Why This Matters
As with any business system or tool, it’s important to understand what your specific requirements are before you begin comparing options. Each solution will offer a different set of features, often tailored to specific industries or use cases, so take the time to identify actual needs beforehand. For example, will you need:
- Online ordering for in-person pickup (restaurants)?
- Delivery tracking for food or non-food businesses?
- Age verification/ID prompt (liquor stores, tobacco sales)?
- Integrated appointment or class calendars (healthcare, beauty salons, yoga studios)?
Resources
How to Choose the Best POS System for Your Small Business – Check out this guide for more tips on selecting the right POS for your business, but keep in mind that they’re also a POS vendor, so it’s not exactly objective.
Capterra Point of Sale Software Comparisons – A review site comparing the different POS options.
Tips to Sell Securely – Paypal is a trusted online payment provider and this article offers tips to stay safe.
Recommendations
AIM – Point of sale and retail management solution.
RetailEdge – Point of sale and retail management solution.
Shopify POS (Canadian) – Point of sale and retail management solution that easily integrates with Shopify e-commerce sites and helps to manage inventory between in-house and online sales.
MyPOSConnect – Point of sale and retail management solution with customization capabilities.
ThriftCart – Point of Sale and inventory built for thrift stores.
Lightspeed (Canadian) – The one-stop commerce platform for retail, hospitality and golf merchants around the world.
PayPal – Online payment service know for securely taking online payment.
Stripe – Similar to PayPal. Request and accept payment securely online.
Square – Square is a popular in-house POS System with online integration options and website builder through Weebly.
Moneris – One of Canada’s Leading payment providers, Moneris is available for various industries, from large enterprises to small restaurants. They offer mobile and online services as well in in-stores terminals.
Mint – Mint Payments is a Payment Gateway and mPOS provider. Their solution makes it easy to accept payments from all sales channels, card present and card not present, via connection to a single and scalable payment platform.
Interac e-Transfer for Business A powerful payment tool to send and request money in one easy-to-use system.