5 Best POS Inventory Systems

Lightspeed offers numerous inventory tools for businesses of any size:

• Simplified Stock Counts: View stock on hand and stock value at a glance.
• Easy Reordering: Order stock directly from the POS.
• Real-Time Inventory Management: Includes real-time deductions as items are sold and automatic replenishments when inventory is received.
• Multichannel & Multilocation: Manage inventories for in-person sales, online sales, and multiple locations.
• Barcode Creator: Print custom labels and barcodes for your inventory items.
• Consolidation Tools: Consolidate purchases, transfers, and orders into a single order.
• Simplified Price Editing: Change prices in bulk.
• Return Management: Automatically remove returned items from inventory.
• Google Local Inventory Ads: Display your ads when local customers search for something you have in stock.
• Inventory Software Integrations: Integrates with a multitude of third-party inventory software solutions.

Easy inventory tracking with Lightspeed.

On the retail side, loading bulk items is simple; they can be easily sorted into groups by color, size, material, season, or any other qualification. Getting more advanced, Lightspeed also makes it easy for items that require unique serial numbers (such as electronics) with the ability to create and track those products.

If you need to bundle items to sell as a single SKU, Lightspeed also makes that process easy and calculates the cost automatically. As an added bonus, there are thousands of preloaded catalogs as well.

For restaurants, you can toggle stock levels on and off. When you switch the function on, you can see exactly how much of each ingredient you have in stock across multiple locations and set up automatic alerts when an item runs low. A unique ingredient management system allows you to individually create an ingredient and add it to an item, allowing it to be tracked.

Lightspeed Retail works on iPad or desktop PC, while Lightspeed Restaurant is iPad-only. Lightspeed’s hardware is quote-based, and you can also source it yourself.

Extra POS device software licenses cost $59/device/month.

Lightspeed Restaurant plans start at $69/month, but for advanced inventory management, restaurants will need to purchase the $189/month plan.

Lightspeed Payments is a fully integrated payment option with in-person transactions priced at 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person transactions and 2.9% + $0.30 for online ones. Businesses on the Premium Lightspeed Restaurant plan or Enterprise Lightspeed Retail plan can request custom processing rates.

Note: Lightspeed Retail requires all new and existing merchants to use Lightspeed Payments. If you have a contract with a third-party payment processor that includes an early cancellation fee, Lightspeed will cover that fee for eligible merchants.

Lightspeed contract lengths vary but could be as long as 14 months. Lightspeed will also charge an early termination fee if you wish to leave your contract early.

Note that these Shopify inventory management features require the Shopify Pro ($89/month) add-on with the Stocky app that’s included on Pro accounts.

• Inventory Counts & Receiving: Scan inventory with a barcode scanner and track changes.
• Inventory Analysis: Use the stock performance grading system to make reordering decisions.
• Inventory Transfers: Request transfers from other locations.
• Low Stock Warnings: Receive alerts when you need more stock, based on sales and vendor lead time.
• Detailed Inventory Reports: View inventory states and trends to plan for the future.
• Purchase Ordering: Create purchase orders for vendors and suppliers based on demand forecasting.
• Multichannel Inventory: Track and sync inventories across sales channels.
• Sale Suggestions: Receive prompts to sell slow-moving products to release cash from your inventory.
• Product Collections & Variants: Categorize products with variants and smart collections.
• Returns & Exchanges: Automatically adjust inventory when items are returned or exchanged.

Advanced inventory management with Shopify Pro and Stocky.

Shopify lets your customers do things like place online orders at your POS in the event that your in-store inventory for that particular item is out. Customers can also buy items online and return or exchange them in your store (BORIS)—and your POS will automatically adjust your inventory accordingly.

Shopify additionally has “smart” inventory forecasting tools that not only show your current stock levels, but also analyze your sales patterns to predict how much inventory you’ll need in the future, and guide reordering decisions.

Shopify has numerous hardware options. While you can run Shopify POS with just a smartphone and a $49 Shopify Tap & Chip Card Reader, most businesses with a physical store will opt for a countertop POS bundle to use with an iPad or tablet.

Shopify sells both bundles and individual POS components; hardware bundles that include a tablet stand and card reader start at $219 (iPad/tablet not included).

Though not required, Shopify offers a discount if you pay annually, bringing the lowest-tier plan to just $29/month. This plan comes with a full Shopify website, POS features, and a mobile selling app called Shopify Lite. If you want advanced inventory features, however, you will need to add to the $89/month Shopify Pro add-on to your Shopify plan.

Shopify also integrates with various third-party inventory software including Thrive by Shopventory. Thrive plans start at $99/month but will eliminate the need to purchase the Shopify Pro add-on (and Thrive actually has better reviews than those for Stocky, which models most of the Shopify Pro advanced inventory features).

Shopify has integrated payment processing with Shopify Payments and can also integrate with outside payment processors. However, if you choose to use another payment processor, you’ll pay an additional transaction fee to do so. Shopify Payments flat-rate processing starts at 2.4% for in-person transactions but could be as high as 2.7% depending on your monthly plan.

Shopify Payments is a third-party payment processor, which means that you will not receive your own dedicated merchant account and the stability that comes with having your own merchant account. Shopify POS also doesn’t support offline credit card payments, so you will need a stable internet connection to use Shopify.

Square offers some free inventory management features via Square POS, Square for Restaurants Free, and Square for Retail Free; advanced inventory features require a Square for Retail Plus subscription.

• Manage Inventory In Bulk: Download reports on current inventory and update inventory quantities in bulk.
• Daily Stock Alert Emails: Daily report details items that are low or out.
• Easy CSV Spreadsheets: Import/export inventory with CSV or Excel spreadsheets.
• Barcode Labels: Create new items by scanning barcode labels (GTIN & SKU); print labels with Square for Retail Plus.
• Item Categories: View inventory by category.
• Purchase Ordering & Vendor Management: This feature requires Square For Retail Plus.
• Cross-Location Stock Transfers: This feature requires Square For Retail Plus.
• Manage Pending Restocks: This feature requires Square For Retail Plus.

Tracking inventory from the Square Dashboard.

Again, while Square’s free offerings have adequate inventory controls for many businesses, to get the most out of Square’s inventory capabilities you will need to subscribe to a paid Square for Retail Plus plan. Here, you’ll have an impressive body of inventory reports, purchase ordering, low stock alerts, and the ability to manage and send inventory across multiple locations.

When it comes to POS hardware, you can run Square with just a free credit card swiper or a $59 contactless and chip reader and a smartphone or tablet. Most businesses with a physical store opt for a countertop POS solution such as a Square Stand for iPad ($169 with a contactless & chip reader), or a dual-screen Square Register with a built-in payment reader ($799).

Square also sells complete hardware kits; you can get a full Square Stand kit that includes everything you need to sell, including an iPad, cash register, receipt printer, and card reader, for just $968.

Square offers both free plans and paid plans. While many businesses will be able to get by with a free Square POS or free Square for Restaurants or Square for Retail plan, you’ll find the most advanced inventory features on the $60/month Square for Retail Plus plan.

Square’s payment processing costs 2.6% + $0.10 for in-person payments across most of its plans. However, Square for Retail Plus subscribers get a reduced rate of 2.5% + $0.10.  Payment processing is built-in on all plans and you cannot use an outside payment processor with Square POS.

Like Shopify Payments, Square Payments is a third-party payment processor, also sometimes called a payment service provider or PSP.

This type of processor does not give merchants their own dedicated merchant account, and some merchants may experience disrupted service as a result. High-volume businesses or businesses with large transaction sizes in particular may struggle with account stability when using a PSP.

Suitable for any size business, this cloud-based POS can help even large, multilocation businesses manage their inventories.

• Matrices: Simple matrices to track and find products.
• Mobile Scanner: Scan inventory with your mobile device.
• Multichannel Inventory App: Monitor inventory levels across multiple stores remotely.
• Inventory Alerts: Including automatic low-stock alerts.
• Retail Or Restaurant Inventory Management: Includes raw ingredient tracking.
• PO & Vendor Management: Create custom purchase orders & manage vendors.
• Inventory Reporting: Easily compare inventory & sales numbers across a selected timeframe.

Raw ingredient tracking with Revel Systems.

For retail, Revel offers a convenient style matrix for adding large amounts of inventory en masse with customizable category options for easy searches. For restaurants, it’s easy to check out ingredient levels and costs. Revel also allows you to create purchase orders, including a convenient function where you can note if only a partial order arrives.

As with some of the other systems, you can view inventory levels in real-time and set up alerts when products are running low — or you can have the system automatically order new stock. Revel also has an inventory app that turns your phone into a scanner.

Revel iPad POS hardware is quote-based; however, you also have the option to source your hardware yourself.

A two-terminal minimum (making the minimum monthly spend $198/month) and three-year processing contract with Revel Advantage are required to get the lowest monthly pricing with Revel.

Revel offers in-house processing through Revel Advantage, but you will need to call for a processing quote. Revel can also integrate with outside processors, though you will pay a higher monthly fee if you don’t use Revel Advantage.

To get the lowest price with Revel, you will need to commit to a three-year processing contract and purchase a minimum of two terminals. For newer or smaller businesses, this might be too serious of a commitment.

Hike offers the following inventory management functions, and others:

• Unlimited Product Catalog: Includes an unlimited number of products that you can sort based on any number of variants (size/color/cost, etc.).
• Easy Product Management: Create composite product bundles, use bulk import and export wizard.
• Inventory Counts: Full and partial inventory counts that can be scheduled ahead of time.
• Inventory Tracking On/Off: Activate or deactivate inventory tracking rule by product.
• Multistore POS: Allows simple stock transfers between stores.
• Purchase Ordering: Easy purchase order creation.
• Supplier Management: Record supplier info and contact info, and allocate suppliers to specific products.
• Automated Re-Ordering: Automatic re-ordering based on inventory levels.
• eCommerce Inventory Tracking: Track your online store inventory separately or sync it with your physical store (supported eCommerce channels include Shopify, WooCommerce, and BigCommerce).

View stock information with Hike product catalog.

The Hike POS inventory system can handle an unlimited number of products and is made to handle large amounts of inventory. Custom barcodes on receipts make it easy to look up products. Virtually everything can be automated, from re-ordering to setting up reminders and shipping items between stores.

Hike’s purchase ordering is intuitive, as is its ability to track orders online. This software allows for quick bulk imports of inventory data. The central inventory system also makes it possible to keep tabs on your stock across multiple locations from one system. You can schedule an inventory count in advance to save time as well. There are myriad categories and subcategories that you can place items into, making it easy to search for them.

You can use Hike on virtually any hardware setup, including self-sourced setups. Some examples of popular POS hardware bundles offered by Hike include Elo PayPoint Plus (all-in-one) and Star mPOP. However, Hike does not list pricing for these bundles on its website.

Hike software packages start at just $59/month for a single terminal and location, billed annually (or $69/month billed monthly).

Hike integrates with many different payment processors and gateways you can choose from. Some of these choices include Square, WorldPay, PayPal Zettle, Clearent, Elavon, Chase, and Fiserv, among others.

While Hike integrates with various payment processors, Hike does not include in-house processing. This means you will need to arrange with an integrated merchant services provider in order to take credit card payments with Hike. Hike also doesn’t include in-house eCommerce, so if you need this feature, you will have to sign up with an integrated eComm service, such as Shopify.