The Top Mobile POS Systems

We’ve compared the best mobile POS systems around, and the results are in…


What are Mobile POS Systems?

A mobile POS system – or a mobile device running POS software – can run independently of a central PC network or integrated hardware. Most mobile systems can be connected easily to your mobile device, while some suppliers even offer hardware such as cash drawers and barcode scanners to go with it.

Whether you’re running a pop-up clothing store or taco-themed food truck business, the top mobile POS systems will streamline your business, keeping your staff and customers happy and the money rolling in. For more information on the best mobile POS suppliers for retail, restaurants, and food trucks, keep on reading.

The Top Mobile POS Providers

Following our extensive research into the Canadian POS market, we can reveal that the top mobile POS systems are:

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Shopify

Ecommerce giant Shopify offers a completely mobile POS solution, with which payment can be accepted on any device. It even provides its own card reader, which you can plug into the headphone jack of your mobile device to help you take payments from literally anywhere.

Its POS software can be used on a mobile, on a desktop, through social media, in-store, or as Shopify likes to say, “out of the trunk of your car”. The POS software also offers extensive functionality, from reporting to marketing and payments, plus a 24/7 POS support team.

Pricing: Software price plans range from $29.99 per month to $299.99 per month

Pros

  • Excellent CRM (customer relationship management) features
  • 24/7 customer support

Cons

  • Works best when selling through your own Shopify store

Vend

Ideal for retail businesses on the go, Vend is a powerful POS system that can be used on your tablet, mobile web browser, or desktop. It offers customer loyalty programme features on its Pro and Enterprise software price plans, plus inventory and employee management tools across all plans.

Vend also provides 24/7 live chat, phone, and email support, as well as automatic daily backups to ensure you’ll never lose precious customer data in the case of an outage.

Pricing: Software price plans range from $99 per month to $129 per month.

Pros

  • Supports several payment processors
  • Functions on iPad, Mac, PC, and mobile web browsers

Cons

  • Free plan has limited features

Agiliron

Agiliron offers both mobile and in-store POS to help you streamline your workflow and improve the sales process. It’s suitable for retail, ecommerce, wholesale, and even distribution companies, offering scalable POS systems for multi-location businesses.

You can integrate your Agiliron POS with popular tools such as BigCommerce, eBay, Shopify, ShipStation, and Amazon, while its top built-in features include order management, inventory reports, and email marketing to keep customers in the loop with your latest deals. You’ll also enjoy a 30-day free trial period.

Pricing: Software price plans range from $99 per month to $299 per month

Pros

  • Excellent customer support
  • Integrates with Shopify and QuickBooks

Cons

  • Customization is limited

NCR Counterpoint

NCR Counterpoint POS solutions are for both physical and online retailers, providing email marketing, an integrated ecommerce solution, gift card payments, loyalty programs, and much more.

Its software integrates with POS hardware for those who need POS terminals, while its reporting is in depth, providing instant cash drawer readings and employee clocking in and out functionality.

Pricing: Available on request

Pros

  • Very easy to use
  • Relatively customizable

Cons

  • Customer support isn't the best
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The Best Mobile POS Systems for Food Trucks

The COVID-19 pandemic has created uncertainty for the restaurant industry. Thankfully, food trucks can still operate during lockdown, so it's vital that you choose the right mobile POS system to ensure you make as many sales as possible.

From our research, we now know that the best mobile POS systems for food trucks are:

TouchBistro

TouchBistro is an award-winning iPad POS system that integrates as seamlessly into a food truck as it would a bricks and mortar restaurant. That’s to say, very.

It doesn’t just look great – it delivers real results. For example, upselling prompts help you increase check size. The CRM capabilities also help you to keep in touch with customers and gain repeat business.

TouchBistro will also crunch the numbers to find your most profitable items, showing how you should be spending your time – something we bet you won’t fancy doing yourself after a busy day of cooking in a hot van.

Pricing: Software pricing plans range from $89 per month to $399 per month

Pros

  • No need for bulky or costly hardware
  • 24/7 customer support over phone and email
  • No Wi-Fi? No worries – TouchBistro can run offline from anywhere

Cons

  • Some reviews complain that the program is prone to small glitches

Nobly POS

Nobly is another mobile POS system for food trucks that’s very well-liked by customers, earning an impressive Trustpilot rating of 8.5/10. At $83 per month (less if you pay annually), you get the same excellent CRM, reporting and inventory management features that you’d expect from the industry leaders TouchBistro.

Pricing: Software plans start from $83 per month

Pros

  • A very affordable POS system
  • Compact hardware to maximize space (can also be used from an iPad)
  • Works offline

Cons

  • Back end of the software could be easier to navigate

Lavu

If you love data, you’ll love Lavu. If you don’t love data, you’ll love it even more. Why? Because Lavu makes it easier than any other POS system to visualize wins and problems across all aspects of your business.

We’re talking activity reports (for refunds, etc.), product reports, payment reports, sales reports, labor reports, and order reports. That’s a lot of useful information for one POS system. Lavu’s POS system will even let you take orders from customers right the way down the queue line in order to maximize kitchen efficiency, and to stop people from leaving when the wait time is long.

Pricing: Software price plans start from $69 per month

Pros

  • Excellent reporting features
  • Queue line ordering helps to prevent customer drop-off due to wait time

Cons

  • Limited customer service options

Revel

Revel lets you monitor your inventory with pinpoint accuracy, right down to the last lettuce leaf. You can also integrate QuickBooks with Revel’s system to make your accounting that bit easier. Revel’s real USP, though, is the ability to adjust your taxes based on location – very handy if you’re planning to take your truck around the country, or even the world.

Any food truck owner will tell you just how important social media is for getting your brand out there. Revel’s Twitter integration makes it that bit easier to connect with your followers and let them know where you’re setting up shop for the day.

Pricing: Flat fee of $99 per month for hardware and software

Pros

  • Able to integrate with QuickBooks and adjust taxes based on location
  • Built-in Twitter integration to easily reach out to your followers on social media
  • Advanced reporting features

Cons

  • Most expensive POS system on our mobile POS systems for food truckers list
  • The reporting features are very advanced, but will likely be overkill for most food trucks
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Features and Benefits of Mobile POS Systems

Below are the main reasons why you should consider investing in a mobile POS system for your business.

Flexibility

The size of a mobile POS device gives great flexibility to your retail business and enables you to offer an easy to use, interactive and highly functional device for ordering, stock control and payment processing for employees and customers alike.

Speed

Mobile POS devices that integrate the latest software and hardware offer speedy transactions. Whether that’s a fast touch-free payment for a product or beverage, an interactive and visual menu choice in a restaurant, or easy purchase of larger items with real-time stock availability. Mobile POS systems can also help to reduce queuing.

Security

Most POS system suppliers provide regular system updates as part of your purchase or ongoing monthly subscription and/or maintenance charges.

It’s important to ensure that your mobile POS system runs the latest in fraud, hacking and virus prevention. A mix of hardware and software security measures should maximise cyber security.

Additional Features

Mobile POS systems can also provide electronic receipts, ordering while browsing, loyalty offers and reward programs, and pressure-free tipping for customers.

For employees, mobile POS systems make taking orders and processing payments simpler, meaning that tips are more likely and can be allocated better. They also help with managing hours and bonuses.

POS can be tailored to the industry, for example, it's best for hotels to opt for a system that can take reservations, payments, and has third party integrations.


What Will a Mobile POS System Cost?

Mobile POS software can be relatively low cost. Combined with android devices or PCs, the cost is reliant on the make, model, functionality and number of systems required. POS hardware can run into the hundreds, and again depends on the requirement of the business.

A business that chooses to be completely mobile and without hardware is looking at the cost of Android or Apple devices, or any other networked devices, such as laptops. If you already own these, then you’ll just pay the software outlay or monthly subscription.

Many POS software providers will offer a free trial period, which is useful for trying out a new provider. Others will help with integration from one system to another, or training and support to implement a new system.


Next Steps

We’ve shown you the top mobile POS systems in Canada, and the best mobile POS systems for food trucks. With this information, you have everything you need to make an informed decision on which one is right for your business.

The easiest way to get started is comparing free quotes from trusted POS suppliers. Simply tell us what you need, and we’ll match your business with POS suppliers that best suit your unique needs. They’ll then be in touch with non-obligation quotes for you to compare. Simple!

How We Test POS Systems for Businesses

We tested 16 market-leading POS systems to evaluate them in terms of functionality, usability, price, features, and more so we can make the most useful recommendations to Canadian businesses.

Our rigorous testing process means these products have been scored and rated in eight main categories of investigation and 45 subcategories – in fact, we covered 61 areas of investigation in total. We then gave each category score a ‘relevance weighting' to ensure the product's final score perfectly reflects the needs and requirements of Expert Market readers – and that's our product testing algorithm in a nutshell!

Our main testing categories for POS systems are:

Till: the core functionality of the POS system, which includes the processing of sales transactions. It involves features such as item scanning, item look-up, and price calculation.

Business Management: the features and tools provided by the POS system to support various aspects of running a business, such as employee management, shift scheduling, and customer management.

Stock Management: the POS system's capabilities to manage inventory and track stock levels, including inventory tracking, stock alerts and transfers, and purchase order management.

Business Development: the features and tools provided by the POS system to help businesses grow and improve their operations, e.g. customer relationship management, marketing integrations, and sales forecasting.

Usability: how easily and intuitively the POS system can be used by the staff, including the user interface design, navigation, ease of training, and overall user experience during setup.

Price: the cost associated with acquiring and using the POS system, such as the initial purchase cost, licensing fees, subscription plans, and any additional charges or ongoing costs.

Help and Support: the assistance and resources available to users when they encounter issues or need guidance while using the POS system including documentation, tutorials, or knowledge bases.

Features: the functionalities and capabilities provided by the POS product. This can include dedicated restaurant and retail functionality including KDS, loyalty management, and multi employee login.

 

Written by:
Dan’s a Senior Writer at Expert Market, specialising in digital marketing, web design, and photocopiers, amongst other topics.
Reviewed by:
Ruairi uses his 3+ years of research experience to uncover insights which can help Expert Market provide the best business solutions for their users. He has done this by meeting with business owners to find out what is important to them and what challenges they face on a daily basis. Ruairi specialises in tools that can be used to grow your business and has done research for a wide range of categories on Expert Market, such as EPOS, Website Builders, and Merchant Accounts.