Highs: Clean interface, plenty of functionality, decent hardware support and card reader integration, in-depth reports.
Lows: More iPads equals larger fees, no physical gift cards besides print-outs.
The software is cloud based and run from an iPad app. The app has predefined settings for hospitality, food service and retail, as well as an option for those looking to make sales on the road, for example at trade shows, or market stalls.
Getting started with the app and integrate hardware is easy, and will not require the help of a technician for the majority of businesses.
Pricing – simple and transparent
The Intelligentpos pricing system is incredibly straightforward, which is just the way we like it.
Intelligentpos offer a very simple price-per-iPad system. An initial iPad will set you back £39, whilst additional iPad licenses will cost an extra £29 per iPad. All costs are monthly. If you need to run multiple tills, for example, you probably want to hook up multiple iPads, thus requiring multiple licenses.
Each iPad license will allow you to add an additional iPad to your retail or hospitality system.
For £39 per month we would say that the pricing is reasonable for what you get. If you want to use multiple iPads the cost can start to add up.
We would recommend using our one month trial before committing yourself to any arrangement – you may find your business runs perfectly fine on a smaller number of iPads.
You can cancel before the one month trial is up, or at the end of any month you have paid for.
Softare pricing
First iPad licence: £39 +VAT/month
Additional iPads: £29 +VAT/month
7 days/week tech support included
Hardware pricing
Hardware bundles: from £374.17
Self installation easy for most
Pro half day installation: £210 +VAT
Who is it suited for?
IntelligentPOS is suitable for a range of businesses. The system can be set up for four types of businesses:
Shops: The retail version of the software is suitable as a till system for small shops to retail businesses with multiple locations. Mobile vendors can also use the retail mode.
Hospitality: As one of the few ePOS providers in the UK, IntelligentPOS offers a version specifically for hospitality businesses. These includes hotels and Bed and Breakfasts, gyms, spas and beauty and relaxation treatments, campsites and transport businesses.
Food and drink: From full service restaurants to pubs and coffee shops, bars and take-aways. The food and drink version of the app is also suitable for food trucks and cafes going mobile.
Offline mode works surprsingly well
Speaking of the cloud, what’s the experience like when you can’t connect to the internet?
We were impressed!
Most functionality remains intact whilst in offline mode and once you’re able to connect again, all of your data will sync back up with the cloud. This means you can continue operation as normal and things will be updated to the cloud when possible.
Obviously without a network connection, you may not be able to use your printers, but this depends mainly on your own local network configuration.
It’s nice to see that Intelligentpos has added extra support to ensure offline mode is as smooth as possible in the unlikely case of an internet cut out.
User Experience
Intelligentpos is an iPad-only solution.Sign up to receive a short visual tour. After that you’ll find, like us, that the iPad app works as smoothly as possible.
The iPad app has a main page which we have nicknamed the till menu. This is where most operation will happen. Have experience with retail and you’ll be familiar with the overall layout.
The till menu includes all of your products. Everything is colour coded and organised impressively.
The top portion of the screen is dedicated to products, the bottom showcases the different product categories.
Tapping an item will add it to an order panel. The order panel is always at the right side of the interface. You can adjust items in the order panel on the fly before proceeding to payment.
You can choose to colour code your products too – this is useful for separating brands, product types, etc.
Editing a product is as simple as tapping each product and adjusting the details as you see fit and this can be done at any time.
Use the functions menu to product search, cancel orders, add a promotion, scan a loyalty card, manage a gift card or make any other on-the-fly changes before you ask for payment.
You can add users to the iPad app and give varying permissions to each user. Each user can be classed as a supervisor, a manager or a staff member. Each user will have their own pin number to type into the pin code pad so this allows quick switching between members at a moment’s notice. A lot of the back end content can easily be locked out, allowing managers to restrict a staff’s access to the stuff they will actually need for making sales.
Features
Intelligentpos has tons of features. Which features you see depend on the mode you choose in the settings menu: retail, hospitality or food service.
Sit/in take out: With this you can choose to put the order as ‘sit in’ or ‘take out.’ You can still pick out a table just in case you would like to tell a take out customer to sit down to wait. You can switch between each option with the tap of a button.
Table management: You can use a table management tool in the settings menu to create a virtual table layout of your restaurant. Users can use a variety of different shapes and sizes for each table. You can mimic your table layout on the app to help out the waiters, waitresses and bussers. When you make an order you can quickly choose which table to attach the order to. You will also be able to use the functions menu to merge tables together or split orders for customers to share the costs of a meal.
We would like to see a quick tutorial to help new users understand how to use the tables functionality properly. Without it, using the table management tool is clunky and hard to understand at first.
Loyalty and gift cards. You can set out how many points are awarded per £1 spent in the store and give a value to each point. By default a single point has the value of £0.01. You can also determine what products can be purchased with loyalty points. For tracking points, Intelligentpos sells a batch of 501 plastic loyalty key-tags for £179.99. The key tags can include your own artwork and logo. A gift card option is also available. Unfortunately they do not sell gift card bundles like they do with the loyalty key-tags.
Instead, users can either print a gift card for a customer via a receipt printer or email the customer a gift card for printing off at home.
Promotions: You can set special promotions by percentage or £value. You can assign to all, individual products or limit to specific categories. Promotions can be set on a on-off basis, lifetime, or be activated by a certain level of loyalty points.
Time keeping: If you enable this feature, employees hours can be recorded to your dashboard. At the end of the week you will see a time card with total hours worked. You can edit it if needed, and then exported i to csv to run payroll.
Training mode: A pretty handy feature when you get started or take on new staff is the training mode. Users can play around without affecting sales recorded. The only feature that will not work is integrated card payments, but you can opt for cash sale to get a feel for the whole process.
Card payments: iZettle Reader
Intelligentpos integrates out of the box with iZettle Reader. We’ve reviewed the payment service extensively (full iZettle review), and have found it to be one of the top offerings in the UK in terms of ease and affordability. With iZettle you’ll have no fixed monthly, annual or hidden fees. You will only pay per card sale.
Processing is fast, and you’ll be able to accept Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, American Express, Diners Club, JCB and Union Pay — without signing any additional agreements with acquirers. A bank account in any bank will be fine.
For till sales we recommend the iZettle Reader with the iZettle Dock, which will look attractive on a counter, and leave the machine on a constant full charge.
Of course, you can register cash sales too.
Order & Pay – a fantastic way to increase loyalty
A second innovative way to get paid with Intelligentpos is Order & Pay, a branded app which lets your customers pre-order, pay and collect loyalty points.
The Order & Pay app can be branded with your logo and colours.
It is a bold move by Intelligentpos, which has attracted great interest, especially from small cafe owners competing with giants like The Coffee Club, Starbucks and Wild Bean – all with their own apps and loyalty program. Order & Pay levels the playing field letting small players benefit from digital loyalty and pre-order convenience for a small fee.
For customers and merchants the app can also be a handy tool to manage busy lunch or peak hours. Loyal customers can skip the queue by pre-ordering on the go, from the office or from home.
There’s no extra contract required for Order & Pay, but you’ll have to discuss your needs and the terms with Intelligentpos.
Intelligentpos will take care of uploading the app for you to the Apple App store and Google Play for Android.
Hardware compatibility
Intelligentpos offers a range of different hardware bundles.
While you can send receipts by email and sms, all businesses will likely want a receipt printer, which can be easily set up from within the app. Intelligentpos is compatible with a number of the typical POS printers.
Intelligentpos also offers themed bundles of hardware for hospitality, retail and business on-the-go.
If you order a hardware bundle from Intelligentpos, you’ll get a Star Micronics printer. These are well tested and reliable POS receipt printers, which will use ink sparingly.
If’you are selling on the go without a counter, your only option is mobile printer Star Micronics TM-300i.
Compatible receipt printers
Star Micronics TSP654 (Bluetooth or Ethernet/LAN)
Star Micronics TSP143 (Ethernet/LAN)
Star Micronics SP742 (Ethernet/LAN)
Star Micronics TM-300i Mobile Printer (Bluetooth)
Epson TM-T70 (Ethernet/LAN)
Epson TM-T20 (Ethernet/LAN)
PowaPOS T25 (Ethernet/LAN)
The retail hardware offering costs just under £500 as a bundle and features an iPad stand, cash drawer, receipt printer and Socket CHS 7xi Bluetooth Barcode Scanner.
With the hospitality bundle, you’ll get the same, minus the barcode scanner.
All the packages are good value compared to buying each item separately. If you have existing compatible hardware, you can negotiate special packages for your remaining needs.
Be aware that for the cashdrawer to open automatically, it has to be connected to a compatible printer (see list above).
Reports, analytics and stock management
In-app live data on your sales and transactions is available but it is limited.
From within the app, you are given an overview of your sales for the day. You can get an overview of cash transactions, card transactions, refunds, vouchers and money paid out.
Print out daily reports with the tap of a button.
Further reports are available on the web: In the settings menu, choose ‘Open your backoffice portal’ to access web reports.
Back end report
To view more in-depth web reports you must log into your Intelligentpos account.
The back office dashboard is incredibly detailed. You can categorise data for tax purposes, tracking revenue, managing sales and managing stock.
Whilst adding products is possible from the app, further control for adding products and stock management is only available in the back office stock manager.
The stock manager features a range of tools you’d expect to see.
You can view and edit product data and stock levels. These tools can be used to track supplier contact information, too.
A stock holding report is available and can show you an updated view of your current inventory.
There are no automated alerts for low stock levels, unfortunately. Users will need to pay attention to the back office dashboard regularly to track stock levels.
Excellent customer support
Phone, live chat, email, and online ticket support is included with Intelligentpos. Support is open 7 days per week 10 am to 7 pm.
In fact, the live chat feature for customer support has been integrated straight into the iPad app.
Tthe company also offers extensive support and training that goes beyond their call lines and live chat.
Firstly, Intelligentpos can install hardware for you in person. The prices vary, but for a typical half-day hardware setup, it will cost £210 +VAT.
Verdict
We believe that the POS offering here is very worthwhile, with few down sides to mention.
Where it Works –
- Hardware integration is easy to setup
- Features are good value for money
- Simple interface is easy to use
- Product management, loyalty systems, managing users are extremely accessible within the app
- Supported hospitality mode makes it great for those running such a business
- Excellent 24/7 customer support
Where it Doesn’t Work –
- Intelligentpos doesn’t sell gift cards, although they can be printed
- Additional iPad support can wrack up monthly costs
- In-app reports is only available day by day