Cin7 - Inventory Management & POS System

Our Verdict

There’s a lot to Cin7, and it’s certainly not for everyone. For starters, this is strictly a retail POS system, so hospitality businesses will need to look elsewhere. It’s also not suited to start-ups. The system is specifically marketed to “growing” businesses with a multi-million turnover.

There’s inevitably some complexity in this system, but its target market probably needs this complexity. The huge range of available integrations respects the fact that most businesses will already have various legacy requirements and existing systems to hook into.

As such, this is a complex solution for complex businesses. But for those that fit the bill – companies with lots of stores and sales channels, it could be just what’s needed.

Pros

Great for multiple locations, countries and currencies
Many integrations and payment options
Very strong inventory management
Advanced reporting capabilities

Cons

System can be challenging to learn
More expensive than some alternatives
No options for start-ups

Plans & Pricing

Like several point of sale companies, Cin7 provides bespoke quotes to interested customers, based upon their exact requirements. Free trials are also available on request.

This approach means it’s not possible to know precisely what using Cin7 will cost a business without contacting the sales team. However, the company does quote a starting price, which is either US$299 or GB£299 per month (the price shown changes depending on which country you access the website from).

Cin7 broadly divides its offerings into three tiers: “Starter,” “Momentum” and “Advanced.” It’s worth noting that Cin7 is specifically aimed at growing businesses, rather than start-ups.

Starter

Aimed at retail businesses that are beginning to grow, the “Starter” package is suggested for companies with annual revenue in the region of $2 Million. This is the tier where pricing begins at £/$299 per month

Momentum

The “Momentum” option is for established companies looking to add additional products or sales channels. Pricing is bespoke and available on request.

Advanced

Cin7’s “Advanced” tier is aimed at enterprise retail businesses with multiple locations and multiple sales channels. Again, pricing is available on request.

Starter

From £ /$299/month

14-day free trial

Momentum

Quote upon request

14-day free trial

Advanced

Quote upon request

14-day free trial

In-depth review

Features and Functionality

Cin7 is described as an “integrated stock control” POS, which reveals the software’s roots as an inventory management system. Everything in the solution is built around keeping precise track of stock levels, regardless of the number of store locations and the other ways a business may sell product. This can mean online, but also via wholesale or via additional third-party channels.

Despite this focus on “omnichannel” inventory management, Cin7 still includes a considerable range of point of sale functionality. There’s also a plethora of integrations available to hook into other systems.

Broad Compatibility

Cin7 is a bespoke system designed to work with lots of different hardware. It supports “most” scanners, cash drawers and receipt printers, and works with Windows, Mac OS and both iOS and Android. Cin7 highlights the mobile functionality as particularly useful if businesses want full access to their inventory from a pop-up store.

Cloud-Based Inventory Management

Cin7 is built with complex, modern retail businesses in mind – the kind that sell their products through all sorts of channels, such as their own websites, third party sites, and retail stores.

The system synchronises data from all of these channels every five minutes, making it possible to monitor inventory in real-time from any connected device.

Stock Management and Routing

Cin7 is intended for growing medium and large size businesses, typically with multiple locations. As such, the system has advanced routing features to manage stock moving between stores, warehouses and even different countries.

Reporting

Unsurprisingly, Cin7 has lots of comprehensive dashboards that can pull in information from all areas of the business. There’s a vast range of pre-configured reports, along with pivot-table style options for more detailed analysis.

Promotion and Loyalty Features

With Cin7, retailers can boost customer loyalty by automating the creation and distribution of discount and reward vouchers. There are also various built-in promotion options for things like “buy one, get one free” deals and percentage-based discounts.

Integrations & Add-ons

Cin7 operates an “app store” style system for integrations. It includes a vast range of options spanning ten categories.

Like many POS systems, there is out-of-the-box integration with Xero for accounting, but QuickBooks (Online and Enterprise) is also supported. Ecommerce options include Shopify, WooCommerce and Magento.

Many online marketplaces are supported, including big names like Amazon and Etsy, and smaller players such as Brandscope and Zalora. Payment provider options are also in abundance, and include PayPal and Dejavoo.

Ease of Use

It’s fair to say that Cin7’s advanced, enterprise-level functionality does have some impact on ease of use. This is a solution designed to fit around complex workflows and supply chains, so unsurprisingly there’s a steeper learning curve that you see with systems aimed at start-ups and small businesses.

With this in mind, Cin7 usually suggest and specify a considerable period of on-boarding, which is time also used to import items and arrange integrations with existing systems. As Cin7 is aimed at growing businesses, customers will usually be migrating from a previous solution, which obviously has an impact on complexity.

Customer Service

Cin7’s solutions are bespoke and their support options are too. As is usually the case with companies that operate on this basis, this means that you can generally access exactly the support you need, if you are willing to pay for it.

However, it’s notable that Cin7 has also worked hard to provide an extensive online library of support resources. From videos to knowledgebase articles, there’s an enormous of online information available.

Phone Support

Cin7 offers premium phone support to customers who choose to pay for it. They offer direct dial numbers for Australia, New Zealand, the UK and the USA.

Cin7 offers email support using an online ticketing system.

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Ben Taylor

Ben Taylor has been a professional writer since 2009, owning several sites of his own and writing for an array of global clients both large and small. A techie by trade, Ben has written for many comparison sites, covering diverse areas ranging all the way from software to lifestyle products.

We make the best effort to present up-to-date information; however, the terms of each offer can be revised according to the service provider’s discretion. The above shall not be considered as an expert or professional advice for any matter.