Retail

Buy now, pay later (BNPL), often referred to as “point-of-sale installment loans,” is a type of short-term financing that lets your customers pay for purchases over time, often with zero or low interest rates. BNPL payments have become increasingly prolific in the retail world in recent years as people have begun to use them more frequently for everyday purchases. This article takes a deep dive into how BNPL works, the pros and cons of offering this financing option, and the solutions you can use to implement it in your business. How BNPL Works While the exact terms of purchase will vary based on the financing solution, in general, the BNPL process begins with a customer choosing their items and selecting the BNPL option at checkout. The customer must then be approved and decide on a payment plan. Once the transaction is complete, your business will receive the full payment amount while the customer will pay later according to the BNPL terms. Pros & Cons of Offering BNPL There are lots of great benefits that can come from offering BNPL to your customers. However, there are also drawbacks you should consider, particularly impacts on the customer that could alter their opinion of your brand. BNPL Solutions To offer a BNPL payment option at your business checkout, you will need to sign up and integrate a BNPL solution into your POS and/or ecommerce site. Creating an account and adding it to your site is free—simply pay the processing fee, and the BNPL partner takes care of the rest. Click through the tabs below to see how the top BNPL providers stack up against each other. BNPL Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line As we look to the future of retail, BNPL services will play a major role in the payments landscape. Here, we examined what BNPL is, how it works, solutions for your business, and the service’s highlights and drawbacks. With this knowledge, you are ready to start integrating BNPL services into your transactions and reaping the benefits. You May Also Like… What Is a Merchant Account? How to Accept Credit Cards Online Shopping Cart Abandonment Statistics

Your bar inventory is the total supply of beer, wine, spirits, mixers, and other beverages that your restaurant or bar has on hand. The phrase “bar inventory” also refers to the process of physically counting that supply. Profitable bar programs count inventory once a month, and the best bars count inventory once per week. There are two main ways to manage your bar inventory: using an inventory app or using spreadsheets. How to Do Bar Inventory With an Inventory App Using an inventory app to manage your bar inventory saves you time, reduces errors, and gives you more detailed reporting faster than a spreadsheet system. For this article, the images are all from the inventory app. We chose MarketMan because it earned the top spot in our ranking of restaurant inventory software and integrates with several of the most popular bar and restaurant POS systems. Using an inventory app requires a bit of setup. We’ll walk you through the steps required as if setting up your app for the first time, then go into the steps to perform your physical inventory count. How to Do Bar Inventory With a Spreadsheet Inventory apps are relatively new. Before the age of apps, bar inventory was counted by hand and tracked on spreadsheets. Many small bars and restaurants still count inventory without apps. You can get an accurate inventory count this way; it just takes a bit of planning. Whichever method you choose, the most important thing is that all of your managers know and use the same system. Bottom line: sloppy inventory management costs your business money. Here’s how to count bar inventory using a spreadsheet: Bar Inventory Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line Maintaining bar inventory is a necessary task in a well-managed restaurant. It requires attention to detail and the consistent participation of your whole team. Though it can be a big undertaking, the good news is that the more you perform physical inventory counts, the faster they get. If you do not currently have an efficient inventory process, the most important step you can take is simply to begin. A POS-integrated inventory app like MarketMan can be an incredible partner in helping maintain your inventory. It can improve accuracy, save time, and provide detailed reports that might be tedious to develop on your own. MarketMan integrates with virtually every popular restaurant POS system. Visit MarketMan to learn more.

Retail is when a business sells (typically physical) products to consumers, with retailing the act of conducting retail business. Ecommerce and omnichannel selling have blurred the lines of physical and online retail, so retail is a term that often encompasses all selling of goods—digitally or in-store. Despite the growth of online commerce, consumers still demand an in-person experience at some point in their journey. This can be through your own store, at someone else’s store, or even via temporary retail activations like pop-up shops, trade shows, or markets. How Retail Works If you’re interested in starting a retail business, it’s helpful to understand how the retail supply chain works at a high level. Types of Retail There are many retail types out there, especially as the term has become more flexible and encompasses more things. However, the following are not considered retail: Service-based businesses that don’t sell any products, such as dog grooming, beauty salons, etc. Multilevel marketing (MLM) schemes with in-person networking and selling Utilities or services such as internet, water, electricity, etc. Permanent Brick-and-Mortar Perhaps the most traditional type of retail is the permanent brick-and-mortar store. Businesses may own or even lease the retail space with plans to be there for a long time. Permanent retail shops might sell their own items or sell items from other suppliers—or a mixture of both. Related: Store Management: How to Manage a Retail Store for Success Retail Store Design Ideas to Increase Sales Wholesale Selling wholesale is when a manufacturer or supplier sells its items to a physical retail store, which then sells those items to its customers. Selling wholesale is a nice business model because although you sell your items at a discounted price, wholesale customers place larger orders—the discount is an exchange for high-volume orders. Plus, you don’t have to work to make those sales. Related: How to Find a Wholesaler for Your Retail Business Pop-up A pop-up shop is a temporary retail activation that may last a single day or for several months. It is an impermanent retail store that allows people to interact with your brand and products in person. Pop-up shops are great for building buzz, testing or entering new markets, and experimenting with retail before investing in a full-blown store. Markets Markets are also retail opportunities, allowing merchants to set up small tables or booths and sell directly to consumers. They could be regular community-based or farmers markets or one-time special events. The risk is small when it comes to selling in markets, as you typically only need to pay a small vendor fee. Event-based Retail Other events also offer a venue for retailing. You might participate in festivals, fairs, concerts, sporting events, or other occasions allowing vendors. As with markets, you don’t have to worry about marketing to draw foot traffic—the event will do that for you. It’s all about standing out among the other vendors. Online Ecommerce, online retail—or “e-tail”—is when you sell products digitally. This could be through your own online store or via third-party marketplaces like Amazon, Etsy, Walmart, or Target. Many retailers sell both online and in person—this is an excellent way to drive more sales. Explore Black Friday shopping statistics. Food Service Food-based businesses may also be considered retail. Though they’re service-based businesses, they also offer a product: the food. Food service businesses could include sit-down restaurants, quick-service eateries, and even fast-food establishments. Some food-based businesses also sell products in the form of merchandise, condiments made in-house, and other related items. Current State of Retail If you’re considering this line of business, it’s helpful to get to know some of the latest retail trends to give you a picture of the current state of the market. Retail Is Here to Stay Though the COVID-19 pandemic wreaked havoc on the retail industry, it has bounced back with vigor. While store closures became the norm, new businesses have also sprouted. In fact, there have been twice as many store openings as closings throughout the pandemic. Consumers crave the in-person experience. Even as online sales continue to grow, in-store sales remain competitive. Plus, most shoppers (around 80%) are comfortable visiting physical retail spaces again. Plus, in-store sales are up compared to pre-pandemic levels—nearly 14%. Omnichannel Is Important Omnichannel retailing is when brands focus on creating a consistent customer experience across every single engagement, approaching the experience as a collection of engagements rather than each isolated engagement living on its own. With so many touchpoints and channels to learn about products, engage with brands, and even make a purchase, retailing requires mastery beyond just in-person selling. Today’s consumers want to connect with you on social media, receive exclusives via email, and find your products in their favorite department stores. In fact, retailers that don’t adopt an omnichannel approach lose out on as much as 30% of sales. There Are Always New Payment Methods With technology advancing so quickly, it seems there’s always a new payment method to keep up with. First, it was chip cards, then contactless pay, digital wallets, self-checkout, even bitcoin and cryptocurrency. Now retailers can save payment information so customers don’t even have to pull out a card, phone, or cash—they can just check out on the spot. Nowadays, retailers use a point-of-sale (POS) system to manage transactions and other day-to-day business functions. Our 2022 retail and ecommerce payments trends report found consumer behavior and purchasing shifts that happened during COVID are here to stay. About 70% of shoppers have changed payment preferences forever—and many now prefer online ordering, pickup, and contactless payments. Bottom Line Retail is a business model that’s been around for a while, and though it’s gone through many changes, it’s not heading anywhere soon. There are plenty of opportunities for small businesses of all types in all kinds of niches. It’s a matter of determining which opportunity is right for you and going for it.

Shopify’s new Starter plan lets you sell online for just $5 per month, and full-featured stores start at $29 per month. Use our calculator below to determine your monthly Shopify fees.

Using a template is a great way to speed up the process of creating a bar inventory spreadsheet. A good bar inventory sheet should help you track your costs and not merely count your bottles. Our bar expert has created three free templates to use in three different types of liquor-selling operations. We have included templates for full-service bars and wine bars and for counting liquor inventory in a full-service restaurant. Download Your Free Bar Inventory Spreadsheet Template Click through the tabs below to download the spreadsheet that most closely matches your bar type. How to Use a Bar Inventory Spreadsheet Template These bar inventory spreadsheets are easy to use and they're customizable. They contain sheets to track your on-hand liquor supplies along with your invoices and sales. Combining these three data sets shows the health of your bar business at a glance (which is the main reason to perform inventory counts). There are just a few steps to get started: Step 1: Download the Free Bar Inventory Template First, download the template that most closely resembles your business type. We have included options for full-service bars (which combine wine, beer, and a wide range of liquor), wine bars (which need to track several wines by the glass), and restaurant bars (which need to track wines by the glass and bottle, alongside beer and spirits). Step 2: Customize the Spreadsheet After you download your preferred template, you need to tailor it to your operation. You can change the headers for each of the beverage categories to match your operation. If you change a category on the Inventory Count sheet, make sure to also change the categories across the Invoices and Sales sheets. Once you have your categories organized, grab a stack of your most recent invoices and add your product information. Include the item name, the unit you track it in (bottle, case, keg, bag-in-box, etc.), and the price. Step 3: Add Targets & Starting Inventory Value With your products entered, add the values for your Target Beverage Cost and Starting Inventory. Your Starting Inventory is the dollar value of your inventory from your previous inventory counts. If you are just opening, then your Starting Inventory will be the value you get from adding together the products from all of your pre-opening invoices. Your Target Beverage Cost is entirely up to you. Most bars aim for a beverage cost between 18% to 22%. Though, beverage costs can range up to 25% and still be healthy, depending on your bar type. Generally, the more liquor you sell, the lower your beverage costs will be. The more non-alcoholic beverages you sell, the higher your beverage costs. So, a restaurant with a bar might have a beverage cost target of 24%, while a traditional, booze-only bar operation aims for 20%. Step 4: Start Your Inventory Count or Add More Information Depending on where you are in your sales cycle, you might prefer to start counting your inventory right away or take your time adding more information to your workbook. If you are between counts, it is a good idea to take the time to add your invoices and sales to the appropriate tabs. If you get in the habit of adding invoice and sales information at the same time every day, then you’ll save yourself time on inventory counting days. You certainly don’t have to enter this information every day; if you use a point of sale (POS) to run your restaurant, you can get the sales information for a month or week at a time by pulling a single report. You’ll still want to add this information to your inventory spreadsheet to get your Actual Beverage Cost. Bar Inventory Spreadsheet Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line Using a free bar inventory spreadsheet is a great way to kickstart your bar inventory and begin tracking your liquor costs. Once you enter your products, prices, and counts onto these sheets, you can perform physical counts to see how closely your on-hand stock matches what you’d expect based on your sales and orders.

Toast and Square for Restaurants are cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) systems that regularly appear in our rankings of the best restaurant POS and the best small business POS systems. Both come with built-in payment processing and offer a free baseline subscription. Square offers shorter contracts with no cancellation fees while Toast has more robust industry-grade hardware and software. In general, here’s where each is the better fit: : Best for mid-to-high volume restaurants that need flexible hardware with restaurant-focused software tools like tip pool management : Budget-minded restaurants and mobile food businesses like food trucks, coffee shops, and other highly focused counter-service concepts Toast and Square for Restaurants Quick Comparison Alternatives to Toast and Square for Restaurant If you want to bring your own processor or shop for the lowest processing rates, neither Toast nor Square will be a fit. Consider these alternatives, instead: All three of the systems listed above are cloud-based POS like Toast and Square. But these alternative systems all offer the option of third-party processing so you can shop for rates. If you still feel that either Toast or Square for Restaurants will be best for you, let’s look at how they performed across our scoring criteria. We’ll start with the most important factor for most restaurants: price. Toast vs Square Pricing Toast and Square are evenly matched on price; they both offer a free baseline POS. But they go about it differently. Toast offers its Starter Kit POS for no upfront monthly fees. Square’s Free POS subscription includes software on unlimited terminals, while Toast’s Starter Kit POS can only be used on up to two terminals. But as you’ll see in the general POS features evaluation, Toast’s Starter Kit offers more functions than Square’s Free POS. Square has Toast beat when it comes to contract terms, though. Square offers month-to-month subscriptions with no cancellation fees, while Toast generally requires a two-year contract. To take a deeper look at each system’s hardware and payments terms, expand the sections below. Toast vs Square General Features Toast and Square both have all the functional POS tools covered, but Toast offers more tools in its baseline free Starter Kit POS than Square for Restaurants includes in its Free tier. For example, Free Square users cannot reopen closed checks, and only get one set of user permissions. Toast Starter Kit subscribers get unlimited user permissions and can reopen closed checks. Square’s Free plan also does not include server shift reports and close-of-day reports, which can limit restaurants with more than a couple of employees. But if your restaurant is a micro-operation that doesn’t need these tools, Square for Restaurants is about the only POS that offers such a streamlined system, so you won’t pay for tools you don’t use. If you otherwise like Square and need these tools, however, you can get them in the Plus and Premium subscriptions. Toast vs Square Niche POS Features Both Toast and Square for restaurants offer additional features for specialty restaurant types. With Toast, most of these tools are built in, although some, such as online ordering, come with additional costs. Most of Square’s niche features require third-party integrations. Square is also missing a couple of key features that support high-volume quick service operations: dual cash drawer tills and drive-thru management. Toast offers many refined features for tip pool management, including automated tip pool calculations and the ability to pay employees’ earned tips before payday via the Toast Pay Card. This feature is an industry standout. Toast is the only cloud POS to offer such robust tip management. Square tracks individual tips and―if you add Square Payroll―can speedily add those tips to employee paychecks. This may be all small restaurants need. Toast’s high volume tools are also stronger than Square’s. Toast offers basic drive-thru management, dual cash drawer tills, and extensive nested modifiers for complex combo building. Meanwhile, Square includes a free online ordering site in all subscriptions, even the Free POS. Toast’s online ordering tools are great, too, but they come at an additional cost―typically around $50 to $75 per month. Both systems include built-in tools or delivery management. With either system, you can accept third-party orders and in-house orders, dispatch deliveries to third-party drivers or dispatch a team of in-house delivery drivers. However, driver management tools on both systems cost extra. Both Toast and Square have some of our favorite KDS screens to streamline operations and track kitchen productivity. And you can get excellent ingredient-level inventory management with vendor and purchase order management on both systems via integration. However, Toast owns the xtraCHEF inventory platform, and that integration on Toast works slightly more seamlessly than any of Square’s inventory integrations. Toast vs Square Ease of Use Both Toast and Square’s POS interfaces are user-friendly. Toast’s back office is more robust and restaurant-focused than Square’s, so it takes more time to learn. But Toast’s customer service is also more robust than Square’s, so you’ll have the support you need to learn Toast’s more customizable system. Meanwhile, Toast setup takes more lead time than Square’s. Most users can set up their Square POS in less than a day using Square’s setup wizard. Real-world users rate Toast and Square’s ease of use and customer service pretty closely on popular software review sites. This matches our experience with both systems. They’re both easy to use in different ways. It depends on what you mean by ease of use. If you want a system that doesn’t require any assistance to use, then Square is your winner. If you prefer a system that comes with 24/7 support, then you’ll find Toast much easier to use. Toast vs Square Expert Score Toast and Square for Restaurants are both excellent POS systems. You can’t go wrong with either one. They are both popular systems with excellent user reviews and free baseline subscriptions. Toast stands out a bit ahead of Square sheerly because it offers so many niche restaurant-focused software tools. But if you’re not going to use things like automated tip pool management, dual cash drawers, and spill-proof KDS screens, then Toast may not be worth the two-year contract. Square is a better choice for restaurants that want a month-to-month contract with no cancellation penalties and easy self-installation. Are you still undecided? If neither of these systems seems like a fit, take the quiz below to get our expert recommendation. You won’t need to enter any personal information, and your results will appear on this page: Methodology: How We Evaluated Toast vs Square Multiple times throughout the year, we score both of these systems on more than 20 criteria that are important to restaurant owners. We consider price, functionality, ease of use, and the opinions of our restaurant and retail experts who have used each system. Click through the tabs below for a full description of our rating system: Bottom Line When choosing between Toast and Square for Restaurants for your POS system, Toast is generally the better option for most restaurants (but just by a nose). Toast takes a little longer to set up, but it has the depth of features and more rugged hardware to stand up to the heat of a kitchen. It also offers more in terms of restaurant-specific workforce management and reports. Plus the bar tab, drive-thru, and self-serve kiosk tools are superior to Square’s workarounds. Sign up for Toast’s pay-as-you-go program and see for yourself.

This past holiday weekend—the five days spanning from Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday—shoppers spent confidently and turned out to shop in-store well above pre-pandemic levels. In fact, there was a record number of in-store shoppers every day over the weekend, resulting in a strong kickoff to the holiday season. Year-over-Year BFCM Statistics at a Glance Earlier this month, the National Retail Federation projected holiday sales would grow 6%-8% over 2021. There is uncertainty this holiday season for retailers, including staffing shortages, inventory concerns, inflation, and economic uncertainty. However, strong spending and shopper turnout over BFCM weekend indicate retailers will have a healthy holiday season. Thanksgiving Weekend Overview 1. 196.7 million consumers shopped between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday According to the NRF, 196.7 million consumers shopped during the five days spanning Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday. This number is: 17 million more than last year (179 million people shopped BFCM weekend in 2021) The highest number on record since NRF began tracking 30 million higher than initial expectations 2. Nearly 123 million people shopped in-store over Thanksgiving weekend Shoppers are returning to regular holiday traditions, including Black Friday shopping. Nearly 123 million people shopped at stores between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, up 17% from last year’s 105 million in-store shoppers. The NRF reported in a press call that a “record number” of consumers were in-store each day of the five-day weekend. 3. 130 million people shopped online during BFCM—2% growth over last year While in-store shopping saw a huge resurgence, online shopping grew much more modestly. NRF reports 130 million people shopped online between Thanksgiving and Cyber Monday, 2 million more than the 128 million that shopped online last year. 4. Black Friday was the busiest day for in-store and online shopping According to the NRF, 72.9 million people shopped in-store on Black Friday (up from 66.5 million in 2021). Notably, more people shopped online during Black Friday than Cyber Monday, with 87.2 million online shoppers on Friday, compared with 77 million people who shopped online during Cyber Monday. 5. 77% of Saturday shoppers specifically shopped small businesses After Black Friday, NRF reports that Small Business Saturday was the second-busiest day for in-store shopping, with 63.4 million in-store shoppers (up from 51 million in 2021). Seventy-seven percent of people who shopped on Saturday did so specifically to support Small Business Saturday. 6. Shoppers spent $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday Despite more shoppers visiting virtual and in-person stores on Black Friday, Cyber Monday was the biggest revenue day of the weekend. According to Adobe Analytics, consumers spent: $5.3 billion on Thanksgiving $9.12 billion on Black Friday $4.6 billion on Small Business Saturday $4.96 billion on Sunday $11.3 billion on Cyber Monday For a day-by-day breakdown, see our guides to: Black Friday Statistics Cyber Monday Statistics 7. Consumers spent $325.44 on average over the weekend—up 8% from 2021 This year, Thanksgiving weekend shoppers spent $325.This is a big increase over the average $301 spent over Thanksgiving weekend in 2021 and $312 spent in 2020. 8. 97% of Thanksgiving weekend shoppers made holiday-related purchases According to the NRF, most people purchased gifts, food, and decor for the holidays. However, as usual, shoppers also sprung for household and personal items. Of the average $325.44 shoppers spent over the weekend, $229.21 was on gifts. 9. Shopify merchants saw a record $7.5 billion in sales More than 52 million shoppers purchased from Shopify stores over the BFCM weekend, an 18% increase from 2021. Consumer Preferences 10. Debit cards are the most popular payment type for the second year in a row NRF says that 43% of shoppers used debit cards vs 38% who used credit. The Federal Reserve estimates that households have an additional $1.7 trillion in savings built up from what they had pre-pandemic. 11. Consumers are only 47% done with holiday shopping NRF reports consumers are just under halfway done buying holiday gifts and supplies. That means retailers still have a lot of opportunities ahead this holiday season. 12. Over 20% of online Cyber Week orders were picked up in-store Salesforce is tracking the percentage of pickup orders by the day. From Thanksgiving through Cyber Monday, 20%–21% of online orders were picked up in-store. This is only a slight increase from previous weeks. 13. Walmart overtook Amazon for online shopping searches CNBC reports searches for Black Friday deals skyrocketed on Walmart. Meanwhile, Amazon, historically the go-to for online deals, fell to fourth place this year behind Walmart, Target, and Kohl's. Bottom Line Inflation concerns are real, but they’re not holding shoppers back. As Matt Shay, president of NRF, said in a press call, 83% of consumers are concerned about inflation. But, the concern doesn’t always line up with action, and right now, those concerns are not reflected in consumer spending. Consumers still have half of their holiday shopping to do. Make the most of the rest of the holiday sales season: Refresh your store with Christmas displays Implement cross-merchandising strategies to encourage upsells. Offer a buy now, pay later (BNPL) option at checkout Evaluate your customer service strategy and staffing levels Add a seamless click-and-collect checkout option Just getting started? See our ultimate guide to starting a retail business.

is a point-of-sale (POS) system with inventory and order management capabilities that rival top competitors like Lightspeed. It earned an overall score of 4.01 out of 5 in our 31-point criteria for the best POS for small businesses, standing out for its advanced inventory and flexible payment processing at a very competitive price point. It is an ideal choice for small retailers looking for a scalable and more-budget friendly POS. We highly recommend Hike for small specialty retail shops requiring advanced features like composite product management, lay-by and on-account sale, and integrated label printing at a price point well below the competition. If you have seasonal pop-ups or need to add additional registers for your busy season, you can upgrade your plan and then downgrade once the season is over. Hike’s native iPad app offers the mobility and compact size required for on-the-go and popup store sales. On the other hand, while Hike is less expensive than our other recommended POS inventory systems, it does not have a free plan. Monthly fees start at $59 but expect to pay at least $89 per month if you need to manage more than one store location or set up an online store with your POS system. If these are deal breakers, consider a free POS system like , which also provides scalable features, or if you primarily sell online. Hike POS Deciding Factors Hike POS Alternatives Not sure if Hike is right for you? See how it compares with our top POS inventory systems and leading retail POS systems. Hike has three subscription tiers—Essential, Plus, and Enterprise—starting at $69 per month ($59 per month if billed annually). Each of these plans has one register included, but you can purchase extra registers at $39 per month. The main differences between the plans are the ability to sell online and available integrations (multistore management, inventory accounting, marketing, and ecommerce, and marketplaces). Hike offers a wide range of seamless payment processing methods including custom payment types. On top of a touch-screen register and customizable interface, the system can even allow you to easily create unique custom sale items right at checkout. However, ecommerce functionalities are somewhat limited and access to some advanced features will require you to have a higher subscription plan. Hike offers excellent inventory and order management functionalities, customized reporting, and employee management features that easily rival popular retail POS software in the market. However, similar to its register and checkout features, most advanced management tools will require an upgraded subscription. Hike’s marketing features are also limited to integrations. Intuitive user interface Offline mode Touch screen Help center Video tutorials and webinars Dedicated account manager and customized onboarding for those under the Enterprise plan 24/7 email and chat support Customer callback for demos and sales Hike is one out of three POS software that earned a perfect score for ease of use. The system is easy to set up and compatible with a wide range of hardware without the need for professional installation. It also works offline and even offers 24/7 customer support and extensive user guides on its website. Hike nearly earned a perfect score for this category, if not for the fact that it does not have a free plan and a lot of user reviews online. The system can also benefit from improvements on its available ecommerce features. Otherwise, its value for money—a key factor for small businesses—is one of the best when compared to top inventory management POS systems. Some small businesses would not need most of the features that they pay for in a basic POS plan with advanced invoicing tools. So, while Hike does not have a free plan, we particularly like how the system is easily scalable. Allowing users to upgrade or downgrade their subscription at any time means the cost of using Hike will always match the business needs whether it's a busy season or not. What Users Say in Hike POS Reviews At the time of publication, Hike reviews have generally improved, although there are still not many available online. User sentiments still remain mainly positive with Hike consistently receiving excellent feedback for customer support. They said its agents are extremely helpful, are responsive, and would go the extra mile to resolve issues. Hike’s robust inventory features earned praise for the ability to handle complete inventory as well. Recent feedback also mentioned Hike’s excellent messaging app. On the other hand, occasional platform glitches and downtime are still the main concern. Hike earned the following scores on popular user review sites: Trustpilot: 4.8 out of 5 based on over 140 reviews Capterra: 3.9 out of 5 based on around 40 reviews G2: 4.2 out of 5 based on about 5 reviews We also observed user review trends, similar to our previous update: Methodology: How We Evaluated Hike POS We test every POS software ourselves when evaluating small business POS systems. We gauged each one, including Hike, for affordability and value-for-money features that not only include, but also go beyond, basic POS functions—such as the ability to handle complicated inventory, multiple payment methods, and multichannel features. We also evaluated each system’s scalability and flexibility ideal for small businesses. Overall, Hike performed well in our evaluation, standing out for its inventory and order management capabilities, competitive pricing, and ease of use. Click through the tabs below to see the full evaluation criteria. Hike POS Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Bottom Line Hike is an inventory POS system that allows you to expand your business without costing an arm and a leg. Its basic plan offers valuable inventory, store management, and accounting integrations to let you efficiently manage your business across multiple locations. It is a perfect POS system if your business needs to be mobile and in several locations (offline, in-store, and even warehouses) where real-time inventory syncing is crucial. Sign up with Hike for a 14-day free trial—no credit card required.