Cloud Based Point of Sale Systems: Things to Keep in Mind

2015 has really been the year for cloud and mobile point of sale systems for retail stores, restaurants and museums. About 65% of the businesses and organizations that contact me are only considering point of sale systems that work on mobile devices and are cloud based.  A few things to keep in mind if you are looking at the cloud based point of sale systems like Clover, Vend, Lavu, Shopkeep, Lightspeed, or Silver...

1. In most cases the cloud based point of sale systems will only cost around 10%-30% less than a point of sale system that you lease to own or purchase outright (eg: Retail Pro, Sapphire, NCR CounterPoint, Retail management Hero, Etc.).  This assumes that you plan on keeping your point of sale system for 5-7 years and that you pay an ongoing monthly fee to use a cloud based point of sale system (which normally also includes support and updates).
2. You lose some control when using a cloud based point of sale system. Best example is that a traditional point of sale system puts all the hardware, software, and data onsite within your business or organization. If a router fails, you simply replace it.  With the cloud based point of sale systems you have no control if their router breaks or if their server goes down. Look at the reviews for any cloud based point of sale system and see that users mention outages lasting several hours. The point of sale companies tout off line modes or similar features but the reality is that system wide failures are possible and there is nothing you can do about it when it comes to cloud based point of sale systems.
3. Ownership: most cloud based systems are rented so you never actually own anything - very easy on your budget but you have to be comfortable with this pricing structure.
4. Hidden fees and contracts: I've been very disappointing with several of the cloud based point of sale systems who require long term contracts with early termination fees and limitations on who you can use for your credit and debit card processing services. As with any point of sale system, due diligence is required on your part when it comes to reading and signing any agreements or contracts.

Now, this may all sound somewhat negative but I actually do feel that some of the cloud based point of sale systems are great solutions (I've previously used, sold, and supported several).  However, they are only good solutions in one or more of the following situations:

• Single location or less than 10 locations with annual sales of less than $800,000 per location.
• OK with never owning the actual software but paying an ongoing fee each month.
• Low technology needs: OK with canned reports and don't have complex  inventory needs.
• No internal IT person or "computer geek": cloud based systems are generally very easy to learn and use and do not require internal IT resources.

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Businesses Leaving Shopkeep and Revel for Bindo

Interesting - I've had a few stores contact me to let me know that they recently stopped using ShopKeep. LightSpeed or Revel and have switched to Bindo point of sale.  I'm not sure on all the details but obviously something happened which was big enough to make these retail owners stop using their current point of sale systems.

I have had complaints in the past about Revel sometimes locking up when swiping a credit card as payment and past complaints about ShopKeeps tax setup - not sure if that applies in these cases or not. I'll be sure to pass along details if I get a chance to talk to any of these businesses.

I'd say things bode very well for Bindo! More reviews on Bindo POS can be found here: https://bindopos.com/reviews

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

Vape and Tobacco Stores Beware!

Just a quick note that it appears that some of the tablet or mobile point of sale systems are no longer working in retail stores that sell tobacco related products like cigars, e-cigs, vaping products and cigarettes.   This is likely due to the high risk nature of these businesses which limits the number of companies that provide merchant services to retail stores that sell tobacco related products.

There have some been stores reporting to me that there systems just stopped working and they quickly had to find a new point of sale system.

Only advice that I can offer is to be sure that both your point of sale system and whoever is handling your merchant services understands that your business sells tobacco products and will continue to support and service your type of business.

If you want to see the discussion which does mention point of sale solutions by name, you can visit this forum discussion (warning - R rated language):
http://www.reddit.com/r/electronic_cigarette/comments/28ao0k/shopify_just_abruptly_without_warning_shut_down/

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.

New Features in Shopkeep Point of Sale & Reviews/Feedback

I mentioned a few posts back that open bar tab and tip/total functions are what prevents most retail point of sale systems from being used in most food service businesses.

Well, the folks at Shopkeep have now added both the open bar tab function and tip/total functions to Shopkeep which opens up Shopkeep point of sale for iOS devices to those with food service businesses.

My main concern with Shopkeep Point of Sale is the lack of valid reviews from people actually using the Shopkeep point of sale solution here in the United States. I receive frequent calls and emails from folks asking about Shopkeep but none of us can find valid reviews from actual end users. That being said, you can find more information on the Shopkeep website at http://www.shopkeep.com/

UPDATE: I may have spoken to soon. Here is a link to a Shopkeep review but ignore the review (the person who wrote the review does not state that they have retail or restaurant management experience) and jump down to the comments to see some feedback on Shopkeep - it is pretty easy to spot the valid and invalid comments: http://www.merchantmaverick.com/reviews/shopkeep-review/


With a background in retail and restaurant management plus 15 years of working with various point of sale solutions, I have become quite skilled at pulling out the valid information in the reviews.  For those of you not wanting to read through the comments, here is what you need to know:

"As of about a week ago, suspended tickets have now been added"
"Shopkeep does not support integration with ANY webstore applications that I can find. They had made a decision to move away from Shopify in early 2013,"
"Shopkeep still has NOTHING in place to offer for web integration"
"expect the second tax rate to be available in the very near future"
"the interface seems easy and clean, and it’s a breeze to set up"
"no long-term agreements and no cancellation fees"
"The customer service is great and they are obviously a company on the right track"
"However, not having gift card integration is TERRIBLE and extremely frustrating...."
"...only one tax rate and only one special tender type…those are limitations I cannot live with."

Are you  in the US and in need of no cost retail point of sale advice?  I'm happy to help and can be reached on my cell at 208-340-5632 (I am on Mountain Time) or via email at kevinantosh@gmail.com. There is also a contact form to the right that can be used to reach me.