Top 10 Retail management and POS software

Latest news about Retail management and POS software

2022. Nigerian retail automation platform Bumpa raises $4M



Bumpa, a startup that is building the infrastructure to power online commerce and enable African small business owners to start, manage and grow their businesses from their mobile devices, has raised a $4 million seed round. Bumpa’s integration with Meta allows its merchants to connect Instagram and Facebook accounts to their Bumpa app, receive DMs from their customers and respond via the Bumpa app. The integration also lets them share and sell products, share invoices/receipts, record sales, store buyers’ information and request payments on the Bumpa app while it reflects on their customers’ Instagram DMs. These days, small businesses in Nigeria are spoilt with options, in addition to Bumpa, for products that can digitize their operations, including bookkeeping, invoicing and inventory management. Some include Pastel, Kippa and OZÉ.


2021. Retail analytics company Trax raises $640M



Retail analytics unicorn Trax expects that this openness to tech innovation will continue even after the pandemic. The Singapore-based company announced today that it has raised $640 million in Series E funding to expand its products, which combine computer vision and cloud-based software to help brick-and-mortar stores manage their inventory, merchandising and operations. Its flagship product Retail Watch uses a combination of computer vision, machine learning and hardware like cameras and autonomous robots to gather real-time data about the shelf availability of products. It sends alerts if stock is running low, corrects pricing errors and checks if planograms, or product display plans for visual merchandising, are being followed. Retail Watch currently focuses on center shelves, where packaged goods are usually stocked, but will expand into categories like fresh food and produce.

2020. Brightpearl raises $33M to boost its platform for retailers



Brightpearl, which allows retailers to streamline their operations thus boosting sales, has raised $33 million in funding to scale its business. The startup builds a platform for financial management, CRM, fulfillment, inventory and sales order management, purchasing and supplier management, warehousing and logistics.This Series C round was led by Sage. Together, Sage and Brightpearl will help retail and e-commerce customers take advantage of best-of-breed cloud finance and retail management solutions, supporting them on their digital journey.


2020. Small business payments and marketing startup Fivestars raises $52.5M



Fivestars, which has created software to support small business payments and marketing, has raised $52.5 million in new funding. The Fivestars platform includes its own payment product, integration with other point-of-sale systems, marketing automation that delivers personalized messages to customers and a broader network of 60 million shoppers, allowing for cross-promotion across different Fivestars businesses. The company has seen “record usage” during the pandemic, with 1 million new shoppers joining the network every month.


2020. Cosmose, a platform that analyzes foot traffic in physical stores, gets $15M


Cosmose, the service that tracks foot traffic in offline stores to help predict customer behavior, has raised a $15 million Series A. The company offers three main products: Cosmose Analytics, which tracks customers’ movements inside brick-and-mortar stores; Cosmose AI, a data analytics and prediction platform to help retailers create marketing campaigns and increase sales; and Cosmose Media, for targeting online ads.


2020. Alkemics picks up €21M for its supplier-retailer collaboration platform



Alkemics, the Paris-based platform that lets brands collaborate and launch products with retailers, has picked up €21 million in a Series C funding. Alkemics works with some of France and the U.K.’s largest grocery retailers — including E.Leclerc, Intermarché, Casino, Tesco and Ocado — to help them digitise their commercial processes with more than 17,000 brands. The platform connects retailers to multinational suppliers, such as Nestlé, as well as small local producers, to help them on-board and launch new products. Essentially, Alkemics digitises the different stages of “supplier-retailer relations,” spanning product discovery, listings and sales across all channels.


2020. Phos, the UK fintech that offers a software-only POS for smartphones, raises €1.3M



Phos, the U.K. fintech that offers a software-only PoS so that merchants can accept payments directly on their phones without the need for additional hardware, has raised €1.3 million in funding. It brings the total raised by Phos to date to €2.5 million, and will be used to grow the development team. This will see new features introduced, such as ‘PIN on Phone,’ a Software Development Kit (SDK), and a new integrated loyalty system. Founded in 2018, Phos has developed software that turns any NFC-equipped Android device into a payments terminal, negating the need for additional hardware and reducing total cost of ownership. The startup says its solution is quick to deploy, and is “uniquely” phone and bank agnostic i.e. any bank can act as the acquirer.


2017. Mobile POS system Square launched Retail app



Square is launching a new Square Retail app that complements a comprehensive backend package of tools that include complete coverage of inventory management, customer relationship management and employee tools. The new offering is designed to really provide a next-level retail solution for merchants and shop owners who need more than just the Square Reader and basic square mobile app. The solution can scale depending on the needs of their clients, but can serve any customers from a one-location shop to a merchant with multiple storefronts and lots of inventory to track. For now the primary type of retailer Square is targeting with this product are those in the “finished goods” business, which means people who have packaged products or things like shirts and clothing that have barcodes, as well as things like wine or games.


2016. Square now allows to charge loyal customers without card swiping



Mobile payment processing service Square launched a new feature called Card on File that allows to charge recurring customers without card swiping (and even without asking for the card). It's also suitable for customers, because they can come to your shop or restaurant without card and money, take what they want and go away. And you quietly charge the appropriate amount from the card. Of course, first these customers have to opt in and enter their card data to your company's Square account. Besides, using Card on File businesses can charge remote customers without internet payment. But this feature is a little more expensive for business: it will cost you 3.5% plus 15 cents, compared to the 2.75% commission for swiping a card.


2015. Mobile POS service iZettle expands to small business loans



Mobile payments provider iZettle, which offers smaller merchants the ability to process card payments via its mobile card readers, is expanding into what amounts to small business loans — announcing a capital advance product, called iZettle Advance, which will be available to select iZettle customers who need funds to grow their own businesses.  The amount that can be borrowed will also depend on the business in question, so on factors such as how much revenue they are processing on a monthly or yearly basis (a figure which iZettle is of course privy to, given its existing role processing their card payments).


2015. iPad POS platform Revel gets $13.5 million funding



iPad point-of-sale company Revel Systems raises $13.5M to expand in Asia and Europe. Revel will continue differentiating from other tablet POS systems by including a wide array of features in its software suite so it can handle deliveries and shipping in addition to payment processing. This allows Revel to compete with enterprise software like Micros System, which was acquired by Oracle for about $5.3 billion last year. Revel also recently added Ethernet connections for clients who want to use iPads to handle transactions but can’t rely on wireless connections, such as sports stadiums and government agencies.


2015. Square launched a dashboard app for iOS



Mobile payment processing service Square has released its second non-consumer app, a dashboard app for iOS that lets business owners track sales in real-time and allows them to dig into the health of their business with analytics. This app isn’t for the barista at the coffee shop, but it was built for the owner who might be watching over things while they’re not at the shop. With this app, business owners can track how many items are left in stock in multiple locations, for example, which can help them make important decisions on the fly without having to sit down at a computer.


2015. Square launched payroll service for small businesses


Mobile payment startup Square has launched Square Payroll, software for businesses to pay and track taxes and other costs for both hourly and salaried employees. The product is priced at $20 per month, with $5 per employee on top of that. In terms of payroll software, Square is positioning itself — at least for now — as a fairly simple product. It includes timecards, taxes, and the ability to track and pay both salaried and hourly workers, and its price is all-in. Square Payroll is entering a pretty crowded market, competing against the likes of Intuit’s Quick Books, ADP, Paychex and others. A few, like Wave Accounting, offer some but not all the same features: Wave, for example, doesn’t handle tax payments or tax filings — they estimated tax liabilities. It is also less expensive. It starts with two base tiers of $10 and $15 plus $4 per each employee.


2015. iPad POS software Lavu raised $15M



Lavu, that provides iPad-centric point of sale systems has raised $15 million in new funding led by Aldrich Capital Partners. It's a modern solution developed specifically for restaurants, bars & nightclubs, quick serve businesses, and other hospitality industries. Lavu has been profitable since its second month in operation. The company charges a licensing fee (around $1k per POS terminal) and a recurring monthly fee determined by the size of the restaurant. Lavu is currently being used by over 4,000 restaurants in 86 countries. Australia, Thailand, and Singapore are a few regions with especially high adoption. Unlike Square, another POS option for restaurant owners, Lavu does not collect service provider transaction fees. At 2 percent on average, this adds up quickly for a business that brings in tens of thousands in transactions per month.


2015. Mobile payment service SumUp raised $45M



European mobile payment startup SumUp, that competes against the likes of Square, iZettle and Rocket Internet’s Payleven, has raised a new funding bringing its total investments to $45 millions.  In a similar vein to Square, SumUp will be focusing on using this investment to upgrade its hardware. Unlike companies like iZettle, Klein explains that SumUp has built out its business to be as vertically integrated as possible. That includes designing its own hardware rather than partnering with outside firms. Today, SumUp is active in 13 markets — 12 in Europe and Brazil — and there are plans to enter two more by the end of this year, including iZettle’s home market of Sweden.


2015. Stripe released iPhone app for monitoring payment activity



Stripe, a service that companies can use to accept payments, has a new way for businesses to track purchases and user activity — an iPhone app. It does basically everything its existing online dashboard does, but brings it to an interface more suited for a mobile device. Businesses can also set up notifications for whenever a payment or purchase is made or set up a daily summary. Stripe’s iPhone application also has a search function. But a mobile application is naturally good to have around. For a business owner stuck in traffic in a taxi, Uber or Lyft (don’t look at your phone while driving, please), or riding some kind of public transportation, it’s a good way to get a quick update to what’s happening.


2015. Square's new wireless card reader will accept Apple Pay and work with Android



New Square Reader is a tiny square device designed to allow any merchant with a tablet or smartphone to begin wirelessly accepting Apple Pay and contactless mobile payments, as well as payments from EMV (Europay, MasterCard and Visa) chip cards. The $49 device is a bit of an upgrade from Square's previous $29 merchant reader, which was a bit clunky and not wireless. It works with the most recent versions of the iPad, the iPhone (as far back as the iPhone 4S), as well as Android devices from manufacturers such as Samsung, HTC, Asus, Motorola, LG, Dell and Toshiba.


2015. Revel adds Ethernet connection to its iPad POS system



Revel makes one of the leading iPad point-of-sales systems and was among the first to offer Apple Pay. Despite its focus on mobile payments, however, the startup is also trying to attract companies that are wary of handling financial transactions solely through wi-fi. To get more enterprises on board, Revel is launching wired ethernet connections, a move that it hopes will convince large retail businesses to replace their cash registers with iPads. Revel claims they are the first iPad POS provider to offer failover connections between wi-fi and cabled Ethernet, so if one falters, the other will take over. Called Revel Ethernet Connect, the hardware is now on sale for $250 and will be included with Revel’s iPad POS system after June 15.


2015. Indian mobile payments startup MobiKwik raises $25M



The rise of e-commerce in India has triggered a wave of startups that are leveraging the increasing adoption of smartphones to provide mobile payment solutions. Alibaba invested in Paytm at an apparent billion dollar valuation earlier this year, and now MobiKwik has pulled $25 million in funding. MobiKwik is betting that a network of physical retail points will help push its digital service to more people. It claimed to have a national network of more than 100,000 merchants, through whom customers can load money into their wallet and also make payment in person. Beyond helping on the payment side, MobiKwik said it has (followed Paytm) and applied for a payment banking permit. It plans to “disrupt the delivery of financial services in India by using mobile technology to reach people that the existing banking networks have been unable to reach.”


2014. Square adds sales tax reporting through TaxJar



Mobile payment provider Square integrated with TaxJar, which lets companies automatically count and report local and state sales taxes. Users can link up their accounts in two services, but this is not an offer to use TaxJar for free. Businesses doing less than 1,000 transactions per month pay $9.95 monthly, with prices increasing according to volume. Square says that the service is retroactive — meaning, if you activate it now you can set it to calculate sales tax on past transactions, not just those that are in the future. The advantage of adding TaxJar is twofold for Square: on one hand it gives businesses another feature, and one that is usually a pain for businesses to sort out, which may sway more of them to using Square for front-line payments. On the other, if you are an existing business, something like this could help to keep you as a customer of Square’s and choose this route for transactions and other business services.


2014. Square adds analytics tools for small business



Mobile payments provider Square is launching Square Analytics, a free set of tools that tie in to its suite of register products, which already includes Inventory, Invoices, and the recently launched Appointments. Tying in to the data that Square already collects about a small business’s sales, Square Analytics is able to show real-time updates on which products are doing well, when sales are best each day, how many customers are being served, and more. For those retailers who don’t think they need updates for the very latest data, Square Analytics also sends data summaries to your email at your preferred rate; if you want to dig into that data, each email also comes with spreadsheets with all of the data captured by Square’s tools. Square Analytics can also tie into a retailer’s accounting software, letting you connect your account to services like Quickbooks or Xero.


2014. New Square reader accepts chip-enabled cards



Payment processing provider Square introduced a new mobile card reader that will accept chip cards. Although the new reader looks strikingly similar to its previous model and still fits in your pocket, it's far more powerful: the reader will actually help users thwart off card fraud and protect sensitive data. Square allows small business owners to accept credit card payments via mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Android smartphones. One of the major differences is that the new reader requires charging — it comes with a USB port. But considering the heightened benefits of data protection and security, it's just a small extra step merchants need to take to keep the product powered. The new Square reader will be available for pre-order later this year.