Shopify POS vs Helcim

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Our analysts compared Shopify POS vs Helcim based on data from our 400+ point analysis of POS Software, user reviews and our own crowdsourced data from our free software selection platform.

Helcim Software Tool

Product Basics

Shopify POS simplifies in-store and online sales management for various business types. Its strength lies in its intuitiveness and seamless integration with the Shopify e-commerce platform, making it ideal for entrepreneurs and small to medium-sized businesses already using Shopify. Key benefits include streamlined inventory tracking, omnichannel customer management, and robust reporting for data-driven insights. Popular features include a user-friendly interface, mobile app for managing sales on the go, and built-in payment processing. Compared to similar systems, Shopify POS emphasizes ease of use and affordability, while some users find its feature set less comprehensive for complex retail needs. Pricing starts at $29 per month, with transaction fees applying to processed payments.

Pros:
  • Easy to use
  • Omnichannel sales
  • Mobile app
  • Good reporting
  • Affordable
Cons:
  • Limited features
  • Transaction fees
  • Not for complex needs
  • Integrations costly
  • Customer support inconsistent
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Helcim offers a cloud-based point-of-sale (POS) system geared towards small businesses across various industries. It equips users with tools to accept payments, manage inventory, and track customer data. Notably, Helcim caters to businesses seeking flexibility, with its POS accessible on various devices like tablets and smartphones. This portability, coupled with features like omnichannel inventory management and customer loyalty programs, positions Helcim well for businesses looking to streamline operations and boost customer engagement. Pricing-wise, Helcim adopts a transparent, tiered approach based on transaction volume, making it budget-friendly for startups and scaling businesses alike. However, compared to competitors, its feature set might be less extensive for complex retail needs. Overall, Helcim provides a solid POS solution for businesses prioritizing affordability, mobility, and ease of use.

Pros
  • Affordable pricing
  • Mobile-friendly interface
  • Easy to use and set up
  • Omnichannel inventory management
  • Customer loyalty program
Cons
  • Limited features for complex needs
  • Customer support could be improved
  • Not ideal for high-volume businesses
  • Integration with third-party apps might be limited
  • Lacks some advanced reporting features
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Mobile
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Mobile

Product Assistance

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Live Online
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Knowledge Base
24/7 Live Support
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24/7 Live Support

Product Insights

  • Seamless omnichannel experience: Bridge the gap between your online store and physical location. Manage inventory, track sales, and engage customers across channels for a unified shopping experience.
  • Effortless inventory management: Real-time stock updates across all channels eliminate overselling and ensure accurate fulfillment. Say goodbye to manual spreadsheets and hello to streamlined inventory control.
  • Data-driven insights for smarter decisions: Gain valuable insights into sales trends, customer behavior, and product performance. Make informed decisions about inventory, pricing, and marketing based on real-time data.
  • Simplified customer management: Create customer profiles, track purchase history, and personalize interactions. Build lasting relationships and encourage repeat business with a focus on customer satisfaction.
  • Mobile agility, anywhere, anytime: Manage your business on the go with the mobile POS app. Process sales, track inventory, and access crucial data – all from your smartphone or tablet.
  • Secure and reliable payments: Accept a variety of payment methods securely with built-in payment processing. Reduce fraud risk and streamline transactions for a smooth checkout experience.
  • Scalability for your growing business: Start small and easily scale your POS system as your business grows. Choose from flexible pricing plans and add-ons to fit your evolving needs.
  • Intuitive and user-friendly interface: Even tech novices can navigate the POS with ease. The clean, organized design and helpful tutorials make it easy to train staff and get up and running quickly.
  • Boost operational efficiency: Reduce manual tasks, streamline workflows, and save valuable time. Automate key processes like inventory management and customer data collection for a more efficient operation.
  • Focus on what matters most: Free yourself from tedious tasks and focus on growing your business. The POS takes care of the behind-the-scenes work, allowing you to dedicate your energy to customer service, marketing, and product development.
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  • Run a Smoother Business: Simplify daily tasks with an intuitive interface and mobile accessibility, manage your business from anywhere.
  • Budget-Friendly Choice: Benefit from transparent, tiered pricing that adapts to your business size, making it affordable for startups and growing ventures.
  • Boost Customer Satisfaction: Foster loyalty with built-in features like loyalty programs and omnichannel inventory, ensuring a seamless shopping experience.
  • Inventory Made Easy: Gain real-time insights into stock levels across all channels, prevent stockouts, and optimize purchasing decisions.
  • Scale with Confidence: Accommodate your business's evolving needs with a POS system that adapts and grows alongside you.
  • Data-Driven Decisions: Generate comprehensive reports to track sales performance, identify trends, and make informed business decisions.
  • Secure Transactions: Enjoy peace of mind with industry-standard security measures that protect your customer data and financial information.
  • Integrate with Ease: Connect Helcim with your existing business tools and services for a streamlined workflow.
  • Dedicated Support: Get help when you need it with responsive customer support available via phone, email, and live chat.
  • Focus on What Matters: Spend less time managing your POS and more time focusing on growing your business.
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  • Online Inventory: Sell products online from a scalable, fully-featured eCommerce website. Generate purchase orders, categorize products, adjust stocks, transfer inventory, accept returns, process exchanges and access updated information across stores instantly. 
  • Reporting: Use daily reports based on in-store and online business data on a single dashboard. Gain actionable insights into total orders, customer buying patterns, staff performance, inventory sales, returns, taxes, payments and more to make strategic decisions. 
  • Payments: Track credit and debit card payments, accept multiple payment types for a single transaction, sell gift cards, create custom payment options and integrate with third-party payment providers. 
  • Customizations: Responsive and customizable templates are available for the website with varied layouts, colors, fonts, content and more. 
  • Smooth Checkouts: Provide rebates, BOGO discounts, gift card redemption and other offers at the time of checkout using the smart grid that adapts to actions in the cart and avoids manual calculations. Add taxes, create discount codes, set prices and more for a quick checkout experience. 
  • Staff Management: Track staff performance, assign unique PINs, add new employees, attribute commissions, define job functions, send approvals and grant control permission with on-the-go labor management tools. 
  • Marketing: Boost customer retention and improve sales with robust marketing strategies. Use innovative collections to automatically sort products, start Google Ads campaigns, send customer-specific emails, offer exclusive promotions, optimize campaigns and more. 
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  • Omnichannel Inventory Management: Track stock levels across physical and online stores, prevent stockouts, and optimize purchasing decisions.
  • Mobile POS App: Run your business from anywhere with a POS accessible on smartphones and tablets.
  • Virtual Terminal: Accept payments online without a physical store through a secure web interface.
  • Invoicing and Billing: Send professional invoices, accept payments, and track customer payment history.
  • Payment Processing: Accept various payment methods including credit cards, debit cards, ACH transfers, and contactless payments.
  • Customer Management: Store customer information, create profiles, and track purchase history to personalize shopping experiences.
  • Loyalty Programs: Reward repeat customers and encourage brand loyalty with customizable programs.
  • Gift Cards and Store Credit: Offer gift cards and store credit as additional sales channels and customer incentives.
  • Reporting and Analytics: Generate comprehensive reports on sales performance, inventory levels, and customer trends to make informed business decisions.
  • Integrations: Connect Helcim with various third-party apps and services for a streamlined workflow, including accounting software, marketing tools, and shipping platforms.
  • API Access: Developers can leverage the Helcim API to integrate functionalities into custom applications.
  • Security Features: Industry-standard security measures protect customer data and financial information, ensuring PCI compliance.
read more...

Product Ranking

#27

among all
POS Software

#65

among all
POS Software

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Analyst Rating Summary

87
59
100
67
87
52
80
20
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Compliance and Security
Integration and Extensibility
Reporting and Insights
Inventory Management
Sales and Marketing Management
Payment Transactions and Cash Management

Analyst Ratings for Functional Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

Shopify POS
Helcim
+ Add Product + Add Product
Compliance And Security Customer And Loyalty Management Employee Management Inventory Management Items And Service Management Payment Transactions And Cash Management POS Hardware Reporting And Insights Sales And Marketing Management Store Management Types Of POS 100 87 80 88 80 87 74 100 88 75 87 67 52 20 56 55 86 59 50 52 50 74 0 25 50 75 100
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67%
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80%
78%
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22%
56%
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44%
71%
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29%
57%
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43%
89%
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11%
78%
11%
11%
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100%
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80%
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56%
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44%
44%
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56%
88%
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12%
75%
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25%

Analyst Ratings for Technical Requirements Customize This Data Customize This Data

100%
0%
0%
80%
0%
20%

User Sentiment Summary

Great User Sentiment 328 reviews
Great User Sentiment 54 reviews
89%
of users recommend this product

Shopify POS has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 89% when considering 328 user reviews from 2 recognized software review sites.

88%
of users recommend this product

Helcim has a 'great' User Satisfaction Rating of 88% when considering 54 user reviews from 3 recognized software review sites.

4.4 (241)
4.4 (13)
n/a
4.27 (22)
4.6 (87)
4.6 (19)

Awards

SelectHub research analysts have evaluated Shopify POS and concluded it earns best-in-class honors for Compliance and Security.

Compliance and Security Award

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Synopsis of User Ratings and Reviews

Simplified Inventory Management: Shopify POS automatically tracks inventory levels, reducing manual updates and preventing overselling. Users reported a 40% decrease in time spent on inventory reconciliation thanks to this feature.
Seamless Payment Processing: Accept a wide range of payment methods, including credit cards, debit cards, and popular digital wallets, for faster checkouts. This flexibility helps reduce abandoned carts and boosts customer satisfaction.
Mobile POS Flexibility: Manage your store from anywhere with the mobile app, ideal for pop-up shops or on-the-go sales. This allows for greater business agility and caters to diverse sales environments.
Valuable Sales Insights: Generate detailed reports on sales, product performance, and staff activity to make data-driven decisions. Users highlighted the ability to track individual staff performance as particularly helpful for sales training and staff motivation.
Easy Customer Management: Create customer profiles, track purchase history, and offer targeted promotions for improved customer loyalty. This personalization fosters stronger customer relationships and repeat business.
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Competitive Pricing: Users mentioned significantly lower fees compared to previous processors, saving them money on transactions.
Feature Rich: Users appreciated features like extensive APIs, detailed documentation, and the ability to customize the platform for their specific needs.
Reliable Processing: Many users reported smooth and dependable payment processing, crucial for uninterrupted business operations.
Strong Integrations: Users valued seamless integrations with various third-party tools, streamlining their workflow.
Supportive Customer Service: While some mentioned occasional issues, users generally praised the helpfulness and responsiveness of the customer service team.
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Limited Free Tier Options: Access to basic POS features requires at least the Basic Shopify plan, which may not be budget-friendly for small businesses with low transaction volume.
Transaction Fees for Non-Shopify Payments: Using third-party payment processors alongside Shopify POS incurs additional transaction fees, potentially outweighing the benefits for low-volume merchants.
Learning Curve for Advanced Features: While basic functionality is user-friendly, unlocking advanced features like gift cards or discounts can require extensive setup and troubleshooting, especially for non-technical users.
Limited Customization Options: While themes offer some customization, heavily branded businesses may find the Shopify interface lacks flexibility for achieving a truly unique storefront aesthetic.
Integration Challenges with Specific Industries: While Shopify integrates with many apps, businesses with specific needs like restaurants or salons may experience limitations or require additional paid integrations.
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Potentially Higher Fees for Low Volume: While praised for competitive pricing, some users with low transaction volume felt fees were less economical compared to flat-rate options.
Occasional Technical Issues: Some users reported encountering bugs or glitches within the platform, causing workflow disruptions.
Learning Curve for Beginners: New users unfamiliar with complex POS systems sometimes found initial setup and navigation challenging.
Limited Integration Options: Although integrations exist, users expressed a desire for broader compatibility with specific accounting or inventory management software.
Contractual Concerns: A few users mentioned being locked into longer contracts than desired, limiting flexibility to switch providers.
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Shopify POS emerges from user reviews as a user-friendly and reliable option for basic POS needs. Its tight integration with the Shopify ecommerce platform syncs inventory and customer data seamlessly, saving time and streamlining operations. Users particularly appreciate the mobile app flexibility for pop-up shops and on-the-go sales, a feature lacking in some competitors like Square. However, Shopify POS's limited free tier and transaction fees for non-Shopify payments might deter smaller businesses. While praised for its ease of use, Shopify POS can feel restrictive for advanced features like gift cards and discounts, requiring more technical know-how compared to Square's intuitive setup. Additionally, while offering themes, Shopify's customization options might not satisfy businesses seeking a truly unique storefront aesthetic, especially when compared to Wix's design freedom. Overall, Shopify POS shines for its user-friendliness, ecommerce integration, and mobile flexibility. However, its pricing structure and learning curve for advanced features might push smaller businesses or those with specific industry needs towards competitors like Square or Wix. Ultimately, the choice depends on individual priorities and business size.

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Recent user reviews of Helcim's POS software reveal a multifaceted perspective. While lauded for its competitive pricing and feature richness, potential drawbacks emerge for specific user profiles. Strengths: Users consistently highlight Helcim's transparent interchange-plus pricing model, which translates to significant cost savings compared to traditional processors. The platform's extensive APIs and customization capabilities empower businesses to tailor the software to their unique workflows. Additionally, seamless integrations with popular third-party tools further enhance operational efficiency. Weaknesses: Reviews indicate a potential learning curve for new users, particularly those unfamiliar with complex POS systems. While integrations exist, some users yearn for broader compatibility with niche software, suggesting room for improvement. Furthermore, the fee structure might seem less competitive for businesses with low transaction volumes, where flat-rate options offered by competitors like Square or Shopify POS might be more suitable. In conclusion, Helcim shines for businesses seeking a cost-effective POS solution with rich features and customization options. Its transparent pricing model and integration capabilities are valuable assets. However, the potential learning curve and limited integration options should be carefully considered, especially for new users or those with specific software needs. A thorough evaluation of your business's size, transaction volume, and technical expertise is crucial to determine if Helcim truly differentiates itself from the competition.

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