Shopify POS Review 2022: Best for Omnichannel Retail
Meaghan has provided content and guidance for indie retailers as the editor for a number of retail publications and a speaker at trade shows. She is Fit Small Business’s authority on retail and ecommerce.
Brigitte is a retail specialist and staff writer with brick and mortar management experience. She is versed in retail sales analysis, merchandising, and buying with an emphasis in retail sales and marketing across platforms. She has a BA in writing from Washington University, St. Louis.
This article is part of a larger series on POS Systems.
In our review of the best POS systems for small businesses, Shopify POS landed second overall in our ranking with a 4.47 out of 5. We used 31 data points and reviewed over a dozen POS software options to make our evaluation, and determined that Shopify is best for retailers selling across multiple channels, especially when one of these channels is a Shopify ecommerce store.
Shopify POS
Overall Score: 4.47
OUT OF 5
What We Like
- 14-day free trial
- Smart omnichannel and inventory tools
- Easy-to-use, intuitive interface
- Best-in-class ecommerce platform
- Customizable mobile checkout
What's Missing
- Limited offline mode capabilities
- Limited features in free POS
- Requires an ecommerce subscription
- Pricey
- Reports of downtime and disconnecting card readers
When To Use Shopify
If you need a:
- Shopify online store: You have access to Shopify’s free POS
- Multichannel POS Shopify tops our list of best multichannel POS systems
- Solution to sell on social channels: Shopify has the best integrations with Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok
When To Use an Alternative:
- If you do not have an online store: Shopify POS requires a Shopify ecommerce subscription
- Restaurants: Use an industry-specific POS like Toast.
- C-stores and liquor stores: Choose a POS with age-restriction sales tools.
- Cafes and grocery stores: Food-based retailers could use ingredient-based or perishable inventory tracking.
- If you need a free POS: Consider Square.
Shopify POS is a great POS software for any small retail business, but we especially recommend it if you need a POS system that will integrate seamlessly with your online store. With its reporting and analytics tools, advanced inventory management, and seamless ecommerce integrations, Shopify has everything you need to make running your business easier, more efficient, and more profitable. In fact, it’s one of our picks for leading retail POS systems.
Did you know?
Shopify is our top-recommended ecommerce platform for small businesses. Learn more about it in our What Is Shopify article.
While Shopify is ideal for online and multichannel retailers, it would not be a great POS selection for everyone. Non-retail businesses, like service businesses or restaurants, would not have the necessary scheduling, order taking, or inventory tools with Shopify.
Additionally, retailers that only operate in person should not opt for Shopify. You would have to sign up for a Shopify ecommerce account to use the POS features, which would incur an unnecessary cost. We recommend Square for retailers that operate strictly in person.
If you want to experience the platform, Shopify has a free 14-day trial where you can try its Pro plan and see how everything works. Or, you can follow along on the video below, where I take you through how to sign up for a Shopify account and some of the top features at your disposal.
Shopify Deciding Factors | |
Supported Business Types | Retail Retailers, wholesalers, dropshippers |
Standout Features |
|
Monthly Software Fees | Average $9–$299 (for ecommerce plan) + $89 POS Pro plan |
Setup and Installation Fees | $0 DIY installation only |
Contract Length | Month-to-month Save 10% with annual contract and 20% with two-year contract |
Payment Processing Options | Shopify Payments |
Payment Processing Fees | In-person: 2.4%–2.7% (depending on plan) Online (card): 2.4% + 30 cents–2.9% + 30 cents Online (international): 3.4% + 30 cents–3.9% + 30 cents |
Customer Support | 24/7 |
Shopify POS Alternatives
 |  |  | |
|---|---|---|---|
Best for: Businesses looking for a free POS and mobile POS app | Best for: Businesses looking for robust inventory management | Best for: Restaurants | Best for: Brick-and-mortar retailers |
Monthly software fees: $0–$29 (custom pricing available) | Monthly software fees: $139–$319 (custom pricing available) | Monthly software fees: $0–$165 (custom pricing available) | Monthly software fees: $0–$60 (custom pricing available) |
Hardware costs: $149–$799 | Hardware costs: Quote-based | Hardware costs: Quote-based | Hardware costs: $149–$799 |
Shopify earned a high score for pricing due to its forever-free POS plan, which includes unlimited users, products, and transactions. The POS runs on iPads, which is economical and practical for retail stores, and the easy DIY setup also helps keep costs down.
Shopify POS Lite is free with all Shopify ecommerce plans, and it works great for running temporary stores such as pop-up shops and farmers market locations.
However, those wanting to use Shopify POS for their brick-and-mortar operations will likely want to upgrade to the POS Pro plan and pay the additional monthly fee of $89 per location. The main difference between these two Shopify POS pricing schemes is access to advanced features such as smart inventory management and in-store analytics.
Shopify POS Lite | Shopify POS Pro |
|---|---|
Best for: Mobile sales | Best for: Brick-and-Mortar Retailers |
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If you don’t want to use Shopify as your ecommerce platform, you can sign up for the Shopify Lite plan for $9 per month. This lets you add a Shopify “Buy Button” to third-party sites and comes with Shopify POS for sales and inventory management.
Once you download the POS app, you can start choosing from Shopify’s range of hardware options to support mobile and in-store sales. Each piece of hardware includes free shipping, 30-day returns, 24/7 customer support, and a one-year warranty.
Tap and Chip Readers | Shopify Stands | Barcode Scanners |
|---|---|---|
 |  |  |
$49 | $149–$185 | $229–$329 |
Securely accept tap, chip, and swipe payments, all fully integrated with Shopify POS. Available for iOS only. Dock available for $39 (in-store use) | iPad stands with customer-facing displays come in various models. iPad not included. | Scan items with wireless Bluetooth barcode scanners that connect directly to your POS. |
Best for: Mobile sales | Best for: Brick-and-mortar stores | Best for: Retailers with large inventory or sales volume |
If you want to use Shopify POS for pop-up sales or a temporary market or on a seasonal basis, you can rent POS hardware through Shopify’s partnership with Fello.
Shopify POS is just one of two POS systems to earn a perfect score in our evaluation of register and checkout features (Revel Systems being the other).
Speedy and customizable checkout flow, easy transaction management, mobility to sell from anywhere, customer management, and seamless online ordering with in-store pickup contributed to the perfect score.
Shopify POS’ easy-to-use checkout features include:
- Return and refund processing
- Exchange processing
- Mobile checkout via the Shopify POS mobile app
- Ability to add discounts and promo codes
- Ability to add customers to every purchase and see their customer profile
- Customizable digital and printed receipts
- Automatic tax calculations
Retailers can customize their POS smart grid and checkout screen homepage, making it easy to put hotkeys for specific products or register functions right at their fingertips.
(Source: Shopify)
Accepting Payments
With Shopify POS, you are automatically ready to accept payments via Shopify Payments. This means you can immediately start accepting all major credit cards, including chip, magnetic strip, and virtual payments like Apple Pay and Samsung Pay. Not only that, Shopify Payments has taken steps to protect your and your customers’ information by maintaining PCI compliance and secure 3D checkouts.
Not only do you have a pre-integrated payment processor with Shopify POS, but there are also flexible payment processes built into your checkout. You can split tenders, add discounts, accept partial payments and gift cards, initiate exchanges and returns, and use external card terminals from third-party providers—letting customers pay however they can. You can also set custom payment types, such as IOUs, checks, and even gold coins.
Omnichannel Selling
Shopify makes omnichannel selling a breeze. On the Shopify POS system, all your sales channels are listed, so you can access their individual details and performance as needed from a single platform. Additionally, Shopify syncs all your sales, inventory levels, and expenses across your different sales platforms for easy management.
You can use of the following features to provide your customers with a seamless omnichannel shopping experience:
- Email carts to your customers so they can complete in-store purchases online
- Generate QR codes that allow customers to complete their purchases online or take them to a product information page
- Accept returns or exchanges of online purchases in-store
- Add shipping details or set custom shipping fees for in-store purchases from your ecommerce site
Shopify offers a good array of backend management tools that you can use to run your business more efficiently. From staff to inventory management, Shopify has you covered with lots of tools for keeping your business on track, along with reports to help you make smart decisions.
In our evaluation of management features, Shopify earned a respectable 4.19 out of 5. While it didn’t score as high as Vend, Lightspeed, or even Square for Retail, Shopify POS excels with seamless multichannel functionality. It falls short with reporting and employee management, with key features like sales tracking and multiple permission levels only available with the Pro plan.
Inventory Management
With Shopify POS, you can upload inventory to the built-in inventory library for automated real-time tracking and sales reports. Meanwhile, Pro subscribers can get more advanced inventory reporting and controls by adding the Stocky app to the inventory system.
Stocky will help you make informed inventory decisions using smart recommendations, and inventory advanced tracking and analysis. Stocky’s capabilities include:
- Demand forecasting
- Detailed inventory reports
- Inventory analysis
- Inventory counts
- Inventory receiving
- Low stock reports
- Purchase orders
- Sale item suggestions
- Stock transfers
- Multiple locations syncing
Stocky has rich inventory control features that make having the right products in the right quantities a little easier.
(Source: Shopify)
Staff Management
Each staff member gets a unique log-in to access your POS system. When adding new staff members, they will start with no permissions, then you can add the appropriate allowances based on their role. For each staff member, you can control app access and track their performance from anywhere on your POS dashboard. You can also set staff POS PINs, define retail staff roles and permissions, and attribute sales to staff and reward commissions or kudos.
Customer Management
Transform one-time customers into loyal brand advocates by providing stellar service with Shopify’s customer management features. With its CRM tools, you can create customer profiles and tags, save contact information, view order histories and notes, see a customer’s email opt-in preferences for marketing purposes, and offer rewards with discounts, exclusive content, and access to events. Additionally, whenever a new shopper places an order, a new customer profile is automatically created—so you don’t have to worry about your online customer base.
Shopify not only makes it easy to track your customers and create profiles, but you can foster their loyalty by sending messages, discounts, and offers to specific customers or customer groups. You can also add the free Shopify Loyalty app to your POS for more loyalty-building features.
Add tons of information to every one of your products.
(Source: Shopify)
Reporting & Analytics
Shopify POS enables you to see how your business is performing by providing consolidated analytics. Some of the key reports that the app provides include:
- Cash flow
- Daily sales reports and insights (Pro only)
- Traffic reporting
- Sales by staff member, location, and sales channel
- Tax reports
- Discount reports
- Product and product category reports
View your most-used reports at a glance on the overview dashboard.
(Source: Shopify)
Integrations
Shopify’s app store provides a list of add-on software to support online, mobile, and in-store sales. You can use filters to list POS-compatible products, so it displays all the apps available based on categories such as accounting, loyalty, marketing, and shipping tools. Additionally, you can sort the list to show the new, most downloaded apps—even in a curated order.
Shopify makes it easy to integrate new software technologies with their built-in integrations library. (Source: Shopify)
Shopify also has a “Buy Button” that you can incorporate into any Squarespace, Wix, and WordPress site. The Buy Button connects transactions on your site back to your Shopify POS system, so you can use the Shopify POS with a non-Shopify ecommerce platform or even incorporate it into a blog or non-commerce site. Shopify also integrates with Pinterest, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and Tumblr, so you can sell whatever your customers are looking for.
With Shopify’s Lite plan, you can add a Buy Button to your site and use the Shopify POS Lite features for only $9.99 per month.
Connect your Shopify account to your social media storefronts.
(Source: Shopify)
- Quick account setup with guided assistance
- Easy-to-use and customizable interface
- Automatic sync with Shopify online store
- Default location-based sales tax
- Active Seller Community Forum
- Extensive Help Center documentation
- 24/7 customer support
Setting up a Shopify POS app on your mobile device only takes minutes, and once you’re done, you can easily customize the interface to match your needs. Using the Smart Grid tool, you can update the home screen to add, remove, and edit tiles so that the most used tasks are quickly accessible. And, until you create your own settings, the system can use your location to apply appropriate sales taxes.
Shopify POS can also automatically synchronize with your Shopify online shop, allowing you to manage your entire business from a single dashboard. Product or inventory updates made on the Shopify admin page will instantly take effect on the POS app.
Customer service is available 24/7 through email, chat, and phone. Video tutorials are also available, along with an extensive resource in its help center, like sign-up FAQs, shipping tips, and a staff and management training checklist.
Here, we considered the overall value the POS provides, user reviews, feedback based on our own experience testing the system, and any unique or standout features. Overall, Shopify POS offers a solid toolset for a good value.
It includes all the basic features you need to run a storefront and/or pop-up shop that’s seamlessly connected to your Shopify online store. If you’re a small business serious about selling online, Shopify is the ecommerce product for you, and its POS system is a natural extension.
However, where Shopify falls short is that many relatively basic features like daily sales reports, custom receipts, stock adjustments, and low stock reports are only available with the Pro plan.
If you’re selling online, it’s worth it. However, if you are mainly selling in person, Square for Retail could offer a better value.
What Users Think of Shopify
Shopify POS is among the top-rated POS software on the market today. It has collected well above average scores from iOS users who shared their feedback and, at the time of publication, has a 4.5-star rating from over 7,200 reviews on the App Store.
It has also earned the following scores on popular review sites:
- G2: 4.4 out of 5 based on more than 240 reviews.
- Capterra: 4.6 out of 5 based on over 90 reviews.
However, Shopify POS is not faring as well with Android users, scoring 3.6 out of 5 from over 1,600 Google Play reviews. Let’s take a look at some of the trending positive and negative feedback that we gathered from reading user reviews and speaking to business owners that use Shopify POS.
| PROS | CONS |
|---|---|
| Easy to access and manage inventory and customer data | Hardware compatibility issues |
| Seamless connection to online store | Upgrades can be expensive |
| Syncs inventory automatically | Complicated fee structure |
| Extensive knowledge base | User dissatisfaction on software upgrade |
Methodology: How We Evaluated
To evaluate Shopify POS, and other POS options, we looked for systems that are affordable for independent business owners and included basic POS functions like check and order management, the ability to process multiple forms of payment, and inventory tracking. To find the best, we also looked for systems that support multiple business types or that dominate in the industry they serve.
Click through the tabs below to see the full evaluation criteria.
30%
Pricing
15%
Register features
15%
Management tools
20%
Ease of use
20%
Expert score
30% of Overall Score
We prioritized POS systems that include a free plan or free trial, affordable subscriptions, and additional plans so that you won’t grow out of the system. We also awarded points to systems with affordable integrated payment processing, flexible hardware options, and no restrictions on the number of users, inventory, and transactions. Finally, we penalized systems that require long-term contracts and hefty installation fees.
15% of Overall Score
Businesses need speedy and customizable checkout tools, easy customer management, mobility to sell anywhere, a process to track orders, and a way to process online orders. Because the way businesses operate has changed so much in recent years, we also considered contactless payments, integrated online ordering, and online store features.
15% of Overall Score
The most important feature we considered was inventory tracking. We also considered how sophisticated and user-friendly the reporting dashboard of each system is and what marketing and employee management tools are available.
20% of Overall Score
We prioritized POS systems with 24/7 phone support. We also considered help tickets and email or chat support, installation processes, and whether or not the system has an offline mode or hybrid installation so that you can continue operations when you lose internet access. Finally, we considered if the system has an online knowledge base, training videos, or a training mode to help bring new employees up to speed.
20% of Overall Score
We considered the overall quality of each system’s features, along with system stability and security. We evaluated whether or not it offers a good value for its price point and standout features. Finally, we accounted for our experts’ personal experience using each system and interacting with customer service representatives, its reviews, and the personal experience of other small business owners.
*Percentages of overall score
Shopify Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Shopify offers a great POS solution for many retailers. It is reasonably priced, full of great features, and easy to use. Here is some information that might be helpful if you are thinking of becoming a Shopify user.
Who should use Shopify?
Shopify is best for multichannel retailers or businesses that sell on multiple sales channels. On top of the POS features we covered above, every Shopify account comes with an ecommerce site that you can design and manage from your Shopify dashboard. Shopify also supports curbside pick-up, mobile sales, and social media selling integrations, making it easy to sell from any channel and manage all your sales from one easy-to-use platform.
When should I use a Shopify alternative?
If you do not plan to have an online store or if you already have an online store from another provider, Shopify is probably not the best solution, as you will have to pay for an ecommerce subscription to access the POS features. Shopify would also not be the best solution for retailers looking for a free POS software. In both of these cases, look to Square for a free and fully-equipped POS platform that can integrate with a variety of ecommerce sites.
Can I use another ecommerce site with Shopify POS?
While it is possible to use another ecommerce platform with Shopify POS, it will require a custom integration, and you will still have to pay for the ecommerce subscription.
Bottom Line
Cross-channel sales are crucial to business growth, and to efficiently manage inventory, you will need a multichannel POS system like Shopify POS. This versatile app can be installed on multiple devices without extra fees, and any store activity made on these devices will be synchronized by your main Shopify dashboard. You can also choose which products you want to showcase online, in your physical store, or both.
Overall, Shopify POS offers the best value for new ecommerce businesses and online-based multichannel retailers. It combines top-of-the-line ecommerce features with in-person sales tools to offer the best omnichannel platform. Its user-friendly interface, smart inventory management features, seamless checkout, and wide range of integration options make Shopify POS among the best POS systems on the market today. Sign up for Shopify POS’ 14-day free trial.
You May Also Like…
- Get set up on Shopify with our guide on how to use Shopify POS
- Learn how to start an online store with Shopify, and set up a Shopify dropshipping storefront
- Read more about how Shopify Payments works
- Compare the top retail POS systems in detail with our guides on Shopify vs Square and Lightspeed vs Shopify
