If only running a bookstore were as easy as Hugh Grant makes it look in Notting Hill. The reality is you’re constantly juggling multiple tasks, from managing inventory and keeping customers satisfied to processing payments and analyzing sales data.
But what if you had a tool to help you automate these processes? In this article, we’ll explore the key features to look for in a bookstore Point of Sale (POS) system, which can make your day-to-day operations much more efficient.
We’ll also compare the top five POS solutions on the market, evaluating them based on their strengths in key areas like inventory management, customer engagement, payment flexibility, and reporting capabilities.
The Best Point of Sale
for WooCommerce
Your products, customers, orders & inventory automatically synced, always ready for you to sell your products anywhere!
What to look for in a bookstore POS
Inventory management
To ensure smooth operations, your POS system must be able to monitor all sales and provide real-time data on available stock so you can keep a close eye on your inventory. This will help prevent overselling or running out of popular titles.
If you run multiple shops, look for a POS that can track inventory across multiple locations. This will make it easy to adjust stock levels, transfer items between stores, and generate detailed reports on your best and worst-selling products.
Customer satisfaction
A good POS system should be able to recognize returning customers, build detailed customer profiles to remember their preferences and interests, offer customer loyalty programs to keep them coming back, and deliver a great shopping experience. It should also provide flexible payment and delivery options, like in-store purchase with home shipping or online payment with in-store pickup.
Payment methods
From cash and credit cards to mobile wallets and buy-now-pay-later services, your POS should be able to handle it all. Look for a system that’s PCI-compliant and offers secure, encrypted transactions to protect your customers’ sensitive information.
Tracking store performance
Your POS should be a powerful data and analytics tool, providing valuable insights into sales trends, bestselling genres, customer behavior, and more. The more data you have at your fingertips, the better equipped you’ll be to optimize your bookstore’s performance and drive growth.
Top 5 POS solutions for bookstores
1. Jovvie: Best overall
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Works on any device (mobile and stable). | Lacks some specific reporting features, such as determining peak business hours. |
| Very affordable. | |
| Wide range of payment options. | |
| Real-time inventory management. | |
| Offers flexibility and easy expansion through WooCommerce integration. |
Jovvie by BizSwoop is a powerful, yet cost-effective POS solution for bookstores. As well as offering an all-in-one POS platform through its Jovvie One plan, it supports direct integration with WooCommerce, which means you can access multiple extensions and integrations to help add any functionality you want.
Key features
- Works on any device: One of the best things about Jovvie is that you don’t have to purchase a dedicated POS device. Instead, it can run smoothly on any mobile or desktop device you already own, whether that’s a tablet, phone, or computer. This saves you money and makes it incredibly easy to set up Jovvie in your store.
- Real-time inventory management: Jovvie provides real-time updates on your stock levels, no matter how many physical and online stores you have. When a sale occurs in any of your sales channels, your inventory is updated immediately. Plus, you can easily search for products using barcodes. Simply generate and print barcodes for each item, integrate them with Jovvie, and then use your device’s camera or a barcode scanning tool to instantly see the inventory status.
- Extra functionality with WooCommerce: Jovvie can be combined with other plugins to expand its features even further. For example, you can pair it with Flow Notify to send back-in-stock notifications and promotional messages to your customers.
- Prioritizes customers’ convenience: In your online store, Jovvie can recognize returning customers and even reload their abandoned carts. Customers can also leave notes during checkout, which is great for customizing orders or requesting special items. They also have the flexibility to purchase online and pick up their orders in store, buy in person and have it shipped, or choose any combination that works for them.
- Flexible payment options: As an official Stripe partner, Jovvie supports all of Stripe’s payment methods, including cash, major credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, Google Pay, bank transfers, QR codes, contactless payments, and more. And because it’s fully integrated with WooCommerce, Jovvie can also use any WooCommerce-compatible payment gateway, giving you even more flexibility.
- Advanced analytics and reporting: Jovvie provides extensive reporting and analytics to help you make data-driven decisions about your bookstore. You’ll get real-time insights into your sales, profits, expenses, and more to help you identify your strengths and areas for improvement.
Pricing
Jovvie offers a 30-day free trial, so you can test it out before committing. After that, plans start at $19 per month for self-hosting or $29 per month for cloud hosting.
2. Shopify POS: Best for inventory management
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Advanced inventory management. | Accessing advanced features is expensive. |
| Insightful analytics. | No customizable inventory filters. |
Shopify POS integrates with Shopify’s eCommerce platform, allowing businesses to sell in-person and online while keeping everything in sync.
Key features
- Omnichannel inventory management: Shopify POS syncs all in-store and online sales in real-time, so you always have an accurate view of inventory levels across all your locations and sales channels.
- Sell gift cards: Selling physical and digital gift cards is a great way for bookstores to drive additional revenue and customer engagement. With Shopify POS, customers can use their gift card balance to purchase any product. You can also email digital gift cards directly to recipients, making them convenient to send as gifts.
- Add product QR codes: You can attach QR codes to your books so customers can use their phones to make purchases online later.
- Wide range of fulfillment options: Like Jovvie, Shopify offers a range of flexible ordering and fulfillment options to keep your customers happy. Customers can purchase online and pick up in-store, or buy in-person and have their order shipped to their address.
Pricing
Shopify offers a three-day free trial to test out the platform. After that, prices start at $5.35 per month for in-person sales only, or $38.54 per month for both in-person and online. The higher-priced plans unlock more advanced features.
3. Square: Best for beginners
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Free version available to try. | Expensive to scale, as transaction costs can build up. |
| User-friendly interface. | Advanced plans and features are pricey. |
Square for Retail offers features tailored for bookstores, including the ability to easily import inventory, create purchase orders, manage vendors, and generate barcode labels.
Key features
- Sell on social media: You can create targeted ads on platforms like Facebook and Instagram to reach new customers. You can also showcase products in Google’s shopping listings, driving traffic from search engines to your online or physical stores.
- Smart stock forecasts: Square’s inventory management tools will automatically sync inventory levels across all of your bookstore’s locations. You can also get smart stock forecasts to know what’s selling and what needs to be reordered to keep popular titles in stock.
- Integration with accounting software: Square for Retail integrates with popular accounting software like QuickBooks and Xero. This means you can automatically import your sales, refunds, and transfers, streamlining your financial management and record-keeping.
- Access detailed reports: You can get detailed reporting, including data on cost of goods sold, profit margins, sell-through rates, and vendor sales to help you make more informed, data-driven decisions.
Pricing
Square doesn’t offer a free trial, but it does have a free version with limited features, which can be a great option for bookstore owners just starting out. However, as your bookstore grows, those transaction fees can quickly add up, making Square a more expensive choice compared to other POS systems like Jovvie. Square’s paid plans start at $89 per location per month.
4. Lightspeed: Best for large bookstores
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Allows bulk editing in inventory. | Advanced reporting only available in most advanced plan. |
| Built-in vendor network. | Steep learning curve for users who are unfamiliar with POS systems. |
| Monthly subscription fees are pricey. |
If you run a large bookstore with complex inventory needs, Lightspeed could be the perfect POS solution for you. While it has a steeper learning curve than some other options, Lightspeed offers powerful features that make managing a big store easy.
Key features
- Customizable customer loyalty program: Lightspeed’s built-in customer loyalty program lets you easily create personalized rewards, discounts, and promotions to encourage repeat business and foster customer loyalty. You can also track customer purchase history and preferences to deliver a tailored experience.
- Multilingual SEO capabilities: Planning to go international? Lightspeed provides great multilingual capabilities to help bookstore owners optimize their online presence and reach a wider audience across different markets and languages.
- Powerful eCommerce integration: Lightspeed’s eCommerce platform is tightly integrated with the POS system, allowing you to quickly and easily list your entire inventory online. Customers can browse your full catalog, place orders, and choose in-store pickup or delivery – all synced in real-time with your in-store operations.
- Simplified ordering process: Lightspeed lets you save time by adding items from multiple vendors into a single purchase order. You can also add order notes to your purchase orders and track everything directly from your bookstore POS.
Pricing
Lightspeed doesn’t offer a free trial, and its pricing starts at $89 per month with a 12-month contract.
5. Basil: Best for online bookstores
| Pros | Cons |
|---|---|
| Bookstore-specific features. | Very expensive. |
| Amazon integration. |
Basil offers a range of features tailored specifically for online booksellers, including integration with Amazon.
Key features
- Bookstore-specific: Basil is the only niche-specific POS system on this list. Aside from Amazon, it also offers integration with other major online book selling platforms like Alibris, Pubnet, and Edelweiss.
- Intuitive sales process: Basil allows you to sell items simply by scanning the barcode, either the publisher’s ISBN or one created in Basil.
- Gift card management: Basil integrates with ValuTec, which allows customers to use gift cards across multiple store locations. It also offers the ability to manage gift card balances directly within the Basil system.
- Flexible transaction splitting: Customers can use a combination of payment methods like cash, check, credit, and gift cards within a single transaction.
Pricing
Basil comes with a $250 one-time setup fee, and then monthly plans start at $225 depending on the size of your store. This includes a mobile app, free updates, and desktop POS hardware.
Start optimizing your bookstore with Jovvie POS today
From managing inventory across multiple channels to providing an exceptional customer experience, bookstore owners have their work cut out for them. And without the right tools in place, your daily operations can quickly become overwhelming.
That’s where POS systems like Jovvie come in. As our top overall pick, Jovvie offers a powerful suite of features ideal for bookstores. Its real-time inventory management ensures you always know what’s in stock, while its customer relationship tools help you build loyalty and drive repeat business. And with advanced integration capabilities across devices and platforms, Jovvie can help you streamline your operations so you can focus on growing your business.
Start your free 30-day trial with Jovvie today and experience the difference a best-in-class POS system can make.
The Best Point of Sale
for WooCommerce
Your products, customers, orders & inventory automatically synced, always ready for you to sell your products anywhere!
