Every storefront needs a point-of-sale system to conduct business. However, it’s gotten extremely difficult to choose the right one as the market has expanded. And not only is there more competition, but the number of features they include has increased significantly.
What Is a Point-of-Sale System?
A point-of-sale system, or POS, is what a customer uses to purchase from your store or website. The point-of-sale system adds up the cost of the products in the cart, calculates tax, creates a receipt, and most importantly, accepts the payment.
In its simplest form, you can think of a traditional cash register.
However, as we all know, everything has gotten more complicated over the years. And a simple POS just won’t cut it for many small businesses in 2024. Thus, every small business needs to find a POS system that matches their needs.
For example, if you are in retail, you need to find retail point-of-sale software. Each business type is different, and as you would expect, so are the solutions each one uses.
The Best Point-of-Sale (POS) Systems of 2024
1. Lightspeed
Lightspeed is another excellent tablet-based POS system that supports both retail and restaurant business types. It has a variety of plans and add-ons to help businesses purchase what they need like the eCommerce add-on for those who plan to have an online shop.
The name, Lightspeed, isn’t just for show either. This is because the developers add new features fast.
Unfortunately, the way business is being conducted has changed significantly as a result of Covid-19. And to help businesses with the transition, in October 2020, Lightspeed launched Order Ahead.
This service provides additional options to help restaurants offer more pickup and delivery options.
It has a plethora of features that businesses can take advantage of including contactless payments, customer loyalty programs (reward point systems), stock import options, and help with seating arrangements.
Benefits of Lightspeed
- The newly launched Order Ahead helps restaurants cope with Covid-19
- Create customer loyalty programs to boost customer retention
- Easily update seating arrangments in your restaurant
Price of Lightspeed
- Basic starts at $69 a month
- Starter starts at $99 a month
- Standard starts at $119 a month
- Advanced starts at $169 a month
- Pro starts at $229 a month
2. TouchBistro
TouchBistro was a POS system built specifically for restaurants, and as a result, it’s one of the best ones you can pick. Restaurants have different needs from retail stores, thus they need a different solution.
However, there is a fair share of overlap with traditional POS systems.
In the past, restaurants have taken orders with pen and paper. And many still do to this day. But more and more kitchens are switching to iPads (tablets). This is because the moment you take the order, it is sent directly to the kitchen. So it shouldn’t be a surprise that this offers some of the best iPad support.
On top of this, there are a variety of features that include telling waiters which items are out of stock, inventory management, credit card processing, in-app messaging to keep communication between the kitchen and staff and much more.
Benefits of TouchBistro
- Amazing iPad and tablet support
- In-app messaging to help improve employee communication
- Track tables and manage seating from any iPad
Price of TouchBistro
- POS License starts at $69 dollars a month
- Add Gift Card support for $25 dollars a month
- Add Online Ordering for $50 dollars a month
- Reservation support starts at $229 dollars a month
3. Square Point of Sale
Square Point of Sale is one best POS systems on this list because it has multiple options for different businesses. These include options for retail, restaurants, and professional services like hairstylists, repair shops, and health care.
Thus, regardless of your business type, this POS supports it.
As you can expect, each business type will find features that are specifically made for them to make doing business a breeze. For instance, hairstylists have access to an excellent interface to keep track of appointments.
One of the biggest advantages of Square Point of Sale is the way they handle pricing. Unlike other POS systems, you don’t pay for the software on a monthly or annual basis. Instead, you pay a small fee for every time you make a sale, which can help cut the initial costs from traditional POS plans.
Benefits of Square Point of Sale
- Supports a variety of business types
- No upfront costs for the software
- Excellent online store support
Price of Square Point of Sale
- The software is free to use and only collects payments when you make a sale
- The processing rate is currently 2.6% + ¢10 per tap or swipe
4. Quickbooks Point of Sale
Quickbooks Point of Sale is an excellent choice for any business that uses Intuit Quickbooks for accounting. They connect seamlessly, which can help save time managing your business’s finances.
However, that’s only one advantage of using this POS.
Some of the key features include gift card support, automatic inventory updates to prevent selling more than you have, manage inventory across multiple stores, accept payments on mobile phones and tablets, and much more.
Something quite unique to Quickbooks Point of Sale is that it comes with customer relationship management tools that help you identify trends to improve sales. After all, knowing what your customer likes can help you make good recommendations or help entice future consumers.
Benefits of Quickbooks Point of Sale
- Fully integrates with Intuit Quickbooks accounting
- Automatic inventory updates
- Supports a variety of business types and multiple store locations
Price of Quickbooks Point of Sale
- POS Basic is available for a one-time payment of $1,200
- POS Pro is available for a one-time payment of $1,700
- The POS Multi-Store package is a one-time payment starting at $1,900
5. NCR Silver
NCR Silver is a point-of-sale system that aims to please both small and large businesses. It even has hooks so that enterprises can customize it to what they need.
While it offers a lot of good things, I need to mention that it lacks its own payment processing solution.
Thus, you will need to get that from a different source. NCR Silver supports multiple hardware options from traditional iPads, to a mobile interface. The hardware you can use depends on what plan you sign up for.
Thanks to this plan-based system, stores have the freedom to scale up as they need, so you can rest easy knowing that NCR Silver can scale up to meet your business needs.
Benefits of NCR Silver
- Easy setup by yourself, or have an agent help
- 24/7 customer support
- Easily access detailed sales reports
Price of NCR Silver
- Pricing is not public. Contact them for a quote.
6. Revel
Revel is a cloud-based POV system you can use through a tablet at access it through the internet at multiple locations. It utilizes a simple UI that helps streamline the checkout process at your establishment.
It has all of the standard features you would expect from a POS system.
One of the standout features would be the customer information. You can mark some customers as repeat customers. This will use the data they input such as name, address, and so on, or the system will remember the last four digits of a credit card they used.
It’s like a mini-CRM software built-in that can benefit places that rely on local clientele. You can also see over 30 different reports to get an idea of how your business is operating at any given time.
Benefits of Revel
- Display images of products to help staff
- Includes a payroll log
- Learn how to use Revel with “Revel University”
Price of Revel
- Revel does not make its pricing public. You must contact them for a quote.
7. Erply
Erply is one of the most customizable point-of-sale systems on this list. It works excellently in both an online and in-store environment, which makes it a great choice for any retail store or restaurant.
And you can expect a lot of features to use.
Some of the key ones include cloud-based storage and encryption to protect your data, training demos to help you get started, import tools for other POS systems, loyalty program support, and plenty of more useful features.
One of the most interesting highlights Erply offers, through add-ons, is the self-checkout option. That’s right, you can let your customers check themselves out if it fits your business model.
This works great for quick-service restaurants like sandwich shops or pizza parlors.
Benefits of Erply
- Supports a self-checkout option
- Data encryption and backups included
- Import tools make it easy to switch
Price of Erply
- POS without inventory costs $39 a month
- Inventory + POS costs $99 a month
- An Enterprise plan is available upon request
8. Bindo POS
Closing out the list of the top point-of-sale systems is the excellent Bindo POS. It has solutions for both retail stores and restaurants, so it’s perfect for most small business structures.
And it has one of the best user interfaces available.
The software is feature-rich and some of the more noteworthy ones include the ability to apply discounts at any time during a transaction, gift card support, detailed analytic reports to help keep track of what’s selling well, and inventory management.
Bindo POS offers customer relationship management (CRM) tools as well. These help you keep data about your customers which improves their experience and helps you suggest products they are interested in.
Benefits of Bindo POS
- Includes CRM tools to help you improve customer relations
- Discounts can be applied at any time during a transaction
- Inventory management helps keep your store and online shop linked
Price of Bindo POS
- Prices are available upon request
When Does My Business Need A Point-of-Sale System?
The moment you open your doors to customers and plan to make a sale is the moment you need a POS system. This allows you to enter the price information, update your inventory when a sale is made, ensure a quick checkout, and so much more.
It is not possible to open a business without one.
Match Your Business Type
Every business is unique, and the solution you use will also be unique. As such, the POS software you choose needs to meet your needs.
Thus, carefully analyze how you will conduct business and choose the most appropriate software.
Which point-of-sale system did you choose? How did the type of business you run influence the choice?
