New York City Mayor Bloomberg recently stopped by Hive at 55, a new workspace at Downtown Manhattan’s Broad Street, to praise the entrepreneurial spirit of Shopkeep.com, the company hosting a launch party there for its newest product, a special point-of-sale software program for independent retailers. The software offers a simple way to run a register, keep track of customers, and even track inventory. “The technology that is out there for small retailers to run their stores is 20 years old,” said Shopkeep.com owner, Jason Richelson. “I was upset that I could never see what was going on in my store without running the reports through the old system. I thought, well there has to be someone doing this on the web. I looked and there was nothing.”
Richelson stepped in to meet that need, creating a retail management solution that is simple and accessible. The whole thing is built upon the notion of a web based point-of-sale manager that permits managers and owners of retail shops to run their stores via the web. This way, they don’t necessarily have to be tethered to the store’s physical location. The web based program is also convenient for business partners, as well. “Its easy for everyone to see how the store is doing,” said Richelson’s colleague, Cameron Peek. “It’s information that can be shared up to the minute, rather than having to have every person ask the accountant for reports from the last week.”
Compared to similar point-of-sale programs such as Quickbooks’ Intuit software, Shopkeep.com is highly affordable, which is no doubt a major selling point for local retailers looking to stay profitable in today’s economic climate. For instance, whereas Intuit could cost a retailer $900 up front, followed by an additional monthly cost running between $500 and $2,000, Peek estimates that a retailer could have Shopkeep.com running for nearly 19 months before even approaching the cost of a single month of Intuit.