Vend Reviews

Pros

The ease in setting up an online store and having the actual inventory be available is amazing. Being able to set if you want items available online or not is a plus, as being able to set a product with unlimited inventory so that it is still available to order online, even if you physically sell out of the item. This is great for quick to order in products.

Cons

It would be nice to have better integration between my POS system on the iPad, so that I could use a receipt printer and auto-cash drawer without using a PC setup.

Pros

Vend has one of the most easy to use cloud point of sale that I have tried and tested over the years. As a business owner, Vend has been useful for my day to day work.

Cons

The customer support team is atrocious. I have been trying to speak to someone from the Vend support team since 24th April due to some billing issues that could have been easily resolved in 1 or 2 days. Up until now, the issue is not solved and no one has responded to me on this issue. Speaking to the live chat guy and he kept me waiting for over 3 hours with no reply when he told me that he will be transferring me over to the billing time for assistance. Emails went unanswered and the support team even closed the ticket without giving me a reply or resolution to the problem. I'm not so sure that Vend is a system that caters to the small and medium business owners because we business owners and managers, we don't have all the time in the world to be waiting for your reply and chasing you for answers. I will definitely not recommend that anyone takes up this system unless you think you are ready to work with a support team that does not attend to you when help is needed.

Alternatives Considered

Pros

Video and text tutorials are first rate to help start new staff and keep up with areas of growth, like how to do a store credit or introducing gift cards.
Updates to features are added regularly.
The front screen is easily understood and the ability to add preset SKU buttons to the screen or folders on the screen is easy. The adaptability of what we have as a cafe sell screen versus the boutique shop versus our department stores sell screens
PC, iPad or mobile device usability.

Cons

The customer needs to know how to do a product family tree and then set the Types and Tags correctly so that the reporting functions can give data that is segregated correctly.
The Lay-by function acts differently than other software functions. (Sales are not added to the date it is paid off, maybe 2 months later, which means completed sales are understated during the Lay-by period)
There is no method for importing costs within the system. Costs have to added together outside (cost of good, freight, charges, fuel surcharge, import duties, etc.) and then migrated with the receiving function.
We found that our iPad's slow down considerably and we are constantly restarting them, trying to look for and run updates, checking for errored sales, running them through the App Store rather than from the App icon on the desktop.
The sales ledger cannot export for analysis a full days trading with 300 sale transactions.
Reports export as .csv files but won't export well to .xml Need to use Open Office spreadsheet for best and most reliable file integrity.
The Price Book function is limited to two or more identical SKU's (2 of same chocolate block) not product categories (2 types of chocolate block)

Pros

Inventory tracking features. Being able to see all outlets inventory at the same time. Inventory transfers are very intuitive and easy to perform, same with stock orders.

Cons

Pricing and sale discount features aren't easy to apply for a membership type of system. Updating Price Books is a hassle as its current layout for each price book is not easy to navigate if one product's price needs to be changed inside of a price book with hundreds of products.

Pros

What I like about vend its is well designed user interface. But perhaps the most important is the ease of use, you can get the gist of it in about 20 minutes, and for more complex tasks it still would not take long to learn

Cons

I guess it's that for more detailed accounting id have to connect it to another software. so for example i have other expenses like utilities dont figure in the vend reporting, so the GP figures for instance are not fully accurate.

Pros

For our retail clothing business, we have been using Vend POS in our shop to manage inventory and run in-store sales. The integrations we rely on are Shopify for e-commerce as well as Xero for accounting. Vend POS has been a generally pleasant experience and they have improved the web-based POS platform tremendously over the course of the past five years and continue to do so. The Vend Register iPad app allows for simple commerce with an integrated credit card processor solution. The Vend web-based UI allows us to add and manage inventory with relative ease. Vend is a flexible POS solution that is used by foodservice, construction, and all kkinds of industries. Their variant setup is flexible enough to handle different types of products. The reporting suite is fantastic and allows us to analyze actionable data to make good decisions.

Cons

There have been various bugs, issues, and UI inconveniences over the years. Generally customer support is very responsive to tickets we create however it is usually a long turnaround to actually address any software improvements we have asked to be made.

Pros

The system is very easy to learn, the report capability is what we like the most, having the ability to run report to analyze the sales and patterns, is very helpful in planning , buying inventory, since it is capable to also hold inventory, to send emails to alert when inventory is low, is amazing, we love the system for our small store.

Cons

Not much, we had some issues in the beginning with credit card connectivity, but not for any of the system fault, it was the way our store is set up with our internet, once all that got squared away, the system worked perfect.

Pros

We used this for a small retail clothing store. It was managed remotely and easily updated within the shop. It was easy to see analytics for sales

Cons

Our CC processor wasn't accepted at the time, so we had to input our credit card sales manually. This was a hassle but was eventually fixed.

Pros

Vend has a very versatile and flexible workflow, with lots of features and options to work for most any retail scenario your business may face.

Cons

With all the features and options, many of them are tucked away in submenus, and therefore provides a steep learning curve if you lack someone to tutor you.

Pros

It connects with our calendar and we can take a payment right from there & it populates their information automatically. Its easy to add products and services

Cons

The register has to be manually closed. Wish there was an automated close feature if it's not closed by a certain time of the evening

Pros

Great easy to use systems on the front end, stable data base that despite having over 6,000 items with in it doesn't miss a beat. It professional looking. Elegantly handles discounts by either % or by dollar value. Great reports. Integrates well with Xero and my website.

Cons

Beware Employers, anyone who can enter in new stock will see everything, sales history, reports, you sensitive business data, your business health. Download load it try it for yourself. I have raised this with Vend, and my response back was "Is this really a problem?".
For me it is.

Pros

Simplicity (or so it seemed), multi-outlet.

Cons

It's simple because it doesn't work. We literally have buggy issues every week, and it's been a year of using it. And we're not attempting difficult or creative issues. Very basic retail tils, on hardware recommended by Vend, setup according to their specs. It just constantly has problems. Dropped sales, problems with software, reporting issues... you would think these are our issues (Vend blames everyone but themselves... that's a BIG IF you actually connect with someone from Vend - we've waited 3-4 weeks for a response from a person). Their system is great at auto-response - happy, you're the most important, etc... but never get a call (even when scheduled and agreed).

What do we like least? Constant bugs and ZERO support. Also tired of Vend blaming everything else except themselves (we had no troubles with previous POS before we switched to them, great IT on our end, huge internet package, etc.).

Pros

Shopify integration, bar code scanner integration, Quick Keys, reports, ability to list detailed product info.

A big thing is remote login. I can check to see how my employees are doing at any time from any computer. I can also edit any part of my Vend information from any computer.

Cons

While Vend recently updated the way one enters product information by reducing the number of screens needed to enter or edit a product, there are still some areas of Vend that could use the same type of update. For example, after I'm finished entering a new product, there should be a button to click on that says "Enter New Product." Instead, I have to go back to the main Product Menu and go through a couple of screens to start entering another product. Not a major difficulty but this is one example where you have to go back to the main menu to access other parts of the software.

Pros

Neat, simple and easy to use, starter price was competitive. Good inventory management features, which feeds into the POS system, simple reporting and it has the capabilitiy to link to Xero.

Cons

I have had similar problems with others, when VEND update or upgrade the program, which seems like every 2 months, it plays havoc with the data inputting and adding new product, and with VEND, it is imperative that you input the data accurately when you add a new product. Plus, they are not good with communicating that they will be doing an upgrade or making changes to tariffs, which might affect the functionality of the program. I have been trialling the system for a year, and I am rather nervous of enabling the xero integration, as it might not be accurate information that is being fed thru.

Pros

We've been using the Vend POS system for just over a year and recently upgraded to Vend Ecommerce (integrating our website/online store with our POS system). We're really happy with both systems; the POS is very intuitive and training of our staff, even those without any POS experience, was a breeze. The Ecommerce solution saves us a lot of time and effort (and eliminates the possibility of errors in pricing) as we now only need to enter/ammend product info in one database to keep our records all up to date.

From a service POV Vend's team are fantastic. They respond quickly (usually within a matter of minutes) to any tickets we submit thru their online service center, and the staff always follow up to make sure whatever issues we raised are resolved. When we set up the Ecommerce system, they provided several sessions of personal, live training over the phone and skype which enabled us to create a new website from scratch, even though we had no prior experience in doing so.

Being a cloud based solution also gives us a lot of flexibility - we can process sales or access our backend thru laptops, iPads and even our phones. We also necer need to worry about backing up or losing our data.

Cons

Being a standardized solution, the Ecommerce platform doesn't yet have all the features you would get with a custom designed website/online store. However the cost is a small fraction of what you would pay for a customized site.

Pros

It has all the bells and whistles when it comes to setting up your retail store. It allows more than one register and many users.

Cons

The inventory management was terrible. I had one brick and mortar and an online store and the inventory was constantly off. Also you have to pay extra for customer support if you need to call and solve a problem immediately (register not working during business hours etc.)

Pros

Easy to use features, very sleek and clean navigation. Out-of-the-box website design options are plentiful and easy to use. We have the premier technical support package and they are always accessible and helpful.

Cons

We wish we could customize our receipt. The customization possibilities are limited in both design elements and reporting. Also wish updating the price of a single item and all its price books could happen in one step.

Pros

it's easy to use, has a very small learning curve and the ability to quickly complete many functions in relative short order. The customizability is is pretty good but does have some limitations.

Cons

Vend does not always report correct values or numbers, because it it always being updated new glitches and bugs can be introduced causing havoc for your day. I found out that when you close (Delete) an outlet that it deletes all attached reports other than the historical sales, so unless you back them all up they're gone forever, I feel like this is a huge issue for vend as these reports can be vital to have if your subject to audit like we are. While customer service is great I rarely get the answers that i'm needing or a solution for my problem.

Pros

Easy to train new employees on the POS. It's integration with Shopify, Deputy and Square. Clean and pro looking (would like to be able to customize it more for my shops character).

Cons

I don't like that I have to activate the scanner, it really slows things down. The label making software is not very adjustable, and it makes it difficult for the scanner to read. No pictures for variants.

Pros

We had never used a POS system before, so we were a little intimidated by the thought of having to input our inventory. However, the ability to use .csv spreadsheets greatly facilitated the process of copying the inventory from our accounting program.

Cons

Vend will occasionally change the format of a page or category unexpectedly: for example, when a product is added or edited there is no longer the choice to add a sales code and a purchase code.

Pros

Flexibility and ease of use. Customer support is always helpful. Can input wide range of SKUs and QR codes to customize products that don't have them printed on.

Cons

Slightly pricey, needs to be logged out and back in sometimes. Some of the buttons to press could be bigger such as removing an item from order screen.

Pros

It was easy to set up the system. It works with our website thru Shopify app. The system is user friendly for the staff, so learning curve is brief.

Cons

Not good for tipped services, did not have untaxable sales calculation for first year i used it, does not sync well with QBO, delay in customer service response time.

Pros

Vend is an excellent and fail-safe POS for small businesses. While data entry and inventory search functionality is generally a breeze, depending on the nature of your business or inventory, you may run into difficulties keeping categories of products isolated from one another. Stock orders are a breeze and staff is very helpful.

Cons

I only wish the interface was a little more malleable and user customizable as it seems that it's slowly being tailored to best suit its most standard applications, rather than oriented towards creative retail pursuits with singular demands.

Pros

There really was no learning curve. Super easy to put in new products and very easy for my salesmen to use.

Cons

Few things that I would like to see: better functions to help organize clients and give my salesmen tasks to contact people. Also, I would like for there to be a way to force entry of the clients name on each sale. (probably just need people who do what they are supposed to do....). Customer service is not accesible by phone and this is sometimes difficult.

Pros

Vend has the ability to do almost anything, it just is not intitutive in many ways. Vends inventory entry method worked well. They gave a discount for paying ahead.

Cons

Their Layby program(Lay a way)it just was not good. We asked for help and did not get it. Also it would lose sales tickets from time to time. Also the drawer check out did not give all the info you would expect. There were many ways to make things happen and that would confuse people as to how to do something. I think it is good software but just did not fit us as we were at odds with it many days. We never did get it to interface with Quick Books online.