An Introduction to Vend POS Software

About Vend

“Vend is the retail management software taking retail to the cloud”. As they introduce themselves, Vend POS is a cloud-based point of sale (POS) and retail management software company based in Auckland, New Zealand. Since 2010, Vend has spread across 5 offices around the globe in Auckland, San Francisco, Melbourne, Toronto and London.

From a dream to a global company

Vaughan Rowsell, the founder of the company started it with a dream that he has been keeping in his mind for a really long time since he was just an 11-year-old child when his mom bought him and his two brothers a personal computer. That was a pivotal moment in his life that he could get access to computer technology and dreamt of something big like building a software company. 

Vend wanted to take a slightly different approach to how they innovated retail. They know it is a long game that they cannot do overnight. Thus, from day one, it is very important for them to build a culture with people who were on board with the same visions. 

Then, the very first Vend employees have launched their business in New Zealand; but they launched it with a global view. And their first handful of customers were from New Zealand, Australia to the US. Next, they started to help customers that they picked randomly all around the world. Up to now, they have worked with clients in over 130 countries. 

“From day one, you have to think about the rest of the world”

Vaughan Rowsell, Vend Founder and Director

And that’s how Vend has truly become a global company.

The story continues…

In 2013, after 13 years of building and growing, Vend raised NZ$8 million of funding from investors in Australia and New Zealand. Further capital has also been raised from existing investors including Point Nine Capital in Berlin.

Then in 2014, Vend closed US$20 million in Series B funding. The funding round was co-led by Peter Thiel and Square Peg Capital in Australia. Later, the company also opened offices in Toronto and London. 

In August 2015, Vend announced that it had raised NZ$12 million, mainly from existing investors along with new entrant Punakaiki Fund. This year, the company also launched Vend Ecommerce and announced a partnership with UK payment provider iZettle and North American payments provider Mercury (now Vantiv).

Until 2016, Vend partnered with Square to enable retailers who use Vend’s software to process payments with Square. Besides, they also launched an app for inventory management named Counter. And at the end of the year, the company raised a further US$9 million led by existing investors, and with significant new investment from fund manager Movac. This year was when Vend grew its UK staff to 20 and opened a new office in East London.

In 2017, Vend renamed its inventory app Counter to Scanner by Vend.

As of March 12th, 2021, Vend was sold to Lightspeed POS Inc for US$350 million.

Vend POS Features Overview

As mentioned above, Vend is a web-based point of sale and retail management system. The software allows real-world retail store owners or managers to have full visibility and centralized control of one to many retail stores. The software runs in the browser and supports full both online and offline modes, so users can keep making sales if the internet drops out. 

Because Vend platform is subscription-based, it never requires backups or upgrades. It also lets retailers get on with running their retail enterprise instead of worrying about their IT infrastructure.

Key features

• Cloud-based (all store data syncs to the cloud and is accessible from anywhere, on iPad or Mac, PC).
• Front & back office (A combination of POS applications and powerful back-office administration tools for retailers of all sizes).
• Low investment cost (Low upfront investment, no cancellation fees).
• Software updates (Software is continually updated for free).
• Works offline (POS keeps working even if the internet connection fails. Continue making sales until connectivity is restored).
• Developer API (Developer program with API that uses the latest open-standard authentication and authorization protocol.
• Vend integrated payments (Securely accept credit and debit cards with leading payment vendors that sync with Vend POS and selected banks for a faster, smarter checkout experience.
• Omnichannel (Sell in-store with Vend on iPad, MAC, or PC. Sell online with Vend ECommerce or connect Vend to your existing eCommerce website).
• Onboarding services (Get help setting up a new store or migrating from an old POS with assisted setup from a dedicated Launch Specialist).

Sales

• Registers & users (Easily switch between outlets, registers and users for sales sessions).
• Products (Scan products by barcode, select using quick keys, or type into the search bar).
• Discount (Apply discounts by line item or total sale).
• Notes (Add notes to a line item or to the entire sale).
• Customers (Capture customer details and add them to a sale).
• Receipts (Create and email customer receipts or print gift receipts).
• Returns (Accept returns and provide refunds).
• Parked sales (Void or park current sale. Easily retrieve and complete later).
• Training mode (Easily train staff on the Sell screen without affecting sales data).

Receipts

• Print & Email (Print and email sales receipts).
• Receipt Information (Choose whether discounts, promotional details and/or notes appear on receipts).
• Customizable styles (Customize multiple receipt templates with store details and business logos).
• Historical receipts (Print and email receipts from historical sales).
• Gift receipts (Print gift receipts for current or historical sales).
• Digital receipts (Issue QR codes for AllReceipts mobile app with any Star Cloud Services printer).

Payment types

• Payment types (Customizable payment types including cash, credit, debit, check and more).
• Banking (Connect your bank with your integrated payment solution. Contact the Vend sales team to find out which banks we currently work with).
• Vend integrated payments (Securely accept credit and debit cards with leading payment providers below that sync with Vend POS for a faster, smarter checkout experience).
• Global currency (Support for majority of worldwide currencies).
• Layaway (Save sales against a customer’s account in Vend. Reserve their items in-store until they’ve paid off their purchase).
• Partial payments (Take deposits and partial payments on layaway or on-account sales).
• Split tender (Multiple payments and payment types can be accepted in one sale).
• Gift cards (Issue, redeem and track gift cards in Vend).
• Store credit (Issue store credit manually or as a refund. Allow customers to make purchases with store credit).
• On-account (Let customers take their purchase home and pay the bill later. Email or print on-account receipts).
• Loyalty redemption (Loyalty is earned and redeemed in dollar values).

Integration

Vend integrated payments

USA

Vantiv (iOS, Mac & PC), PayPal Here (iOS), Square (iOS)

Australia

Tyro (iOS, Mac & PC), CommBank’s Albert (iOS, Mac & PC), Square
(iOS), PayPal (iOS), Payment Express (iOS, Mac & PC), Smartpay
(iOS, Mac & PC)

Canada

Square (iOS), Moneris (iOS)

UK

Paymentsense (iOS, Mac & PC), Payment Express (iOS, Mac & PC),
Square (iOS), PayPal Here (iOS), SumUp (iOS), iZettle (iOS)

New Zealand

SmartPay (iOS, Mac & PC), Verifone (iOS, Mac & PC), Payment Express
(iOS, Mac & PC)

Other regions

Square (iOS – Japan), Paymentsense (iOS, Mac & PC – Ireland), Yoco
(iOS – South Africa), SumUp (iOS – Austria, Brazil, Belgium, Chile,
Germany, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Sweden and
Switzerland), iZettle (iOS – Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Spain, Sweden,
Norway, Finland, Denmark, and the Netherlands)

Integration and Add-ons

• Xero Accounting

Share sales and financial data in real-time. Sync daily sales, payment
totals, cash movements, cost-of-goods-sold, invoices, liabilities and
customer details. Supercharge your reports and gain visibility into
your true real-time business performance.

• Shopify Ecommerce

Use Vend’s advanced in-store POS features with Shopify ecommerce
to manage inventory across multiple stores, centralize operations,
sync products in a single click, view performance in real-time and
maximize profits.

• Many more add-ons

Streamline or customize your business operations with retail add-ons.
Select from a range of tools including employee scheduling, complex
wholesale or warehousing, service scheduling, advanced analytics, or
traffic analysis.

At Vend, they have built an open API and ecosystem of apps. That means Vend will work with what you’ve already invested in and you can add extra functionality as your business grows. From connecting with ecommerce platforms like Shopify, Magento, BigCommerce, Woocommerce; or accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, AccountsPortal, MYOB; or ERP systems like NetSuite, ERPs, as well as other systems such as BI, CRM.

In fact, no matter what systems that you want to integrate with Vend, you can connect them as your favor; as long as your integration solution is capable of that. If you have interest in Vend Shopify Interation, Vend Xero Integration or connecting Vend to any systems, we can help you to do it seamlessly and perfectly with our HexaSync Integration Solution.

Why Vend POS?

Briefly, Vend is more than a POS system. It can help your business succeed, grow, and thrive — in all areas. Over 20,000 customer locations love Vend POS; and of course, there must be reasons for that!

An effortless POS software for busy retailers

Because you’re a retailer, not a tech wizard; Vend is designed to be so intuitive, anyone — from owners to managers to cashiers — can get the hang of it in minutes. You and your team can stop worrying about the tech side of things, and focus more on running and growing your business.

An effective solution to grow your traffic, sales, and customer base

Who wouldn’t want more traffic, higher sales, and lots of loyal customers? Vend has you covered in all these areas. From promotions and customer loyalty features to clever reports and sales targets, they can help you grow in every direction.

A tool that meets your leading in-store specialists

Since they know the unique challenges that brick-and-mortar retailers face, they’re arming you with all the tools you need to run a thriving physical store.

Streamlines your operations, boosts your efficiency, and helps you get the job done faster

When using Vend, you’ll get more hours back into your day, and you can spend that time serving your customers, cooking up new ideas, or simply doing things you truly love.

Work with an award-winning team who truly loves retail

As a four-time winner for customer service at the Stevie Awards (the Oscars of customer service), you can be totally sure that Vend’s support crew will be there for you. Their team members come from retail backgrounds themselves and they’re well-equipped to solve any issues you may have.

What do Vend users say?

Among thousands of Vend users, most of them have excellent experience while using the software.

Positive Feedback

It’s honestly so easy to use, and training new team members takes only minutes, as the design of the system is intuitive and just really well thought out. Phew!

JACKSON MULLIGAN, FOUNDER, REFILL NATION

The switch to Vend works out very well from a cost perspective. We’ve saved tens of thousands of dollars in POS hardware, maintenance and consultancy fees — even though we’ve increased our retail locations five-fold.

TEZ OZMAN, DIRECTOR – INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, LINEN HOUSE

Vend makes it easy for our staff to talk to and sell what’s on the floor, our management team to know what’s in inventory and our artists to know what they’re owed – it helps us run smoothly on the gallery floor and in the back office.

 HALLIE RAE WARD, ART BUSINESS DIRECTOR, ART FOR THE PEOPLE

There are so many features that help us do things so quickly. We’re saving masses of time… [Vend is] saving us around a day of admin time across the business

 ALICE MAYOR, FOUNDER, WE BUILT THIS CITY

It’s overwhelming sometimes to set up a point of sale system. But Vend just made me really comfortable and really at ease.

LORI LAZARUS, STORE MANAGER, HIP-KID

Negative Feedback

However, there is no such thing as a perfect software for everyone without spending time and budget to customize the software and make it best suit your business needs. Therefore, some users still face a few issues in using Vend POS software.

Updating / removing stock via CSVs can be arduous

If you use UPC codes, you can’t import anything. If you use SKUs you have to deal with a laggy look up system that doesn’t work (or make stickers for every product so you can scan your SKUs, which we have over 5,000 products)

One thing is the speed in which the app connects to a PayPal reader. We also wish there was more customization available. The biggest thing is an integration with zapier would be awesome.

Conclusion

Vend integrates with other world-leading business and payments applications including Shopify, Square, Xero and PayPal, and is a key retail partner in Apple’s global Mobility Partner Program. The software is trusted by retailers in over 140 countries and is used in more than 20,000 stores worldwide.

Choosing and adapting to a new POS system is anything but difficult to utilize and can be grabbed actually rapidly. It’s significant for new starters in an organization to have the option to comprehend the POS programming with no issues, Vend makes this conceivable.

Have any questions? Feel free to contact us!