Square for Retail

Avantages

I love how it’s so easy to use and very user friendly. I have the Square Register which has a large screen for me and a small screen in the front for the customers transaction. It is easy to add inventory by name and barcode with the barcode scanner. You can set up alerts, and I can still use it for cash transactions. I have the cash drawer accessory so it opens as soon as soon as you complete cash sale. It is basically a very advanced and convenient cash register that isn’t large and bulky.

Inconvénients

The price is a little steep for small businesses. You can get the system that requires an iPad but I didn’t see the point. If you don’t have an iPad you have to purchase that in addition. I settled for the standalone register.

Avantages

Square for Retail enables you to easily create an online eCommerce store, list your products, and sell them. It's quite simple to use, and this is perhaps what is the best reason to use Square. It is particularly useful for small businesses trying to build sales via social media and other online avenues. At the same time, it is useful for brick-and-mortar stores as well. While I use it for online sales, several of my colleagues use Square in their stores.

Inconvénients

A big drawback is that Square (as of the writing of this review) is unable to process payments from outside the United States. Thus, if you anticipate worldwide sales, Square may not be the best solution for your business. A second drawback is that it can be difficult to reach a live customer service representative. Unlike most companies, in which one simply phones in for service, Square requires that you first create a trouble ticket (at which point you will be assigned a case number). You then use the case number when phoning customer service. It's not horrible but in today's business world it's kind of annoying and time consuming. Square also lacks live online help, which is another downside.

Avantages

The software is great to do all transactions, returns and exchanges. I like the fact that it prints a barcode at the bottom of the receipt so when a customer comes back for a return we just scan the bottom of the receipt and the transaction pops right up.

Inconvénients

I end up getting the new square register in hope that it would act just like the retail app for the Ipad. The fact is that square won't update the new register. It has no exchange option like the Ipad app does and you end up needing to set up both the Ipad and register. Square has known about this issue for years now. You can see the complaints on the square forum page. Square also does not have a spot for barcodes so you end up having to put your barcodes in the sku spots. The loyalty point system also has some problems. When you do a return it doesn't automatically take points back from the customer account.

Avantages

I absolutely LOVE the ease of use of Square! The app allows you to literally set up your shop in mere minutes, and then allows you to input your products with prices for an easy tap to add it to your customer's cart. I especially love the Square business card that holds all my funds, which makes keeping business money separate from family funds so much easier!

Inconvénients

I honestly cannot think of anything that I do not love about this software. It is designed in a way that allows even the least techy person to set up their store and products, and go through a checkout seamlessly.

Avantages

The new inventory management could have been a great feature. However, it eliminates the ability to enter inventory manually. It has the ability to process returns, however eliminates the ability to use other functions available in the free version.

Inconvénients

The retail version has less features than the free version. Inventory can only be uploaded and can not be entered manually. The upload feature does include field matching, so it is a very, very laborious to convert from another system. Customer service is virtually non existent and not available on the weekends. We use have two square stands in our retail store. We love the current square system and were excited about the retail version and willing to pay the fee for both registers. We are looking for a more robust inventory system and POS and were excited about continuing with square. The new Square App does not come close to other POS systems . Very disappointing. I hope square improves this software before we select an alternative.