ShopKeep POS launched when co-founder and CEO Jason Richelson needed a cloud-based POS application to serve his needs at his own grocery store and wine shop in Brooklyn, NY. He was having technology problems with his POS and knew there was a better way. He also knew the iPad was the tool he would use to make it happen. He needed a reliable system, one that would never be down and one that could report the statistics he needed to run and improve his businesses.
“One of the things I knew needed to be fixed was the architecture. I wanted stuff in the cloud. I could never see my sales information unless I was at my POS system in the basement,” says Richelson. ShopKeep’s reports give owners/operators the data they need about sales, shifts, registers and more, no matter where they are. This is an important feature for franchisors, letting them track how each franchisee is doing.
“The second thing I needed to address was customer service. When I did have problems with my old system, the people who installed it were never available. The whole sales model was broken. Our customer care is second to none. We have the best in the industry, and that is super important. Customers love us for it,” he says. Merchants can call, email, or chat seven days a week, reaching a technician who will walk them through technical questions.
“It’s a local application that rings up your sales. If the internet goes down, or if we are unreachable, you can still take cash from customers.”
ShopKeep users pay for monthly access to the software (there is no upfront cost for the software, just a $49/month charge per terminal). All POS data is stored in the cloud. “It’s more efficient to use. There are no servers for a business to maintain, no local network with a server and database to fail. We use the best in the business to run the system, Amazon web services, and they manage the infrastructure. Our business is to run the system, to maintain it and to back it up for you,” says Richelson. “It’s a local application that rings up your sales. If the internet goes down, or if we are unreachable, you can still take cash from customers.”
Richelson, who knows what it takes to work a counter, made ShopKeep intuitive.
“A lot of POS systems, even newer ones, require a lot of clicks. We made it really simple. We have an innovative user interface. There is almost no training needed to teach a user how to ring up a burger, which is important for franchise systems that want to maintain a consistent experience across stores,” he says.
ShopKeep improves in response to customer requests. Most recently, the interface added modifiers, allowing orders to be fully customized (extra onion, no ketchup, etc.), and TimeClock, an employee punch-in feature.
“It’s not novel to have punch-in at the POS,” says Richelson, “but we’ve made it easy for a manager to adjust the punches (when employees forget to punch in) at the end of a pay period. Then we’ve made the adjusted hours easy to import into a payroll system.”
Richelson sees opportunities for ShopKeep POS everywhere. “When I walk through airports, I see how easy it would be for a single terminal to ring up sales with Shopkeep. It’s just awesome for concessions,” he says.
The company adds features with each release. The most recent release of ShopKeep supports the iPad mini. In drive-thru lines or in-store lines, orders can be taken and credit cards swiped as customers wait. The kitchen can prepare the order and have it ready when the customer reaches the counter.
ShopKeep is growing quickly, tackling new challenges and more multi-store operations.
“A lot of people are trying us, and a lot of big name brands are signing up,” says Richelson. “It’s easy to get ShopKeep, try it and learn from it.”
For more information about franchising opportunities with ShopKeep POS, visit www.shopkeep.com