POS solutions? Coffee Farm/ Roastery.

[CJevens]

Check out ShopKeep - shopkeep(dot)com

I will check it out. thanks.

Any reason you couldn't use a mix? A good old merchant account, and then PayPal for the website?

I'd prefer to not have a mix. I am looking for an all in one solution to capture online sales based on inventory, and utilize a database back end that interacts with users/members providing them with updates on order status, deals, specials, and the option to receive a news letter or blog update.

Right now there are 3 systems being used with Humans as the connection to each. It is far more work than is acceptable in my opinion. Customers email asking for updates and tracking info. this is just one of many things that take time to deal with. Giving the user a console to log into and get all the info they need will save us thousands of hours over an operational year. This also enhances the customer's experience since each new generation wants more and more instant gratification. Having a tie in to inventory allows a warning on our website that stock is low. This reduces disappointment for the customer and reduces our need to contact and change their order. This also could prompt someone to buy more if they think we will be out soon.

There are more layers here as to the human element we wish to automate. ultimately we want to put more attention toward quality that can be lost with menial tasks. We also wish to be able to engage visitors and still keep things moving.

Authorize.net is a pretty big one as well...

We are already using Authorize.net for merchant services/card processing.

But I'm curious, is there any reason you couldn't have a separate set up for the website, and then a different one for "in real life" sales?

I think most banks offer merchant accounts you can get set up with fairly easily.

We want to have a database driven system that ties it all together. I want to travel to promote our business and want to access our system remotely. Having tasks and inventory on the same platform can better focus our efforts and reduce efforts that are now time consuming and wasteful.

If we have to develop this on our own, we will. Licensing the product will help recoup some of our expense.

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[evanclosson]

Oh I forgot to mention for the website portion, you should look into Shopify(dot)com. It integrates with ShopKeep(dot).com to handle inventory. I think you should really create two different merchant accounts though. The rates are very different for brick and mortar sales vs online sales. Keeping these accounts separate will allow you to get better rates overall.

Another online payment option I've been using for my website is Stripe. Really easy to integrate and very inexpensive vs a classic merchant account.

[CJevens]

Evan, thanks for the info. I will look into these options.

[CJevens]

I have done some more research and will be consulting with a solution provider on monday. I have reached out to shopkeep and requested more information. Their website doesnt really tell what the product can do beyond day to day coffee shop management. I need something outside of the scope of a coffee shop. I widened my search to wholesale distribution solutions as well. Some also offer cloud solutions.

I did a search for ERP solutions.
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) is an integrated computer-based system used to manage internal and external resources.

This is where what I am looking for is beyond a typical cafe POS.

I will share what I find for those also interested. Please contact me offline for more info or to discuss.

[CJevens]

Spoke with a tech guy from shopkeep today and it seems their solution will not fit our needs. I did speak with a software evaluator and it looks like an ERP solution will be the ticket.
I have a request in to view demos of a few solutions. If anyone is interested, please catch me offline.