Business Rockstars Interview – Jason Richelson

Business Rockstars

Traditional cash registers may soon be a thing of the past.

Two Beloit small businesses have already dumped the concept of a clunky cash register. The Cheese People and Bushel & Peck’s Local Market instead opt for an iPad point-of-sale (POS) solution from ShopKeep POS.

ShopKeep is an iPad POS system that gives merchants the power to run and analyze their businesses on a cloud-based interface. By combining an iPad POS system with detailed BackOffice reporting, merchants have the ability to generate analysis of inventory, sales and customer relationship management, according to www.shopkeep.com.

Thousands of merchants nationwide already have switched to ShopKeep POS as their iPad POS, according to the website. The merchant network includes quick serve restaurants, retail, locations, specialty food, services and more, said Kym Lino with Atomic public relations.

ShopKeep projects tablet POS systems will dominate the market in three to five years, Lino said.

Cheese People owner Darren Larsen said he purchased the iPad POS system ShopKeep with accompanying printer, cash box and scanner, to use instead of a traditional cash register system when he opened his business. He said a subscription to the service and the purchase of the iPad is about half the price of using a traditional system. An attachment allows a credit card to be swiped through as well.

Employee Andrew Montrone said she was a little nervous about dealing with new technology, but was forced to do it and now loves it.

Larsen said using an iPad is ideal for small businesses because of cost and counter space savings. Because ShopKeep POS is connected to the Internet, Larsen said he can track inventory or sales when he is outside the business.

Nikki’s Cafe, located in the same space as The Cheese People, on 604 Pleasant St., hasn’t switched to an iPad for a cash register yet, but uses an iPad to run owner Lloyd Smith’s Rewards Program for customers. In the past, Smith used a traditional punch card, allowing customers to get a free cup of coffee after a certain amount of purchases. However, many people lost the cards and Smith didn’t like throwing away so much paper.

Customers are now given a plastic card they can use, similar to a credit card. And if they forget it they can log on the iPad via their email address. The subscription program called “Belly” also tracks rewards points. After a certain amount of purchases, people can be eligible for a free pastry, smoothie or other goodies. After 500 points, people will be able to get the opportunity to meet Smith’s cat, Nikki.

Smith said customers love the Rewards Program. He would consider using an iPad for a POS system in the future if a compatible program becomes available.

GoodyTwos Toffee Company is Sweet on Technology

Az Business

Who better to design a point-of-sale (POS) system for small businesses than a small-business owner frustrated with his POS technology options?

That’s the back story for ShopKeep, a cloud-based POS solution from the SMB market that uses the Apple iPad as its point of entry. The company’s founder and CEO, Jason Richelson, originally designed the system to run his $7 million Brooklyn-based wine and food store, The Green Grape after he couldn’t find one that would run the sorts of reports he needed. The system he designed, ShopKeep POS, is now used by more than 2,000 small retailers, Richelson said.

The simplicity of the ShopKeep POS solution along with its promise of 24×7 customer support is helping track retailers from dress boutiques to coffee shops to chocolatiers, he said.

The solution offers basic cash register and inventory functions and can be bought online for prices starting at $49 per month per register. (You can try it for free for up to 30 days.) While ShopKeep POS isn’t relegating its outreach to any particular vertical market, it is adding features specific to restaurants, such as the ability to print orders from an iPad directly to the kitchen, Richelson said.

A deal with PayPal enables ShopKeep POS users to handle cashless mobile payments for a flat rate of 2.7 percent on those transactions.

ShopKeep is one in a growing array of POS options that center on tablet computers in general and the Apple iPad in particular. The company is backed by $3 million in venture capital, including $2.2 million in Series A funding it raised earlier this year.

“Tablets are going to replace cash registers and POS systems in the next three to five years,” Richelson said. Here’s more on what he thinks. Of course, he is biased, but ShopKeep POS is far from the only iPad-based POS system aimed at SMBs.

Other companies that also deserve the small-business owner’s attention include Revel Systems, which just debuted a solution targeted at food trucks ; Square, with its iPad-specific Square Register solution; and LightSpeed, which has extended its systems for Macintosh computers over to the iPad platform.