6 Best Retail CRM Software for 2019

A retail CRM helps business owners gain product insights and build customer loyalty in order to optimize retail sales. We examined several retail CRM software options and identified the top six solutions based on ease of use, affordability, support, and retail-specific features like inventory management, register integration, and marketing tools to determine the overall best.

Top 6 Retail CRM Software Options in 2019

How We Evaluated Retail CRM Software

Retail customer relationship management (CRM) software lets retail business owners build better relationships with their customers to increase sales and repeat business. When evaluating the best CRM software, we considered both standard tools like contact management, reporting, and marketing, as well as retail-specific tools like inventory and order management, point-of-sale (POS) integrations, and loyalty programs. Our criteria also included affordability, ease of use, and customer support.

We used the following criteria to identify the top six retail CRM software options:

• Affordability: We looked at retail CRM options that small to medium-sized retailers could afford.
• Ease of use: Our considerations included being easy to use with very little, if any, technical expertise.
• Retail specific features: We evaluated industry-specific CRMs as well as general-purpose options with features like inventory and order management, POS and payment integrations, or tools to help manage retail loyalty programs.
• Core CRM functionality: The best retail CRMs also had to offer more standard CRM tools like lead and prospect management, contact management, pipeline management, and communications features.
• Automation tools: We looked for functionality that help reduce the amount of repetitive tasks retailers would need to do.
• Reporting and analytics: Integrated reporting and analytics tools were important features to include because they’re important to retailer’s ability to target customers for specific products, promotions, or programs.
• Customer support: We looked at the level of customer support available from each retail CRM provider.
• Retail integrations: We included options with retail-specific integrations like payment, POS, cash register, and accounting software integrations.

Based on the criteria outlined above, we’ve determined that Vend is the overall best retail CRM. It offers industry-specific CRM features like a POS system, 24/7 phone and online support, a free iOS barcode scanner app for inventory management, contact management, reporting, and marketing tools. It’s easy to use, reasonably priced, and made specifically for small business retailers.

Best Overall Retail CRM: Vend

Vend is a retail CRM and POS system that features a variety of retail-specific tools like inventory management and reporting, with pricing starting at $99 per month. It offers an iOS mobile app that turns your iPhone or iPad into an inventory barcode scanner, while being easy to use with 24/7 phone support. It’s also specifically built for small retailers managing inventory, making it a good choice for most retailers looking for features benefiting the store’s front and back.

Vend Pricing

Vend has two main pricing tiers for small retailers. The first tier starts at $99 per month for one store with monthly sales of $20,000 or less. The second tier starts at $129 per store, per month for multiple stores with monthly sales over $20,000. Each tier includes one register and the ability to expand.

Vend Tiered Features

Lite

The Lite plan offers basic retail operations tools like basic reporting, accounting integration with Xero, payment system integrations, and contact management. It also includes real-time inventory management with a free iOS barcode scanner mobile app, which is unique to Vend. Support is offered by retail experts and is 24/7 phone and online. Pricing starts at $99 per month and covers one retail location with less than $20,000 in monthly sales.

Lite is great for small, less established retailers not yet in need of advanced features like loyalty programs, gift cards, or advanced analytics. Yet, this plan’s features are quite robust for smaller retail establishments. Compared to EPOSNow’s starting tier, Vend’s pricing is significantly higher at $99 per month compared to $39 per month, yet offers only email support versus phone support and less robust inventory management features.

Pro

Pro offers a more robust set of retail CRM tools to help build customer loyalty and gain additional insights from advanced reporting and analytics. Pricing starts at $129 per location, per month for retailers producing over $20,000 per month. Unlike the Lite plan, the Pro plan allows you to add multiple locations. You also have the ability to create and accept your own branded gift cards as well as create and manage your own loyalty programs.

The Pro plan is for small, more established retailers needing more robust features like gift card and loyalty program creation. It’s also great if you’re needing more advanced reporting and analytics tools like accessing reports on a mobile app, tracking gift cards sold and gift card balances, tracking products sold at the register level, and more. This plan is more expensive than the similar tiers offered by EPOSNow and Lightspeed, but offers more advanced features.

Vend POS screenshot

What Vend Is Missing

Vend is missing native ecommerce tools, which means you’ll need to set up an integration with a third-party application like Shopify. It also doesn’t accommodate shipping from within the tool, requiring another third-party integration. Alternatively, a solution like TradeGecko may be worth looking into if ecommerce and shipping are part of your business model, as it offers both tools built in.

What Users Think About Vend

Users typically like using Vend because it’s easy to use and offers features for retailers with inventory. They also like the 24/7 phone support available. Negative reviews are around the price point and ecommerce integration not being as robust as they’d like.

Where to Find Vend

You can find Vend in small to medium-sized retailers that manage inventory. It’s real-time inventory management with iOS mobile app barcode scanner makes it perfect for brick-and-mortar retailers who don’t want their associates tethered to bulky equipment when they could be in the front assisting customers. Sign up for a free trial to learn more about these features.

Visit Vend

Best Retail CRM for Service & Hospitality Retailers: EPOSNow

EPOSNow is a retail CRM and POS system that can accommodate product- or service-based retail businesses with features like inventory management and advanced reporting for $39 per month. However, it also offers loyalty program and online booking tool add-ons for service and hospitality businesses, which is something not offered by many CRMs. As a result, it’s best for hybrid retailers combining product sales with hospitality or other onsite services.

EPOSNow Pricing

This provider has two main pricing plans for small service- and product-based retailers. The first tier starts at $39 per month for one register. The second tier starts at $69 per month for one register. Additional registers can be added for $24 and $45 per register, respectively.

Additional features can be added on for a price tailored to your specific needs and include:

• Web and online store integration
• Online bookings and loyalty program management:
• Staffing tools

EPOSNow Tiered Features

Standard

The Standard plan offers basic retail POS and CRM tools including unlimited products, users, customers, payment integration with EPOSNow’s own payment system, EVO Payments, and email support. The plan also offers the ability to create barcodes and run promotions. The cost starts at $39 per month for one register and an additional $24 per register, per month for more than one. Email support is available on this plan.

Standard is a great starter plan for small retailers not needing phone support or an account manager. This plan’s starting price appears to be a lot more affordable than Vend’s starter plan, but there are a lot more tools that come with Vend’s Lite tier than what comes with EPOSNow’s Standard plan. Also, you get phone support with Vend and only email with EPOSNow’s Standard plan.

Premium

The main difference between Standard and Premium is the level of support. Priced starting at $69 per month, you get 24/7 phone support with Premium versus the Standard plan, where you only get email support. It’s great for small retailers wanting to get answers to their questions right away via phone versus waiting for a return email. With Vend’s comparable plan, it offers more features without having to buy add-ons like loyalty programs and website integration.

The Premium plan is great for small retailers wanting more support by phone and that want the option to add on only the features they may need, like the ability to create and manage a loyalty program or the ability to add an online booking system. It’s great for small retailers not wanting an all-inclusive solution, like Vend’s, that may include tools they may not use or need.

Premium + Appointedd

While Appointedd is third-party integration, it is offered as part of a bundled solution with EPOSNow’s premium plan, costing $72 per month. This bundle is a great deal for businesses that want to take advantage of the full range of available booking, loyalty, and staff scheduling tools, and for those who don’t want to worry about complicated a la carte pricing.

No other product we compared offers this same integration bundle, meaning similar functionality would result in additional costs and logins. As a result, it’s a great option for retail businesses like bed and breakfasts and caterers that can benefit the most from a system that allows them to manage staff, appointments or bookings, and product sales, all from a single interface.

EPOSNow reporting dashboard

What EPOSNow Is Missing

EPOSNow is missing shipping tools. If you need shipping, you’ll need to find a shipping provider or choose a solution like TradeGecko, which includes 24/7 phone support in its starter plan. If this is important, you’ll need to upgrade to the Premium plan or choose a provider like Vend that offers 24/7 phone support. It’s also missing analytics that recommend strategies. If you’re looking for a tool that provides data and strategies to take action, check out Lightspeed.

What Users Think About EPOSNow

Users generally like EPOSNow because it’s priced affordably and is easy to use. They’re also happy with support. Negative reviews are around features being limited and having to pay extra fees for add-ons and doing things like bulk imports.

Where to Find EPOSNow

You can find EPOSNow in small to medium-sized retailers that want a low-cost solution and the ability to pay for only those tools they’ll use. To learn more about this POS and contact management system, sign up for a free trial.

Visit EPOSNow

Best CRM With Retail-specific Smart Analytics: Lightspeed

Lightspeed for retail is a POS system and CRM with retail-specific analytic tools that not only provide data, but suggest actions you should take based on those insights based on how other retailers have used similar information. It also has core CRM features, and loyalty and ecommerce add-ons for $99 per month, which includes one register for up to five employees. This makes it a great option for data-driven small retailers looking for competitive insights.

Lightspeed Pricing

Lightspeed costs $99 per month for one register and covers up to five users. If you’re interested in adding ecommerce or loyalty features, you’ll pay an additional $59 per month. Compared to Vend and EPOSNow, Lightspeed is the only retail-focused solution that has a cap on the number of employees.

Lightspeed Features

Product features in Lightspeed include inventory management, contact management, reporting and analytics, and loyalty management. These feature categories are similar to the ones included in all of the options presented here. However, its most unique feature is the analytics tool that provides both data and direction.

Lightspeed’s features include the following:

Inventory Management

Inventory management tools in Lightspeed let you track products with serial numbers and SKUs. They also allow you to bundle products together to sell as a package as well as create product variations by color and other attributes. It’s also easy to order supplies and products that go into your stock. These inventory management features are similar to all the other providers in this article.

Reporting & Analytics

This feature makes Lightspeed stand out because not only does the tool provide you with data, it also guides you in what actions you should take and how you should use the data presented. In addition to this, you can customize your retail reports to view and track the data you want to stay focused on. You can also easily organize the data the way you want to view it, whether you want graphs for a visual representation or tables with raw numbers.

Customer & Loyalty Management

Similar to the other providers, Lightspeed has customer management tools that allow you to communicate with and build relationships and loyalty with customers. Tools in this category include customer profiles, purchase history, the ability to segment customers, and the ability to see lifetime value. You can also create a rewards program with a branded app that is based on points. You’re also able to create SMS and email campaigns.

Lightspeed Inventory Management

What Lightspeed Is Missing

Lightspeed is missing pricing for an unlimited number of users. It caps users at five employees, unlike Vend and EPOSNow, which doesn’t have a cap on users. It’s also missing barcode features that are offered by both Vend and EPOSNow. If these features are important, consider Vend or EPOSNow as alternatives. Or, if multichannel online sales are important, consider TradeGecko.

What Users Think About Lightspeed

Users like Lightspeed overall because you can set it up quickly and it has a robust set of features. Dislikes revolved around the occasional glitch and the time it takes to learn how to use all of the features.

Where to Find Lightspeed

Lightspeed can be found in the retail shops of data-driven retailers who use data to make decisions in their businesses. To learn more about its features and whether or not it will work for your retail business, check out their website and sign up for a free trial.

Visit Lightspeed

Best Retail CRM for Multichannel Distribution: TradeGecko

TradeGecko is a retail CRM that includes inventory management, multichannel sales, and shipping. These features make it easy for you to manage inventory and sales from multiple online channels, like Shopify and Amazon, in one central place. Pricing starts at $39 per month. TradeGecko is ideal for retailers needing need multichannel inventory oversight and shipping management tools.

TradeGecko Pricing

TradeGecko pricing plans designed for small retailers start at $39 per month and increase to $199 per month. Within each tier, pricing can increase based on the number of sales each month.

TradeGecko Tiered Features

Founder

Founder offers a comprehensive set of retail CRM features that include order management, shipping, payment systems, contact management, and inventory management. It costs $39 per month for one user and includes up to 50 sales per month. Basic reporting and analytics and 24/7 email customer support are also included. A mobile app, payment system, and the ability to accommodate multiple currencies are also available in this plan.

This plan is best for retailers just starting out with only one user and very few sales. It’s also great for retailers wanting to offer multiple shipping options for their customers. The price is affordable and increases by tier as the retailer’s orders increase. Founder pricing is the same as EPOSNow’s starter tier, but much lower than Vend and Lightspeed’s products.

Lite

Lite has everything Founder has and offers expanded features plus a few additional ones, like 300 sales per month versus 50 sales per month and workflow automation for $79 per month for up to two users. In addition to working with distribution partners like Amazon, built-in workflow automation tools can be set to trigger emails after certain customer actions, like orders, are placed or when items are out of stock.

This plan is great for growing retail businesses that exceed 50 orders per month and would like workflow automation to help them decrease the number of manual sales and operations tasks. This tier’s pricing begins lower than Vend and Lightspeed, but is only $10 lower than EPOSNow’s pricing at this level.

Small Business

The Small Business includes everything in the Lite plan while offering other features like going up to 1,000 sales per month versus 300. The number of warehouse integrations also increases from one warehouse to multiple warehouse integrations, making it even easier for retailers relying on multiple locations for distribution. Analytics are also upgraded from basic to advanced. It also incorporate more than one sales channel as well as inventory management.

Starting at $199 per month for up to five users, the Small Business plan is ideal for retail businesses with over 300 sales per month that need to manage inventory and orders in one platform. It’s perfect for retailers that have expanded into multiple sales channels. The small business tier is the highest-priced core product plan without the add-ons of other providers.

Incoming stock report screenshot

What TradeGecko Is Missing

One thing TradeGecko is missing is email marketing features. If managing email marketing campaigns from within your retail CRM is important to your business, a solution like Lightspeed, Bitrix24, or Zoho would be better options. It’s also missing customer support tools like a built-in phone and collaboration tools. If this is important, Bitrix24 may be a better option.

What Users Think About TradeGecko

Users tend to like TradeGecko because it’s easy to use and it centralizes retail operations information on one platform. Minor bugs and glitches and the desire for additional specialized features are among the reasons some users don’t like it.

Where to Find TradeGecko

You can find TradeGecko in the retail businesses of those wanting to manage inventory, multiple sales channels, and offer shipping options, all from a central interface. To find out if TradeGecko is right for you, consider signing up for a free trial.

Visit TradeGecko

Best CRM for Online Stores & Customer Support Teams: Bitrix24

Bitrix24 is an affordable, general-purpose CRM with a free plan and features great for retail businesses. It includes online payment, product catalogs, stock management, and customer support tools like a built-in phone and collaboration tools like forums. These features are ideal for budget-conscious retailers wanting to use an adaptable CRM with customer service tools.

Bitrix24 Pricing

Bitrix24 offers a free plan that includes up to 5GB of online storage for up to 12 users. Paid plans cost between $69 per user, per month and $99 per user, per month. This pricing makes it a less expensive option, on a per-user basis, compared to many CRMs with similar retail-friendly features.

Bitrix24 Tiered Features

Free

Bitrix24’s Free plan, which supports 12 users, offers retail-focused features that include online stores, payment systems, and a product catalog. It also includes a built-in phone with call recording that can be used to service customers within the platform. The online store and landing pages can support retail operations by using them to sell products and to send traffic to any offline locations.

This plan is great for small retailers without a budget needing basic, yet robust tools to start selling products online, offline, or both. Compared to the other plans featured, this provider and Zoho are the only ones offering a free plan, which is common for general-purpose CRMs and not very common for niche-specific CRMs.

Plus

The Plus plan includes everything in the Free plan and offers an increased amount of storage, from 5GB to 50GB. This plan also has twice the number of users, increasing from 12 to 24. Your ability to record more calls increases with the built-in phone, going from 100 to unlimited call recording. Also, the number of landing pages increases from one to five. Stock management tools are also included. Prices begin at $69 per month and include six users.

This plan is great for growing retailers with more than 12 users. It’s also ideal for retailers needing increased online hosted space. And if call recording is important when speaking to prospects or customers, you don’t have to worry about a recording cap with this plan.

Standard

The Standard plan features an expanded number of users, from six to 50. It also has a significantly increased amount of online storage, from 50GB to 100GB, and lets you create up to 10 online stores and 10 landing pages for $99 per month.

This plan is great for medium-sized expanding retailers with no more than 50 users. The 10 online stores that come with this plan let you to create different types of stores to sell different categories of products. The inclusion of 10 landing pages lets you create special retail campaigns.

Bitrix24 online stores templates

What Bitrix24 Is Missing

Bitrix24 is missing retail specific features like barcode creation and a management mobile app. If you’re looking for this type of feature, Vend may be a better option. It’s also missing POS integration. If you’re looking for that, Vend and Lightspeed are better options.

What Users Think About Bitrix24

Users like Bitrix24 because it’s easy to use and has a lot of tools for retailers. User dislikes center around the mobile app having limited capabilities. For more information on user reviews, checkout our Bitrix24 review article.

Where to Find Bitrix24

Bitrix24 can be found on the desks or laptops of retailers looking for robust features that include tools to build online stores and the ability to offer customer support either free or at an affordable price. Check out the features for yourself with a free trial.

Visit Bitrix24

Best CRM for Social Media Management & Analytics: Zoho CRM Plus

Zoho CRM Plus is a bundled, all-in-one product that includes social media lead capture and analytics tools for $50 per agent, per month. It also includes inventory management, help desk, and chat to help solve customer issues or promote engagement on websites. As a result, Zoho CRM Plus is great for retail entrepreneurs who are active on social media as well as those who want advanced support or general sales analytics for their growing retail businesses.

Zoho CRM Plus Pricing

Zoho CRM Plus combines many of Zoho’s customer relationship management and support tools in a single bundled package that costs $50 per agent, per month. This pricing makes it a very affordable alternative for small businesses of any industry looking for an all-in-one tool to help them manage their business.

Zoho CRM Plus Features

The core features in Zoho CRM Plus are Zoho Desk, which is the help desk, Zoho Social, the social media tool, Zoho Project for project management, Zoho Analytics, inventory management, collaboration, and sales management. All of these features allow you to manage your customer’s entire retail experience.

Here are more details on a few of Zoho CRM Plus’ core features:

Inventory Management

The inventory management tools that are part of Zoho CRM Plus include product setup, price books, vendor setup, and internal purchase order management. These tools allow you to keep track of your inventory and easily make purchases when stock levels are low. Tools like product setup and price books make it easier to look up pricing to communicate it to customers. This feature is similar to inventory management in the other products presented.

Social Media

Zoho CRM Plus has social media features that facilitate interactions with customers and prospects on social media. With these tools, you’re also able to monitor social conversations and sentiments, which can give you insights on what your customers and prospects are saying about you and your products. You’re also able to retrieve and resolve support issues that come up. This set of social features is unique to Zoho CRM Plus.

Reporting & Analytics

Zoho CRM Plus comes with advanced reporting and analytics that let you view real-time reports and dashboards, create dashboards to suit your needs, and get access to over 100 prebuilt reports and dashboards. These features also let you create unlimited dashboards to keep up with all of the metrics you want to keep a close eye on. This information helps you make decisions, but are not as innovative as Lightspeed’s tool that makes recommendations.

Customer Support

Zoho’s help desk features make it easy to provide customer service with ticket management, which supports tickets coming from a variety of channels. You can also create a knowledge base where you organize your content and your customers find their own answers to frequently asked questions. This allows you to save time so that you can focus on resolving more important priorities. Communication channels like chat are also supported.

Zoho CRM Plus dashboard

Ease of Use

Users say that Zoho is easy to use and that you can start using it right away without major technical skills. It’s also simple to add complementary products and integrations as necessary, making this tool one that can easily grow with you as your retail business evolves or needs to change.

What Zoho CRM Plus Is Missing

Zoho CRM Plus is missing built-in payment tools and POS systems. It’s also missing a free option like its standard Zoho CRM product. If a POS or payment tools are important, consider the retail specific CRM and POS systems in this article.

What Users Think About Zoho CRM Plus

Zoho users feel that the software is very comprehensive. A few are disappointed with needing to buy add-on products to get the functionality they’re looking for, but are happy about product bundles like Zoho CRM Plus. For more information on reviews, see our Zoho user reviews page.

Where to Find Zoho CRM Plus

Zoho CRM Plus can be found in small to medium-sized retailers looking for inventory management and social media engagement. For more information on how Zoho CRM Plus can meet your retail business and support needs, sign up for a free trial.

Visit Zoho CRM Plus

Bottom Line: Retail CRM

Retail CRMs allow you to build relationships with your retail customers and gain access to data that can spark ideas on the best products and services to offer. Here, we covered higher-priced, retail-specific CRMs along with lower-priced or free CRMs that are general use but suitable for a retail small business. You’ll be sure to find a solution that will work for your needs.

Retail CRMs and POS systems like Vend allow you to save time with features like the barcode scanner app that you can use from your phone or other mobile device. It’s also great for building relationships with retail loyalty program tools. If these features will assist you with your inventory management, learn more by signing up for a free trial.

Visit Vend