Clover vs. ShopKeep vs. Square Customers

Clover is well suited for high-volume environments where quality and dependability are paramount. The hardware can scale easily and always looks good on the counter. I have even seen Clover hardware used in small mom-and-pop type stores. The ability to swing the monitor around for signature is really nice. Customers appreciate the ease of use. The stations we have to use nice large bright screens. Not familiar enough with the Clover product line to know if the smaller screen sizes are available for applications where space is a concern.

Incentivized

ShopKeep can maintain up to 10,000 individual stock items. This is perfect for a cafe, coffee shop, wine bar, small retail store, etc. If you're inventory exceeds the 10,000 items then it may not be a fit for you. Also, ShopKeep works with Apple tablets only (iPad 2 or later). If you prefer Android or PC based tablets then this won't work for you.

Incentivized

Square is absolutely brilliant if you are just starting out and your business has both an in-person and an online component to it, as Square will solve both in-person POS and online booking/billing. Square also offers the option to create a free website for your company, though it is a very basic site, if you don't have a website yet, this is a VERY helpful option, as it takes away a huge cost. Square allowed us to be up and running in no time, taking away the need to worry about an expensive appointment-setting add-on from our current website provider (Square integrates quite nicely with our current site). Square is probably less ideal for more advanced users or companies with a need for more detailed inventory/service management. But even then, Square will more than likely be able to get the job done!

Incentivized

• BluePay has been very responsive when we've had questions and gone out their way to make sure that users understand the answers that are given.
• During our cut over to BluePay we found that there were reports that our users were used to having that didn't have an equivalent on BluePay's site. Our account rep went above and beyond to make sure that our users had the information that they needed by having custom reports sent on the schedule that we determined.
• Overall our interchange rates are much lower with BluePay than they were with our previous gateway provider.

Incentivized

• ShopKeep provides solid pre-sales support. They did a pre-sales screen-share demo that helped us ensure that their system would handle the needs of the business, and they assisted us in making decisions around which hardware would be appropriate.
• ShopKeep's hardware seems well thought out and well integrated. One exception is issues with the connection between their recommended iCMP credit card scanner and the register. Other than that, the hardware works well together.
• The register has excellent configurability and customization capabilities, and handles a large variety of products easily. High-volume products can have their own buttons on the register. Products can be added to a purchase by using these buttons, by scanning a bar code with an integrated bar code scanner, or by doing a live text search.
• The register is also easily configurable to handle product options - either multiple options like pizza toppings, or exclusive options like regular or decaf coffee.
• The ShopKeep system can handle hybrid retail/quick serve/restaurant scenarios with grace. This was a factor that eliminated many other systems that are optimized for one or the other, or where the products for handling retail are completely separate from the products for handling quick serve/restaurant operations. Since this customer has a location where there is a quick serve counter, a restaurant, and a retail gift shop all in the same location, ShopKeep's ability to handle all of these kinds of transactions from the same platform is a powerful advantage. ShopKeep also recently added functionality to transfer open tickets between registers, so that if a customer starts out with a cup of coffee at the quick serve counter, their ticket can be picked up and added to at the gift shop if they wander in there to purchase items.
• ShopKeep has a Back Office system that can be accessed through any Web browser, or through their mobile app. The Back Office system is used to import and export data, manage inventory, configure the iPad registers, set up product options, manage employees, and report transactions, sales, product costs & margins, and other data.
• Discounts, returns and credits are relatively easy to handle from the register, and the system can be configured to require a manager to approve these kinds of transactions, or not.
• Bulk imports and exports are handled well by ShopKeep's Back Office. When setting up initial inventory, products can be added through Excel, then imported as comma-separated values (CSV) files by uploading them through the Web browser. Once inventory is established, adding or modifying items can be done directly through the Web interface.
• ShopKeep has a mobile app that can be used by owners or managers to remotely access real-time snapshots of sales and other important data whenever they wish.

• Sales pipeline
• Customer engagement
• Marketing

Incentivized

• Focus functionality on retail use and not broad based with focus on food services
• Build a turn table into the countertop unit so both the employee and customer can use the tablet
• Offer color choices in units (white is not always friendly with long term use)

Incentivized

• They are completely understaffed in the engineering / product development.
• They are a disaster in inventory control.
• Financial reporting is inadequate.

Incentivized

• Some of the build quality on the peripherals could feel a bit better.
• Have more options for businesses with more credit card transactions such as monthly or discounted per transaction once a certain number is reached.
• Have functionality to allow for a typed card number without the higher fee if the software verifies there is a hardware/read error with the card.

Incentivized

Because we expect the current issue with the credit card reader disconnecting from the register to be solved with an upcoming software update, and we like many of the features of Shopkeep.

There are numerous aspects to Clover's usability: the usability of their point of sale systems, the usability of their CRM and web dashboards, and the technical side of integrating with other third-party services. All are top tier. Clover's usability is excellent and I have never had a problem figuring out how to use their services at any level. The POS system has a very low barrier to entry and an easy learning curve for newcomers.

Incentivized

The register functionality is excellent, both from a learning standpoint and an operations standpoint. Cashiers learn how to use the register quickly, and the registers can be configured with hot buttons for fast-moving products. Setting up product variations and additions is straightforward. The web-accessible Back Office has good features, but lacks enough granularity to provide a store manager with the ability to modify inventory settings without giving them access to all of the financial reports as well.

The user interface is easy to navigate - that's not always the case for some software! I look for something that is intuitive, easy to use, and doesn't take a ton of training to get up and running quickly.

Incentivized

We rarely have problems, but when we do, they are major and the system becomes unusable. While Customer Support does eventually respond and fix the issue, they can take a long time. If a major problem occurs on a weekend during the dinner rush, it can be catastrophic to sales and customer returns.

Incentivized

Occasional long waits [5 minutes or more] or call-backs needed for telephone support. Email support replies usually take several hours. Support personnel are generally friendly and knowledgable.

Square is mostly focused on FAQs and online support, and they do a very good job creating a rich knowledge base. But, if you are not very tech savvy, it could be easy to feel a bit overwhelmed. I would recommend that they add a direct line or chat feature to call, rather than email or Knowledge base first. This might be due to staffing issues at Square, so perhaps it is the best they can do for now.

Incentivized

If moving from a "dumb" cash register system, spend all the time needed to get starting inventory and product costing and pricing correct. Shopkeep has good tools for reporting inventory, margins, and other critical business info, but the information is only useful if the starting figures are accurate.

None are available on the list. Clover competes with HotSauce, Paradise, Poynt, and many more POS systems. We easily sell Clover more than anything else and everyone loves it. It's easily one of the best products I've seen since I have been in integrations. The sales managers love it, our sales reps love it, and most importantly our merchants love it.

Incentivized

ShopKeep is an inexpensive choice iPad POS system that comes with all of the tools needed to do business without any long-term contracts or expensive fees. It also offers free 24/7 phone and email support along with online live chat during business hours. Coffee Shop Manager offered some of these items, but they also tied you into a long-term contract and you were charged fee after fee for support, etc. Also, the CSM system was big and took up a lot of space compared to ShopKeep's integration with an Apple iPad tablet.

Incentivized

A lot easier to use than Infusionsoft!!

Incentivized

• Definitely makes us look more professional, and we are able to handle products much smoother and faster
• The reporting allows us to see what is really selling and how much money we have actually made, which is also great, especially when you are selling things you have made or grown because you may not always have an inventory, but you can tell how much you've sold.
• We can't pause the fees for the "off-season," so it definitely is wasted money during those times.

Incentivized

• I was unable to manage inventory
• ShopKeep didn't integrate with my accounting software. I had to double enter all financial data.
• Without inventory controls, all of my financial information was inaccurate. It is impossible to grow a business without accurate financial information.

Incentivized

• This has allowed me to accept credit / debit transactions without having to have a monthly subscription to a service and lose money on times of no to little use, allowing me to have a broader customer range as checks are risky.
• All of my initial equipment was free and there were no startup costs so my return was immediate.
• The small fee taken out of the transaction is very much worth the ability to accept nearly all plastic transactions.

Incentivized