Do you feel overwhelmed when it comes to running your fabric store?
If you’re trying to manage your inventory, keep your store in order, help customers, and promote your products, things can quickly feel like they’re piling up. This is especially true if you’re running your business manually, with pen and paper or with outdated computer programs. For your business to reach its full potential, you need fabric store software that lets you run your entire enterprise from one place.
Luckily, this dream can be a reality with a solid point of sale (POS) system. These systems offer a full suite of features for small businesses owners, so you can keep track of all of your operations digitally. While some are designed with general retail features, others are designed with specific industries in mind — including the fabric and quilting industry.
In this blog, we’ll explain the seven fabric store software features you need to relieve the stress of running your business and optimize your workflows. We’ll also list our top five picks for fabric store software providers, so you can determine which one is best for your store.
Let’s get started.
As you consider which fabric store software is right for your business, remember one word: features. The features a system offers determine how useful it is for your business. Dig in to what each system offers, and how those capabilities apply (or don’t apply) to your operations.
If you need serialized inventory, make sure the system can accommodate that. If you need tools to organize classes and workshops, ensure a system has those features. On the other hand, try to avoid systems that have a bunch of features you don’t need. If there are too many controls that don’t apply to your business, the interface may feel overcomplicated and cumbersome — and you may be spending more money than necessary.
To help you find the best system for your fabric store, let’s go over some of the most important software features fabric stores need. Once you identify your top priorities, you’re better equipped to make the right decision for your store.
POS systems have many functionalities — but these are our picks for the features you need the most as a fabric store owner. As you determine which system is right for you, look for these features to make sure a system is a good fit for your store.
Inventory management is an essential task of any retail store owner, but fabric inventory management requires specialized features. Because fabric can be cut into customized measurements, your system must be able to charge customers for these specific lengths of fabric. Some POS systems offer fractional yards to make it easy for fabric stores to calculate totals and charge their customers accurately.
You also need to store extensive information about your fabric products — including fabric composition, color, and patterns. Find a system that can track all of this information and utilizes a barcode system that brings up this information at the touch of a button. This way, you can easily answer customer questions and make sure each customer is buying the correct fabric for whatever project they’re working on.
Related Read: How To Manage Serialized Inventory in Your Fabric Store: 6 Pro Tips
Your system should give you the ability to easily adjust your prices. When you offer discounts and sales, you may need to temporarily adjust prices. You may also offer bulk discounts depending on the quantity of fabric purchased. Sophisticated POS systems allow you to adjust your prices at will.
Classes and workshops are a staple of fabric and quilt stores. Hosting events in your fabric store helps you build a sense of community around your business and increase customer loyalty. A POS system helps you to organize and manage these events, with tools for marketing, class registration, taking payment, and sending out reminders.
Related Read: How To Teach a Craft Class at Your Fabric Store: 6 Tips
Customer relationship management (CRM) refers to the methods business owners use to track information about their customers and communicate with them to promote customer loyalty. CRM tools offered by POS systems track information like purchase history, customer service history, and other key information that help you better serve your customers.
If a customer comes in looking for a fabric they’ve purchased in the past, you can quickly pull up their file and take a look at their past purchases. If you do repairs on sewing machines, you can bring up the service history on their machine to more quickly identify what the problem is.
CRM also includes tools to communicate with customers. You can send personalized emails and text messages to customers with items they’re most likely to be interested in. This keeps your fabric store top of mind and encourages them to return.
Accurate, well-organized data helps you identify trends in the market and in your customers’ buying habits. POS systems keep records of important metrics like revenue and profit, as well as keeping inventory counts that automatically update when you make sales. Paying attention to this data helps you determine how well your strategy is working and what changes you might make to see higher sales.
You can use the data reporting to identify your top-selling products and the products that are selling the least, helping you optimize your fabric offerings. This data helps you know which products to put front and center in your marketing efforts.
POS systems can also help you present data clearly with charts and graphics, which can be helpful if you need to share data with investors and other business partners.
If you’ve only ever sold fabric in store, adding e-commerce your business model may seem like a lot to take on — but with a reliable fabric store POS, you can seamlessly connect e-commerce to your in-store business. Inventory levels and sales numbers accurately reflect both in-store and online orders, and you can use your POS system to secure suppliers and coordinate shipping.
Selling fabric across multiple channels expands your operation and helps you increase revenue — but with a POS system, you can manage multiple channels from the same system, simplifying the process.
Related Read: 9 Mistakes To Avoid When Building Your Online Fabric Store
POS systems built for specific industries offer access to suppliers from that industry. A fabric store POS grants you access to supplier catalogs, allowing you to research, compare prices, and make inventory purchases right from the system.
For fabric items you tend to buy a lot of, you can also set automatic restock points. Set a minimum amount for a specific product you don’t want your inventory to go below — when this threshold is reached, the system automatically orders a new shipment to bring it up to a set maximum. This way, you never run out of your most popular products.
Related Read: 5 Networking Tips for Quilt Store Owners
Here are our top five picks for POS systems for fabric stores. Each of these systems has a unique set of features that make it a good fit for some businesses, and less of a fit for others. As you decide which one is the best fit for your store, pay attention to which features you think you’ll use the most.
Like Sew is a cloud-based POS solution designed specially for fabric stores. It offers general retail features like payment processing, inventory management, and e-commerce, as well as features designed just for fabric stores.
Standout features: This system offers serialized inventory and fractional yardage, as well as access to fabric suppliers, event management, and modules for sewing machine repairs. This system’s intuitive interface makes it easy to learn.
Pricing: Contact for custom pricing.
Shopify is a general POS system that began as an e-commerce platform. Now, it offers a full suite of general POS features, including a robust e-commerce system. Shopify is a good fit for small to medium-sized businesses.
Standout features: Shopify has a user-friendly interface, an extensive app marketplace that allows users to add functionality, and marketing tools.
Pricing:
Basic: $29 per month
Shopify: $79 per month
Advanced: $299 per month
Plus: $2,300 per month
Square is a general POS system with a simple interface that can be used by businesses in many different industries. It’s a flexible system that can adapt to meet a business’ needs.
Standout features: Square offers a fast, simple checkout system.
Pricing:
Free Plan
Plus: $29 per month
Premium: Custom pricing
Lightspeed is a powerful and scalable POS solution. Lightspeed is equipped with many features, which gives business owners many options — but also creates a more difficult learning curve for those new to the software.
Standout features: Lightspeed specializes in multilocation management. It also offers tools for managing employees, and features detailed data tracking and reporting tools.
Pricing:
Basic: $89 per month
Core: $149 per month
Plus: $289 per month
Hardware sold separately.
Clover is a general POS provider with all of the basic features business owners need, including inventory management, multilocation management, and reporting.
Standout features: Clover has a straightforward setup process, making it easy for new users to get started quickly. They also offer CRM tools to help users build customer loyalty.
Pricing: Contact for custom pricing.
When it comes to a POS system, don’t settle for a generic solution. Like Sew is designed specifically for fabric stores with industry-specific features like fractional yards, repair modules, and class management. With Like Sew, you have everything you need to run your fabric store.
To see the difference Like Sew can make for your business, schedule a demo today!