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.

Report writing application (Report Star) is fantastic! Targeting customers through direct mail marketing based on purchase history. Ability to set up promotional pricing at POS. Example: Purchase an item for $15.00 that normally sells for $29.00 with the purchase of 3 greeting cards. When the third card is scanned, the price of the promotional item changes from $29.95 to $15.95 automatically at POS. Basic POS functionality is excellent. Returns, Special orders, and layaways are a breeze. Gift card sales and redemption work great. We've been using EMV signature capture devices since November 2015. EDI ordering with major vendors works very well.

The price change utility can be somewhat cumbersome due to the inability to select and delete multiple items from a price change batch. Items must be individually deleted. I believe development is working on this issue.

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.

Powerful reporting with custom report options and build from the ground up report wizard. Customer purchase tracking and reporting built in.

Complicated, hard to learn for our less computer savvy employees. Buggy, crashes occasionally. If you pay for the tech support they are pretty good at getting things running again but sometimes I feel like I know more about the system than they do. Costly, not an cheap system to buy and the hardware and supplies are usually higher priced than you find elsewhere for the same products (printers, barcode scanners, price tags, etc).

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.

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.

The POS is easy to use even if you are not computer savy. I like the ability to reference receipts by name and for exchanges. People love the rewards program (FB).

The monthly cost is high, and when there is an upgrade they want to charge on top of that for help.

Overall, this POS system is pretty easy to use, very direct, and once you learn more about it, very helpful! There are a lot of great tools and functions to use for everyday operations, and always more to explore!

The ease of reporting, getting sales and Inventory. The majority of tech support is very helpful when it comes to alleviating problems/issues, quickly.

Polling... This has to be one of the worst features of this software. It seems there are issues with this everyday, and we can only get ahead of it every once in a while. On going problem area.

Overall we like Retail Star as our POS software provider. Like any software it has it's good and bad but overall it functions for our needs perfectly. Customer service is very easy to reach and seems to answer all our questions and if the cannot resolve it right then they find the solution and call back. Overall I would recommend this software for any business as it is easy to follow functions well in a retail environment. .

It ease of use.

Some areas of the software seem to be setup for a clothing retail store.

I would have given them higher marks if our company could use any Credit Card processor integrated into the Retail Star Point of Sale System.

Ability to track sales.

Can't use any Credit Card Processor has to be their Credit Card Processor if you want it integrated with Retail Star.

We are pretty new to the Retail star so I am not sure if you can take what I will say about this program to heart. I feel like we were trained on the basics and still are trying to learn the program. We haven't been trained in some areas and not even sure if we are ready to be trained there even though it may make things a little easier. When I have called support which has been maybe twice (myself) at least once I was asked weren't you trained on this? Which I told him I probably was but not sure and if I was I haven't used it so I don't remember it. I am not trying to complain about the trainers. It's just different training over the phone than in person. I just think the training should be longer and not cost extra and we need some sort of manual to reference back to. This would make it easier and I wouldn't feel like I am going to a thousand places just trying to find how to do something. I am sure this is an awesome program it you know how to use it properly.

That i can scan an item to sell

More than you want to know at this point. If we knew how to use it correctly I wouldn't feel this way.

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.

nothing

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

The reporting is great - easy to use and there are a lot of different reports to help manage inventory.

Customer service is non-existent. I couldn't even get an answer from their team on day of install. They promised me lots of features and benefits, that I found out were 'in the works' once I purchased the system. They sold me 3 'new' computers, which I later found out were over 5 years old and had to be replaced within a year. The system seems to have been built by a lot of different developers and it is not consistent throughout. It is counter-intuitive and difficult to manage. It also freezes often and is incredibly slow.

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 nothing positive to say about this program. We are not happy with our purchase of this software.

System crashes when interfacing with QuickBooks, NOT user friendly, Horrible training (sink or swim on your live day), customer support not good, Special Orders are difficult, Estimates or Quotes can not be turned into orders, Every week I have to make a AJE in QuickBooks to balance Inventory and A/R to Retail Star. Had to pay for a "custom" statement to be designed. I was not able to send out statements for 4 months after "live day".

Been using this since I started my position in 2010. easy & reliable so 1 thing I don't have to worry about in the "crazy" of retail.

Really easy to use. Drop down menus & simple to grasp. Taught myself most everything because it just made sense that things would work the way they do.

Doesn't have as many bells & whistles as some systems but they a) aren't needed in my shop and b) usually just seem like a new area for problems so I'm great without them!

We have used Retail STAR since 2006. The migration from a Unix-based solution went smoothly and Retail STAR is continuously updated.

The depth of custom reporting is great!

After updates, some features require more clicks of the mouse to accomplish what we used to do. This is due to increased functionality but our employees didn't care for it.

There Technical Support is great ...the personal have always been very helpful and patient with our people...we are the largest and most successful Halloween store in New York City...when busy, during season, we have 18 registers going and 7 back office client computers...total craziness ...we have been using Retail Star since 2003 and it has gotten the job done when we need it the most ...fast, efficient, and with great detail sales reports, it has been a partner that has helped our business to be so successful.

My people are not always happy about the upgrades because they do not like change... but in end it is all for better, once they get use to the new system

This software is adaptable to nearly any situation. Great training and support. If you need a solution that does more than just the basics, this is the one. User feed back is valued and new features are continually added.

Functionality and adaptability. Ease of use.

We have been a customer of Cam Commerce for over 20 years and on Retail Star for 9 years. Our company is focused on retailing, and only retailing. Retail Star offers a great, easy to use retail software program with a fast, easy POS system to operate the registers and wonderful back office operations so that we can focus on being retailers. But, my favorite feature is the report writer. Honestly, you can get so much data out of the database it will make your mind spin. The flexibility of the reports really helps in looking at your data from all sorts of different points of view. You can really make your stores improve sales performances by uses the reports wisely. The program is very stable, and so we do not have many tech calls. But, when we do have to call support, the Retail Star tech team is awesome. They are very easy to work with and are excellent problem solvers. What we do not want, or need, is an IT department and CAM offers us such a strong Tech Support team, that we do not need one.

This is not a CAM issue, but I wish we could get rid of the EMV chip readers. They are a pain in the rear.

Our old system just didn’t do what we needed to do, it didn’t have all the options that Retail STAR offers. Retail STAR makes it easier to look up information, and quickly compile an email list. Easier for sales people to look up their customer’s history and easy to look up inventory. Our favorite function of RetailSTAR is to be able to look up someone’s credit to tell them when it was used and what it was used for, even if it’s been 5 years ago that they used the credit. We love, love CAM’s tech support; it doesn’t matter who answers the call, the person always remains calm, can read what has been done on prior support calls, and always repairs all issues - they are great! Our sales person, Dina, gives us great support she really cares about her customers. Dina is absolutely great, believable and non-salesman like. Dina gets involved in all their issues and gets them resolved. Dina is amazing, we could not say enough about Dina. Love Dina! Customer check out is so easy, receipts are easy to read. We can see what the customer bought in the past - sizes, and quantities. When the customer doesn’t remember what they liked, we can look back and check for them, cause it stores their history. RetailSTAR is simple, easy to use, and user friendly.

RetailSTAR is by far the best POS system our staff has used. CAM Commerce provided us with hands-on training to quickly onboard all our staff, and we have since improved the customer experience at checkout. The backend is powerful, yet easy to use, and allows me to track inventory and ensure accurate stock levels. With the holiday season approaching I am confident in our ability to keep up. Overall, great retail solution!

I particularly like that all the functionality is provided in a single platform. This helps me streamline my daily processes. I offer gift cards and manage markdowns which have increased sales and customer satisfaction throughout our 10 stores. RetailSTAR also provides my accounting staff with exactly what they need including a balance sheet that is up to date.

They were willing to help at the last minute which was a big deal to us.

The support staff is knowledgeable and quick to help or research an issue. The top tier support team knows the ins and outs of this system.

There are some proprietary components not accessible to the common user. This is normal and meant as a precautionary mechanism to protect the software from mistakes.

This is an easy to use system for my small one person store. I don't need or use the fancy bells and whistles; basically, just the POS, inventory and customer database, which works great for me. I upgraded from the free Retail ICE program years ago. The customer support was great helping with the upgrade and the monthly fee (no, not free anymore) is reasonable.

easy, great customer database

too much...I only need a fraction of what's available (and I wish it were still free and basic!)

I made the mistake of purchasing CAM software for the gift shops I oversee. Unfortunately because of the size of the business and the website component we have been forced to continue with this system. CAM has not only been the worst company regarding customer service and fees, but in addition, there software has so many problems that it is a daily task to try and keep this system running. Thanks god I have the help of 2-3 highly trained IT people that work for this organization in other areas who have been able to help. However, every time there is an upgrade to fix all of the current problems more problems are created. Countless error reports, Error messages, Random shut downs, Polling/communications issues leading to additional incorrect reports.

It is very easy to train new employees to use this software. The tech support is wonderful. They will stay with you until your problem is solved.

Only thing I would change is there are some minor differences in the way different modules work which is most likely because a different programmer wrote it. I notice it because I have been using it over 15 years but none of my staff do so probably not a big deal.