People love local hardware stores for superior customer service and a tailored selection of quality products. However, the convenience offered by big competitors makes operating a profitable small hardware store more challenging than ever.
Finding an efficient point of sale (POS) system for hardware stores is an excellent way to increase revenue, improve customer service, and optimize your day-to-day processes.
Which hardware POS system is right for you? What kind of features should you look for?
In this article, we cover the top features to look for and our top picks for POS systems uniquely suited for the hardware store business.
What Are the Key Features of Hardware Store POS Software?
There are many POS systems out there, but not all of them are created equal. POS systems built for general retail don’t come out of the box with all the features you’ll need to run your hardware business efficiently.
It’s important to partner with a POS provider that can help you stay on top of (and ahead of) new retail trends as they change.
So when shopping for a point of sale system for your hardware store, keep an eye out for these features:
- Flexible inventory management: Hardware stores sell a wide variety of products, from small items like nails and brackets to high-value items like lawnmowers and power tools. Varied stock requires flexible inventory management features like case breaking (selling individual nails within a larger box), serialized inventory tracking, mobile scanning, custom SKU creation, and more.
- Reporting and analytics: A great POS system doesn’t just process transactions but tracks important data that helps optimize inventory, forecast customer demand, and make better marketing investments.
- Custom barcodes: Hardware stores often stock products that require unique barcode labels and tag printing. Having unlimited SKUs and integrated printers helps stores stay organized no matter what they offer.
- Purchase orders and vendor management: With so many products on offer, it’s vital to have all of your vendors in a single database. Many modern POS systems allow you to set up automatic reorder notifications and help streamline the creation of purchase orders.
Top 4 Hardware Store Point of Sale Systems
Point of sale systems for hardware stores have many overlapping features — making it tough to choose the right one. We encourage you to shop around and consider multiple options before making the leap.
In addition to our top-rated hardware store point of sale solution, we also have a few other suggestions that may better fit your store’s unique needs.
1. Comcash
Of course, we have to mention Comcash, our flexible cloud-based point of sale system for hardware stores and garden centers. Our robust inventory management and CRM features make it best for small to medium-sized hardware store owners. The system is also supported by a great customer service team.
Standout features
- Advanced inventory management: Comcash supports many advanced inventory features required by hardware store owners, such as case breaking, serialized inventory, barcode creation and printing, real-time tracking, and more. Mobile inventory features also enable you to manage your stock across multiple locations – wherever you are.
- Robust reporting features: Comcash's reporting tools give you a bird’s-eye view of sales performance, profit margins, and customer buying patterns. This information lets you make data-driven decisions about product placements, promotions, and pricing strategies.
- Omnichannel support and e-commerce: Adapt to changing customer demands and boost your brand’s reach by creating an online shop that integrates directly with your POS system, ensuring accurate stock and sales numbers no matter where your goods are sold.
- Built-in customer loyalty: Customer loyalty programs are a great way for small hardware stores to boost sales and drive repeat business. Comcash comes with multiple ways to track customer information and offer exclusive discounts.
Pricing: Since Comcash caters primarily to smaller businesses, we offer customized pricing through our website.
2. Lightspeed POS
Lightspeed is a general retail POS system based in Canada that offers several useful features for hardware stores. It offers highly scalable, enterprise-level solutions for hardware businesses, making it a great fit for rapidly expanding businesses.
Standout features
- Built-in work order management: Lightspeed comes with built-in work order management for hardware stores that manage repairs and contractors.
- E-commerce capabilities: Lightspeed offers hundreds of website templates that enable you to offer online sales.
- Reliable, cloud-based services: Lightspeed is a large vendor with cloud-based offerings, making them a reliable way to manage your store from anywhere.
Pricing: Lightspeed has three price levels with its most basic pricing model starting at $89 per month. However, features like e-commerce and mobile inventory scanning require a higher subscription level.
3. Celerant
Celerant offers retail POS solutions for companies ranging from single-location startups to enterprise-level organizations. Like Lightspeed, they offer a wide variety of customization for business owners who foresee rapid growth and multi-location operations in their future.
Standout features
- Vendor integrations: Celerant comes with several built-in vendor integrations to streamline the order management process.
- Integrated online sales: Offer customers multi-channel sales with mobile apps, marketplaces, and websites on a single system.
- Mobile POS system: Celerant offers mobile support for managing inventory and making sales through a tablet POS system.
Pricing: Celerant’s POS software starts at $125 per month with additional licenses costing $45 per month per license.
4. POS Nation
POS Nation is another retail option that caters primarily to small and medium-sized stores. Their software includes many specialized features that are useful for hardware and garden stores, making it another solid, highly-rated option.
Standout features
- Commission-based sales tracking: POS Nation comes with several handy employee management features, including commission-based sales tracking to reward employees for selling high-value items.
- Robust inventory management: POS Nation includes all of the inventory management features a hardware store needs including serialized inventory, automatic case break, and real-time inventory tracking.
- Layaway sales: POS Nation supports many flexible payment options, including layaway sales, and offers ways to easily track customer information and payments.
Pricing: POS Nation comes with customizable pricing options that start as low as $69 per month.
Picking the POS System That’s Right for Your Business
Now you have a better idea of what point of sale systems for hardware stores exist, the big question remains: which one should you choose?
There’s no one right answer. It depends on your short and long-term goals. However, like any good collaboration, a solid technology partnership should start with a conversation.
Schedule a few demos and have some questions prepared. Here are a few questions and topics you could discuss:
- Can your system handle unlimited SKUs and label printing?
- What kind of training is available? Who do I contact if something goes wrong?
- What happens if the system loses connection to the internet?
- What kind of added-value features are included (marketing, customer loyalty, CRM, discounts, etc.)?
- Does your system support e-commerce? Do I have to pay additional costs for it?
These are just a few questions to get the ideas flowing, but if there’s one piece of advice we can offer it’s this: don’t rush.
A new POS system is an investment and will take time to get used to. The worst thing you can do is spend money and time on a system that isn’t a good fit for you.
Partner with a Leading Point of Sale System for Hardware Stores
The goal of adopting a modern POS system is to give you flexibilty so you can spend more time on your customers and grow the business.
Advanced inventory management, reporting, and vendor management can significantly reduce the time you spend on data entry and admin — so why wait?
Choose the best POS system for your store, today. Many hardware stores and garden centers use Comcash’s user-friendly and cost-effective POS hardware and software to simplify their day-to-day operations and increase their profits.
Ready to find out how Comcash’s hardware store POS system can help your business? Schedule a demo today.