Epicor Retail Solutions Review
Software, hardware & payment processingPOS, eCommerce, back-office features
Comprehensive inventory management
Hands-on customer support & onboarding
Customized packages and pricing
Pros & Cons
- POS and complete retail business management in one solution
- Support team works closely with customers
- Includes eCommerce, CRM, & accounting features
- Real-time data and robust analytics and reporting tools
- Powerful loyalty applications
- In-store Gift Cards
- Back-office tools
- Inventory management
- Learning curve can be steep for users unfamiliar with POS systems
- Integrations with many popular apps need to be built by the business
- Limited choice of fields for invoices
- Mostly geared toward retailers
- No pricing info available online
Plans & Pricing
Epicor pricing is custom and scalable depending on each retailer’s requirements, with plans starting as low as $399 per month and $90 per each terminal. The budget should be a minimum of $5,000 to get up and running with a POS system from Epicor.
Overview
Epicor was founded in 1972 to provide enterprise resource planning software to a diverse range of industries. Epicor Retail Solutions drive revenue for retailers in nearly 8,000 locations. It has evolved into a suite of products, namely Epicor Eagle and Epicor Propello that include POS systems, inventory management, purchasing tools, and more to manage and grow retail business. With over 45 years in the industry, Epicor Retail on-premise and cloud solutions can help retailers compete and win against big boxes and online retailers everywhere.
Features and Functionality
Epicor combines many features that would normally be found in multiple tools which makes it a powerful POS solution for the businesses it serves. It helps you grow revenue, control costs, streamline operations, and reach your goals quickly, easily, and securely. It also offers robust analytics that allows you to get an overview of your business or drill down to identify your best customers or bestselling products. Sales reports, gross margins, revenue growth, cost centers, and more are clearly displayed so you can focus on growing your bottom line.
The platform also comes with customer relationship management features to understand how individuals are contributing to your business. Using these insights and the robust loyalty program, you’re able to keep your best customers happy with minimal effort.
POS systems
Epicor has a robust POS solution that allows you to process transactions whether you’re online or offline, keep a clear electronic journal, and even capture signatures. Additionally, it seamlessly handles promotions, digital and printed receipts, and customer-facing displays to make the entire process easier for your staff and customers.
The solution works with almost any credit card payment system, but customers often save by switching to Epicor’s integrated payment processing. Retailers can offer flexible payment options to consumers including all major credit and debit cards, Apple Pay, and other mobile and contactless payments.
Financial management & accounting
Many POS systems have integrations with accounting software solutions but Epicor has strong financial management and accounting features built into the core product. You’re able to eliminate manual transaction entries, keep an accurate record of accounts payable and receivable, manage your employee schedules, and make better forecasts. There’s also an optional QuickBooks integration.
Inventory management
The platform also helps you maintain optimal levels of inventory so overstocking and understocking become issues of the past. You’re able to set up automatically generated purchase orders, track inventory in a central location, multi-location stock transfer, and even set prices based on costs and expected gross margin. These features are integrated with the reporting suite to give you deep insights into your business performance and the products that are most beneficial to your bottom line.
eCommerce
Epicor also comes with the ability to launch an eCommerce storefront to get in front of a wider range of customers. Sync your offline and online presence, create customer accounts, make and distribute invoices and receipts, and update your catalog with a few clicks. Retailers can also customize their online catalog and offer easy-to-use search features, simple purchase tools, and end-to-end payment processing capabilities for their consumers.
Offline mode
Epicor supports offline mode. That means that even if the power goes down or you don’t have an internet connection, your system won’t get knocked out. Most POS software offers some sort of offline mode, but Epicor goes further than most. You retain most functionality, and you won’t lose information or important processes while you wait to get back online. Offline transactions will be automatically uploaded once you’re back online.
Make better decisions with real-time data
With Epicor Retail Solutions, you can monitor your business in real-time with just a simple click, are able to drill deeper into your numbers instantly, and can also choose to run full reports. The system tracks your store activity, down to which clerk ran each transaction.
Hardware Requirements
One of the many advantages of Epicor is they offer hardware support, in addition to software. They can offer a cloud solution and evaluate your current hardware or they can set you up with hardware from start to finish. If you’re switching from another provider with standard equipment then you’ll likely be able to use it with Epicor. They have specialists that will sit down with you, analyze your business, and make recommendations for the type of solution that will be best for your needs.
For on-premise deployments, it’s compatible with Windows devices and there are also applications for iOS and Android devices. At a minimum, you’ll need a Windows computer, barcode scanner, printer, and cash drawer to get started with the system.
Integrations & Add-ons
Epicor offers a variety of integrations and applications to serve all areas of your business. Depending on the Epicor Retail Solution selected, these may include:
- QuickBooks
- Magento
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- CRM software
- Firearms Bound Book
- Gun Range Management
- Various Pharmacy Management Systems
Ease of Use
Epicor offers both a cloud, point solution, as well as an on-premise solution for retail businesses with more complex needs. Epicor provides robust implementation and learning tools as needed to help customers get up and running quickly and take advantage of the full power of each solution.
Epicor also offers an on-premise solution as well as a cloud solution. Epicor has interactive tours, learning guides, videos, and articles built into the solution to help customers understand the software, troubleshoot, and keep things running smoothly. Epicor supports Windows, Android, and iOS platforms, so it can be used both from out of or in the office.
The system is designed to handle all aspects of your business, so you don’t have to learn a lot of new concepts or commands. A lot of the work can be automated. What’s even more impressive is that Epicor Retail Solutions are tailored to meet the unique needs of various retailers, including hardware and home centers, garden centers, specialty retailers, retail pharmacies, thrift stores, and more.
Customer Support
There’s a lot of support provided by the organization when you’re first getting started with the POS system. This cuts down on confusion and potentially poor experiences. If you run into any trouble after implementation, there are multiple support options available with the consensus among users that it can be slow but the reps are knowledgeable.
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Phone Support
Available 16 hours a day on weekdays and 21 hours on weekends for paying customers. -
Live Online Chat
Live chat available. -
Email
Email support is included for all customers through a ticketing system. -
FAQ
There is a presale FAQ section for prospective customers. -
Community Forum
There’s a community forum available but it’s not very active at this time. -
Blog
It has a blog that focuses on company news, industry trends, customer spotlight, and business tips for its target audience.
Final Word
Epicor provides a POS system that’s tailored to meet the needs of retail. It combines many features needed to run a business such as employee management, CRM systems, payment processing, and more into a single product suite. This approach comes with cost and time savings but also adds complexity.
To counteract this, the platform has robust customer onboarding procedures and multiple support channels customers can take advantage of. Looking at the system as a whole, it’s a solid choice for retail businesses that want to handle the majority of their operations with a single solution.
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