Does anyone have experience with using square for retail?

[citybeach]

Hey! Long time (7+ years) square user here. We are a counter-service restaurant with a growing retail space . I have always used the basic square pos app (not square for retail or square for restaurants). We use a barcode scanner. We print tickets to our kitchen but outside of that don't use many restaurant type features (again not doing sit down...). I am looking at possibly switching to using square for retail (free or paid version) for the increased features for retail inventory tracking and whatnot. Currently, we are not tracking our retail inventory in any form (I know, it's bad haha). Does anyone have experience with using square for retail in this type of environment and have recommendations? I'm also hoping to be able to print barcodes and labels but looks like I might not be able to do that from square for retail either. Thanks in advance for suggestions! 

[Donnie-M]

@citybeach honestly, I think retail if you use all of the inventory features is excellent.  For only 89$ a month and you can try the plus version out for free for 30 days, you even get a .1% discount on processing (2.6 to 2.5 %).  You also pick up all of the team management functions.  It will make your food items look a little strange in your item catalog because you will have additional sku fields etc.  But nothing really different other than appearance.  The best part is, you can still use the regular pos app if you want just for taking orders and whatnot, and use the retail app for all of the inventory and get barcode printing also.

I don't see any reason why you wouldn't at least try out the 30 day free trial, you can always go back no problems, so no reason not to try it out.

Any decision that you can change your mind on and go back relatively easily is a good decision to make without fretting too much over it.

[citybeach]

Yeah I'm kinda leaning that direction. I really appreciate the suggestions! 

[Candlestore]

@citybeach ;

With Square for Retail Free you can not print Barcode labels but you can with the Paid version.  Here is a comparison of the 3 different versions : https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/retail/pricing 

I believe all versions of Square you can track inventory with but their are benefits of the Plus plan like Printing Barcode Labels, The inventory counting and for me the Bundles you can create especially around the holidays.

I Had just the POS, and tried the Free version which worked great for awhile, and currently I am using the Paid version which helps with some of the better inventory and COGS reporting.