ShopKeep is a point of sale system for small and medium sized businesses with the ability to hold up to twenty locations under one merchant. This tablet based POS works for both android and iOS user interface that is intuitive and user-friendly. ShopKeep is compatible with several devices in the iOS 9.3.5 or higher version, iPad, iPad Minis and Clover devices, making it easy to own due to the variety.
The cloud-based POS ensures no loss of data as all data running from the local app is synced to the cloud that is easy to download in case of anything.
ShopKeep POS Pricing Review
App review
ShopKeep operates as an app that can be found on Amazon, Google Play store and the Apple Play store for free download but will require a monthly subscription fee to operate. Under the ShopKeep POS are different software pricings that are not listed on the ShopKeep website, but through a free quote system where you have to fill in a form specifying your business type and needs. The price plans allow for access to different features of the app depending on the business requirements you need.
Under the ShopKeep app is the ShopKeep register app and the ShopKeep Pocket app. The ShopKeep register is compatible with an iPad or Mini by Clover and is easily set up through the ShopKeep BackOffice by activating your register. The register has the following functions:
- Processing card payments, cash and check payments. The register accepts credit, debit, cash and contactless payments such as Apple Pay.
- Printing of paper receipts or sending them via email or text while capturing customer data.
- Inventory management can be done by entering items into categories and capturing their bar code, number of items in store and activating the sale per item icon that notifies how many items have been sold and left in store. Inventory management saves time in the physical counting of the stock.
- Manage daily sales and calculations at the end of every shift. One can still access sales hour by hour, employee sales and sale per item.
- Wireless connection to the cash drawer.
The register app is part of the ShopKeep POS and the increase in the price plan also increases its features.
The Pocket app is a free ShopKeep app for android that acts as a complement to the ShopKeep register app. It gives the business owner control at their fingertips by running the business from their phone wherever they are in the world at any time with the main function of the app being reporting. It creates reports on:
- Real time reporting on every move performed on the cash register.
- Total number of customers that have been served at the register.
- Top selling items in the store per hour and the end of shifts.
- Day to day daily and time range sales comparison.
- Employee working hours, sales, pay INS and pay outs.
- Inventory report of items sold and remaining in the store.
- Multiple store data analysis.
Hardware review
ShopKeep offers different hardware bundles for businesses ranging in different prices. The ShopKeep store has starter kits for small businesses as well as one off products that you can buy as add on hardware to your already existing set.
Starter kits range from $809 to $1,519 that either come in a basic or complete sets. All starter kits are compatible with the Apple iPad Air and the Apple iPad Pro 9.7 and include a 14*16 cash drawer, an Epson 2” printer, an iPad Air Stand, Ethernet credit card reader for a basic kit. A complete kit in addition has an Epson Kitchen printer, Ethernet cable, cash drawer mount, 50-roll case of thermal paper and a 50 case 1-ply bond paper.
ShopKeep has a 1 year warranty for its product and ships products for free across the USA but with an additional charge for other countries within its jurisdiction. In the case of displeasure in hardware received, you can exchange your hardware for another as well as return it for a full refund.
Shopkeep POS Features Review
Ease of use
ShopKeep has a simple, elegant and sleek style that has a touch screen which displays most of its feature icons for easy access. The setup of the hardware is very easy to follow and quick start the whole point of sale system. Training staff takes lesser time than other POS systems and support from the BackOffice and the website makes it more convenient for the manager. Most activities are direct in the register and pocket app, not requiring a lot of customization to fit your business. Proprietary hardware and software to fit your business perfectly makes this POS all the more perfect.
Payment processing
The ShopKeep register app is the app that controls the cash register accepting payments for the ShopKeep POS. It is EMV enabled, and PCI compliant, ensuring the security of the customer credit card information and exempting you from fraudulent activities that may arise.
The register has a wireless connection to the cash register and only opens on command when a payment has been completed. The cash drawer is also opened when there are pay INS and pay outs that could include:
- Pay in- This is when the cash drawer is opened to add cash to it.
- Pay out- This is when cash is removed from the cash drawer.
- Safe drop- this is a form of a pay out where money is removed from the cash drawer to be put in a safe or bank.
- Buy Inventory- this payout is for the purpose of buying supplies for the business.
- Non-Cash gratuity- a payout used in paying an employee credit gratuity from the drawer.
Employee management
ShopKeep is very convenient in establishing employee management through employee codes and names. The codes help manage employee working hours as they have to log in to start their shift and sign out to close their shift. The codes and names help associate each sale to an employee thus helping to oversee employee performance and making appropriate regulations to ensure business profitability.
ShopKeep allows for the restriction of certain employees from certain information in the point of sale system to ensure business privacy and the ability to perform management tasks.
Inventory management
ShopKeep can place inventory in categories, departments, suppliers and variants to make it easy to access and track items. Inventory can be tracked to know how many have been sold and how many remain by customizing your inventory to show the different things you want captured. During item registration it is possible to capture the bar code of the items using a barcode scanner or manual entrance and the number of items that have come in. To be able to identify profits and sale margins, add the buying price of your items and ShopKeep will automatically fill in those details.
The point of sale system has been made more sophisticated by adding on more inventory tools such as: using the open priced option slot for the sale of custom priced items, selling items sold by weight or volume using the unit priced items option, barcode printing, matrix inventory to enable you track variants and monitoring using the Pocket App.
Reporting
ShopKeep POS allows for access to clear, brief and real-time reporting from anywhere in the world. The reporting is so advanced it identifies the bestselling items and categories, while showing the costs and margins. Sales can be tracked by the department; item and hour sold to measure the effectiveness of pricing as well as adjust employee working hours and organize the floor space more efficiently.
The point of sale reporting also offers average cost reporting, sales by customer reporting and sales with discount reporting. All the reports can be exported to a spreadsheet but on-screen reports are best advised as they include charts and it’s easier to look for variation. QuickBooks has been integrated with ShopKeep to provide better accounting management of your sales reports.
Customer management
ShopKeep registers any new customer that comes through your door by capturing their first or last name and their email address. This information is added on when that customer keeps coming back and their regular purchases are updated to help in monitoring their behavior, making it easy to tailor a marketing campaign to ensure they keep coming back.
The customer list can be edited to update information or delete one of the names from the list, then exported onto spreadsheet software to be analyzed. Arranging gift cards and reward programs becomes easier knowing who your customers are and reaching out to your new customers to make them regulars as well as try and get back lost ones.
Customer support
ShopKeep customer care is available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and 365 days a year. This has really excited customers knowing they can reach out and get help any time of the day. The only complaint is that the representatives from ShopKeep keep bouncing the caller around and don’t have immediate answers of the POS.
Integrations and add-ons
ShopKeep integrates with apps to improve its productivity. They include:
- QuickBooks- accounting software that integrates with ShopKeep to create detailed sales reports that may comprise of profit and loss, taxes, sale per item and account reconciling.
- MailChimp- handles customer information and improves on its marketing strategies.
- BigCommerce- application helps a business owner to create a customized website to reach the online market. This integration syncs item in-store to be available online and also in store increasing market availability and profits.
ShopKeep Capital
This feature was introduced by ShopKeep to help its customers to access financing to grow their businesses. It is a feature very well adopted by merchants as it offers a cash advance to them without any monthly fees, hidden fees or interest rates that vary. The advance is repaid as a percentage of the daily credit sales thus no repayment schedule. ShopKeep capital is accessed through the BackOffice, signing up with ShopKeep Capital and if approved one receives money in one to three business days.
POS Competitors
Toast POS
This cloud-based POS is well tailored for the day to day restaurant functions with intuitive software. The table side service from Toast allows for taking of orders by your staff from the clients at the table and getting notification when the order is ready which gives your staff more time with increasing guest experience. The POS can process EMV payments from the tableside and collect customer feedback on the spot as payment is cleared.
The reporting function is accessed from all over the world through the browser to help you in business management. Reports are monitored and compared over a range of time, item sales, employee sales, inventory in stock, profits and loss in detailed format. Toast has well detailed restaurant menu display that is easy to edit from different devices across the room that has access to restricted sections as well as monitoring menu items through item countdowns.
The customer support is 24/7/365 support from Toast Central including free online training for Toast clients from Toast University, blogs and social media pages.
Square POS
Square point of sale system does not have a monthly subscription and is considered the leading mobile POS. The free version of Square POS comes with a free magstripe reader meaning that one cannot use EMV cards and one would have to buy readers to process the chip and PIN cards.
The Square and ShopKeep POS systems are very easy to train with a basic but detailed inventory and staff management. Square is much more affordable to the local consumer compared to other POS systems in the market with the square mobile device being the leading in mobile payment processors for businesses on the move. It has free 30 day trial period that gives one the chance to try it out before making the final purchase decision on this cloud-based POS.
Square works for food service restaurants on an iPad but not as much for full-service restaurants due to the inventory and reporting needs that come with such a business. ShopKeep is well favored in handling the robust activity that comes with quick service restaurants, but Square has a better table mapping feature.
Clover POS
Clover is compatible with ShopKeep in terms of the Mini and Flex devices. Clover POS though more expensive than ShopKeep has more features under its monthly price plans, namely; payment plus, register lite and the register plan. ShopKeep offers most of the features such as mailing, inventory management and many more through its own applications from the Clover app market compared to second party integrations for ShopKeep.
Clover has been made for the small retail business, medium sized and large scale businesses with a huge inventory management system to handle bulk and variety goods. It serves quick- service restaurants as well as help with table mapping and client management on-screen.
Clover has had the most negative feedback on its customer care support system with most people complaining about them being unreachable. Clover has allowed for third party merchants to sell the POS system, thus one should contact their hardware provider or First Data to get help.
Customer Reviews – The Pros
Ease of Use
ShopKeep POS is a ready to use app straight from the box with very little time used by training staff to start using. The BackOffice is easy to set up restrictions and management is very sleek from anywhere in the world. The iPad touch screen display enables all the app buttons to be well displayed and accessed easily for fast and efficient service.
Flexible payments
ShopKeep offers customers, many options for completing their transaction through the ShopKeep register app. ShopKeep POS accepts EMV credit and debit cards, NFC payments like Apple Pay, cash and check. The cash drawer is only popped on command of accepting payment, pay INS and pay outs that require a code to ensure transparency of your accounts from your staff.
Customizable hardware
The hardware is purchased through a quote system that highlights your business need thus you receive hardware that’s been specifically tailored to meet your business needs. This personalization does not hinder free delivery within the stipulated time period with a 1 year warranty.
Customer Reviews – The Cons
Customer support
Despite being praised for its outstanding 24/7/365 days customer support, ShopKeep has personnel that keep bouncing a call from one to the other, thus spending time on the phone more than solving a problem holding up the business. They appear not detailed on most issues that could affect their system, but one can watch YouTube videos or read their blogs to know how to resolve most issues.
The choice of ShopKeep POS is determined by personal preference after comparing it with several as the price does not differ from most. It can perform most functions as other point of sale systems but is limited to the size of business and amount of merchandise handled. It is all about personal preference and business growth requirements.