Retail

5 POS Systems With the Features Your Business Needs for 2022

Nov 10, 2021

These top five POS systems are ready to help retailers tackle 2022’s market trends.

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Supriya DekaMarket Research Specialist
5 POS Systems With the Features Your Business Needs for 2022

What we'll cover

The pandemic changed consumer shopping behaviors, and retailers had to shift to a digital-first mindset.

 Point of sale (POS) software was already an essential tool for retail businesses, but even these systems that help collect payments, manage inventory, record transactions, and facilitate loyalty programs have had to adapt to a changed business environment. 

As social distancing and safety guidelines became our norm, the POS software market began to evolve so that retailers like you could continue serving customers in creative ways.

Let's take a look at four market trends impacting the POS market before diving into the top five systems that will ensure you're ready to face them.

According to Gartner, modern POS solutions are optimized for mobility and the internet of things (IoT), including scan-and-go apps (full content available to Gartner clients). In 2022 and beyond, the POS software market will see the below trends:

  • Mobile POS solutions (mPOS): With customers expecting convenience and choice, improving in-store experiences by avoiding long lines and enforcing social distancing has become an industry priority. An mPOS provides portable checkout options so employees can help customers without needing to wait in line, and also facilitates self-checkout.

  • Loyalty programs: According to Bond's 2020 Loyalty Report, 78% of consumers are more likely to continue buying from businesses with loyalty programs and 72% are more likely to recommend businesses with good loyalty programs. Maintaining loyal customers is more profitable than acquiring new ones. The post-pandemic era will require retailers to offer rewards to loyal customers to get them back into stores so they can learn their new shopping habits.

  • Contactless payments: Following social distancing and hygiene requirements, customers now expect retailers to offer a safe, touchless shopping experience. One of the most important components of this is contact-free transactions via tap and pay, scan and pay, and mobile payments facilitated by POS software.

  • Subscription offerings: Product subscription programs are gaining popularity in the retail industry; customers can subscribe to products and services via mail or curbside pickup. POS solutions are adapting to make it even easier to boost customer loyalty and offer a contactless experience, rolling the best of several retail trends into one.

Looking forward to 2022, retailers need point of sale solutions with features that can handle this evolving market. The right software can help you adjust to these trends, keep pace with your competitors, and provide the best service to your customers.

Here at GetApp, we want to help you find the right POS software for your business. We took a look at our POS Category Leaders report to find the top five POS software options (based on their Category Leaders score) with features that will make sure you're ready for these trends into 2022 and beyond. 

What do we mean by Category Leaders?

Category Leaders is GetApp’s annual ranking of top software tools, leveraging ratings from over 1 million user reviews on the following parameters: ease of use, value for money, functionality, customer support, and likelihood to recommend.

Products are presented in descending order of their Category Leaders score; you can read our full methodology at the bottom of this page.

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POS Nation (Formerly CAP Retail Point of Sale)

Category Leaders score:100
Overall user rating:4.6/5
Notable features:Customer management, contactless payments, mobile checkout, accounting software integration

POS Nation is a cloud-based point of sale solution with features including inventory management, payment processing, customer management, mobile dashboard, mobile checkout, contactless pay, and secure cloud backup. 

POS Nation’s mobile checkout lets users complete transactions from anywhere in the store. Employees can carry the POS to customers who then use their preferred payment method without having to wait in line.

The software's built-in customer loyalty feature can help you create loyalty programs by analyzing customer purchase patterns. It tracks customer data and purchase history that you can use to create rewards, discounts, gift cards, and other promotions to keep customers coming back. 

POS Nation's tap-to-pay feature is ready to meet the trend of continued contactless payment demand. Near field communication (NFC) technology allows customers to tap their mobile devices or credit cards to complete their transaction.

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Billing dashboard in POS Nation (Source)

Think POS Nation is the right POS solution for your business?

Square Point of Sale

Category Leaders score:99
Overall rating:4.7/5
Notable features:Electronic payments, customer relationship management (CRM), inventory tracking, invoice tracking, accounting software integration

Square POS is a cloud-based POS solution that helps users track invoices, manage employees and customers, track sales, and split bills. It lets you manage your business in multiple locations, whether you sell online, in-store, or both. 

Square POS has a mobile app that can be downloaded to both iOS and Android devices, turning that device into a mobile POS. The built-in payment processing and inventory management capabilities allow staff to manage payments, provide digital receipts, and track sales online or offline.

When paired with the Square Reader (purchased separately), Square POS allows retailers to accept chip cards, contactless (NFC) cards, and other third-party payment types/platforms. 

Square Loyalty can help retailers build loyalty programs by creating, customizing, and managing digital rewards in the form of gift cards and loyalty points. Square POS users can subscribe to Square Loyalty in their dashboard to start creating rewards, and then enroll customers in your loyalty programs during checkout. 

When the tool's subscription feature is enabled, customers can subscribe to products and/or services available in your store. You can create subscription plans for customers and automatically charge them on a recurring basis within the POS. 

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Square Reader for Square Point of Sale (Source)

Think Square Point of Sale is the right software for your business?

KORONA

Category Leaders score:98
Overall user rating:4.6/5
Notable features:Inventory management, marketing automation, CRM, commission and tip management, customer-facing display, accounting software integration

KORONA is a cloud-based POS that also allows retailers to access inventory, product reports, and sales metrics from any device connected to the internet that has the app installed. 

KORONA offers a mobile application for tablets so retailers can remotely manage  transactions and access inventory in real time across multiple stores and franchise locations. Employees can use the software on tablets for customer checkout away from the counter or to open up new checkout lanes during busy periods within the store.

KORONA’s CRM and loyalty programs let you promote your products, reach out to customers (via email, SMS, etc.), and create digital gift cards. This can help you reward loyal customers, contact lapsed customers, and encourage return visits to your store.

Contactless NFC payment capabilities allow retailers to accept mobile contactless payments via third-party payment platforms such as Apple or Android Pay.

 

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Mobile POS feature in KORONA (Source)

Think KORONA is the right POS solution for your business?

Shopify POS

Category Leaders score:98
Overall user rating:4.6/5
Notable features:Customer profiles, order and product management, in-store analytics, omnichannel selling, email marketing, inventory tracking

Shopify POS is a cloud-based POS solution that helps retail businesses streamline their in-store and online operations while facilitating customer marketing. The tool's omnichannel features sync inventory, customer information, orders, and more.

Shopify POS for mobile devices (iOS and Android) allows you to make sales on the spot regardless of whether or not you are inside your store. The solution's customer view app converts an Android device to a customer-facing display anywhere. Customers can view what they are paying for along with discounts, reward points, and taxes on the screen while paying.

This tool can store customer contact information and create customer profiles with contact info, purchase preferences, and shopping habits. From there, retailers can reward loyal customers with special events, discounts, or other content each time they make a purchase. 

The Shopify Tap and Chip reader (purchased separately) pairs with Shopify POS, and is an EMV-compliant card reader that wirelessly connects to iOS and Android devices to accept contactless and chip card payments.

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Loyalty apps functionality in Shopify POS (Source)

Think Shopify POS is the right POS solution for your business?

Lightspeed Retail

Category Leaders score:96
Overall user rating:4.2/5
Notable features:eCommerce platform, loyalty program, analytics, accounting software integration, inventory tracking

Lightspeed Retail is a cloud-based POS that allows you to monitor inventory levels, manage stock between locations, and access reports and data from any device.

Lightspeed’s iOS app facilitates a mobile POS, letting you set up impromptu checkout locations anywhere on the sales floor to prevent long wait times. You can also view inventory levels and analyze store performance with the help of the tool's mobile reporting capabilities.

Lightspeed Loyalty  is an omnichannel loyalty program within Lightspeed Retail that can help you provide point-based loyalty programs, one-time deals, and manage promotions and coupons both in-store and online. You can enroll customers from your POS while completing sales or directly via their customer profile.

The payments feature integrated within the POS lets retailers accept contactless payments using Bluetooth connectivity through an iOS device. The customer can pay for their items with just a tap, swipe, or by inserting their card anywhere in the store. This feature also enables you to accept contactless payments via mobile wallets and NFC card tapping.

Lightspeed's subscription feature lets retailers set up and manage monthly subscription offerings.  You can create subscription plans, sell them, and collect membership fees through the POS platform.

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Payment options in Lightspeed Retail (Source)

Think Lightspeed Retail is the right POS software for your business?

To prepare your brick-and-mortar retail business or eCommerce store for 2022 and beyond, you need software that adapts to the latest industry trends and developments. 

GetApp’s Category Leaders give you a strong starting point to find the right tool for your business. If none of these top POS products seems quite right for you, check out our full point of sale Category Leaders to see more tools with high user ratings from businesses like yours.

Methodology:

  • The products included in this article were obtained from GetApp's Category Leaders reports, accessed on October 13, 2021.

  • The five products with the highest scores in our Category Leaders report are featured in this article. 

  • Market definition for POS solution:  POS software helps businesses manage both sales transactions and operational processes, including payment processes, inventory management, customer management, sales reporting, and employee management. 

Click here for more information about the Category Leader report methodology.

Disclaimer:

The applications selected in this article are examples to show a feature in context and are not intended as endorsements or recommendations. They have been obtained from sources believed to be reliable at the time of publication.

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About the author

Supriya Deka

Market Research Specialist
Supriya Deka is a market research specialist at GetApp. She helps small businesses identify the best software fit for their needs by conducting secondary research and analyzing user reviews. She covers and provides insights into emerging technology trends in different industries, and her work has been published in Emerald Insights. She enjoys local cuisines and practicing yoga.
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