Product Update: Introducing Square for Retail

[Spenser]

Hi Community! I’m excited to share some new features that we’re rolling out in the new Square for Retail solution. Square for Retail is a separate app - now available in the App Store - that adds on a suite of oft-requested features to the Point of Sale app, including advanced inventory reporting (Cost of Goods!), vendor management, and purchase orders. Let’s take a look! 

Features: 

• Inventory Plus

With Square for Retail, you have access to three new, powerful reports: Cost of Goods Sold, Projected Profit, and Inventory by Category. In order to take advantage of the new reports available with Inventory Plus, you can now add Unit Cost for each item in your library.

• Vendor Management and Purchase Orders

Now you have the ability to create and manage your vendor list and send and receive purchase orders – your online Square Dashboard is your new Back of House.

• Team Management and Customer Directory

We’re bundling some existing features into the Retail POS as well. With Square for Retail, you’ll also have access to Team Management and Customer Directory features!

Pricing:

For $60 a device per month per location you will get access to the full suite of features available above. The first device for each location is free, and each additional device (per location) costs $20. There’s also a zero-commitment 30-day free trial, if you’d like to give everything a try first.*

Processing fees for Square for Retail are 2.5% + 10c for swipe, dip, or tap payments, and 3.5% + 15 cents for manually-entered payments. Invoices and Online Store orders are 2.9% + 30c per transction. 

(Note: If you’re already using Team Management, you will not be billed separately and all of your employees will be included in the price of Square for Retail. No action required on your part!)

*Pricing for Square for Retail was updated in 2018 .

Getting Started:

If you’re new to Square for Retail, take a look at our comprehensive Getting Started Guide – it includes helpful tips for sellers who are new to the Square Point of Sale for Retail (but already have a Square account), as well as easy-to-follow onboarding steps for anyone brand new to Square.

You can also check out our Town Square blog for more information.

Feel free to comment below with any questions, thanks!

[teresa]

@CMA_SHOP I agree. It is steep! I love it and it has been one of the reasons I didnt use square inventory (the old one), it had no costing. I love it otherwise, but without that I was doing double work using square and my inventory database, so it was not cost effective. I am still wagering  whether I will do it, and my main concern is PRICE. I feel like when I started with square, it was an awesome program so I was fine in paying the higher percent of merchant fee, because it offered me a lot more than just a basic POS, but to constantly add good things and charge extra is off putting to me as well. I do LOVE square but i have been having a lot of issues with the loyalty (which is 25 per location :/) and now the inventory costing 60 and i have the marketing as well..it seems to be getting more and more (nickel and dime me:) ). I totally would hate to have to switch but cost drives business so if there is something simliar and more cost effective, I have to look at those options. I have also reccommended other businesses in my industry, to square and told him months ago that there are no additional cost and now I am telling him otherwise so I doubt he will switch 😞

[OjaiChick]

I unfortunately was not able to even give it a full month try. The retail pos is not equipped to handle service sales with retail sales. I don't need a cog or inventory management with our services items.

it wouldn't track the categories correctly through the retail pos either.

And yes, the added cost is  ridiculous. Square, I know it's a business for you too, but if you offer everything as an additional upcharge, you will continue to lose customers to other systems.  

[alexandriak]

square retail would not work on your iPhone

[Sean]

Hi @alexandriak. While Square Retails is iPad specific right now, I'm happy to share your interest in an iPhone version. Thanks for the comment! 

[Kpay]

Hi everyone - I wanted to let you know about a recent product update for Square for Retail. Check out more information in this thread: Square for Retail Product Update: Inventory History

[nodrogfarms]

Has anyone else noticed that the screen is incredibly hard to read outside? The POS screen was much easier and there is NO way to change this. 

How do you turn the tax on within different states (we travel for craft shows)?? We couldn't figure it out, and had to go in through the old POS to turn the tax on. 

[Sean]

Hi @nodrogfarms. Happy to follow up! Were you talking about the Retail POS app specifically? Is it because the screen is black? Have you tried adjusting your brightness? As for your tax question, as of now, you do have to create your taxes directly from the online Square Dashboard. I'll be sure to pass along the feature request that it'd be useful to have these in-app. 

[nodrogfarms]

Yes we adjusted the brightness, but the black background being outside is no good. The white with black that's in the square POS is much better for outside shows. 

I know how to create the taxes. How do you turn them on? We travel for shows, so we need to switch between state taxes. We can't figure out how to enable a certain state tax in retail. The last show I went back into the POS app and turned it on that way. 

[sciabica1936]

That's an interesting point.  I assume Square Retail was developed more for in-store use, but it should be tested for outdoor use as well.

SUGGESTION: Square, create an "outdoor" mode which makes things as viewable as possible in very bright condiitons.

[redg8r]

Agreed, square is kinda missing the mark by "assuming" we're all working 100% in a B&M, selling 100% UPC barcoded items or love "searching" for items 100% of the time.

[Kpay]

@nodrogfarms @redg8r @sciabica1936 - all great feedback, thank you! I'll make sure our product teams get this feedback - love the idea of a mode to be able to switch between indoor and outdoor light. Also @redg8r I hear ya - it seems no business does anything 100% of the time, so planning for options would work better for everyone. 

[VCB]

After talking with support today about Square for Retail, I'm still scratching my head at the logic of rolling out a new product and ignoring the basic needs that have been lacking with the exsisiting Square POS.  As a coffee shop, we need the POS interface, something that is not part of Square Retail. As a business that sells products, there must be a proper COG & inventory feature. How can this be ignored, outside of the latest solution of "pay for Square Retail and let it run in the background".  I"m annoyed and confused at the logic.  We're alreay paying for Commercesync which seems to be a big help in getting things synced properly with Quickbooks, but POS is still nothing more than a cash register without implimenting COG.  Why is there a huge disconnect?

[Agate]

Well put. We are a mainstreet merchant and have about 5 other fellow merchants that use Square within just a few doors of our shop. We are all active posters on the community and I cant' think of a suggestion that has ever been implimented although the support proctors always say the suggestions have been passed on. We have all looked at Sq Retail and we are stumped as to what the reasons are for doing this odd duck rather than just fixing the existing POS. 

[rajatdeva]

Hi @Agate, Rajat here, Product Marketing Manager for Square for Retail. I understand my colleague was able to reach you over phone yesterday, but I wanted to let you know again that the Community here is a crucial part of how we make decisions on our future product releases. Your feedback and others' does indeed get passed on to Product Managers and Engineers, and I know we have a lot of work ahead of us in terms of making both Square for Retail and Square Point of Sale better. If you or any other seller you know needs a direct line access to us, you can reach out to us here and we will make sure to get in touch with you. There are lots of things to build and lot of things for us to improve, and we always try to build and make the improvements that will be impactful to the greatest amount of sellers. Please let us know what we can do to help further. We cant usually share an official date we plan to release something, but can confirm the things that are currently in scope for us to build vs those that are not. Thanks!

[rajatdeva]

Hi @VCB, My name is Rajat and I'm a Product Marketing Manager on Square for Retail. I wanted to let you know that we've been reading yours and others' comments on this thread, and are taking your feedback very seriously. We support your sentiment that we need to keep making improvements to our core Point of Sale offering, and that inventory management and COGS are important for sellers that may not necessarily need the full Square for Retail app or bundle. Currently, we're working on efforts to make this available to you and other sellers using Point of Sale. However, this will take us some time. Please let us know if we can answer any other questions here and if you would like us to reach out to you over phone to explain further. Thanks!

[palatucci22]

Is there any update with this? It is  VERY importnant for POS system to get COG. 

[Gigis]

VCB - I sure agree with you. Inventory visibility on the POS has been lacking for years. I was searching through the forums and there are dozens and dozens of requests. I'm loosing hope and we are actively looking at other platforms, Square is now not the only game in town. We network with lots of neighboring merchants and others are trying other platforms. We would surely take it in the shorts with regard to all the hardware etc we have purchased from Square but it looks like their attention is else where, possibly with the new "Retail" product that someone across the street tried as a beta and that was a complete disaster. 

I sure would like to stay with Square...

[EJ_]

@Gigis Completely understandable and we hear your frustrations. 

As mentioned above, we're actively working on this and hopefully we can get something implemented for you all soon. 

Thanks for being patient with us and we'll update everyone when new information around this comes up. 

[palatucci22]

2 months ago and still no update!? how log does it take?

[redg8r]

Agreed, Gigis, inventory visibility on the app would be a great feature, I lost a sale today because an employee told the customer we were out of stock on an item......come to find out, we had 25pcs in stock, just misplaced........square knew we had 25pcs, but wasnt telling 🙂

[EJ_]

@amo_jewelry Thanks for sharing your feedback on this. Would it be a better fit if you had just the inventory features available separate from the entire bundle?