POS & Inventory Software

pokerface123

I'm looking for recommendations for software we can use as a till (point of sale) with integrated stock control (inventory). We will have a retail unit and an online store so it would be great if this could be considered.
I've looked at google and can see there are thousands of different pieces of software, but I'd really some recommendations - do you actually use POS software that you're happy with.

It's a gift and card shop, by the ways.

Thanks in advance

paulwf

The perfect EPOS system varies by the user...some shops have a high volume of customers and need a touch screen system a trainee assistant can learn in minutes. Others have a low volume of sales but need to modify prices, add serial numbers, add customer notes, set up customer accounts etc.

Bearing in mind that huge disclaimer I've found Microsoft RMS to be an excellent product. If you go onto their website you can get a free download so you can have a play with it yourself.

I'm not a huge Microsoft fan but this is one of their better products. The advantage of going with MS is firstly they aren't going to disappear overnight, a lot of EPOS systems are written by tiny companies that come and go leaving you with no support. You also own the product, be wary of companies that store your data on their server...they tie you into an expensive subscription and if the company disappears so does your data.

Microsoft products also work fairly well with their Office products and you can run them on more or less any PC and with a standard Windows set up. Some EPOS systems can be a nightmare with compatibility. You want generic equipment that can be swapped out and replaced within a day (very worst case scenario should be having to go to PC World and buying a new base unit or monitor and reloading the software and backup file, avoid anything with specialist kit).

Generally you would find a reseller who would quote for the software and hardware package and perhaps ongoing support. Shop around as it is very much "think of a number and double it", by getting 3 quotes I got a system price halved.

pokerface123

Thanks Paul

I'll take a look at Microsoft RMS. I've noticed a LOT of free or cheap software to download but as you say they're produced by small companies and you don't know how long the support will be available for.
We're also looking for a 'till' system to work with the software - any ideas / advice?

This is my first retail venture, in case you can't tell!

paulwf

pokerface123 wrote: »

We're also looking for a 'till' system to work with the software - any ideas / advice?

This is my first retail venture, in case you can't tell!

If you go down the MS route you would have one computer running the till and then you can link that via ethernet cable to another computer in the office. The second computer means you can add inventory, pull off reports and do tasks like that which makes life easier...your license is per till point but it doesn't cost any extra to have another computer link to that running just the back office functions.

Generally you'd run the till point with a standard flat screen monitor, keyboard (the ones without the number pad save space), mouse, barcode scanner, cash draw and thermal receipt printer. We kept the credit card terminal separate. For printing reports you'd generally use an office printer attached to the PC in the office. All this is fairly generic kit and consumables are fairly cheap so once up and running you can replace bits in a hurry and shop around for spares.

I haven't tried it with a touchscreen so can't comment on that side of things. Touchscreens are fairly pricey though.

A reseller should be able to quote for software, hardware, installation and basic training. As before get several quotes, I think I paid around £2K but can't remember what bits of kit I already had. It's a mid price solution, sure you can cobble something together with a laptop and free software, on the other hand another company quoted over £6K. This seemed to be a nice middle ground system.

pokerface123

Been looking into these a bit more and EPOS system seem really expensive when we don't, at the moment, know how busy or successful we'll be. I've been looking at some cash registers which you can connect to a PC - does anyone have any experience with these?

We'll be starting to trade as a market stall, when we'll just have a cash box and a notepad to record sales. But we then want to move into a permanent indoor market unit where I feel we will need a till (although I'd absolutely love an EPOS system - especially as I'll have my laptop there anyway) but I'd also absolutely love a shop and that's a bit pie in the sky due to costs. We're starting small...

paulwf

Sounds like you've got a good plan, start small and build up from there...I agree an EPOS might be a bit overkill at the moment.

Just record as much data as you can even if it is on a piece of paper that you transfer to Excel later. Of course that means you have to decide what data to record so you have to decide what will be useful in the future.

You might want to record sales in 2 ways...2 grids on a piece of paper with tally marks would work. For example record the sale by whether it is a card under £1, card under £3, soft toy, keyring or whatever. Secondly record the sale by event e.g. Christmas, Birthday, Valentines etc.

The key use of an EPOS or just recording manually is to plan how much space to devote to each type of item and what time of year to buy them in...this will do wonders to your cashflow.

To drag up my old (but true) example in the cycle industry our shop used to stock 5 red helmets, 5 blue helmets, 5 black and 5 silver. The EPOS showed nearly all sales were black or silver so stock was rationalised to 1 red, 1 blue, 9 black and 9 silver. That way we never ran out of the popular colours and so made more sales from the same amount of stock.

Another example is although autumn/winter is 6 months long winter items such as rain jackets and bike lights see 70% of their yearly sales in 1 month during autumn. So, you have to keep stock very low in summer and then ramp it up just at the right moment then know when to stop restocking. You are going to have to get it spot on in the greetings card industry...if you don't get the cards in soon enough you'll lose sales, but if you order too soon you'll have your cash tied up, and if you don't have the stock level right for say Christmas you'll either ruin out or have dead stock for the next 9 months.

I bet a good recording system will allow you to double the effectiveness of your cashflow and double your sales, it really is that important...start off on a good footing and you'll soon have your own shop

patman99

One of the bes free EPOS systems at the moment is the fully-scalable GNUCash/GnuPOS system. GnuCash runs on Linux, Mac OSX, Solaris & Windows and the GnuPOS part is for Linux-based computers.At the moment, Linux powers 70% of all epos systems sold.
It can be used across multiple sites, and will link to a centralised account. It features not only a POS (with GnuPOS plugin), but stock control & a full double entry book-keeping system as well.

I would give it a try as it is free. Bear in mind though that the GnuPOS system has currently stopped development as there isn't much more they can do having fixed any bugs.

jexygirl

As Paul said, excel is the way, specially when you have a laptop that you can take with you.

We have some complicated touch screen till system that was here when we arrived, all singing and dancing, apparently stock takes, and makes tea if you ask it nicely - its a pain to program, its been overwritten so many times little is where it should be, most things are now duplicated, and then there is human error... I would say one time out of 5 the credit card it says its taken matches the credit card that has actually been taken. If they cant find something, its put in as something else thats the same price or "open food" "open bar" as that is quicker when busy.
We have instructions how to programme new stuff in, which we do, when we have time, like daily specials, but often, by the time its programmed, its sold out - or programmed on the wrong thingy, so doesnt print where it should... we rang the suppliers, they will come out, wipe it, re programme it so it makes sense, all for the cheap at twice the price sum of £300 per day, it will take 2 days and we wont be able to use it while they work...
it Z reads, i then input the readings it gives to excel.
If used properly, I am sure they are genious, specially if bought new, but i remember when we were in the theatre industry and buying an all singing all dancing lighting desk, that would even give you a gel cut list (the stuff that you put in front of lights that makes colours) and replacement stock lists, lighting plans, digital readouts of your tea temp the lot! it all relied on the initial input being correct, and thats down to people and time
Excel it for now, it will take the same time as the till, then when you grow, you will have used excel how you want and need to, and you can look at what you need, and the less complicated the better, that allows for humans to intervene and beggar it up minimally!
Jex

paulwf

jexygirl wrote: »

As Paul said, excel is the way, specially when you have a laptop that you can take with you.

We have some complicated touch screen till system that was here when we arrived, all singing and dancing, apparently stock takes, and makes tea if you ask it nicely - its a pain to program, its been overwritten so many times little is where it should be, most things are now duplicated, and then there is human error... I would say one time out of 5 the credit card it says its taken matches the credit card that has actually been taken. If they cant find something, its put in as something else thats the same price or "open food" "open bar" as that is quicker when busy.
We have instructions how to programme new stuff in, which we do, when we have time, like daily specials, but often, by the time its programmed, its sold out - or programmed on the wrong thingy, so doesnt print where it should... we rang the suppliers, they will come out, wipe it, re programme it so it makes sense, all for the cheap at twice the price sum of £300 per day, it will take 2 days and we wont be able to use it while they work...
it Z reads, i then input the readings it gives to excel.
If used properly, I am sure they are genious, specially if bought new, but i remember when we were in the theatre industry and buying an all singing all dancing lighting desk, that would even give you a gel cut list (the stuff that you put in front of lights that makes colours) and replacement stock lists, lighting plans, digital readouts of your tea temp the lot! it all relied on the initial input being correct, and thats down to people and time
Excel it for now, it will take the same time as the till, then when you grow, you will have used excel how you want and need to, and you can look at what you need, and the less complicated the better, that allows for humans to intervene and beggar it up minimally!
Jex

Sounds like you need MS RMS, you could solve all those problems in seconds

Actually I just wanted to make 2 quick points as you jogged my memory:

- any EPOS system is only as good as how you structure your departments and how you name each product. You need to be logical as what is ok for 100 products won't work for 10,000. Archiving old data (just click the button so old products won't show in your live stock list) is essential routine maintenance.

- you need to get your EPOS system right first time because migrating 5 years worth of data from one system to another is impossible. This wouldn't be important in a restaurant (it might actually help to start again with a clean stock file) but if you sell products with long guarantee periods or servicing you need to keep access to old data.