Garden Center POS System: 7 Top Features & Providers

Gardening is shifting from an old-fashioned activity to a trendy hobby — and independent garden centers have a big opportunity to ride a wave of industry growth.

However, as the target market for gardening gets younger and customer preferences change, many small businesses are struggling to adapt. Luckily, garden center-specific point of sale (POS) systems and other technology partners can help close the gap between independent garden centers and nurseries and their bigger competitors.

Whether you’re opening a new garden center and implementing a POS system for the first time or a veteran looking to change things up, we’re here to help. 

In this article we’ll give you insights into:

• The advantages of using a specialized garden center POS system
• The most important features to look out for
• Some top POS providers

Let’s get started.

What Is a Garden Center POS System?

Many people think that a POS system is only for handling payments. While a modern POS system does handle payment processing, that only paints a partial picture of what it’s capable of.

A garden center POS system helps you manage all aspects of your business — from inventory and vendor management to customer loyalty programs and sales tracking. With customers expecting faster service, flexible payments, and online sales, technology is becoming an integral part of running a successful small business.

This is why many small businesses are increasingly adopting POS systems with features that are built specifically for their industry.

The 7 Most Important Garden Center POS Features

There are a lot of retail POS systems and many of them seem the same. Instead of starting by looking directly at feature lists and scheduling demos, we recommend you start by looking at your day-to-day processes.

• What are some common sources of customer friction? Are payments seamless? Are popular items usually well stocked?
• In what areas are you most efficient and where are you losing time?
• Are you having spoilage issues? Do you lose track of and/or overorder certain types of plants?
• Do you offer products that your customers are actually interested in? Are there areas of the store that feel untouched?

These are just a few of the questions to ask yourself. By having a list of strengths, weaknesses, and goals, you can look at the features of a POS system in context. Then you can home in on the providers that fill the most gaps.

Here are the seven most important features to look for in a garden center POS system.

1. Advanced Inventory Management

Retailers use inventory management tools to optimize their stock levels and ensure that customers have access to what they need.

However, garden centers have unique inventory management challenges because they sell a mix of perishable inventory (plants, vegetables, etc.), general goods, and potentially serialized inventory (powered gardening tools or other high-value items). Garden center patronage also tends to be seasonal, making inventory planning even more difficult.

Look for a POS system that supports advanced inventory management features. This allows you to do things like:

• Add unlimited SKUs
• Create custom products and bundles, and print barcodes
• Case break inventory (e.g., tracking individual bags of soil from a case)
• Track serialized inventory 
• Monitor inventory levels in real time
• Set low stock thresholds for automatic restocking 

Real-time inventory tracking ensures that you won’t be surprised by a sudden stockout and that you can stay on top of any perishable items before they expire. You can also automate the reordering process, freeing up time that’s usually spent on vendor management and data entry.

2. Reporting and Analytics

Garden centers, even more so than general retailers, have huge seasonal spikes in activity. This affects every part of your business from inventory planning to staffing. 

Access to historical sales and inventory data helps you better identify and manage these peak seasons. Using reports and analytics from your POS system, you can easily pinpoint your bestsellers, dive into sales trends, and see your inventory turnover rate, which will help you make smarter decisions.

Related Read: 18 Essential Reports for Your Store Performance Dashboard

An unbiased and accurate view of your sales data is also invaluable to optimizing your operations and increasing your profitability. 

For example, you may find that certain varieties of potted soil consistently don’t sell well or have a low profit margin compared to others. Or, maybe one section in your greenhouse is underperforming, so you decide to move low-selling items to an area that gets more foot traffic.

Data is more than just profits and losses — it reveals customer preferences and patterns that can help you tailor offers more effectively. 

3. User-Friendly Interface and Flexible Payments

While the more advanced features of a POS may seem intimidating at first, actually using the system to look up items and ring up customers should be easy. 

When demoing POS systems, ask to see common scenarios such as product returns or applying discounts. See what level of customization is available to tailor the POS interface to how you need it.

A POS system should make life easier for both your employees and your customers. That means also being able to accept the most popular form of payments including contactless payments and digital wallets. Ideally, find a POS system that processes payments in-house to get the best rates and ensure that transactions are handled quickly.

4. Streamlined Purchase Order and Vendor Management

Stocking a wide variety of products also means managing a large number of vendors. Instead of tracking your various suppliers through email and spreadsheets, use your POS system to streamline the process.

Set automatic reorder alerts for specific items based on a pre-set threshold. Then, with each item tied to specific vendors in your system, once that stock level threshold is hit, you can set up reorders automatically. By streamlining your purchase orders, you can significantly reduce the time spent on admin and data entry. 

Tip: Make sure to set reorder alerts based on both how quickly the item typically sells and how quickly your supplier can restock the item. This way you’ll maintain optimal inventory levels without worrying about overstocking or stockouts.

Last, using vendor performance analysis, you can evaluate each vendor's product sales data to maintain high-quality stock and negotiate better terms.

5. Employee Management Capabilities

A POS system is also pivotal for onboarding and managing employees, which is especially useful for garden centers with seasonal staff. 

Simplify your employee management by integrating time tracking and scheduling into the POS system itself. Access management will also help limit the systems they can touch, reducing the risk of mistakes or shrinkage (accidental or otherwise).

Top garden center POS systems also include training resources to help staff get up to speed and offer expert advice to customers. Finally, you can track employee performance to identify top performers and find areas for improvement.

6. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

Modern retail customers expect more personalized shopping experiences. With a modern POS system, even small businesses can get the information they need to make that a reality.

Customer relationship management tools help businesses understand customer preferences by tracking purchase history and creating customer profiles.

Value-added features like customer loyalty programs also serve a valuable purpose by collecting information for your most loyal customers. Monitoring this purchase data will help you identify the areas of your shop that are drawing the most repeat business, which can help you grow.

This information is invaluable when creating a marketing strategy for your garden center since you can offer tailored advice and recommendations.

Related Read: 6 Garden Center Marketing Strategies To Grow Your Business ASAP

7. Integrated E-Commerce 

Even for garden centers that thrive on in-person visits, offering an online shop can be a great way to showcase your expertise and draw in customers during the off-season. 

Use a POS system that connects your in-store inventory and sales with your online store. This ensures your stock levels will be accurate and lets you compare sales data. Track which items sell best online and tailor offers to users to encourage upselling. 

Many garden centers use online sales and offer in-store pickup. You can take advantage of this by placing complementary items near the pickup area. When customers arrive at your store, you now have an opportunity to make an additional sale. 

Most importantly, for many consumers, a website is their first interaction with your business — so having an attractive and user-friendly website makes a great first impression. 

Garden Center POS System: Top Providers

Every garden center and nursery is unique and has different challenges. Similarly, there’s no one-size-fits-all POS solution for every business.

Here are our top 4 picks for the best POS system for garden centers.

1. Comcash

Best for: Small to mid-size garden and home centers

Comcash is our best-in-class point of sale system designed to maximize your time and drive profits. With high-quality hardware and software built for the unique challenges of garden centers, Comcash is a great all-in-one solution for small business owners.

Key features:

• Advanced Inventory Management: Add unlimited numbers of SKUs, create custom product bundles, and monitor serialized inventory. Get data on inventory churn and track your perishable inventory in real time.
• In-house payment processing: We offer some of the most competitive rates for processing payments with credit cards, debit cards, and contactless payment methods.
• E-commerce support: Take your store online with a mobile-friendly webstore that syncs seamlessly with your in-store sales data and inventory.
• Built-in CRM and customer loyalty: Craft effective deals and retain more customers with built-in CRM and customer profiles.
  
  

Pricing:

At Comcash, we often work with independent business owners and are happy to develop tailored pricing plans that fit your needs.

2. Celerant

Best for: Rapidly growing retailers and garden stores

Celerant is a POS system that supports enterprise-grade solutions, making it a fit for stores with multiple locations or that are growing rapidly. Though a bit pricier than other options on the list, Celerant comes with many powerful features.

Key features:

• Flexible payments: Celerant supports various modern payment options including digital wallets, buy now pay later, contactless cards, gift cards, and more.
• Customizable interface: Celerant gives you drag-and-drop options to customize the POS screen including shortcut buttons, branding, and more.
• Robust coupons and discounts: You can retain customers with several creative discount options. Discounts can be automatically limited by customer, or include purchase minimums to reduce the risk of abuse.
  
  

Pricing:

Celerant’s basic in-person retail plan starts at $125/month with e-commerce support starting at $250/month. 

3. POS Nation

Best for: Small to mid-sized garden centers and hardware stores

POS Nation is another all-in-one POS solution that caters to retailers in various industries, including garden and nursery centers. With over 25 years of experience working with small retailers, they are experts at building POS systems to fit different types of businesses.

Key features:

• Weather-resistant hardware: In addition to its comprehensive POS software, POS Nation also sells environment-resistant POS hardware, which can be handy if you’re doing sales in a greenhouse or outside.
• Equipment rental support: For shops that rent out landscaping equipment or other types of gardening equipment, POS Nation supports taking deposits for and tracking rentals.
• Mobile scanning: POS Nation helps streamline your inventory counts with mobile scanning devices that automatically scan inventory and compare it to your purchase order.
  
  

Pricing:

POS Nation offers flexible monthly subscriptions starting at $69/month.

4. Lightspeed POS

Best for: Multi-location or large garden center businesses

Based in Canada, Lightspeed is a global name in POS systems. It offers a unified solution for retailers and supports multiple locations and channels. Lightspeed is another solid option for rapidly growing garden center businesses. 

Key features:

• 24/7 support: As one of the larger players in the POS industry, Lightspeed has a network of retail specialists on call to help when problems arise.

• Advanced inventory management: Lightspeed POS supports real-time inventory tracking across locations, helping you identify areas of shrink and simplify your ordering process.
• Automated marketing support: Lightspeed supports integrations with marketing platforms to help you market through email and SMS.
  
  

Pricing:

Lightspeed POS’ basic plan starts at $89/month and their most popular plan, which includes support for extras like mobile scanners and reports, starts at $149/month.

Grow Your Garden Center With the Right Technology Partner

Looking for a garden center POS system can be stressful, but take your time. See what’s available, schedule demos, and, most importantly, follow your gut.

A great POS system is something you’ll use every day, from the moment you open until you close. So make sure you’re comfortable with your decision. Consider the following points when you talk to a potential technology partner:

• Your existing equipment and software: What hardware do you have already? Are you already using any accounting software or an e-commerce platform? 
• Your short and long-term goals: What problems is your store facing now and where are your customer friction points? Consider what a new POS system can help with in the short term and down the road.
• Your budget: Many POS systems come with fancy bells and whistles that you may or may not use and at a higher cost. Have a clear idea of what you need and stick to a budget that makes sense for your business.
• Value-added features: While you might not instantly use every feature on a POS system, see what’s included out of the box. The more features you have available, the more flexibility you have to try new things.

If you want to see what a modern garden center POS system can do, talk to one of our experts today.