Point-of-sale has become an integral part of operations in any kind of business, including medium-sized ventures. With a POS solution, you will experience an increased pace and efficiency in processing payments, be equipped to manage both your employee and customer profiles, manage inventory, and enjoy other features that will drive your business.
In this article, we will strip the POS market of its many options to highlight the top systems that are perfect for your mid-sized business, based on the strength of their feature-set and their optimum performance in areas that will make your business thrive.
Top 8 Best POS Systems for Medium-sized Businesses
- Square — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Versatility
- Shopify — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for E-commerce
- Clover — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Simplicity
- CardConnect — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Payment
- Lightspeed — Best Medium-sized POS System for Inventory Management
- Helcim — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Low Transaction Fees
- Revel — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Multi-location Business
- ConnectPOS — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Receipt Customization
1. Square — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Versatility
PRICING: No monthly fee; transaction fee starts from 1%
Square is a prime POS system for midsize businesses, with its useful features and user-friendly design crowning its offer of zero starting fee. Square is suitable for any business looking to operate a smooth payment system; it has a credit card reader and a POS mobile app, which is integrated with Google Pay and Apple Pay. Square’s POS software features inventory management, analytics, email marketing, amongst other tools that helps you to track sales, identify customer preferences and create loyalty plans, etc.
KEY FEATURES:
- Reporting/Analytics
- Inventory Management
- Billing & Invoicing
- CRM
REASONS TO BUY:
- Ease of use
- Flexibility
- High performance
- Free to start
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Transaction fees are expensive
2. Shopify — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for E-commerce
PRICING: Basic plan is $20 a month
Shopify offers an efficient POS solution, thanks to its powerful e-commerce integration, which gives you access to real-time data between two systems. The integrated e-commerce also facilitates transactions both online and offline. The system provides your customers the option to buy online and do a physical pick up or browse your physical store and buy online. Additionally, Shopify POS offers a customization feature that enables you to modify settings in the Shopify POS app, including smart grid, autolock, display mode, language settings, etc.
KEY FEATURES:
- E-commerce integration
- Mobile app
- Customer Support
REASONS TO BUY:
- Highly functional integrated E-commerce
- Ease of use
- Flexibility
- Hardware warranty
REASONS TO AVOID
- It can not process offline card transactions
3. Clover — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Simplicity
PRICING: Monthly fee starts at $14.95
Clover is a simple POS solution suitable for all kinds of mid-sized businesses. From its seamless design to the user-friendly software, Clover offers you a hitch-free experience. You can easily set up the system and customize settings to better fit your operation. The POS allows you to process customer payments, track sales and segment customer preferences, as well as manage your customers and employees — all these you can do with an incredible amount of ease.
KEY FEATURES:
- Employer & customer management
- Reporting
- Invoicing
- Ordering online
REASONS TO BUY:
- Ease of use
- Portable variety of devices
- Flexible payment method
REASONS TO AVOID:
- High add-on transaction costs
- Software can not integrate with non-Clover hardware
4. Lightspeed — Best Medium-sized Business POS System for Inventory Management
PRICING: Standard fee is $199 a month
If you are looking to adopt an inventory management-centred point-of-sale system, Lightspeed is the most outstanding option for you. The retail POS is a cloud-based software built to mainly cater to your inventory needs. With the solution, you can track purchased items and access data on goods sales. This will enable you to identify sold-out products and determine how much of a particular good you need to buy. What’s more, Lightspeed supports e-commerce integration, which lets your customers manage inventory.
KEY FEATURES:
- Inventory management
- Accounting software integration
- E-commerce integration
- Retail store management
REASONS TO BUY:
- It is cloud-based
- Highly functional inventory management
- Satisfactory customer service
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Cumbersome to use
5. CardConnect: Best Medium-sized Business POS System For Payment
PRICING: Minimum fee is $25 a month
CardConnect may not do well against other competition if compared based on overall offering, but it is an excellent choice for processing payment. Using the CardPointe terminal, the software accepts credit card payments and runs transactions for you. It also features CardSecure, which, as its name implies, protects your card-enabled transactions using point-to-point encryption. It is a mobile solution, although you can integrate it with a Clover-owned hardware, making it a fully functional POS solution. These capabilities—processing credit card payment and providing, at least, basic POS functions— combine to make it a great hybrid solution.
KEY FEATURES:
- Point-to-point encryption
- Contactless Payments
- Interchange optimization
REASONS TO BUY:
- Highly secure card payment processing
- Instant transaction processing
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Outrageous termination fee
- Lacks its own POS hardware
- No free plan
6. Helcim — Best Medium-sized Business POS System For Low Transaction Fees
PRICING: No monthly fee; transaction fee starts at 0.3%
Helcim integrated POS software is an all-round solution for you as a mid-sized business owner. From its user-friendliness to essential features like inventory management, e-commerce integration and, most importantly, card payment processing—which offers the fairest fees you can get in its class. The transaction processing fees are very affordable, starting at 0.3%. In addition, Helcim offers interchange plus pricing, which allows you to accept ACH or EFT payments from your customer’s bank accounts at 0.5% for any transaction above $26.
KEY FEATURES:
- Invoicing & Billing
- Multiple payment integration
- Inventory management
- E-commerce integration
REASONS TO BUY:
- Affordable transaction fees
- It is cloud-based
- Free to start
REASONS TO AVOID:
- Transaction fee is relatively expensive for mid-sized businesses
7. Revel — Best Medium-sized Business POS System For Multi-location Business
PRICING: Monthly fee starts at $99
Revel POS is a cloud-based system that boasts quality management features like customer and employee management, inventory management and social media management. Revel’s management features are particularly outstanding because they provide you with real-time inventory data displayed on your admin dashboard, from different branches of your business. This means that you can create member accounts for your employees in different stores so as to track sales, order history and payment summaries. With this you can make informed loyalty plans to reward top customers, as well as identify your best-performing employees.
KEY FEATURES:
- Analytics & tracking
- Customer & employee management
- Social media integration
- Third-party integration
REASONS TO BUY:
- Impressive functionality for multi-location business
- Good customer service
- Flexible integration
REASONS TO AVOID:
- No free plan
- Isn’t suitable for upscaling
- Only supported by iPad and iOS devices
8. ConnectPOS — Best Medium-sized Business POS System For Receipt Customization
PRICING: Flexible fee based on customer’s needs
ConnectPOS is an integrated cloud-based system offering a variety of features aimed at satisfying the point-of-sale needs of your business. The mobile-supported software features real-time data synchronization, barcode scanning and accommodates various payment methods. The solution’s integration system is very compatible with almost every top POS hardware, as well as major e-commerce platforms including Shopify and Magento. Custom receipts, however, is arguably the best feature ConnectPOS has to offer. The receipt template can be designed to your taste once you purchase an Enterprise plan. Some customizable details include logo image status, customer information, receipt title, order information, etc.
KEY FEATURES:
- Custom receipts
- Barcode scanning
- Multiple payment methods
- Real-time data synchronization
REASONS TO BUY:
- Free trial
- Varying receipt customization options
REASONS TO AVOID:
- User interface is sometimes cumbersome to navigate
References and Links
- https://www.merchantmaverick.com/best-retail-pos-systems/
- https://www.quicksprout.com/best-point-of-sales-systems-pos/
- https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/16068-clover.html
- https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/helcim-review#cons
- https://www.connectpos.com/pricing/
- https://www.top10.com/merchant-services/reviews/cardconnect-paradise
- https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/small-business/lightspeed-retail-pos-review
- https://www.getapp.com/finance-accounting-software/a/square-point-of-sale/features/
- https://www.techradar.com/reviews/shopify-pos
- https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/2955-best-pos-systems.html