Bindo POS | A Simple and Affordable iPad POS System for Businesses
Retail lives by the point-of-sales (POS) systems. Without it, the world of retail would simply not exist. One issue can arise with certain pos systems, and it’s the technology its built on, which might not always be best for your specific user case. POS systems are coded on old tech and causes many problems and expenses for a lot of businesses. Bindo created a POS system to create a cheaper and simpler system for businesses to use.
“Bindo is a point-of-sales and integrated local marketplace for local retail stores. Basically, we have a point-of-sales system that runs on an iPad that goes into the store and merchants use it to do things like track inventory, create purchase orders and invoices, and do all the other things you need to have in a business. The inventory that our merchants put into our Bindo system in their store is also reflected on the online store. What that enables is have an online presence where people can order on the web and soon use an iPhone app to place orders as well,” says Brad Lauster, Co-Founder of Bindo.
Companies such as Bindo are developing POS systems for tablets (mainly for the iPad) and other mobile devices and the use of tablets are becoming more commonplace in the small business world. Bindo’s standard system includes an iPad stand, receipt printer, barcode scanner, cash drawer and a credit card reader as a standard setup. Other equipment are available for businesses to help complete sales faster with a mobile card reader or update inventory faster using a mobile scanning device.
“One of the things we see pretty often is before merchants move over to the Bindo platform, a lot of them were not fully utilizing their old systems. That problem stems from user experience. A lot of these systems are built on technology that are pretty ancient by today’s standard. The big focus at Bindo is the user experience. It’s really easy to manage, to understand and to train your employees. That kind of thing is really important to us,” says Brad Lauster.
POS systems can provide merchants much more than sales. Inventory tracking, pricing inquiries, gift card sales, sales numbers and more can be done through a typical POS system. Even with all these tools however, some system become too complicated and users cannot fully utilize a system. Bindo takes any complexities and simplifies it for the user; leading to less training time for employees and a great user experience.
The design of Bindo’s POS system is a mixture of Google’s soft colors and Mac OS’s minimalist view. No overcrowding of buttons and features on each page, just a smooth and sleek layout for users. Businesses can make the jump from their previous POS systems to Bindo’s easily with the addition to full inventory transfer.
Brad Lauster stated, “When we founded this company, we found one of the biggest problems for local merchants is what we call product discovery. We feel that most local merchants they have all these products, but nobody really knows about them because they either don’t know about their store or use to the convenience of going online and search for a product. You probably don’t have that kind of presence, so we’re making it easier to find products in their neighborhood and patronize those local businesses and bring more convenience to the local shops.”
Bindo connects users to a cloud-based system, whether merchants are at home or travelling, they can connect to the cloud to access any information. The cloud system also stores every invoice, receipt and other documents to be easily accessible and reducing the amount of excess equipment and paperwork needed to maintain. More importantly, the security system Bindo uses rivals those of large banks and provide a safer system to use. An online marketplace is also added with Bindo’s services and helps businesses be put on the internet map.
Retail stores need to keep track of its numbers to keep track of inventory numbers. Not having a store properly stocked and counted for prevents the increase in sales. Bindo provides an analytics tool to keep businesses in the loop of what’s going on with their inventory. Without it, retail business can be a messy scheme.
The biggest problem for Bindo is the lack of a credit card processor. The other competitors do offer some sort of credit card processor (with various transaction fees) included in their services. Bindo is trying to prevent new fees added onto their pricing plans, but also leads merchants to search for one more tool. Pricing starts at $76/mo for an annual bill (or $89/mo for monthly bill) for the Basic plan and $128/mo ($149/mo for monthly bill) for the Pro plan. Bindo also offers special pricing for multiple stores, but a call to the Bindo headquarters will get you a quote.
POS systems can be an expensive pain to deal with and not being able to use a system to its fullest becomes a costly mistake. Sales require the least amount of time spent between customers and the business. A lot of features built-in and an online marketplace increases the worth of what Bindo has to offer. More importantly, using current technology, Bindo helps businesses move forward with ease.
