Why Generic POS systems are bad for Flower Shops
/Why Generic POS systems are Bad for Retail Flower Shops
We hear from many shops these days that are using Square, Clover, Lightspeed and Quickbooks to some or all parts of the flower business.
We can tell you with certainty why these are not appropriate for any florist. These systems are all “generic” POS systems that are not designed for flower shops or flower customers. They are designed for people selling generic “widgets” mostly on a cash and carry basis.
None of the systems have:
Production and Design Room Modules
Delivery Planning and Routing Modules
Card or Envelope Printing Capability
Ability to handle wire in and wire out orders
Ability to properly handle flower orders
No interface with typical florist website platforms
Few if any florist specific financial reports
Inevitably what happens is people start using them (as they are cheap and quick to set up) but realize after a few months that they are woefully inadequate for servicing the typical flower shop customers.
The true cost of these systems in lost productivity and lost customers due to the huge capability gaps ends up costing far more than the savings over a traditional floral point of sale system.
We can say for certainty there is not one florist (out of the top 1,000 in the nation) that uses any of these systems for all the reasons outlined above.