Square Retail Review

A full review of Square’s point of sale system.

Mark Hammersley

Last updated 10o September 2020

Square Retail

3.8 Stackupp rating

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Pricing from

$ 60.00 / month

Free Plan?

Yes

Best for

small and medium-sized businesses that are looking for an intuitive interface and a straightforward pricing model.

Square for Retail is Square’s dedicated point of sale system (POS) for brick-and-mortar retailers. It is offered alongside several other solutions, including Square for Restaurants and Square Appointments (for appointment-based service businesses). This review will focus on the retail option.

Square for Retail has everything you would expect from a point of sale system, including built-in payment processing, integrations with ecommerce platforms, inventory management, a good (if slightly expensive) selection of hardware options, and a fairly comprehensive analytics dashboard.

Notably, Square offers what is perhaps one of the best free plans on the market, although users will have to pay for hardware and the ability to add additional team members at $35 per location.

Square’s fee structure is also relatively straightforward. If you’re not on the free plan, you will pay $60 for each location (with unlimited staff numbers and permissions) and a transaction fee of 2.5% plus ten cents. This is very competitive when compared to other processors, although you will pay slightly more on the free plan. If you run a larger store, with sales above $250,000 annually, you qualify for a custom pricing package.

On the negative side, we would have liked to have seen more third-party integrations, cheaper hardware (many competitor plans include a free card reader), and deeper levels of functionality in some areas.

All in all, however, Square offers an inexpensive and easy-to-use system for small and medium retailers that don’t want the hassle of having to navigate a more complex app. There is also the option to integrate with Square’s ecommerce platform if you don’t already have an online store.

Is Square Retail right for you?

you’re a small or medium-sized retailer looking for a solution that won’t require large amounts of time and resources to set up. You just need to be wary of purchasing Square’s complete hardware package, which costs $799.

Advantages

Easy and straightforward to use.
Transparent pricing structure.
Excellent free plan.

Drawbacks

Lack of integrations.
Expensive hardware.
Limited functionality in some areas.

Ease of Use

Rated 5/5 for Ease of Use

Square for Retail is very easy to use. Everything from the back-office dashboard to the “smart” store builder is designed to streamline the process of taking and managing payments.

The POS register, which is usually accessed via an iOS tablet or Square’s in-house register, follows a typical block format, with an area that displays individual products and categories, a checkout box, and additional options like discounts, gift cards, popular items, and so on. It’s also possible to use your tablet to receive tips, send email receipts, check inventory at different locations, and so on.

The back-office is also designed in a traditional way, with a left-hand sidebar providing access to dedicated areas for managing sales, analytics and tracking, employee permissions, and more.

What customers are saying...

“Square is a great product that is a wonderful tool for small businesses and nonprofits like ours.

“It operates just like your mind works. It is so logical.”

“I liked that it was a convenient way to accept payments anywhere via my mobile cell phone through the Square App.”

Features

Rated 4/5 for Features

Square for Retail has a fairly comprehensive feature-set and comes with everything you would expect from a point-of-sale system. Keep in mind that you will only have access to all features on the $60/month “Plus” package. The free plan provides only limited functionality.

Square back-office is a browser-based app. The register interface is accessed via an iPad or the Square register. Support for Android tablets is not provided, but you can download a feature-limited Android app to take mobile payments.

Checkout features include saved carts, barcode scanning via the iPad camera or Square register, discounts, item searches, and exchanges. Payment functionality, which works on a straightforward, transparent fee structure, comprises next-day transfers, invoices, and both physical and digital gift cards.

You won’t find anything lacking on the inventory management front, either. Tools include unlimited products, low stock alerts, bulk inventory uploads, barcode printing, and more.

If you decide to use Square’s in-house ecommerce solution, you will also have access to a user-friendly store builder, automated inventory syncing, and integration with Instagram.

Finally, analytics reports cover sales, profit margins, vendor sales, and total costs.

Integrations

Rated 2.5/5 for Integrations

Integrations represent one area where Square could have performed better. If you’re looking for a POS system that syncs up seamlessly with your existing tech stack, you may be forced to look elsewhere. That said, Square does provide a small package of integrations, so you may find what you’re looking for. A Zapier integration is also available, so you can sync up with most apps, albeit with limited functionality.

Square performs best in the area of accounting and tax, where a large selection of integrations is offered, including Quickbooks, Xero, Shogo, Kahoo, OneUp, ZohoBooks, and more. A small number of connectors with analytics, team management, and restaurant apps are provided.

Square’s online payment processing tool also integrates with most well-known ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce, BigCommerce, Magento, and so on.

How much does Square Retail cost?

Rated 4/5 for Pricing

Square has a straightforward, competitive pricing structure. We consider the free plan to be one of the best available to small and medium retailers. Three plans are offered: “Free”, “Plus”, and “Premium”.

The free plan is ideal for small shops and comes with a limited number of features. If you want to add extra team members, you will have to pay $35/month per store. The “Plus” plan, which most users will opt for, costs $60/month per location and includes the full feature-set and discounted payment processing fees.

Finally, the “Premium” plan, which is geared towards larger enterprises, operates on a custom pricing model and is available to sellers turning over in excess of $250,000 a month.

Help and Support

Rated 3.5/5 for Help and Support

Square customer support is available via phone, email, live chat, and social media. Users also have access to extensive documentation and an active seller community.

User reviews of the quality and speed of support are mixed, with many users talking positively about helpful staff and fast response times but complaining about receiving generic answers.

There are no custom onboarding packages, although the ease of setting up largely removes the need for them.

The Bottom Line

Overall, we were very impressed with Square. It’s one of the easiest-to-use platforms we reviewed, and the “forever free” plan is arguably the best on the market. Small and medium-sized retailers that are looking for a streamlined, straightforward solution with transparent pricing will find a lot to like. The only real downsides are the limited integrations library and the expensive hardware, although this won’t be a problem if you’re using an iPad.

Larger store-owners will likely require more extensive functionality, especially when it comes to analytics and integrations. Nonetheless, it is still worth getting in touch to discuss options if you’re generating sales of over $250,000 per month.