Which Mobile Point of Sale Software is Best?

BY Editor

You’re in the process of shopping for the first-ever point of sale system for your small business. With so many options available on the market, it’s natural to feel a little bit overwhelmed. The search can be particularly difficult if you have a limited budget and can’t afford an expensive product. How can you find an inexpensive POS that will perform all or most of the applications you need it to perform?

The Pros and Cons of Mobile POS

If you are shopping for a POS system on a budget, you might consider a mobile POS. These systems essentially allow you to use an existing smartphone or tablet as your cash register, payment terminal, and inventory tracker. If you already own an iPad or another tablet that you could use for business, a mobile POS can be an efficient and cost-effective option. You can cut down on hardware expenses, and the mobile apps that power these systems tend to cost less than what you would pay for non-mobile POS software. There are some hardware expenses with mobile POS systems, like barcode scanners, receipt printers, credit card readers, and cash drawers, but the user provides the most expensive piece of hardware in the form of the mobile device itself.

The biggest con of mobile POS systems is lack of specialty. When you venture outside of the mobile POS category, you can find systems geared to suit virtually any kind of business. For instance, Retail Management Solutions provides a POS system meant specifically for pharmacies, while Frazer is a software and POS system for car dealerships. Mobile POS systems can work just fine for small retail ventures or restaurants, but bigger businesses and niche companies will likely want to go for more specialized non-mobile software.

Choosing the Best Mobile POS

If your business is small, based in the retail industry, and has a modest list of POS needs—or if you are working on a tight budget—then starting with a mobile POS system might be the right choice. The question is, which system is the right mobile POS for the job? Here are two top-rated mobile systems that are worth considering.

Bindo: When Business News Daily made their picks for the “Best POS Systems 2016,” the publication chose Bindo as the winner in the mobile POS category. One of the drawbacks of mobile POS systems is that they aren’t tailored to fit specific industries—at least not to the extent that non-mobile POS software is. With Bindo, you fill out a quote form before you subscribe to tell the company about your business and what you need out of your POS system. Bindo promises to “tailor something for you.” Add e-commerce integration, credit card processing services, rewards program support, and mobile payment compatibility—to name a few of the app’s features—and this iPad-based POS system is arguably the most robust mobile POS on the market.

ShopKeep: Google “best mobile POS systems” and you might end up on Top 10 Best POS Systems, a site that frequently reviews, rates, and ranks different POS products. That site’s pick for the best mobile POS is ShopKeep. An iPad POS that is rated well across the board, ShopKeep is designed to save you time and help you navigate common hassles. The app manages inventory and staffing, supports ApplePay, and keeps working even if you lose internet access—a rarity among mobile POS systems. ShopKeep also offers top-notch 24/7 support, so there’s always someone you can call to troubleshoot a problem with a register or get tips on how to upgrade your system for the EMV liability shift.

These are just two of the many mobile POS systems currently available online. If you look at the websites for each offering and neither quite fits the bill, don’t worry. You can keep combing the web for other systems, reading reviews to assess for quality, and trying out product demos until you find the right fit. For extra help, be sure to see if you can find a mobile POS that was developed specifically to suit your business’s niche.