Have you ever had a coupon for a chain store that a location near you wouldn’t honor? Or been told an out-of-stock item is available at another location… only to arrive at that location to find the item out of stock there, too? It’s frustrating!
As the owner of a chain of convenience stores, you want to make sure your customers don’t struggle with challenges like these. This effort starts with creating an automated, consistent sales experience at every one of your store locations.
A multi-store point of sale (POS) system is secure, reliable, and easy to use across locations to manage your chain sales, inventory, and customer communications from a single spot. But what are your options?
This article outlines six of the best multi-store POS systems for small c-store chains. We’ll review key features, costs, and the type of chain each solution is best suited for, so you can find your ideal fit.
The Advantage of a Multi-Store POS System
If you’re running multiple convenience store locations, you need a unified point of sale solution to keep your chain aligned and efficient. But why? Let’s examine some advantages of using a multi-store POS system. First and foremost, the benefit of alignment. With one central system, you can coordinate pricing, track inventory chainwide, run promotions across all stores, and manage operations for your entire chain — all from one dashboard.
Related Read: Convenience Store Management Software: Top 5 Providers [Features and Pricing]
As your business expands into multiple stores, managing each independently gets complicated quickly. A unified POS platform lets you see your whole chain's sales, product levels, and other metrics. No more logging into separate portals or tracking info store-by-store in spreadsheets. You'll have chainwide visibility to make smarter decisions.
A multi-location POS also handles inter-store inventory transfers. Running low on an item in one store? Transfer stock from another location to meet demand. This keeps customers happy, reduces waste from spoilage, and reduces ordering costs over time. The right POS makes transfers easy, ensuring you have the right products at the right place at the right time.
Promotions are another big perk of running all stores on one system. Want to run a weekend sale? You can instantly push it out to the whole chain with a few clicks. No more manually creating signage and communicating deals to each store manager.
As customer expectations advance, a modern multi-store POS keeps your expanding business aligned with industry standards. With these benefits in mind, let’s examine our list of the top solutions you should consider this year.
6 Multi-Store POS Systems To Consider for Your Small Chain
1. Comcash
Comcash is a flexible point of sale system designed to streamline and smooth out the checkout process across multiple locations. This solution offers a custom POS application packed with advanced features in an intuitive, easy-to-use interface.
Key features of Comcash include:
- Streamlined scanning and checkout using a modern Android handheld terminal with a built-in 2D scanner
- Flexible mounting options; can be mounted over a scale, on a wall mount, etc.
- Modern touchscreen menu that allows toggling between image and text views of large menus
- Multi-touch capability for scrolling through extensive menus
- Support for EMV and NFC payments as well as a range of signature capture terminals
Pricing: Get a custom quote using their online pricing tool.
2. Revel Systems
Revel Systems offers a retail POS system with hybrid data storage, multi-location visibility, and various hardware configurations. Its centralized management tools provide convenience store chains visibility into sales, inventory, and operations across all locations. Revel System aims to provide enterprise-level service to small convenience store chains.
Top Revel Systems features include:
- Hybrid POS that stores data locally and in the cloud
- Centralized management for visibility across locations
- Wide range of hardware options
- Automated inventory alerts
- Integrated online ordering
Pricing: Revel Systems’ pricing starts at $99 per month per terminal, with installation fees of $649 or more.
3. Lightspeed
Lightspeed offers a flexible, cloud-based point of sale solution for retailers and businesses across industries, including restaurants, golf courses, and retail shops. The system focuses heavily on omnichannel sales, advanced inventory tools, and data insights. The solution is tailored to complex enterprise businesses, but some small convenience chains wanting robust capabilities can benefit.
Some key Lightspeed features include:
- Customizable cloud-based POS
- Inventory management
- Gift card integration
- Employee management
- Easy integration with third-party apps
Pricing: Lightspeed offers four pricing tiers ranging from $79-$269 per month, depending on your unique needs.
4. Brilliant POS
Brilliant POS offers a streamlined point of sale system focused on efficiency. This solution provides fast checkout capabilities, inventory tracking with alerts, remote access, and integrations with accounting or e-commerce tools. Brilliant POS offers a simple point of sale system with room to add integrations with tools like QuickBooks down the line.
Some top features of Brilliant POS are:
- Cloud reporting
- Multi-location inventory management
- Payroll add-ons
- Add-ons like QuickBooks (available for additional cost(
Pricing: Brilliant POS does not list pricing on their website, only offering price by custom quote.
5. POS Nation
POS Nation provides specialized POS solutions tailored for convenience store chains of any size. The system handles all the key functionality you need in one seamless platform. POS Nation’s all-in-one solution is designed to handle all essential functions in a single dashboard, giving you visibility across your chain. In addition to convenience stores, POS Nation works with grocery stores, liquor shops, and other specialty retailers.
Some of POS Nation’s vital features include:
- Robust inventory tracking
- Built-in loyalty programs
- Lottery sales
- Case breaking
- Detailed reporting
Pricing: POS Nation offers custom pricing packages based on your store’s needs. You can get your quote using their online pricing tool.
6. C-Store POS
C-Store POS is a point of sale system tailored for convenience stores, offering robust features such as seamless inventory tracking, integrated loyalty programs, and built-in age verification. Whether handling lottery sales or managing regular transactions, our solution is designed to meet your small chain’s needs.
C-Store POS allows you to centralize operations, transfer inventory smoothly between locations, and customize pricing and promotions based on local preferences. Our tool helps streamline processes and operations, making it easier to manage your whole chain of stores.
Some key features of C-Store POS include:
- Advanced inventory management
- Automated reordering
- Support for high-risk retail (e.g. CBD, kratom, and delta-8)
- Age verification
- Customer loyalty integration
- Lottery sales
Pricing: Use our build and price tool to customize a solution that fits your convenience store's unique requirements. Whether you operate a single store or a multi-location chain, our pricing is flexible and tailored to your business needs.
Multi-Store POS Systems: Find Your Best Fit
A multi-store POS system can revolutionize operations in your small business chain and help you keep customers happy, turn more profits, and grow your business to even more locations. The six software solutions listed in this post all offer features and functionality that can help you run your chain more efficiently.
However, no solution is the right fit for every store.
If you want a point of sale solution designed specifically for small convenience store chains with multiple locations, C-Store POS might be your solution. Our cloud-based solution offers key features like flexible payments, integrated dual pricing, and advanced inventory management, making it simple to manage your multiple locations from a single system.
Schedule a demo of C-Store POS today to see how our solution can help you manage your multi-store chain with ease.
