Shopify vs Vend (2024): Which Solution Should You Choose?

Shopify vs Vend, which solution is best for your business?

The first thing worth noting is that Vend (now part of the Lightspeed family) is a dedicated Point of Sale solution, or POS service, designed to optimize retail operations.

On the other hand, Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform, offering tools for payment processing, order management, website building and more.

While it might be difficult to compare Vend with the full Shopify platform, we can look at the core differences between Vend and the Shopify POS service.

To help you make the right choice today, we’re only going to be looking at the features that both Shopify POS and Vend have in common. Let’s dive into our complete comparison.

What is Shopify? Features of Shopify POS

Shopify is a leading commerce platform, created to help entrepreneurs and business owners create, manage, and run companies however they choose.

The platform comes with a website builder, numerous sales and marketing tools, inventory, and order management features, and more. Plus, the Shopify app marketplace ensures business owners can create virtually any kind of store, leveraging digital product sales, dropshipping and print on demand.

For the purpose of this comparison, we’re looking at one specific aspect of the Shopify ecosystem: Shopify POS.

The Shopify point of sale service is an all-in-one solution for both point of sale software and hardware. It provides companies with the functionality they need to transform any mobile device into a point of sale system, or integrate their desired hardware.

Shopify POS integrates with the full Shopify collection of tools, allow companies to seamlessly manage offline and online sales in one place. Key features of Shopify POS include:

• Complete integration with the Shopify commerce platform
• Integrations with dozens of sales and marketing tools
• Comprehensive inventory and order management
• Integrated marketing and loyalty programs
• Fully synced customer profiles with order histories
• Payment processing via integrations or Shopify Payments
• Unified cross-channel reporting and analytics
• Employee management, payroll, and tracking features

Plus, there are numerous hardware options and integrations to choose from to help with staff and order management, accounting and more.

What is Vend?

Vend is a POS solution designed to provide businesses with the tools they need to optimize and manage transactions both online and offline. Today, like many POS services (such as Shopkeep), Vend belongs to the larger Lightspeed family of POS products.

Vend was built to simplify the process of managing transactions in the modern business landscape. It works on iPad, Mac, and PC devices, and syncs data automatically in the cloud to keep your team on the same page.

The service works offline, so you can continue selling even when the internet goes down, and comes with an easy-to-use interface that makes team onboarding easy.

Vend supports everything from custom receipts, to discounts and notes, layaways and on-account sales, refunds, return, and store credit tracking. It’s also possible to create user accounts for each individual staff member in the Vend ecosystem. Other features of Vend include:

• Online and offline POS management
• Discounts, receipts, refunds, and cash management
• Multi-channel inventory
• Ecommerce connectivity with integrations for WooCommerce and Shopify
• Real time and historical reporting
• Customer tracking and order histories
• Custom payment options and credit or debit card transactions
• Inventory control and stock transfers
• Employee performance tracking

On top of all that, Vend works with partners in the hardware world to ensure businesses can access the barcode scanners, receipt printers, and other essential tools they need in one location. Additionally, the company offers a variety of integrations with accounting, staffing, marketing, and sales tools.

Shopify vs Vend: Pros and Cons

Shopify POS Pros & Cons

 Vend POS Pros & Cons

Shopify vs Vend: Omnichannel Sales (Ecommerce and Offline)

Both Shopify and Vend allow companies to purchase their hardware and software for POS management in the same convenient location. From a software perspective, both tools offer cloud-based functionality, with options for selling offline and online.

Vend simplifies the process of tracking and managing sales with a powerful software solution available on virtually any device. If your hardware goes offline, Vend will even automatically sync your sales when you reconnect to the internet.

The easy-to-use platform takes very little training to master, and supports everything from custom receipts (with branding) to layaways and on-account sales.

You can add notes and discounts to specific sales, track returns, refunds, and store credits, and even monitor all cash movements from register closures to cash floats.

Every Vend user can access their own dedicated account, with specific permissions based on their role. Plus, Vend gives businesses endless payment options to choose from.

You can accept credit card and debit card payments from users around the world, create custom buttons for different payment types and create your own gift cards.

There’s support for split payments and partial payments, mobile and contactless payments, and users can even integrate their own existing processor for payment management.

The POS system from Vend integrates with leading ecommerce platforms like WooCommerce and Shopify, and can connect with a range of existing stores, offering insights into multi-channel inventory counts, product management tools, and customer profiles.

Shopify designs all of its tools, from the ecommerce website builder to its POS solution to be as straightforward as possible. With Shopify POS, business leaders can turn virtually any device into a “point of sale” solution, with countless customization options to choose from.

The single backend “office” environment included within the Shopify POS software can be accessed either on the web, or through mobile Android or iOS apps.

The system supports a range of omnichannel selling options, such as buy in store and ship to customer, buy online and return in store, local delivery, and local pickup. Plus, there’s a host of checkout features to explore.

Like with Vend, you can create custom printed receipts, save, and retrieve carts for specific customers, apply discount codes, and even automatically calculate taxes. There’s also an included barcode scanner, support for offline cash transactions and custom discounts.

When it comes to payment options, you can choose to use Shopify Payments to keep transaction fees low, or integrate your own payment processing solution. Shopify also supports custom payment types, digital wallets, gift cads, split payments, and partial payments.

For small businesses looking to leverage ecommerce strategies alongside in-person sales, Shopify offers all the tools required to manage and grow an online store. There are even tools available for email marketing automation and social media advertising, as well as access to the Google Merchant center, product reviews, and more.

Shopify vs Vend: Order, Staff, and Inventory Management

Being able to manage every transaction, order and employee in one place is crucial with a powerful POS solution. Fortunately, both Vend and Shopify excel in this area.

For inventory and product management, Vend offers access to variants and composites for multiple different styles of product, as well as custom barcodes and labels.

Business leaders can create a central product catalog where they can manage items, prices, and promotions in one place, and set up custom tax rules. Inventory counting and control tools are included, as well as features for managing stock orders and stock transfers.

Each employee account can be set up with specific permissions, and real-time and historical reporting tools make it easy to track employee performance.

Companies can even set daily, weekly and monthly sales targets, and track end-of-day reports. Plus, there’s a mobile retail dashboard for tracking performance in real-time.

Shopify is absolutely brimming with tools to help companies manage orders, inventory, and teams.

Companies can implement unlimited products, product collections, and product variants into their toolkit, with multi-location tracking and up-to-date inventory statuses.

For inventory management, Shopify also offers a range of advanced tools like purchase orders, demand forecasting, low stock reports, and even intelligent sale item suggestions. There are features for analyzing inventory performance and adjusting stock levels automatically.

Plus, Shopify helps companies to manage their teams with unlimited POS staff accounts, roles and permissions, manager approvals, and staff performance tracking.

Vend vs Shopify: Hardware and Devices

As mentioned above, Vend and Shopify both offer a one-stop-shop for all the tools companies need to get their commerce strategy up and running, including hardware and devices. Vend can integrate directly with a wide range of hardware options from well-known POS companies, or you can purchase hardware bundles directly from the Vend company.

Options range from add-on barcode scanners and card reader solutions for your Vend POS system, to complete toolkits. Plus, there’s a friendly hardware support team available if you need help getting your technology up and running.

Shopify also provides access to a variety of plug-and-play hardware options, such as easy-to-use card readers, and comprehensive product bundles. You can also connect existing screens and devices like mobile phones to the Shopify POS system. One point worth noting is Shopify offers a little more peace of mind with its hardware options.

All of the first-party hardware from the company comes with a 1-year warranty on Shopify POS Lite, or 2 year warranty on POS Pro. Plus, tools and accessories are available with free shipping and returns.

All hardware also comes pre-integrated with Shopify POS for minimal setup.

Vend vs Shopify: Customer Profiles and Analytics

No matter how you choose to run your commerce business, analytics and insights will be crucial to generating growth. Fortunately, there are a ton of reports and analytical tools available from both Vend and Shopify. Alongside the insights already mentioned for employee performance tracking and inventory management, Vend also offers:

• Product and sales reports
• End-of-day reports
• Customizable dashboards
• Customer purchase histories
• Customer database tools

You can also create customer profiles, segment buyers into specific groups, and set up loyalty programs to boost average order value within the POS software. Shopify also provides phenomenal tools for customer management and business insights, such as:

• Real-time dashboards
• Retail sales reports
• Discount reports
• Product reports
• Inventory reports
• Financial reports
• Cash tracking tools

Plus, you can create comprehensive customer profiles within the software, offering insights into lifetime spend, purchasing history and marketing preferences. There’s even the option to reach out to customers with campaigns and loyalty programs via SMS, email, or phone.

Shopify vs Vend: Pricing Plans

Ensuring your POS solution suits your budget will always be crucial when making the right choice for your business. Both Shopify and Vend offer a range of pricing packages, which can vary depending on your specific needs. Vend offers a free trial to get you started, followed by:

• Lean: Starting at $69 per month for retail POS software, 1 register, Lightspeed payments, API access, a dedicated account manager, and 24/7 customer support.
• Standard: Starting at $119 per month for all the features of Lean, plus accounting and ecommerce tools.
• Advanced: Starting at $199 per month for all the features of Standard, plus loyalty programs, advanced reporting, and serialization.
• Enterprise: Custom pricing for all the features of Advanced, plus customized onboarding, and premium API access, plus discounted card-present rates.

Shopify POS offers a range of 3 pricing plans to choose from. The standard “Lite” version of the POS software comes built into your standard Shopify ecommerce plan, provided you choose one of the following core plans:

• Basic: $39 per month for POS Lite and all the tools required to run an ecommerce business, such as Shopify’s website builder, SSL certification, 2 staff accounts and marketing tools.
• Shopify: $105 for all the features included in the Basic plan, as well as lower transaction fees, 5 staff accounts and 5 locations, professional reporting and worldwide selling.
• Advanced: $399 per month for all the features of the Shopify plan, as well as gift cards, advanced reporting, duties, and tax management, and 15 staff accounts.

You can also choose to upgrade to Shopify POS Pro for an additional $89 per month on top of your Shopify subscription, to access staff management tools, omnichannel selling, inventory management, customer management, retail reports and enhanced customer service options.

Learn more: Shopify POS Review

Vend vs Shopify: Which is Best?

When it comes to unifying multiple sales channels, managing offline and online payments, and finding ways to grow your business, both Vend and Shopify have a lot to offer.

Both of these providers offer ecommerce integration options, user-friendly interfaces, and powerful tools for reporting and analytics.

However, Shopify offers a more advanced range of tools for ecommerce sales, marketing, and growth, if you’re planning on building an online store.

Alternatively, Vend is excellent if you’re looking for a comprehensive service with extensive customer support and guidance.