Square POS System Review

9.1Expert Score
Great POS

As Square does not require any subscription fee, offers competitive rates and only chargers you for processing a transaction, it is considered as the best credit card processor with pricing as low as theirs. It offers great feature selection for businesses looking for flat, predictable pricing.

PROS
  • Pricing is Simple
  • Good Customer Support
  • Suitable Hardware Options
CONS
  • Requires Regular Updates

Table of Contents

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The need for POS

Managing your time is important when it comes to running a business. Many small tasks can collectively take up a major chunk of your time and take your focus of the main thing.

Naming and organizing your products for the ease of the customer and the staff can be very annoying without proper tools. With Square POS, you can do it easily on any operating system that you have. It takes less time and it is effective

.

Keeping record of your customers, giving them loyalty benefits, can also be a difficult job but with Square POS software, you can create a customer directory which keeps track of every purchase they make.

Analyzing data is important for the growth of a small business. Square POS offers easy data analytics like sale summary and your best-selling items. It also gives you real time info which helps in keeping track of your business. You can access all this data from the dashboard on the application on your phone anywhere and anytime you want.

 

What to look for in your ideal POS software?

  • Set up cost

Shifting from a traditional cash register to a POS requires a significant expenditure. You should keep in mind that after an initial investment, it proves to be quite cost effective in the long run. It should be noted that a POS requires a suitable hardware to run, and that is your current hardware is compatible with the POS or not. If it is not compatible, additional hardware costs can increase the initial investment.

  • Simple, easy to use interface

Another thing to consider while selecting a POS is its interface, is it easy to use or will it require some training to master it? As this software will mostly be used by the employees who normally do not have that much know-how of the software, it should be simple and easy to use.

  • Data Reporting

The POS should offer reporting option. It should be able to produce sales reports when you want it to, and it should also offer real time reports which can help in handling the growth of your business.  The POS system should have powerful data analyzing capabilities so you can look at your data without any difficulty.

 

  • Third-party Software Integrations

It should offer integration with third-party applications for the ease of the managing staff. This feature can save you a lot of manpower. With this feature, all your customer data, accounting information and sales figures are stored in one central system and you can access it whenever you want with ease.

  • Cloud-based

Cloud based data storage gives you a lot of benefits in terms of data security and it saves you a lot of time and money. In cloud storage, the servers that store the data are not located locally. They are heavily secured, and you can access your data online whenever and wherever you want to.

  • Customer Support

Costumer support is important when you are selecting a POS system for yourself. The system can be easy to install and operate, but there are times when you require maintenance or when the system is down, you need quick and effective costumer support because once POS system is integrated into normal functioning of the business, your work depends upon it.

What is Square?

Square is a POS (point of sale) application available on Google Play and the App store which is designed to run on a tablet or a smartphone. It is a feature-rich Point of Sale (POS) system that also happens to be free.

 

Square offers online payment processing, sales reports, inventory and digital receipts and analytics information. It also works offline even when the internet is down. It keeps the record of transactions locally and when internet is available, it uploads it on the cloud storage.

This POS system is basically designed to help in managing businesses with multiple locations.

PROS AND CONS

Positives:
  • Offers both Android and iOS compatibility
  • Suitable hardware options to select from
  • Can work without an internet connection
  • Pricing is simple
  • Good customer support
Negatives:
  • Not ideal for big companies with huge transactions
  • Requires regular updates
  • Sometimes transactions are slow
  • Not suitable for high risk industries
  • Processing fee can be high

Features offered by Square POS

  • Pricing

Square POS is a completely free, you just have to pay according to the number of transactions processed on the application

  • Employee Management

Square POS offers top of the line employee management capabilities. They can clock in and out using this application. Whenever a purchase is made, Square records it along with the employee name which eventually helps in tracking the performance of your workers.

  • Offline payments

Even though it is a cloud-based POS system, Square POS can also work offline when the internet is down. When it is connected to a internet connection, it uploads all the transaction data onto the cloud storage.

  • Security

Every time a customer swipes their credit/debit card using the Square POS, the card information is immediately encrypted. Also, Square POS never stores the customer’s data on the device during the transaction or after it.

  • Inventory Tracking

It allows you to manage your inventory in bulk, quickly and efficiently

  • Customer Directory

Helps you keep record of your customers, their purchase history and other details. It also have the option for regular customers to store their credit card details on the application with their permission

  • Loyalty Programs

This add-on gives the customer reward points on every purchase they make, which can be redeemed when they reach a certain number

  • Integration with third-party applications

It makes your functioning easy with applications used for bookkeeping, tax prep, e-commerce etc.

  • Other features include

    • Email marketing
    • Pay, tip, and sign right on your device
    • Invoice sending and tracking
    • Product customization
    • Send receipts via email or text message
    • Discounts and refunds
    • Customer feedback
    • Integrated payment processing
    • Square API

What does the internet say?

Many articles that are written about Square POS label it as the best in the business.

About Square POS, business.com writes, “With no fees, competitive rates and pay-as-you-go service terms, Square is our pick as best credit card processor for low fees. It’s also the best option for businesses that need a full-featured mobile credit card processing app.”

Alternatives

  • Clover POS

Clover, an alternate to Square, offers a greater amount of customization than Square POS. It also enables owners to build their ideal payment processing system by combining hardware and software offerings.

This POS system is suitable for merchants who want a highly customizable, scalable solution to their payment problems, but it is more expensive in terms of hardware.

Square POS VS Clover POSPOS Battle
VS
Monthly fee
0$
VS
14-29$
Free credit card reader
VS
Employee Scheduling
NO
VS
YES
  • Shopify

A completely online based application unlike Square, Shopify is another alternative. It requires a monthly subscription fee.

Shopify offers greater flexibility in choosing hardware, credit card processors and integrations. It is a great choice for businesses whose revenue comes from e-commerce sales. It is best for small or growing business.

Square POS VS Clover POSPOS Battle
VS
Free Account
VS
Accounting Integration
VS
Retail Inventory Management
VS
Order Processing
VS
  • ShopKeep

Another alternate to Square, ShopKeep offers a highly customizable quote-based service with great customer support.

 

ShopKeep is more popular in food service industry but it can work for retail based businesses as well

Square POS VS Clover POSPOS Battle
VS
Free Account
VS
API
VS
Transaction History
VS
Returns Management
VS
Live Online Training
VS

Conclusion

As Square does not require any subscription fee, offers competitive rates and only chargers you for processing a transaction, it is considered as the best credit card processor with pricing as low as theirs. It offers great feature selection for businesses looking for flat, predictable pricing.

 

It is a must have application for businesses that are still in their growing phase as it offers you the ability to run your whole business through your tablet or smartphone. It allows you to manage multiple business locations by keeping track of everything, your employees, your inventory, your sales and much more. 

Taylor Goldstein

Taylor Goldstein

Hey, my name is Taylor Goldstein and I am the creator / editor of the "POSsmartly" website. I have been a CTO and VP Technology in couple of a big brands, and my mission now is tocriticises this misunderstood field of tehc pieces.

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