Not to make this review boring but for a quick history lesson, the Clover Station was released back in 2013, Clover Station was a groundbreaking, all-in one POS system that included point of sale hardware, software, and payment processing in one stunningly attractive package & even now Clover still manages to strike the optimal balance between fashion & function in a way that no other POS System has been able to match.
In this Review we will dive deep into why Clover Station could be the perfect or not so perfect match for your dear business.
WHY EVEN USE A POS SYSTEM?
While we assume everyone reading this blog already knows the answer to this question, however, there are still a few business owners that have this question bugging them all the time. If you would like to simply jump onto the specifications of the Clover Station Duo, click here.
For those who want an answer to the question above, the answer is, well, complicated & is different for all various types of businesses out there.
Many businesses want to make their sales, revenue, profit, tax management & employee management easier and therefore use a POS System.
Various businesses have different reasons for example a restaurant may use it to keep track of the tips, table management, item count & billing, Tax Management & employee records as well as generating & sending reports.
A grocery store may use it to keep track of its inventory so they don’t loose track of how many Ketchups or Egg Cartons are left behind in stock or perhaps giving away gift cards to their regular and loyal customers etc.
Like we said earlier, different people have different reasons but in easy words it’s simply to have one powerhouse where a track of the whole business is kept and is therefore a really important part of any business.
CLOVER STATION OVERVIEW
Speaking of the Clover Station Duo, it seems to be the ultimate solution for small – medium sized businesses who are looking for an all-in-one package.
The Clover Station Duo allows you to take payments via all methods including Dip, Swipe, Tap, Flash, QR, Debit, Credit, Apple Pay, NFC & Many More. And moreover, it is called a POS System for a reason, with its powerful Qualcomm Snapdragon 660- Octa core processor it is a whole powerhouse with some great capabilities.
The Clover Station is sturdy in its design, with all elements of the POS hardware having a uniform white-and-chrome appearance.
The components are also multifunctional, looking at the traditional Clover Station setup, the large touch screen terminal contains a built-in credit card reader, fingerprint login sensor, camera, and barcode scanner. Apart from the 14 Inches HD large screen that faces the business owner or employee there is also a Clover Mini included in this package that faces the customer itself with a 7 Inches HD Screen so they may sign and can even process their own card without having to even exchange their card.
The Free of cost Clover Station Receipt Printer also works as a double for an NFC reader (which is required for accepting contactless payments such as Apple Pay etc.)
Apart from all the brains & beauty we just mentioned above the Clover Station is without a doubt the easiest POS System to train your staff on with really efficient software meanwhile it also uses End-to-End Encryption so all of your & your customers information is secure.
You can even have your employees set up their fingerprint login so only authorized personnel may log in and view the information on your POS System.
CLOVER POS FEATURES
The Clover POS Software is seriously adaptable! (And can be customized with a wide variety of apps) that it is impossible to discuss it all in one blog. That said, we will be covering some of the most popular available features that come with Clover’s varying plans and are likely to be useful to any type of business whether it be a retail store or a restaurant.
As discussed above the features mentioned in this blog does not cover the full array of features that the Clover POS Software has to offer and are just the tip of the iceberg or simply the most popular features used amongst business owners.
REGISTER PLAN
This plan costs as low as $39.95/month & has the following features;
- Virtual terminal for online payments
- Email invoices to customers
- Online ordering module
- Employee management (Clocking in and out)
- Customer management (Storing customer information and spending histories)
- Open tabs
- Rewards in the form of discounts
- Order management
- Item assignments including notes for tracking
- Full access to the Clover App Market. (Which is constantly being updated)
- Inventory management with item tracking
- Tax calculations
- Advanced inventory, including modifiers and tracking
- Built-in item exchanges
- Combine multiple orders and tickets
- Kitchen printing
COUNTER SERVICE PLAN
For $39.95/month, restaurants and quick-service food industries get the following array features which are sure to help you in more ways than you can think of;
- Virtual terminal for online payments
- Email invoices to customers
- Online ordering module
- Employee management (Clocking in and out)
- Customer management (Storing customer information and spending histories)
- Open tabs
- Rewards in the form of discounts
- Limited order management
- Item assignments including notes for tracking
- Full access to the Clover App Market. (Which is constantly being updated)
- Inventory management with item tracking
- Tax calculations
- Menu & Order Management
- Fire orders directly to kitchen or prep stations
- Online ordering module for restaurants
- Apply discounts at item and order level
- Apply service charges for large parties
- Run reports per revenue class (Food, wine, etc.)
ADVANCED FEATURES
In order to get the most out of any of the Clover POS Software you need to download applications from the Clover Marketplace. Below are a few examples of a few basic apps that have already been pre-installed;
- Inventory: Clover POS has updated its inventory features. Items can now be described with variants (such as color) and options (such as size) and organized into categories or labeled for quicker access. Those of you in food service can create modifiers for each item. New items can be created with or without variants and sold at a fixed or variable price or priced per unit. (Oz, g, kg, lb.)
- Reports: Clover POS also comes with a basic but solid array of reports. The Clover app provides decent reporting tools, including a “By Payments” report, which shows you a summary of completed transactions made during a specified time. There are also reports for net payment statistics, cash reports, payments by card type, employee statistics and activities, discounts, taxes, orders, and more. All reports can be sorted according to date/time and filtered for specific requirements; once created, reports may be exported.
- Customer Management: Clover POS Software gives you the ability to collect customer information at the time of sale. Later, you can search for customers by name and date or look up a customer’s order history.
- Gift Cards: Clover POS is on top of its game when it comes to customized gift cards. Both digital and physical cards can be branded to suit your company. Customers can access and use their cards on their mobile devices. The cards are all tracked digitally, taking away the need for messy receipts or yet another card taking up valuable wallet real estate. There is also a report that allows you to track and analyze all gift card sales.
- Loyalty: Clover’s loyalty functionality comes included with your Clover Station Duo which is a nice perk. You can customize your program, allowing customers to accrue loyalty benefits in several different ways. Store and quickly look up customer information and track their spending habits. You can send out real-time promotions through text or email campaigns, and you can receive customer feedback directly. Another nice feature is that, with a mobile app, you can find Clover businesses and track your reward points.
CLOVER DASHBOARD
With any products from the Clover Family, you get full & free access to the “Clover Dashboard” which is basically an online portal which you can login to with your personal login details via your Phone, PC, Laptop or essentially anywhere.
Since tracking & reporting is the lifeblood of your business, the Clover Dashboard lets you view information on how business was today? Yesterday? Last week? And so on. Not only this but the Dashboard also allows you to run reports and see which employee is the best seller, manage schedules and timesheets and even set system permissions.
Apart from all of the above one of the greatest features that the Clover Dashboard offers is an absolutely free! “Virtual Terminal” so in case you don’t happen to be near your equipment and want to take a payment upfront or from elsewhere, well, you can do that virtually anywhere.
RECEIPT FEATURES
One of the best features that the Clover Station Duo contains is its exceptional Kitchen Receipt Printer that comes along with a high-speed thermal dot receipt printer. Below are some great features it offers;
- Print, text, or email receipt.
- Choose whether customers sign on-screen or on a printed receipt.
- Add a custom message to all receipts.
- Add unique customer feedback code to all receipts.
- Print gift receipt.
- Reissue receipt for a past order.
- Print bill for a past order.
You can even use the Clover Station Receipt Printer to print basic reports, including Sales Overview and Sales by Employees.
Customer Service & Support
As we have always mentioned and this remains to be fact amongst business owners, part of the Payment Industry or POS Industry is to have the best customer support so in any case if you have any difficulties, customer service should always be there to help you out.
Firstly, you will be given direct merchant training as soon as the Clover Station Duo is set up for any business, Clover always makes sure to make this procedure seamless for all businesses regardless of which Clover Product you opt for.
For technical support there is no company that does it better than Clover, you’re offered 24/7 365 Customer Support, which is nice to see & being able to talk in real time around the clock just crowns this scenario all together.
You also have a built-in application in your Clover Station Duo named “Help?” which will give you direct access to customer support once more, the screen provides you with a support email, phone number & your MID (Merchant ID is an Identification Number given to all businesses processing) in order to make it easier for you to get in contact with a technical expert at the earliest possible.
The Verdict
Clover Station Duo, as popularly believed, happens to stand to its reputation with countless features, over all aesthetic and power that it holds to maintain your business throughout the day.
If you are a business looking to add a POS system or switch over and are looking for all the features that we have enlisted in this blog as well as want something that adds to the overall look of your business, then let us be blunt…there is no better choice than Clover Station Duo.
If you wish to know anything more about the Clover Station Duo or have any questions regarding our services, please feel free to reach our team at info@liberermerchantservices.com (OR) call us at (581) 200 2203.
