This paid review is about Online
Point-of-Sale system by MerchantOS.

A Point-of-Sale system or POS is an indispensable feature in any kind of retail business. Ask any merchant around your area and chances are you will find them using some kind of POS in their business. As time goes by, POS system has evolved from standalone system to web base online system.

MerchantOS online POS system is a product developed by Ivan Stanojevic, Co-Founder and CEO and Justin Laing, Co-Founder and Software Architect. By reading on their about page, I can see that this is a classic example of how a small group of people, from what they need to use everyday, tried to make life more convenient, solving problems by developing a software that they need, and make it big by pushing it as a product for other to use.

From what I read from the MerchantOS website, majority of the merchants that uses the online POS system are bicycle shops. This does not surprise me as one of the co-founder, Ivan used to work in Slough’s bike shop in San Jose and he also rode for the Team San Jose cycling team. By going into a niche market, there will be better chance of survive because you offer what you do best and do not go head-to-head with the big boys which might already captures majority of the market.

Some advantages of using MerchantOS online POS system:

1. All the needed hardware are clearly stated on the hardware page, thus reduce wastage by selecting the correct hardware.
2. Online POS system means you can do transaction entry everywhere provided there is Internet connection.
3. No software needed to install on local system as the POS logics are on the webserver.,
4. Less hustle with licensing and backup.
5. Quick and easy to use.Workers do not need any special skills or knowledge to take full advantage of the online POS as it is developed by someone who has retail experience.

Seems that Ivan and Justin has made it big. As of time of writing, over 82 locations with $25,352,284.87 in sales and 85,332 consumers served. I like the realtime statistics on the main page. You can literally feel the energy and passion of their online POS system. If you are interested on the POS system, a demo page is provided. You can visit the page here.

Few suggestions though, just my personal opinion:

1. Try to attract more merchant from other fields. By using all bicycle shops in you testimonial page, you may give a wrong impression for potential buyers that you are good only in this kind of niche. A mixture of different fields might help.
2. The site looks abit casual for my liking. Make it more corporate like to give the impression that you are a trustworthy company.