POS Review: ConnectPOS and Hike POS

A POS system is helpful and handy for every business. And if you’ve been in the game for a long time now, you may be aware of or even familiar with the diverse POS systems. That’s why we’re here today. In today’s article, we’ll put 2 POS systems on the scales – ConnectPOS and Hike POS. With that, we can evaluate the advantages and disadvantages of theirs.

Overview ConnectPOS and Hike POS

ConnectPOS

ConnectPOS, a cloud-based POS software, is a leading POS in the market. This POS system is famous for its pyramid of features facilitating the omnichannel experience for both businesses and consumers. It is suitable for businesses of all sizes, from merchants to service providers. ConnectPOS covers a wide range of industries, such as Fashion and Accessories, Footwear, Food & Drink retail, etc. ConnectPOS is making transactions in both physical and digital stores easy and automatic. Most ConnectPOS clients are from Asia, the Middle East, America, and Australia. 

Hike POS

Hike POS is a cloud-based system that was founded just a few years ago in Australia (which has become somewhat of a POS hotbed). In a short amount of time, the company has expanded its customer base to more than 75 countries. 

Its mobility and user-friendly interface allow Hike to fit in with almost any retail store. It could work ideally in a clothing or furniture store and in the food industry as well. However, it would not be a good fit for a large-scale, multistore restaurant. For smaller businesses like cafes, food trucks, etc., bringing the Hike POS directly to the table for easy ordering and payments is a decent option.

Compatibility

Both ConnectPOS and HikePOS are compatible with multiple devices from PC (macOS, Windows) and mobile devices (iOS, Android). Hike’s mobile POS started with the iPad app; however, recently, the app has been made available for merchants who are Android lovers to download on Google Play.

On the other hand, ConnectPOS mobile POS is long-standing which is easy and convenient to access through various entrances: 

• Download the ConnectPOS iPad app from the App Store
• Install the PWA that is compatible with both iOS and Android
• Through web browser in your mobile devices

One of the biggest advantages of ConnectPOS is that it offers business owners and operators advanced technologies to enhance customer in-store experience. These technologies include AI facial recognition that allows store assistants to be notified when a customer drops by. Moreover, ConnectPOS AI facial recognition in-store also facilitates staff to review each customer’s buying patterns for better customer service, enhance up-selling and cross-selling, and identify known shoplifters. 

ConnectPOS also supports the PWA consumer app, which empowers customers to have more control over their shopping experience. With the PWA consumer app, buyers can browse in-store and view all of the products’ information on their own simply by scanning products’ barcodes. They can also get personalized product recommendations facilitated by machine learning (a sub-field of AI).

Furthermore, retailers can also integrate the interactive customer screen by ConnectPOS to improve the in-store experience. Customers can interact with the customer screen in more than one way:

• Review items before paying
• Receive last-minute recommendation
• Sign
• Type your email and leave a rating

Although both ConnectPOS and Hike POS have compatibility with multiple devices, ConnectPOS outperforms a little bit thanks to the fact that it offers retailers many advanced technologies integrated into the POS.  These include AI facial recognition, PWA consumer app, and interactive customer screen. 

Integration

E-commerce platforms

In terms of integration with e-commerce platforms, both ConnectPOS and Hike POS work well on multiple commonly used platforms to facilitate the smooth and secure operation of online retail stores. In detail, Hike POS has compatibility with 3 e-commerce platforms, which are Shopify, BigCommerce, and WooCommerce. Just a bit mightier, ConnectPOS is partnering with 4 e-commerce companies, namely Shopify, Magento, and BigCommerce, and the integration with WooCommerce is upcoming and worth waiting. 

Payment integration

In terms of payment integration, ConnectPOS and Hike POS have a thing in common which is integrating with many payment gateways to offer buyers as many payment options as possible. Whether it’s credit cards, debit cards, or gift cards, etc., they’re all supported by trustworthy payment gateways. 

Other than the ability to let customers choose their payment options of their own, payment integration also ensures the security and transparency of online transactions. 

Features

Order management 

• Custom sale

Custom sale is a handy feature that lets shopkeepers and clerks add a temporarily unavailable item into the shopping cart and check-out as guests. This feature is extremely useful to sell a temporarily unavailable product, DIY items, handicrafts, etc. 

The good news is that both ConnectPOS and Hike POS have this meaningful POS feature. 

• Click-and-collect

People nowadays want more as a buyer. They want to be able to browse in-store, place an order online and have their purchases delivered to their front door, or buy online and pick up in-store, so-called click-and-collect. Thus, to please your customers, it’s fruitful for you as merchants to have such a feature in your POS system. 

Regarding click-and-collect, while Hike POS hasn’t offered this feature yet, ConnectPOS has already integrated this powerful functionality. And there’re just a few steps you need to take to set up a click-and-collect order. 

• Offline mode

This is one of the features to look for in an outstanding POS system. Offline mode allows stores to sell even when the internet connection is down or unstable. Thus, you can continuously make sales throughout the day without any interruption. 

The offline mode in Hike POS can be activated in mobile and web POS. Merchants only need to connect to the internet to log into their Hike account and process the first transaction. After that, even when the internet connection is down, retailers can continue selling offline.

ConnectPOS, with its robust and powerful offline mode, automatically switches your system to offline mode and normally conducts operation tasks when you lose your internet connection. Shop owners can quickly choose the items, manually insert the discount rate, and take any payment with ease including cash, credit cards, or debit cards. And when the online mode is regained, all the data acquired during the offline mode will be synchronized. Thus, at the end of the day, store managers still have the full report with an accurate balance in the POS.

Check-out process

• Custom receipts

Receipts are important to every business as not only they contain all the fundamental information of transactions but they are also a part of a brand’s CIP (corporate identity program). They are also great marketing opportunities for merchants. Thus, having custom receipts is important and critical for business success. 

Both ConnectPOS and Hike POS are integrating this feature in their POS software. In these 2 POS systems, receipts can be printed or emailed to the customer. But more crucially, the receipt template used can be customized and adjusted. Retailers can customize receipts to their liking. They can even enhance them by adding links to your store’s social media accounts or holiday greetings. 

• Self check-out by mobile app

ConnectPOS uniquely offer this feature with its robust PWA consumer app. Buyers can access the PWA consumer app simply by scanning a barcode and opening up to many handy functionalities. The most outstanding one is self check-out which helps customers skip the counter and save a lot of time. Besides, this feature also speeds up the check-out process for stores, resulting in better business performance. 

Inventory management

• Real-time auto-sync data between the POS app and inventories

Real-time synchronization is vital in multi-store and multi-warehouse management. With such POS systems like ConnectPOS and Hike POS, when an order is placed, the product stock will be immediately deducted from the warehouse assigned to that store. Additionally, your products can be automatically updated from online stores to POS in real-time. Therefore, there’s no need to worry about misinformation. During the whole process, human involvement is lessened and subjective errors are minimized. Hence, selling an already out-of-stock product can be avoided. 

Staff management

• Set up staff roles and permissions

Security is the most important thing in all situations, and so is staff management in POS systems. While you, as a manager, adopt POS to manage your staff, you clearly don’t want your employees to interfere. Therefore, a POS that allows you to create unlimited staff roles and give them restricted access to certain actions is necessary. 

You can set up permission for each staff role in either ConnectPOS or Hike POS. Particularly, ConnectPOS allows you to create unlimited staff roles. With ConnectPOS, business owners and operators can add as many roles as they wish and give each role permission or restriction to certain actions. 

• Shift management: Cash-in, Cash-out, Cash adjustment, Cash float, etc. 

Cash flow management is critical to every business. Proper and accurate cash flow management helps store owners and managers avoid theft and mistakes. 

Both ConnectPOS and Hike POS are utilizing advanced technology to provide you with detailed reporting about cash flow for each shift. With that, you can track your staff performance and cash in, cash out, cash float, etc. in the most specific way to instantly notice fraudulent transactions. 

Customer supports

Both these 2 POS provides 24/7 support. 

With ConnectPOS, there are 4 ways that you can report a bug 24/7:

• Submit a ticket via the ConnectPOS help desk. 
• Can also find this link by navigating to the menu bar on the top of the ConnectPOS website and click “Support”. When you submit your ticket, you can set the priority of your problem as Normal/ High or Urgent.
• Directly send an email to [email protected]. 
• Talk to ConnectPOS Solution Managers who have been in touch with you. They will summarize your problem and send it to the Developer team.

With Hike POS, you can find help through:

• Live chat support: Speak to a real person who will help you with your issues instantly.
• Webinars: Hike experts conduct live web-based tutorials, designed to go through the POS from its most basic features to more advanced configurations. 

Pricing plans

Regarding pricing plans, it can be seen that ConnectPOS is a little more affordable than Hike POS. You can start at $US39 with ConnectPOS compared to $US59 with Hike POS. Even better, ConnectPOS offers custom plans for you to “DIY” your own POS system to suit your business’s needs and demands and your pocket as well. 

Both of the 2 POS don’t provide free plans. 

It’s evident that ConnectPOS is more affordable than Hike POS, yet still ensures the essential features that you need for your business. Thus, in terms of pricing, ConnectPOS stands out. 

Feedback

All the online reviews indicate that these 2 POS software applications are receiving a lot of love from retailers. Particularly, on Shopify and Magento marketplace, the rating for ConnectPOS is 4.6/5 and 5/5, respectively. The majority of all praise toward ConnectPOS is about its robust features, functional stability, and timely support team:

• Reward points extension
• Gift cards
• Customizable features (custom receipt, sale, dashboard, etc.)
• Real-time synchronization
• Supporting barcodes 
• Multiple platform compatibility (PC, smartphones, tablets regardless of operating systems)

Which one to choose?

It’s a fact that each POS software application has its own advantages and disadvantages based on the distinct needs and demands of different businesses. With the comprehensive and detailed comparison between ConnectPOS and Hike POS above, we hope that you, as business owners and operators, have formed a big picture of your ideal POS system. And if you’re still not sure and hesitate to choose one for your business, how about starting with the POS that is right in your hand right now? We, ConnectPOS, pride ourselves on the capability of developing the leading POS software for your business success. And we’re just one call away! Book your 14-day free trial now to immediately experience our globally standard product!