Epos Now Review

Retail and hospitality businesses should look no further than Epos Now for a strong electronic point of sale system (EPOS). Our team of researchers did thorough comparisons of 12 different EPOS systems, identifying the strenghts of each one as well as in-depth reviews of price, usability, and hardware.

Overall Epos Now scores a 3.8/5 in our research, with its highest scores being in the business management, stock management, and usability areas. Its lowest score was for price, scoring a 1.7/5.

If you want to compare other providers alongside Epos Now, you can use our free comparison tool. We just need a few details about your business and we'll match you with trusted suppliers who will contact you with no-obligation quotes.

How much does Epos Now cost?

Epos Now offers subscription-based pricing for its Complete, Handheld, and Tablet systems, all of which are suitable for both retail and hospitality businesses. Each system offers good value for money, and it’s worth noting that there is no contract when you pay monthly, meaning you can cancel  at any time. You’ll also need to pay for customer support, which costs about £30 per month on a 12-month subscription.

Although the system is priced at £799, it is almost never sold at this price and often there is a discount applied, so it's usually sold for £399.

Extra hardware costs

If you’d like to buy extra hardware, these are the individual costs for each item:

• Tablet: £549
• Barcode labels: £24.98
• Staff swipe cards: £39 for a pack
• Cash drawer: £49
• Receipt printer: £129
• Barcode scanner: £39

You can also use our free quote tool to compare prices between other EPOS systems to find the best match for your business.

Pro – User-friendly software and hardware

Epos Now is easy to use and its hardware, which has been rated a 4.5/5 in our research, offers your business a comprehensive EPOS set up. Its usability scores a 5/5 in our research, although some other suppliers, such as Square and Zettle, offer slightly more user-friendly software. Epos Now offers more features and functionality.

Pro – Free trial and demo

We know how frustrating and difficult it can be to choose a new EPOS supplier as there are so many options available, and it would need to lend itself to the unique needs of your business. Epos Now's free trial and demo gives you the opportunity to explore the system before making a monetary investment.

Pro – Good customer support

Epos Now's customer support has been rated a 4/5 by our research team. You can give them a call, reach out over live chat, or have your query answered within the community, where you can connect with software designers and product developers. Epos Now is proactive in improving its product and, as a user, you can be part of this and contribute where necessary.

There's also a support page where you can access solutions to common issues and troubleshoot the system.

Con – Costly

When starting out with Epos Now you'll need to purchase a complete package and, while they often have deals on, the standard price is £799 +VAT for the hardware and £39 per month for the software. This is pricier than some other EPOS providers, such as Square, who offer a free app and hardware prices that start at £16.

Although the standard price is £799, EPOS Now hardly ever sells at this price and it is usually offered at a discounted rate, bringing it down to £399.

You can choose to pay monthly for the Epos Now hardware, making it easier on your purse strings, although the software is still £25 per month. Once you've paid it off however, you'll only need to pay the monthly software fee, making it much more affordable further down the line.

Epos Now's key features explained

Epos Now offers an impressive range of features, making it one of the best EPOS systems for retail businesses – from independent vape stores to large scale electronics retailers. Below, we explore some of the features and benefits that make Epos Now a top choice for retailers.

Real-time automated reports

Using Epos Now Retail’s cloud technology, you can access large swathes of real-time information – including sales figures, employee insights, and stock counts – at the touch of a button, from any location or device across the globe. This makes it easy to track your company’s performance and identify your top-performing employees, which can help boost your team’s productivity.

Seamless integration with ecommerce, click and collect, and delivery

If you’re looking to sell online, you can easily integrate your retail business with ecommerce platform BigCommerce, as well as over 100 apps spanning categories including accounting, delivery, customer relationship management, and click and collect service providers. These apps typically cost between £15 and £25 per month.

Wide choice of payment processors available

Epos Now offers integrations with all the major payment processors – including WorldPay, takepayments, Google Pay, and Apple Pay – to give your retail business the flexibility it needs to take more payments from a wider range of customers.

Customer relationship management system

A CRM system is key to developing stronger relationships with your customers. It enables you to create customer profiles, create targeted marketing campaigns, and set up loyalty programs.

What kind of business is Epos Now best for?

We recommend Epos Now for businesses in the retail and hospitality industry as it offers customised features and packages.

Retail

What makes Epos Now a good choice for retail businesses are its various features that include multi-site and omnichannel store management, real-time stock updates, and detailed sales analytics.

Hospitality

Integrations with delivery apps, such as Deliveroo, provide an easy way to expand your business and give your customers more convenient and flexible options. Epos Now is available as a mobile app so you can take payments on the go. EPOS for pubs and bars are much more tailored to the hospitality industry, including full-service restaurants.

Epos Now offers customer relationship management tools so you can develop and maintain better communication with customers, send them tailored marketing emails, and entice them back with a loyalty program.

How does Epos Now compare to its competitors?

Price

While it's difficult to compete with free EPOS software from providers such as Square and Zettle, Epos Now is a pricier option when compared to other suppliers. It should come as no surprise that it scores a 1.7/5 for pricing. Its software is priced at £25 per month, which is on the lower end for paid software systems.

Square's paid version is £49 a month, pricier than Epos Now's software. Although the hardware is expensive, this is a once-off fee which can also be spread out to make it easier on your budget.

Features

Epos Now rates highly in some areas such as stock management and business management. It scores a 5/5 for stock management because you get access to real-time sales, so you can see which items are selling best and which are not.

However, in the business development area it rates a 2.5/5. For example, it doesn't have built-in customer management tools. This is only available via an integration.

It does have over 100 apps and integrations, so you can customise the system to suit your business. However, third-party apps and integrations can come with their own host of issues. There can be integration issues and, if anything goes wrong, you'll have to deal with the third party directly to resolve the problem.

If there are specific tools you want, such as customer management features, you might want to choose a system that has this built-in, such as Lightspeed.

Does Epos Now have good customer reviews?

Epos Now's reviews mainly centre around its customer service. While some find its customer service to be exceptional and efficient, others find that the service is slow and not always helpful.