Big business style Integration for the small retail business
Pros
- Integration. One customer list. One product item list. One inventory count. POS and website store that function in real time with each other.
- Responsiveness. New features and tweaks to the user interface are actually constantly being developed based on our feedback and requests.
- Multiple location support. We have two stores and many of the other platforms we shopped didn't have good solutions for that. Rain lets us have a combined product database with different reorder preferences. Also, a new update to the system made transferring serial numbered products even easier.
Cons
- Reorder amount preset options could more sophisticated. I'd like to see the option to automatically "round up" the preset reorder qty up to 10 or 12 or 6, etc. This was possible previously but they added other options that changed the automated reorder suggestion to the difference between your current count the ideal count you have set for each product. This is good for some items, but not for others. Guitar strings come in a box of 12, but sheet music can be any number. And then some items we purchase in a box and then sell individually. Rain does allow for that in the purchase order automated reorder quantity. Mostly, I change each reorder quantity as I am copying and pasting the product codes into the vendor's website. Not huge deal breaker. And I believe they will eventually add more options like I want to see.
- You do need the internet to do business. So in case of a localized broadband outage you can use your mobile device as a hot spot.
Return on Investment
- We did not have any type of web-store before starting up with Rain Point of Sale so adding that online presence has helped us bring first-time customers into the store
- We have had one or two bad deals happen because of the site - so watch out for scammers using temporary office space with a fake business as the ship to address. Not Rain's fault, just part of doing business online.
Alternatives Considered
AIMsi and ShopKeep
Other Software Used
QuickBooks Online, Google Analytics, AIMsi
