Square for Retail review: POS system and online tools for small shops

What is Square for Retail?

Square for Retail is a cloud-based point of sale (POS) system that works on iPad and iPhone only. It is a more advanced POS system than the free Square Point of Sale app that is more general than retail-specific. With Square for Retail, you get features only relevant to retail, whether selling in person or online.

The only payment system that works with it is Square’s. You can use the software directly with Square Reader and standard POS equipment, and there are various online selling tools available for free in Square Dashboard (accessible in any web browser) or via the checkout app.

The software is suitable for managing multiple locations, stock, vendors, teams of staff and more. Regardless of the sales channel, transactions are always synced in the account through the cloud.

Pricing

Square for Retail pricing is simple: you subscribe to one of two plans, a Free tier (no monthly cost) or Plus tier for $60 (excl. tax) monthly per shop location. This can be cancelled any time, as there is no contractual commitment.

New users can get a 30-day free trial of Plus before subscribing to a plan.

There is also a Premium plan with custom pricing, which has the same features as the Plus plan, but with lower costs to suit businesses with a high annual turnover.

Businesses on the Free plan can accept any Visa, Mastercard, Discover and American Express card (including Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay) for 2.6% + 10¢ per transaction through any Square card reader.

Apart from the extra POS features, merchants get a lower card rate for EMV, tap and swipe transactions on the Plus subscription: 2.5% + 10¢.

Payments through Square Online, payment links, email invoices and purchases of e-gift cards cost 2.9% + 30¢. All other keyed transactions are 3.5% + 15¢, including for cardholder-not-present transactions in the Virtual Terminal and keyed in at the POS checkout.

Standard settlement in your bank account in 1-2 business days is free. The Instant Transfers setting allows you to receive transactions in your bank account immediately after payments for a 1.5% fee added to the transaction fee.

Chargebacks and refunds are free to process with Square, and there is no minimum monthly turnover requirement.

Square Reader that connects to the POS software costs just $49. The standalone card machine, Square Terminal, is more expensive at $299.

Checkout and payments

Square for Retail can be used on Square Register, iPad and iPhone. It is better experienced on iPad or Square Register as the screen size makes a big difference to usability.

Square’s expertise in user experience comes across in the product: the buttons are large to minimize typing errors (surprisingly many POS systems have small buttons), the layout is intuitive and the interface isn’t cluttered with unimportant features. It is so simple that anyone can learn to use the system quickly.

Photo: Mobile Transaction

The Square for Retail checkout on iPad is not very complicated.

While other POS systems tend to dedicate most of the POS interface with a product grid layout, Square for Retail only shows a narrow column on the left with an intuitive search function, your choice of “favorite” buttons, and quick access to categorized items, customer profiles, discounts and saved baskets.

You can save the current bill, attach a customer to the basket, create orders, sell physical or electronic gift cards (e-gift cards), redeem vouchers and add custom amounts where needed.

Photo: Square

The quick search makes it easy to add items from a large product library.

The payments screen gives options to accept cash, card (either via Square Reader or manually keyed in), gift cards or certificates, invoice, card on file, check or any other payment types confirmed manually at the POS register.

After a completed transaction, you can send an email or SMS receipt, or print one off from a connected receipt printer.

Inventory management

Retailers need a robust inventory system for managing stock, and Square for Retail does that well.

The Free and Plus subscriptions can bulk-import items from an Excel spreadsheet, and categories, options, modifiers, units (e.g. inches, square feet) and stock counts can be added to individual items. You can also receive email reminders for low stock or out-of-stock items, and scan barcodes from the iPad camera via the Square Retail app (not possible on iPhone).

The Plus subscription includes the following extra features:

• Bulk stock transfers across locations
• Inventory counting tool
• Automatic purchase orders
• Vendor management
• Barcode printing
• Cost of goods sold (COGS) tracking
• Advanced stock forecasts and inventory history

Photo: Square

You can use the in-app barcode scanner for stock counts.

Accordingly, if you want any purchase order and vendor management features, and the ability to transfer stock between different locations or generate barcodes, a Plus subscription is required.

Employee access and permissions

Every free Square account can add unlimited users with a 4-digit passcode for logging in and out of the POS app.

Customer loyalty tools

Even on the Free Retail subscription, you can create a detailed customer directory. These customer profiles can be attached to orders and transactions, making it possible to manage orders for collection or delivery smoothly. Customer profiles can be auto-created from payment cards, and segments created to distinguish defined groups of customers.

Having these profiles is an invaluable way to track their purchase history, which is useful for personalizing your service to individuals. Square even gives actionable guidance based on the data. You can direct-message customers from Square, and add card details to profiles (requires permission from the cardholder) for processing repeat payments expected by the customer.

You can also subscribe to Square Loyalty starting at $45 per month. This allows you to set up a customer loyalty programme encouraging more sales.

Reports and sales analytics

The Square for Retail Free subscription has detailed sales analytics, but Retail Plus really stands out with its in-depth inventory analytics

While Free provides great sales reports and an overview of stock moved between locations, a Plus account has reports for:

• Profit margin reports
• Vendor sales
• Cost of goods sold

You can edit historical unit costs, where updates are subsequently reflected in the reports, and filter reports in different ways.

On Plus, you also get labor vs. sales reports that help forecast labor costs so you can schedule shifts accordingly.

Hardware for the point of sale

Square for Retail works best on iPad or Square Register, as many features are missing in the iPhone app. For example, you can’t handle purchase orders, connect a cash drawer, transfer stock, or search for products by scanning a barcode since barcode scanning isn’t possible with this app.

The most professional setup is Square Register (costs $799), a purpose-built touchscreen register that only uses Square software. It has a detachable touchscreen card terminal facing the customer, ideal for socially distant payments.

With iPad, you can use it with a suitable tablet holder or Square Stand for $169 that holds an iPad and has a swipe card slot. The only card machine that works with the Retail software is Square Reader.

Photo: Square

Square for Retail works on iPad, iPhone and Square Register.

Square Terminal only has the Point of Sale app features, not Square for Retail features, but you can use it as a portable device for transactions around your premises if you can do without advanced Square for Retail features (all Square transactions are synced in the cloud).

You can connect the Retail iPad software with compatible barcode scanners, receipt printers and a cash drawer. The iPhone app only works with receipt printers.

Free Square for Retail vs. Square POS

You might wonder what the difference is between the Free Square for Retail plan and Square Point of Sale app, since they are both free to use indefinitely. Firstly, they are two different apps. Secondly, Point of Sale works on iPhone, iPad and Android tablets and smartphones, whereas the Retail app only works on iPad and iPhone.

Both can track stock across locations and set alerts for low or out-of-stock items. You can add tips and several different discounts, itemize refunds and save baskets (‘open orders’) for later.

While Point of Sale does work with a physical barcode scanner, the Square for Retail app has a barcode scanning function built in, allowing you to use the iPad (not iPhone) camera to scan product barcodes.

The other significant difference is the checkout layout. In Point of Sale, you can switch between viewing products in a large grid or a list view with a search field. The Retail app only shows a small list of products (‘favorites’) and a search field, but there’s also a button letting you search manually through product categories.

Square Online and other integrations

Not only is the software connected to Square’s own online store builder powered by Weebly – it also includes payment links you can generate for individual products, embed on an existing website or use for taking donations.

You get a free online store with the ability to sell on social media, offer eGift Cards, sync inventory across sales channels and the ability to set up click-and-collect and ordering for delivery. More advanced ecommerce features require an upgrade to a paid plan.

Apart from ecommerce, there are many additional integrations with external software possible through the Square App Marketplace. For example, sync your QuickBooks accounting software with Square or use advanced inventory management software like DEAR Systems and Yellow Dog Inventory.

Customer service

You can call Square support on weekdays between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. (PT). In contrast with Square for Restaurants that includes 24/7 support on the paid plan, there is no extension of support hours on Retail Plus.

Alternatively, you can email Square, which would yield a reply within 24-48 hours, or tweet the Square Support account on Twitter. The online help section has many articles with step-by-step guidance, explanations of features and much more, and there’s a user forum where you can post and search for questions submitted by other merchants.

Square generally gets good reviews by its users. We have tested the Retail Plus plan and can personally say that all the features worked well.

Our verdict

Square for Retail is an inexpensive POS system suitable for multiple locations and busy, but small, shops. The rate reduction of card reader transactions on Plus is especially attractive for merchants looking for the lowest pay-as-you-go rate for all types of cards.

The POS system itself is easy and without superfluous features for a small retail shop. But larger stores requiring specific inventory features would want to compare with other retail POS systems, as Square may not have everything needed. The app would also be a deal-breaker for cash-strapped shops who’d prefer a cheap Android register, since it only works on iOS or Square Register.

Nevertheless, in a world where many retailers now depend on an online presence to survive, Square for Retail has a big advantage with its online selling features.

Square for Retail is strategically curated to include the most valuable features for selling across sales channels (i.e. online and in store). Creating and managing orders for pickup and delivery are smoothly done from the register or Dashboard, and the range of available payment methods for remote and in-person transactions is wide.

In the end, the right choice of retail POS software depends on how you prefer to handle shop operations, and details like your size of team and complexity of inventory. Integrating with other software can open up worlds of complex tools, but the POS software is what it is, so we recommend trying the 30-day trial before committing long-term.