Square Register in the UK: free but worthwhile?

Square Register is something rather unique: a cloud-based point of sale system for Apple and Android devices that’s completely free. It allows small businesses to track all of their payments in a simple and intuitive way.

It has plenty to offer too. Here are the key features:

• The ability to record payments from any source.
• Inventory management to keep track of in-stock items.
• An “Open Ticket” system; This effectively allows customers to run a “tab,” rather than just dealing with individual transactions, which is ideal for bars and catering establishments.
• Various management functions, including restricted employee access and a “back office” dashboard for at-a-glance sales information.
• Choice between email, sms or printed receipts.
• The ability to cope with tips, VAT and discounts.
• Easy data export so you can move your sales information into spreadsheets to help with tax preparation.

Square Register integration

In addition to the functions above, you can also integrate Square Register with a range of shop-floor hardware, effectively allowing the system to operate as an alternative to a traditional POS system.

The compatible hardware includes cash drawers, receipt printers and barcode scanners. iOS users can also add a kitchen ticket printer, which is handy for coffee bars, cafés and quick-serve restaurants.

So what’s the catch?

While Square Register offers a lot to small businesses for no money at all, it has some specific limitations that will prove a deal-breaker for many.

Square Register is new to the UK, and offers more integration with third-party systems in countries where it is more established, such as the USA and Japan.

The biggest missing piece of the jigsaw though is any form of integrated payment processing. This means that, in order to take card payments, you will need to set your business up with a third-party provider, process the payments through their separate system, and then make a record of the payment within the Square Register software.

Not only is this a duplication of work, it also presents an opportunity for mistakes to be made.

There’s every possibility that Square Register will bring payment integration and their Square Reader product to the UK in time, but until they do, the above is a clear disadvantage that you shouldn’t ignore.

Recommendation

A completely free product is always alluring, therefore Square Register is well worth checking out if you want a quick and easy POS system for your small business and have a limited budget.

The “Open Ticket” and tipping functions are particularly useful, making Square Register a decent choice for coffee bars, small restaurants, quick service and cafés.

However, for now at least, there are more comprehensive POS options on the UK market – options that include integrated payment solutions and make for a more coherent overall solution. We would strongly suggest you also check out solutions like iZettle, which also has a free feature rich app with integrated payment processing and is established in the UK business world.