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Square’s Standout Features

Square’s payment system includes a comprehensive POS platform and payment processor, organized into a user-friendly dashboard. The free subscription includes all the tools you need to begin accepting payments securely, with a solid breadth of features like inventory management and online checkout.

Here are some of Square’s most important features:

Comprehensive App Dashboard and Sales Analytics 

You can access all Square POS and payment processing features, and set everything up, from the central dashboard on desktop or mobile. The dashboard guides you through setting up your inventory and tracks all your transactions, with all key functionality organized in the left-hand menu.

The “Transactions” tab lets you track your selling history and tons of other data about your profits, customer trends and bestselling items. Sara Golding, owner of Sunny Girl Sundries, a handcrafted candle company, notes that Square’s data analytics are one of her favorite things about it. “Square provides us with SKU-level accuracy in our sales reporting to help us see what our top-selling items are, as well as the ones we want to discontinue. It is great about showing us how many repeat customers we have. This guides us in our marketing to know if we need to do more to nurture existing clients, or reach out to gain new ones,” she says.

Inventory Management

Square’s software lets you organize and record your product inventory with detailed item descriptions and images. You can sort items into categories and customize customer checkout with modifiers, such as the option to change price based on the selected color, version or add-ons. Many Square devices, and even your phone with the Square mobile app, can act as bar code scanners that update your inventory stock counts.

In-store staff can access your inventory on a tablet or card terminal, processing customer payments easily. When you sell an item, your synced online and in-store inventories automatically update. You can set auto-reorders that trigger when you reach certain low-point thresholds.

Online Storefront and E-Commerce

Square’s online storefront features are some of my favorites of any POS provider, mainly because they’re so easy to use. The free version gives you some template options and lets you set up a decent online store, but the paid Square Plus plan unlocks a complete website design tool. You can choose from a wide selection of templates and themed design tools to create branded checkout and landing pages that integrate with your website. Your site can sync with your inventory, client booking calendars and restaurant menu for customers to purchase items or make reservations directly from your website.

Service-Based Features

If your business offers a service—such as a beauty salon, tutoring and education, coaching, training or caretaking—Square has excellent features to keep you organized. Your clients can book appointments directly through your website or app, which will autopopulate your synced calendars. You can set up bookings by rooms, stations or staff members so the booking schedule matches your business setup.

Square lets you embed upfront payment, no-show fees and no-show protection into your payment system to help protect against flaky clients. You can also take advantage of Square’s text and email tools for automated confirmations and reminders.