QuickBooks POS Review | The comparison

QuickBooks POS Review | The comparison Intuit is known and recognized around the world for its popular and trusted QuickBooks finance software, so it's understandable that the company is creating its own point-of-sale system. In our QuickBooks POS review, we find out what Intuit has brought to the retail industry and see how it stacks up against its competition. First of all, it's worth noting that QuickBooks POS does things quite differently than its competition, which can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your business needs. For example, alors que la plupart des autres systèmes de point de vente facturent aux clients des frais mensuels pour leurs services (Square étant une exception notable), Intuit a plutôt décidé d'opter pour des frais d'achat uniques pour tous ses systèmes de point of sale. This could work to your benefit in the long run, but unlike NCR Silver that offers free support, QuickBooks POS charges $89.95 per month or $299.95 per year for customer support. Are your employees more comfortable working on an iPad or Android based POS system? Well, even though QuickBooks' website has an entry in the Point of Sale Preview dropdown menu stating how it's compatible with tablets, the company isn't referring to Apple's iPad or the many tablets. Android available. Instead, Intuit added support for the Microsoft Surface Pro 4, which is technically a tablet, of course, but not exactly what businesses are used to when considering tablet support options for their retail POS system. Perhaps the best feature of the QuickBooks POS system is its compatibility with Intuit's popular QuickBooks accounting software. While other POS systems claim to easily integrate with QuickBooks, QuickBooks POS does, unsurprisingly, and the software easily syncs your data, saving you time and errors. So is QuickBooks the right POS solution for your business? Let's take a closer look at what makes Intuit's POS system tick by looking at the software's features, pricing, configuration, and ease of use.

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Award QuickBooks POS does things differently by charging customers a one-time purchase fee (Image credit: Intuit)

QuickBooks POS: Pricing

As we said before, most POS systems charge a monthly fee on top of the fees for all transactions. QuickBooks POS does things a little differently by offering three different plans tailored to the needs of small, medium, and multi-store businesses. The Basic plan allows you to record sales, make payments, track inventory, track customer data, and run basic reports, and is available for a one-time purchase of €1,200. If that sounds expensive, keep in mind that NCR Silver's basic plan costs €99 per month or €1,188 per year. Another thing to keep in mind when considering any QuickBooks POS plan is that the required hardware is sold separately and isn't covered by the company's rather high one-time payment. Then we have the Pro plan which includes all the features of the Basic plan, as well as the ability to manage employees and payroll, offer layaways and gift cards, set up rewards programs and customer loyalty programs, and create advanced reports. This plan costs €1,700 and is the one recommended by Intuit. Finally, we have the multi-store plan that includes all the features of the Pro plan, as well as the ability to manage multiple stores, manage and transfer inventory, and perform advanced cross-store sales and inventory reporting. This is the most expensive product at €1,900, but for businesses with multiple locations, this plan is a requirement.

Free try

For closing customers, QuickBooks is offering a 30-day free trial (Image credit: Intuit) Intuit offers a 30-day free trial with all of its plans, and that's a long enough period to see if QuickBooks POS is a good fit. for your business.

QuickBooks POS: setup

If you're familiar with Windows, you should have no problem getting QuickBooks POS up and running. You must first download and install the software itself, which is compatible with all editions of Windows 10, Windows 8.1 (Update 1), Windows 7 SP1, and Windows Server 2008, 2011, 2012, and 2016. Intuit recommends at least 4 GB of RAM for single workstation installation with at least one 2 GHz processor for single user and one 2,8 GHz processor for multiple users. QuickBooks Pro is also optimized for displays with a resolution of 720p or higher. If you plan to export your POS data to Microsoft Word or Excel, QuickBooks POS requires that at least Microsoft Word and Excel 2000 or higher be installed on your system(s). Another point to keep in mind is that hardware such as PIN pads and physical inventory scanners that were not purchased from Intuit may not be configured correctly to work with your software. On its website, the company notes that it does not provide hardware configuration and does not guarantee that hardware purchased elsewhere will work with its software and services. For customers who aren't sure if their hardware will work with QuickBooks POS, Intuit provides a list of compatible hardware on their site along with full system requirements for using their POS system.

quickbooks website screenshot

QuickBooks POS allows you to accept card payments, record sales, track inventory, and more (Image credit: Image credit: Intuit)

QuickBooks POS: Features

QuickBooks POS offers all the features you'd expect from a premium POS system, like the ability to accept credit and debit cards (including EMV cards), as well as cash and checks for payments. Sales can be recorded using a barcode scanner and the system also allows you to offer discounts and add customer information for better personalization. So, let's highlight some of the best and most notable features of QuickBooks POS, starting with inventory management. Inventory management is well implemented and the system keeps all your inventory organized and up to date by adjusting and updating it with each sale or return. QuickBooks POS can track which of your items are selling and which are not, so you can adjust your inventory accordingly. If an item is about to run out of stock, the system will notify you and can even automatically generate an order form if you're subscribed to the Pro or Multi-store plan. Business owners with the Pro version of QuickBooks POS will also be able to manage their employees. The system can track employee hours and commissions with the ability to send this data to QuickBooks or other accounting software to help streamline the payroll process. You can also customize access to certain software features based on an employee's status. QuickBooks POS includes the names of the reporting options and the software that will provide you with the reports on the articles for the best sales and the good sales, the short-term sales, the résumés of the payment methods, the return payments, the most charged periods and even more. Each report gives you the opportunity to explore in more detail each sale made. For those businesses that prefer to use an iPhone or iPad to make sales, you're in luck because version 12.0 includes a new app that lets you make sales and track inventory on Apple devices. However, you will need a "Go Payments" card reader to make sales on these devices.

QuickBooks POS: The Competition

There are a number of great POS systems out there, so if QuickBooks POS is too much in terms of your initial investment, you might be better off with Square or Shopify POS. While Square's prices may be higher than other credit card processing companies, there's no overhead to deal with, and all retail and mobile customers get a free Square Reader. The company doesn't charge users a monthly fee and there's no monthly minimum to meet, making the service a great option for businesses that only occasionally need to process credit cards. If your business is more focused on ecommerce, then Shopify POS might be the right choice for you. Shopify is well known in the eCommerce industry, and the company's POS system integrates seamlessly with its other services. Shopify POS is cheaper too, even offering a Lite plan for just $9 per month. If you've already invested heavily in the QuickBooks ecosystem, using Intuit's POS system makes a lot of sense, but for those just looking to accept payments, there are plenty of cheaper alternatives.

Final verdict

QuickBooks POS is a no-brainer for businesses that already rely on financial software from Intuit. However, for those who don't, the company's POS solution seems outdated compared to more modern cloud-based offerings. The service is likely to improve over time, especially with Intuit's full support, but right now it's hard to recommend, and the high up-front costs are enough to keep small businesses from accepting card payments.

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