Loyverse POS Review

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Pros

• Free
• Strong customer service
• Simple to learn
• Excellent built-in loyalty

Cons

• No integrations
• Limited functionality

Overview

Loyverse is a free, (no really, you can use it for free!) easy-to-use POS application designed for small businesses. It allows you to process transactions, keep a record of inventory and sales, and establish a customer loyalty program, all at the beautiful price of $0.

The name “Loyverse” is an amalgamation of the words “Loyalty” and “Universe.” “Loyalty,” of course, refers to the software’s signature built-in customer loyalty program, which really is unique among similar products. And while Loyverse does not state its reason for including the word “Universe,” it is almost certainly a reference to the global focus of the company.

Loyverse can be used (and is used) in a wide variety of countries around the world. The software comes with multilingual capabilities and multilingual support. In fact, part of the reason Loyverse offers its software free of charge is to support small merchants in developing countries who cannot afford to pay monthly subscriptions for a POS system.

In many ways, Loyverse is excellent POS software. The UI is easy to use and easy to teach, and Loyverse’s customer support is generally well praised on review boards across the internet. As you would probably expect from free software, you’re not going to get a robust offering of services. There are some limitations in its inventory and a few bugs within its ticketing process that I would like to see ironed out, but for a free system, it’s excellent.

Loyverse is designed for small businesses who are simply looking to upgrade from pen and paper or Excel spreadsheets. And for those merchants, this software is wonderful. For those who like what they see from the company and want to tap into some more advanced features, you can upgrade with its advanced inventory and employee management as reasonable add-ons that make the POS very competitive with others in its class.

If you own a small salon, cafe, boutique, or pay-at-the-counter restaurant, keep reading to see if Loyverse is the solution you’re looking for.

Don’t have time to read an entire review? Take a look at our top-rated point of sale solutions for a few quick recommendations. Every option we present here offers excellent customer support, detailed user interfaces, and easy-to-use software, all for a reasonable price.

Pricing

Loyverse’s basic features can be downloaded and implemented completely free of charge. These free products include Loyverse POS, Loyverse Dashboard, Loyverse KDS, and Loyverse CDS.

Out of curiosity, I asked one of Loyverse’s representatives how the company makes money. The answer was simple. Right now, it doesn’t. Loyverse is a part of the Give First Initiative. It’s seeking to build good customer relations (and help other entrepreneurs) by providing its software completely free. It’s a risky venture but one that’s also becoming increasingly common.

Loyverse also now offers for-purchase add-ons. These add-ons are entirely optional and are available under a subscription model. Check out these two add-ons below:

Employee Management

• $5 per employee per month
• $50 per month for unlimited employees
• Two months free with an annual subscription
• Advanced features
  • Add employees
  • Restrict access rights
  • Clock-in and clock-out
  • Sales reports by employee
  • Download reports with CSV files
  • Identify cash discrepancies

Advanced Inventory

• $25 per store per month
• Two months free with an annual subscription
• Special offer available for more than two stores
• Advanced inventory features
  • Add suppliers
  • Purchase orders
  • Transfer orders
  • Stock adjustments
  • Inventory valuation report
  • Inventory history

All add-ons also come with 24/7 premium support via online chat.

Cloud-Based Or Locally-Installed

Loyverse is cloud-based, which means your data is stored off-site to the cloud, and you can access your back office remotely.

Specific Industry

Loyverse has features, especially if you purchase its add-ons, to help small businesses in both the retail and restaurant industries, with the product being somewhat catered to smaller-end restaurants.

Specific Size Of Business

Most of the customer reviews I’ve seen come from businesses of ten or fewer employees. Loyverse works best as a baby step to business automation. It’s probably best for a business with no more than two locations, and while it’s capable of handling a small full-service restaurant, the lack of table mapping would make Loyverse tough to recommend for an establishment with a large or complicated layout.

Ease Of Use

Usability is the focus here. Because Loyverse is a free app, it’s easy to sign up for an account and start trying out the product.

When I signed up, I immediately received access to my back office.

Here’s what I found:

I was then directed to the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store, where I was given the option to download the app for my actual storefront POS software.

While I was in the back office, I took the opportunity to add a couple of products.

I was able to select symbols and colors that would identify those products in my POS application. I was also able to add product modifiers (say, an extra shot in an espresso drink) along with price variants for those modifiers.

The process of adding products, product modifiers, and discounts is all very straightforward; you just point and click. If you ever need any help, there are video tutorials to guide you along.

When you log into your app on your tablet or smartphone, you’ll see all of your information already loaded and ready to go. It’ll look something like this:

You can add products to a customer’s order by simply dragging items over to the right side of the screen. Use the same process to apply discounts.

Features for iOS let you organize and rearrange the products on your screen, so you can simplify your ordering process. Loyverse also lets you print receipts or send them via email. You can email customers to request a customer satisfaction review.

One of the best parts of Loyverse is its loyalty program. When customers download your loyalty app, they can receive points based on their purchases. These points translate into discounts on future services. You can also use this application to send messages out to your loyal customers.

All in all, Loyverse is an incredibly simple POS application. You and your team should be able to get the hang of it in no time at all.

Hardware & Operating System Requirements

To run Loyverse’s app, you’ll need an iPhone, iPad, Android smartphone, or tablet, and it’s nice that the app is available for both. Loyverse also supports a wide variety of receipt printers, kitchen printers, barcode scanners, and cash drawers. Find out which hardware Loyverse supports more specifically on the company’s website.

Features

Loyverse essentially provides you with the features you need to keep a record of transactions and maintain contact with your customers.

I’m calling Loyverse “a step up from pen and paper,” but I don’t mean that negatively. If you’ve literally been keeping track of transactions on paper or an Excel spreadsheet, you’ll be amazed by what Loyverse can do. While the free app isn’t quite as generous as Square, for example, its affordable add-ons make this a pretty impressive system overall for the price.

Here are some of the highlights of what Loyverse has to offer:

In-Store Features

• Printed Or Electronic Receipts: Attach a receipt printer or send receipts via email.
• Return Management: Easily process customers’ returns and refunds.
• Cash Management: Make sure that the amount in your till lines up with your sales.
• Discounts: Set discounts to apply to either one product or the full order.
• Open Tickets: Create and save orders. Edit and finish those orders later.
• Item Modifiers: List product add-ons as item modifiers. Include any additional costs.
• Work Offline: Store information while your connection is down. Information syncs to your server when the internet is back.
• Multiple Locations: Manage multiple store locations from one account.

Inventory Management

• Bulk Import/Export: Use CSV files (such as Excel spreadsheets) to upload and download product information for faster bulk editing.
• Track inventory: Monitor your inventory based on products and product components (such as ingredients). Receive low stock notifications.
• Purchase Orders: Plan purchases and export records while also tracking stock receipts.
• Low Stock Notifications: Get daily notifications on when inventory is running low to help with ordering.
• Transfer Orders: Seamlessly move and track stock across multiple stores.
• Inventory Valuation: See analytics on how various items are performing, plus their potential profitability.

Employee Management

• Sales By Employee: Keep track of employee performance.
• Workload Per Hour: Find out what times your business is at its busiest, so you can minimize the times you’re over- or understaffed.
• Access Rights: Grant different permissions to different employees to guarantee your information’s security.
• Time Clock: Let employees punch in and out to calculate total hours automatically.

Sales Analytics

• Reports: View reports of sales trends, popular items, and tax reports. Export those reports via CSV files.
• Receipts History: You can view all of your receipts to monitor individual transactions.
• Shifts: Track employees’ transactions to find any inaccuracies which may have resulted in an unbalanced till.
• Tax Reports: Automatically calculate the cost of various taxes.
• Sales Trends: Track the performance of an item or items over days, weeks, or months.

Loyalty Program

• Customers Database: Keep a record of your customers’ information, such as email addresses and preferences.
• Points Reward Program: Keep customers coming back with points that translate into discounts.
• Feedback: Email customers asking for their feedback. Track that input in the back office.
• Message Marketing: Send messages to your customers (as long as those customers have downloaded your rewards app).

Restaurant Features

• Create Predefined Tickets: While Loyverse does not include table management features, you use predefined tickets to handle table management in a more general way. Set a list of tables in your Loyverse admin to apply tickets to each table.
• Print Bills Or Pre-Receipts: Print bills for your customers before the bill is charged. Great for sit-down restaurants.
• Dining Options: New features for iOS let you specify if customers are dining in, taking out, or requesting delivery.
• Print Kitchen Orders: Send new orders to your kitchen printer.
• Display Kitchen Orders: Use the Loyverse KDS (Kitchen Display System) app to display new orders digitally on a screen in your kitchen.

Retail Features

• Barcode Support: Use the camera in your business’s tablet or smartphone to scan barcodes. Currently available for iOS only. If you subscribe to the Advanced Inventory Management plan, you can also create new barcodes and print them with a label printer.
• Product Variants: Add multiple product options, such as size, color, and materials.
• Customer Display System App: Display orders to your customers on a separate tablet. Allow customers to view pricing information and reward points as you ring them up. This app works online and lets customers enter their email addresses to receive an e-receipt.

Loyverse is continually working on adding more functionality to its software. The company has significantly bulked up its inventory and its ability to coordinate across multiple locations, which substantially improves the viability of the product, and the built-in loyalty is one of the best I’ve seen included in a free app.

Integrations & Add-Ons

Loyverse does not offer any integrations or add-ons at this point, which is a bummer, and one of the biggest reasons I recommend Loyverse exclusively to smaller businesses.

However, I’ve been told that Loyverse is planning on opening up its API in the future to allow for the development of integrations.

Payment Processing

Loyverse now connects to a few credit card processors. US merchants can choose between Worldpay, SumUp, and CardConnect. European merchants can connect with SumUp or iZettle.

That should give you some competitive options, and you’ll want to compare rates on your own, depending on how much you plan on selling.

Customer Service & Support

Loyverse’s customer support is generally well-praised. I probed the live chat and had all of my questions answered promptly and fully. Many companies that claim to offer live chat often leave you waiting or have you just submit an email with questions. Loyverse connects with you quickly, and the staff is knowledgeable and helpful.

Here are the support tools available to Loyverse’s clients:

• Help Center: Dig through this knowledgebase for “How To” guides and general information about the application.
• Videos: These short tutorial videos show you the basics of using Loyverse POS.
• Community Forum: Get help from other Loyverse users.
• Email: You can email the support team directly.
• Live Chat: You can access live chat in your back office.

It would be wonderful to be able to call in with questions, especially in an emergency, but that option is not yet available. However, as long as Loyverse keeps providing such high-quality live chat support, I won’t complain too much.

User Reviews

Negative Reviews & Complaints

As I checked Loyverse’s customer reviews and Facebook and Twitter pages, I saw that clients are generally pleased with Loyverse’s software. It appears that Loyverse is exactly the solution many merchants were looking for. One thing I noticed was that many reviewers who had complaints still often rated Loyverse quite well, which speaks volumes.

• Limited Functionality: Some basic features are missing from Loyverse’s free app, which has left a few users frustrated.
• No Integrations: As of the date of this review, you cannot integrate Loyverse POS with any other software. Integrations make it easier to sync your information and automate your businesses. Without integrations, Loyverse can’t scale.
• Updates Released First On iOS: Android users are unhappy that new features are released first for Apple products. Android users have to wait to access those features.
• Cannot Track Inventory By Volume: You can only track inventory by item and weight, not by volume. Some merchants who sell drinks by the glass would like to see this feature added.

Positive Reviews & Testimonials

Online reviews of Loyverse are overwhelmingly positive. Keep in mind that most of these reviews come from businesses of one to ten employees, and most of the users appear to be primarily interested in the free version. Here’s what they love about the software:

• Free: Free is the best price. Loyverse doesn’t have any additional expenses attached to it. You won’t need to pay a fee for customer service or to maintain your software. It’s just free.
• Easy To Use: Clients love how easy it is to learn Loyverse. It’s also easy to teach to less tech-savvy workers.
• Customer Support: Loyverse’s customer support is friendly, multilingual, and quick to respond. Every review I read only had positive things to say about the customer support team.
• Loyalty Program: Users love that Loyverse includes its own loyalty program.

Final Verdict

In short, Loyverse POS is an excellent solution for small businesses that may have limited cash upfront or for customers just dipping their feet into the world of POS systems. The software provides resources to keep track of transactions, to analyze that data, and to interact with customers. Some merchants may find that’s all they need! If you’re in that boat, go ahead and download the software. It’s totally free (no strings attached), and you can test it for yourself to make sure it’s what you’re looking for.

However, many merchants will find that Loyverse’s features are not extensive enough to suit their current business model. If that’s the case, you can look into Loyverse’s add-ons or browse similar systems for small businesses.

Regardless, you’re not likely to find many other POS systems that can do what Loyverse does for absolutely no money down.

If you’ve decided that Loyverse may be the solution for you, click the link below to get started.

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We've done in-depth testing of each and confidently recommend them.

Check Out Our Preferred Point of Sale Software 🏆

	Lightspeed POS	Square POS (Free Version)	ShopKeep POS	Square For Retail
	Visit Site Read Review	Visit Site Read Review	Visit Site Read Review	Visit Site Read Review
Best For	Advanced features	Free POS	Credit card processing options	All-in-one service
Monthly Fee	$99+	$0	Varies	$60
Free trial	14 days	Always free	None	30 days
Next Steps	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site	Visit Site

See more information

Hide

We've done in-depth testing of each and confidently recommend them.

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