had to use outside IT companies to install it and maintain it, and it was not user friendly. Then just when we thought we had learned it, CAM stopped supporting it. Naturally, they wanted to sell me something else. Now it has bugs in it. When I go to enter a PO, it not only enters the items from the company I am working with, but it also enters about 30 items from a previously existing PO. So when I print out, all these barcodes that I don't need print with the others. New equivalent software would cost me about $1,000. So we are just not using barcodes anymore. I still pay for "limited" support (just weekdays), because if you ever have to call tech support and you're not on a support plan, you have to pay hourly. So, you can imagine if it takes 30 minutes or more just to get a live person what this would cost. Also, if you want a hand held mobile inventory gadget, you have to pay not only for the gadget, but you pay additional support fees just for that. Before I bought this software, I went around to about 20 different retail stores in the metro Atlanta area. I could not find one clerk who actually liked the POS software they were being required to use. I thought I was really getting something special when the CAM sales rep sat in my living room for about 3 hours demonstrating all the bells and whistles of RetailStar. He made it sound so easy and so reasonable. They know that once you have invested all that money (thousands of dollars) and you have all that customer history and all that time put into barcoding the zillions of items in your store, you really can't afford to ditch them anytime soon. Now that I am 10 years plus, I am investigating other software. Good luck out there. It's not easy being in retail, and RetailStar doesn't make it any easier.

Very good reporting features, can be as simple or in-depth as needed with a large variety of options. Gift card integration is seamless and customer profile and purchase tracking are great. A very good system if you take the time to learn it.

I am shocked those complaining and providing low marks on their reviews of this software and it's company the way they have. You received free software and now you are complaining that you have to pay at some point to continue and grow. I've looked, researched and priced them and their competitors. They are not only reasonable, but lower in most areas. I am very proficient at IT work and do much of it for my Retail Store, yet I paid to have my systems professionally installed and have that peace of mind because this is my business. They offer Training and Installation onsite as well as over the phone, you can save some money by doing it via the phone. They are after all, a business of their own. It boils down to this - this is how I make my money and pay my bills. It's not a hobby, it's my business, cutting corners is usually and most often not a good idea. This company that has bent over backwards to help me and this past Christmas was no exception. When one of my systems died, they were on the phone with us resolving it as best and as quickly as possible. It's not their fault I have been running that specific system for the past 5 years without ever cleaning it or updating it, it's hardware - it doesn't last forever. In fact 5 years, it paid for itself and ten-fold. I swim in the smaller pond, CAM has enabled me to swim well. The fact is, it takes money to make money, it costs to run a Retail Store, and in order to be successful at anything you have to invest time, effort and money. Take care of the store, it’s equipment, and work with their support people to get resolutions to the problems. No software is perfect and without bugs. Invest the time to learn it so you can effectively use it. I’ve had other POS from other companies and trust me, I’ve never had a better experience than I have running my POS from CAM Commerce. Their people have shown me time and time again that they actually care and do their best to overcome anything and everything.

As I invested a lot of money in this system, I am trying to make it work. I asked to renew my help desk support this year and was asked to take down my negative comments before they would renew my help desk support. I found this company to be very shady and not forthcoming with a lot of the hidden fees or features of the product. I highly recommend going with anyone other than this company

This company and software failed us and nearly ended a successful 14-year business but only due to our loyal customers were we able to stay in business and have committed to finding other software and support as soon a possible. Even when confronted with the problem the company acknowledged they were wrong but refuse to make good on the contract.

Pros: Does basic cash register and the inventory function adequately. Nothing else good about it. Cons: Here's the laundry list: - Pricey - To use the reporting function, you'd be required to have the same expertise as a trained computer engineer. The reporting function seems to be designed by a software nerd who thinks that making this function easy for people to use would be to invoke the wrath of some wookie god! - Constant crashes if you have the networked version, reliability a major issue, expect to be always on the service contract and be always on the phone to iron out issues rather than focusing on customers and sales - There are better more robust systems out there if you want to integrate the accounting and web sales functionality with you brick and mortar stuff A bit of history lesson is in order here: Back in the mid 2000's, they used to give away their RETAIL-ICE stand-alone version for free at trade shows which is how they caught a lot of unsuspecting simpletons like myself in their web. Problems arise when you sign up for the licensed version to network the systems and use it more productively. The parent company, CamCommerce, was acquired by a Co. based POS SW company a few years ago and the new management's credo seems that since a whole lot of people leeched off their system for free for years, anybody wanting to get the full version would have to fork over $1200 of reinstatement fees and then pay upwards of $2500 just get the basic stand-alone version! That still would not include the support without which this SW would not even operate for one hour, forget about giving you trouble-free performance for years on end. So to cap it all, do yourself a favor and look elsewhere if you are a small fish in the retail sea. This will only bring you more trouble and headaches and prevent you from focusing on the important things in business like customers and employee morale. Be warned!

Our employees HATE this program. DO NOT BUY!!!

I have had several problems with Cam in the past-the upgrade to chip readers was a disaster. Part of the problem may have been with Xcharge-but it took a long time to resolve. have gotten through that and hopefully all is well now. I think the program is fairly intuitive to use for most people. I think the support is high monthly since they want you to pay training for many questions.