CPA Practice Advisor - 11

POINT-OF-SALE SYSTEMS: REVIEW
Specialty Apps Offer Basic Point of Sale Functions
Not every retail business is looking for a complete front office/
back office point of sale application. Smaller businesses, as
well as online sellers are frequently looking for an application
that allows payment acceptance from anywhere, whether
it be the corner store, a farmer's market, or a craft show.
The applications summarized here can also prove to
be useful for businesses that occasionally need to process
payments outside their regular place of business; after all
no one carries cash anymore, and offering quick and easy
payment acceptance makes it easier for the business owner
and the customer, who doesn't have to hunt down an ATM
to obtain cash.
The following is a brief summary of some of the more
popular online point of sale applications on the market today.

Square
https://squareup.com/us/en
Square bills itself as a payment
acceptance application, but also
offers a variety of retail applications, including Square Point of Sale,
which offers complete in-store and online integration. The
Square dashboard allows users to view business status at
any time, easily create and track invoices, manage customer
profiles and employees, and manage inventory from one
central location. Square also offers a variety of integrated
hardware that can be used to create an all-in-one point of
sale and payment acceptance application.
The most popular method of getting paid using Square
is by using the credit swipe device, which Square will mail
its users upon account signup. The swipe device can be
used with iPhones, iPads, and Android smartphones and
tablets, and allows users to capture customer information as
a sale is being processed, by sending payment receipts via
email. The swipe device also allows users to process credit
card payments even when internet service is unavailable,
with the payments later processing once connectivity has
been restored. Along with the standard swipe device that
can be connected to a smart phone, Square also offers the
Square Reader, for processing chip cards, and the Square
Terminal, which is an all-in-one device that accepts a variety
of payment types, including Apple Pay, Google Pay, along
with standard debit and credit cards as well as chip cards.
Square also prepares invoices that can be sent directly
to recipients via email, with invoice customization available.
For those that are interested in selling online, the Square
Online Store is available, which offers complete order
fulfillment, shipping, sales tax processing, and payment
acceptance. Those with both online and brick and mortar
stores can easily integrate sales into a single system for
more accurate reporting. Square support is centered around

a variety of help articles and a user forum, though users can
sign into the application for expedited support.
Square is free to use, with retailers only paying a per
transaction fee for each payment accepted, with pricing
starting at 2.5% with a .10 cent per transaction fee, depending on the device used to accept payment, with discounted
rates available for high-volume retailers.

Lightspeed Retail
POS
www.lightspeedhq.com
Lightspeed Retail POS offers both
point of sale and eCommerce
products. Designed to work on any
device, in-store or online, Lightspeed Retail also offers mobile
checkout capability, along with mobile reporting.
The retail desktop system offers an easily navigated
sales processing interface, with all features displayed in the
vertical menu to the left of the screen. On screen, a series
of buttons are available which include Item Search, New
Item, Import Item, Print Label, New Order, Vendor Return,
Special Order, and Inventory Counts. Users can customize
the interface to display the functions they wish to see, and
an app is available that allows users to access the account
from any mobile device. The product also accepts a variety
of payment types, with users able to process a sale from
any location.
Lightspeed Retail offers solid customer management,
with users able to add customers to the system at any time.
Customer quotes, layaways, or special orders can be easily
processed for customers, and special discounts can be
added to their account at any time. The product supports
loyalty accounts through various third-party partners, and
users can even create custom product suggestions for
customers based on their purchasing history.
Lightspeed Retail offers excellent inventory management capability, supporting multiple price levels, as well as
other pricing strategies such as discounts, coupons and promotions, bulk pricing, and giveaways. Users can set product
reorder levels, and create custom categories for products.
Lightspeed Retail supports a single store, but users can
add multi-store capability if desired. An eCommerce plan
is also available for those that sell online, integrating the
entire sales process. Reporting options are also good in
the application, with product, sales history, and category
and vendor sales reports available. A reporting dashboard
is also available that provides a summary of sales data for
all stores in real time. Lightspeed Accounting is a plug-in
that will connect Lightspeed Retail with current accounting
software including QuickBooks Desktop, QuickBooks Online,
Xero, Sage Cloud Accounting, and Exact. Product support

is available 24/7, and users can request a free trial of the
application if desired.
Retail POS from Lightspeed starts at $99 per year for a
single store, with additional stores extra. An eCommerce
option is also available that starts at $59 per month and
supports up to 250 products.

Shopify POS
www.shopify.com
Originally designed strictly for those
selling online, Shopify POS now
includes a retail store option. Shopify is available in three
versions, with users able to scale up to a more powerful
version if necessary.
Processing a sale in Shopify is easy, with the system
designed to work on a variety of devices including smart
phones and tablets for anytime/anywhere selling. Users
can accept a variety of payment types, including debit and
credit cards, gift cards, cash, and store credit, and can
split tenders, accept partial payments and even create
custom payment types as desired. Users have the option
to print or email all transaction receipts, and even create
a custom sale based on custom line items and custom
pricing. Customer profiles can be quickly created with any
new order processed, making it easy to track customer
preferences and purchasing history. An email marketing
option is available using the included email marketing apps.
Users can enter in order notes at the time of the sale, and
print or email receipts to customers.
Inventory management is solid in Shopify POS, with the
product supporting multi-location inventory tracking. Users
can organize products into categories, types, and even
seasons, and offer variations of each product. Barcodes
are supported in Shopify POS, with the ability to assign a
barcode to a product or create a new barcode. A variety
of apps are available with Shopify POS as well, including
BOGO sales, various loyalty programs and wholesale pricing.
Shopify POS offers a summary dashboard that includes
an overview of sales, orders, and web traffic. A variety of
product reports are also available in the application, including product best and worst sellers. Retail reports such as
sales by staff members, location, and time are also available.
Shopify support is available 24/7, with a free trial available
as well.
Shopify is available in three editions: Basic Shopify,
which is ideal for new businesses and starts at $2 per month;
Shopify, which is a good fit for growing businesses with a
single retail store, starts at $79 per month; and Advanced
Shopify, which is designed for businesses with multiple retail
stores, starts at $299. All versions of Shopify accept online
payments, with transaction fees billed separately.

JULY 2019 ■

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http://www.shopify.com http://www.lightspeedhq.com https://www.squareup.com/us/en http://www.CPAPracticeAdvisor.com

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