Wholesale POS Systems

Here we analyze wholesale POS systems for the wholesale industry (1) that is improving recently along with retail trade worldwide (2) also in terms of employment (3). Investment in inventories is inventory is a main driver of economic growth (4). However the wholesale and logistics industry (5) faces numerous challenges (9) with intermediaries and distribution channels (6), small manufacturers (7) and the disintermediation performed by large retailers (8). Therefore, wholesale POS systems should be reviewed with these considerations:

The best wholesale POS systems are:

• Lightspeed POS
• NCR Counterpoint
• Cizaro
• ERPly
• Vend
• AccuPOS
• D-Link

The best wholesale POS system is Lightspeed because it delivers better omnichannel experiences, CRM functionalities and integration with e-commerce solutions. Those features from Lightspeed allow business owners to address challenges such as the increasing D2C business model, disintermediation and the threat of dropshippers operating with low overhead costs in flexible scenarios.

For chemical and pharmaceutical wholesalers, the best wholesale POS system is NCR Counterpoint because it supports batch management, which is a mandatory requirement for manufacturers and wholesale POS systems. The material master of the batch managed manufacturer will then synchronize with the wholesaler POS system in each delivery.

Buying Guide And Business Requirements For Wholesale POS Sytems

Below I describe the current challenges, key performance indicators and drivers that determine the business requirements of the wholesale industry and then I define what does a wholesale POS system requires to cover those requirements.

1. Wholesale POS system main requirement is to deliver omnichannel experiences (website, mobile, in-store), order tracking, inventory management and CRM functionalities 

A wholesale POS system needs to cover this group of requirements due to the increasing desire of manufacturers and retailers to completely bypass the wholesale distribution channel and instead do business directly with each other under a “Direct to Consumer” (D2C) business model.

Wholesalers are still lagging behind most of logistics companies in terms of digital adoption, so do not be that wholesale company and implement a wholesale POS system that addresses those challenges.

B2B purchasers are expecting omnichannel experiences (website, mobile, in-store), easy access to product information, online ordering, order tracking, and inventory management. Distributors investing in digital strategies are accelerating sales growth, expanding customer reach, and improving customer retention.

With the benefits of technology such as wholesale marketplaces, your manufacturers can now transact directly with their customers, effectively cutting you of the equation. They can offer better prices, and your retailers will be happy to purchase directly from the manufacturer instead as they can enjoy bigger savings.

2) Requirement of the wholesale industry of offering value added services (VAS) as the simple distribution and intermediation model is not currently competitive. The best wholesale POS systems should address these VAS well.

To stay competitive in the face of disintermediation, you’ll have to offer your wholesale customers value-added services (VAS) that will make staying with you worth it. This can include offering vendor managed inventory and drop shipping to help them out with their inventory management and fulfillment.

A wholesale POS system should allow me to behave, not only as a wholesaler, but also in part as 3PL service provider that offers holistic VAS.

3. A business requirement of the wholesale industry is to have direct customer relationships. So my best wholesale POS systems must include mature CRM and e-mail marketing functionalities, to withstand the lack of walk-in customers and the increasing D2C industry trend.

Wholesalers sell merchandise to other businesses and normally operate from a warehouse or office. These warehouses and offices are characterized by having little or no display of merchandise.

In addition, neither the design nor the location of the premises is intended to solicit walk-in traffic. Wholesalers do not normally use advertising directed to the general public.

Customers are generally reached initially via telephone, in-person marketing, or by specialized advertising that may include Internet and other electronic means.

Follow-up orders are either vendor-initiated or client-initiated, generally based on previous sales, and typically exhibit strong ties between sellers and buyers. In fact, transactions are often conducted between wholesalers and clients that have long-standing business relationships.

4. A business requirement is to address the threat of dropshipping. Therefore, my best wholesale POS systems should have a good integration with e-commerce solutions.

The dropshipper’s website takes orders and finalizes sales, but then the manufacturer does the actual shipping to the end-customer.

They are generally focused on smaller orders and niche products or come from a manufacturer large enough to support complex international orders.

However, dropshipping usually means weeks of waiting for the end-consumer because the goods they buy are often made and shipped from overseas.

To make up for the delay, costs can be slightly lower and margins thinner for the dropshipper, which is feasibke for them because they have minimized overhead by only working on the sales side of a business.

POS Equipment Wholesale Industry

Wholesale is a sizable industry with significant requirements.
Bookkeeping, warehouse inventory management, and customer interactions are all time-consuming tasks. All of those processes are simplified when using a point-of-sale system developed specifically for the wholesale company.

The wholesale industry is a large and demanding business that has plenty of expectations. Managing accounting as well as inventory in the warehouse and interacting with customers can be grueling. Having a wholesale POS system to streamline all those processes is an essential advantage that any wholesaler can benefit from.

As a result of wholesale software, distributor relations will also be improved. Buying from your suppliers has never been easier. Each invoice is archived, tracked, and always available for audit. From any place in the store, you have access to everything you require to operate your business.

All inventory in your warehouse, in addition to categorizing it, can be tracked with the best wholesale POS systems. The software must originate reports that are used for accounting and used to gather customer data in each sales department, as well as reports that compare profits to expenses.

• Payment Options

The solutions you choose for wholesale POS systems should, first and foremost, be capable of taking a variety of payment methods.

In addition to conventional payment methods such as credit cards and cash, the system should also be able to accept other types of payments, such as those made via mobile devices.

Additional features and capabilities for payment processing should be provided by the wholesale POS systems you choose for the company. For example, it should be able to segment payments, enabling consumers to spread their payments over a variety of payment methods, as described above.

• Easy Product Lookup

When your staff is tallying up sales, the register in your wholesale POS systems should make it simple for them to search up items in the system’s database.

It is necessary to search for features such as Quick Key shortcuts in this respect. Using this function, you may display particular keys as shortcuts for the products that are most often sold in your company.

Your employees will only have to press the button connected with the items they want to put in the catalog in this manner. This is another instance in which a system that includes search capabilities on the sale screen would be beneficial.

• Refunds and Returns

The rules that you have in place at your wholesale business may have an impact on its performance.

Essentially, a significant percentage of consumers have been seen to favor businesses that have rules in place that are geared toward them.

As a result, the point-of-sale system you choose should enable you to set up a beneficial return policy for your customers. For example, it should provide consumers with a variety of choices when it comes to returning goods to the shop. The consumer has the option of returning goods for shop credit or a refund.

• Product Variants and Composites

A significant percentage of the goods you sell in your shop is available in several variations.

The system you choose ought to be able to cope with such a large amount of data. Consider the following example: you should be able to produce six distinct color variations of the same garment using the same software.

The system should also enable you to build composite goods, which are things that are constructed from pre-existing items in the store.

• Auto-filled Orders and Stock

Besides alerting you when stocks are running low, good wholesale POS systems should make it as easy as possible for you to order new stock within your organization. First of all, the point of sale system should permit you to create stock orders either remotely or on-site, depending on the circumstances.

It is important to choose wholesale POS systems that can generate orders automatically in order for your convenience and accuracy to be maximized. The Point of Sale system should also allow you to send orders to suppliers right from the Point of Sale system itself. It is particularly important that businesses that deal with perennial products have the ability to autofill the order generation form.

Best Wholesale POS Systems List

WHOLESALE POS SYSTEM	HARDWARE COST	SOFTWARE COST	PROCESSING FEES	CUSTOMER SERVICE
	Starts from $99/month to $289/month	from $99/month	Varies from one gateway to another	Available 24/7
	Quote-based	Quote-based	Quote-based	Available 24/7
	Will depend on the hardware components your store needs.	from $69 a month	2.75% for invoice and swiped transactions 3.5% +$0.15 for Keyed-in transactions	Available 24/7
	$200 start-up fee for the payment gateway or $20-60/ month recurring payment	from $200/month per location	Contact the provider for a rate	Available 24/7
	from $799 for the software suite and about $2,000 for the complete software and terminal solution.	from $29/month	Quote-based	Available 24/7
	Quote-based	Quote-based	Quote-based	Available 24/7
	Quote-based	Quote-based	Quote-based	Available 24/7

Lightspeed POS: Best Cloud-Based Wholesale POS System

For wholesalers that need something other than checkout capacities from their Internet business and wholesale POS systems, Lightspeed POS brings a cloud-based POS as a service.

The system centralizes purchasing, allowing you to order your stock from integrated catalogs. Additionally, it makes it possible for you to sell centralized, bundled, or unique items in the business.

With this solution in your business, you will also be able to track unit costs, get low-stock alerts, and optimize stock. Lightspeed also supports multiple variations and furnishes you with the right business data to help you grow.

Lightspeed’s approach to deal with business administration and POS systems gives you control of your stock, worker administration, and analytical tools for knowledge into what is working better for you.

Some of the features that Lightspeed offers are as below:

Inventory Management

Stock creation and control are the main highlights of Lightspeed POS; retailers can set up every item characteristic with three varieties, making a network of stock with all the conceivable item varieties, prepared for utilization given the retailer’s predefinitions. It also allows scanning and integration with scanner devices.

To put reorders, retailers will discover the process basic and clear in light of the predefined reorder information and stock levels wanted.

Business Management

By taking advantage of the business management tool, wholesalers can make store-specific brands. Those that need an additional touch of customization can include logos, limited-time offers, or personalized messages along with clients’ receipts, and this feature can develop long-lasting customer relationships.

The Lightspeed wholesale POS System is able to manage your employees, inventory, sales, and customers from a single platform. To begin with, the system offers an array of features for inventory management. Such tools make it possible for you to organize the inventory items into specific categories.

With Lightspeed in your store, managing your customers and stock will be relatively easy. To begin with, the system allows you to create and manage customer profiles and categorize them accordingly.

As far as the inventory is concerned, this is one of the wholesale POS systemss that supports special orders and offers some a decent work order management tools. Lightspeed also features preloaded vendor catalogs and purchase order capabilities.

Wholesalers can also manage and maintain employee records and data. Each employees schedules, transactions, and activity can be monitored.

Checkout Process

Lightspeed offers a checkout process where payments can be made through Apple Pay and Android Pay, which will give customers an easy check-out facility.

Lightspeed POS offers wholesalers an assortment of hardware and embellishments, like cash drawers and barcode scanners that help with the client checkout process.

Analytics And Reporting

This feature is designed to offer you a detailed insight into your wholesale business. For instance, the solution will help you figure out whether you have the right inventory, know when stock items run out and how often customers buy from your store.

Most businesses demand exact and clear business insights to improve, make more educated choices, and Lightspeed’s reporting and analytical tools enable them to do that.

With more than 40 sorts of reports available, you will have a reasonable photo of what’s new with the business and can penetrate down to pick up understanding into particular business operations.

Third Party Integration

You will also love the fact that the system allows for integration with third-party accounting services. In this regard, your accounting data will be recorded automatically. Again, Lightspeed POS Reporting and Analytics features allow you to export reports in either PDF or Excel formats.

Pricing

All POS systems include unlimited products like advanced inventory features, sales, multi-store management, software upgrades, premium support and much more. The plan levels and costs are summarized in the table below.

Pricing Plan Lightspeed POS	No. of Registers
$99/month	1
$169/month	2
$289/month	4

Lightspeed Cons

The fact that the software subscriptions are charged annually means that you will have to sign a year-long contract with the provider.

A POS for Wholesale Business: CIZARO

A key feature of the Cizaro POS system is the ability to use the software even without an Internet connection. It is possible to view your files from either an online or an offline location, making it simple to maintain ongoing service. All information will be synced again once you regain connection.

The CIZARO enterprise POS system is a wholesale POS system that provides an all-in-one POS solution that can be customized to meet the specific requirements of your company. They offer a point-of-sale system that can be modified in a manner that is understandable to non-technical users. You may utilize Cizaro whether you are located locally or internationally, and you will have no issues with localization.

Claim Management And Customer Satisfaction

The claim management system included within the CIZARO POS software will ensure that all procedures, as well as any client problems and complaints, are handled.

All of the repairs and any extra services will be handled by the system. Every transaction, including credits granted to consumers and obligations due to suppliers, will be tracked.

You have the flexibility to communicate with and invoice your distributors in the manner that is most convenient for you. Warranty points, comprehensive customer information, WhatsApp, email, SMS, and gift cards are all included in this service.

Sales Management

Ultimately, as you will see, this point of sale solution is primarily intended to increase the attractiveness of your wholesale shop while also increasing income for you.

In order to make this feasible, the system provides wholesalers with the ability to set unique pricing for certain of the products they have in store. Once again, the system provides you with the option of specifying which customers will benefit from the special pricing offers.

This implies that customized pricing may be arranged for certain items of merchandise. As a result, a customer list may be compiled of individuals who should benefit from the special pricing offers.

Special instructions are given to help you through the process of combining various components to create new products.

Organized Inventory Management

The key elements of success in the wholesale business depend on how well you organize your warehouse and manage your suppliers. This organized inventory feature lets you systemize your warehouse.

Each item can easily be localized, and you can locate who it’s sold to and through the distribution channel used.

It also includes a warehouse management system, free-range of measurement units, and serial number.

Cizaro does not support batch management.

In order to ensure that your warehouse remains organized at all times, Cizaro features a catalog. Additionally, the system is fitted with communication tools for wholesalers and distributors.

Some of the inventory management tools you will find beneficial in this case include a warehouse management system, Receiving Good Voucher, Intelligent Serial Number, and a range of measurement units.

Cloud Access

CIZARO POS system is suitable for one or more than one location. The system provides automatic real-time sync between all locations and departments. You can easily view, modify data of items, employees, any branch or even the entire company and be in full charge.

You can keep an eye on all your business activities with the live viewing panel. Whether you’re working from home or somewhere far away from home, you can view all your data on any device to see sales and other activities and where they take place, and by whom.

AccuPOS

If you happen to run a wholesale-retail business combo, you will need a POS solution that is specifically designed for this type of business.

Right from the one-offs to the regular bulk-buying customers, this solution makes it more convenient for you to manage sales. Again, it makes it easier for wholesalers to manage their staff and storerooms.

Other capabilities that make AccuPOS a suitable wholesale POS systems include:

Automated Accounting

An average wholesaler spends about an hour every day on accounting. The AccuPOS solution will ensure that this is not the case with your business. In addition to supporting third-party accounting service integration, it makes it easier for you to monitor your retail as well as wholesale inventory.

The system also allows the staff in the business to clock in and out with ease from the sales screen of the POS. Again, the system is capable of exporting data to the integrated accounting software in your business.

Mobile Wholesale Management

Just as is the case with the best cloud-based wholesale POS systems, AccuPOS allows you to manage all aspects of your wholesale store remotely. For instance, it allows you to crunch the numbers, schedule your staff and deliver superior customer service for your customers.

The system allows you to accomplish such management tasks from virtually anywhere on the planet.

AccuPOS Cons

The system does not have sophisticated features for wholesalers who have large transaction volumes.

ERPLY

As far as business growth is concerned, Erply is one of the leading wholesale POS systems for B2B retail and wholesale businesses.

In most cases, wholesalers find themselves in a challenging middle position. This is mainly because your customers may decide to buy directly from the manufacturers. In order to prevent this from happening, you need to offer them extra value for their money.

To help you achieve this, the Erply POS system offers your business unique capabilities like built-in CRM, accurate cost control, and seamless workflows.

Other Erply capabilities that we can describe are:

Inventory Costs and Price Lists

Pricing is one of the things you need to be very careful with if you are to succeed and thrive in the wholesale business. In this regard, the Erply POS system is equipped with all the price list and inventory costing features you need. To begin with, the solution has been proven to follow FIFO principles.

As such, it allows your business to ascertain the cost of goods accurately as well as measure profits more effectively.

The system is also known to offer flexibility as fast as the wholesale price list is concerned. For instance, you will be able to offer special pricing for your contractor customers. This will keep your bulk buyers coming back.

Flexible Quotes to Shipping

The Erply wholesale POS system features sales workflow capabilities. With this built-in feature, you will be able to create custom quotes. In this regard, you may change the quotes to invoices, orders, or even packing slips with a simple click.

Erply POS System Cons

More expensive and more difficult to learn for someone who is a normal computer user.

NCR Counterpoint: Most Detailed Reporting In Comparison To Other Wholesale POS Systems

NCR counterpoint is an all-in-one wholesale POS software solution that provides POS checkout, inventory management, reporting, and analytics and allows you to add features that you may need without having to go through third-party applications.

The NCR Counterpoint POS system offers several features including email marketing, e-commerce options, built-in gift cards, customer loyalty programs, and hardware made specifically for the wholesale industry. This POS system and its inventory system can handle up to 100 stores.

SQL Queries To Search And Update Databases

Take advantage of the SQL to make queries, channels, and triggers that let you search and update records within seconds.

Integration Architecture

NCR CounterPoint is compatible with a variety of well-known third-party applications such as Microsoft Excel which enable you to export and view data through this application.

Inventory Management

Quick Receiving’s and Quick Transfers let you get stock or redistribute it to another area. Intelligent automation features help quicken repetitive tasks and procedures.

This POS System Grows With You

Features like Advanced pricing capabilities, account receivables, serial numbers tracking, etc. are made easy with the Advanced Retail POS system functionality.

NCR Counterpoint Online gives incorporated e-commerce integration, enabling the business owner to unify the architecture of their e-commerce solution with the NCR CounterPoint database.

MultiSite functionality enables us to work with various stores and oversee data at all locations, providing consistency throughout the organization.

Automated Purchasing

You can utilize “Add Items” to simplify the process of entering buy purchase requests by enabling you to rapidly add things to a purchase request at the same time, without expecting you to make each line separately.

Inventory Management

NCR CounterPoints backbone is its inventory management system. It is the methods by which all things are recognized, valued, and tracked. Inventory management is intended to enable you to keep up stock levels, control stock expenses, and track stock development. It provides tools necessary to adjust inventory levels and increase profit margins.

Inventory items can be set up quickly and easily. Inventory item numbers and barcodes may be physically entered, examined, or imported in, or it can be done automatically.

Each inventory item can be set up and identified with a unique item that may be associated with the price level, descriptions, different attributes, etc. They can also represent different sizes, styles, color combinations.

NCR CounterPoint supports both normal inventory and serialized inventory items.

Email Marketing

The integrated email marketing tool connects you with your clients.

Pricing

The software pricing is quote-based. You can request a quote here providing basic information about your business, mostly to know the dimensions of your wholesale.

Vend POS As A Wholesale POS

Vend happens to be a popular Merchant POS system among retailers and wholesalers alike. This system features a diverse inventory manager and effective customer loyalty programs.

Customer Service

Basically, an increased number of return customers in your business will help boost profitability. This is why you need to invest in a system that makes your customers want to buy from your shop again.

The system is essentially designed to capture and store such customer information as preferences and past purchases. With such details, you will be able to customize your offering to meet customer requirements. The system features integrated loyalty programs.

When used properly, the loyalty programs can serve as an incentive for your customers to buy from your store over and over again.

Retail Payments

The provider offers an integrated payments solution for streamlined sales in your business.

The system allows you to accept almost any mode of payment your customers wish to use. In this regard, Vend POS system accepts all the major credit cards, including American Express, MasterCard, and Visa cards.

In addition to chip, swipe, and tap card payments, it supports contactless payment technologies as well. Some of the contactless payment options you can accept through the Vend wholesale POS software include Apple Pay and NFC.

Such capabilities make it easier for you to accept payments. Syncing a card reader to your POS system will also help mitigate human error, double entries, and the need for manual end-of-day reconciliation.

Vend POS System Cons

With this POS solution, you will be required to incur additional costs to get priority customer support.  

Although the provider offers an e-commerce platform as part of the POS package, you may find the platform to be somewhat plain.

Recommended Readings Related With The Wholesale POS systems

We have compared Fattmerchant vs Square, thinking that they were very similar POS and payment processors, but we found many differences and we were surprised by these findings.

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We have reviewed several POS providers. The most interesting according to their industry vertical are: OVVI POS, NCR Counterpoint, Alexandria POS Maid, Verifone Ruby 2 POS, Mynt POS, Indica Online, Reverse, Micros, 1st Pay, Simphony, and Appetize.

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What about cash registers? We have reviewed some and we have found good and bad products: cash registers for gas stations, small businesses in general, and restaurants.

We reviewed some specific type of point of sale systems that determine the price according to the weight, called POS scales.

We have studied barcode and label printers, as label printing is a legal requirement in some industries

Restaurants, fast foods, delis and food trucks, require a separate kitchen printer integrated with the POS with a separate hardware unit. We have reviewed them here.

We do not usually review printers for POS, we simply dedicate ourselves to review a complete POS system with its hardware. However, we had so much criticism and discussions around printers for Square, that I have decided to investigate further here.