Material
A retail-only POS built around stock, Shopify sync and repeat customers. It is a flat $99 a month. The tools other systems sell as add-ons are included.
Retail only, everything included, $99 a month flat. If you run a store, this is the one to beat. If you serve food, skip it.
Who it's built for
★ best = where we recommend it first. Crossed out = we'll point you to a better system for that business.
What it can do
What Material actually is
Material does one thing. Retail. Boutiques, clothing, shoes, gifts, beauty, pet supply. No restaurant mode. No salon calendar. No half-built features for shops it does not serve. That focus shows up where retail systems usually fall apart. Sizes and colors, buying, stock history, and getting customers back in the door.
It is more a set of connected tools than a register. The iPad checkout, your Shopify store, loyalty, texts and reports all run off one stock list. So does Shoptiques, a marketplace built only for boutiques. Sell the last medium in the shop and the website knows right away. No double entry. No oversold orders. No matching up spreadsheets on Sunday night.
Then there is the price. It is $99 a month per store, all in. Most POS companies post a low base price. Then they bill you again for loyalty, texting, time tracking and add-ons. The real bill ends up triple the sticker. Material puts all of it in the $99. We broker the processing behind it. And we are the local team that sets it up on your counter.
What it does well
Variant-level inventory
Every size, color and SKU is tracked on its own. A full stock history shows who changed what, and when.
One-click Shopify sync
One source of truth for in-store and online. What sells at the counter updates the website on its own.
Shoptiques marketplace
List your products on a boutique-only marketplace with one click. You pack and ship; their team drives the traffic.
Loyalty and smart SMS
Points, tiers and texts that go out on their own bring customers back. Every sale feeds one customer list that keeps growing.
Reporting that knows retail
See sales trends, stock value, cost of goods and margin. It is live on one dashboard, not buried in an export.
Cash discount and dual pricing built in
Both prices are posted and the math is done for you. Receipts and shelf labels meet the rules. No extra software bolted on.
The $99 all-in price is the headline here, and it holds up.
Retail owners rarely get burned by the base price of a POS. They get burned by the fourth add-on. Material's answer is to put the add-ons in the price. Ours is to bid the processing behind it. So the flat software price sits on rates we actually bid down.
Cash discount and dual pricing are built into Material. Both prices are posted, the math is done for you, and the receipts meet the rules. Add the processing we bid down. Your software line stays at $99 while the fee line heads toward zero. On a floor with big-ticket items, customer financing runs at the same counter. The customer who was going to think about it can pay over time instead.
The $99 question.
Retail POS pricing is a base sticker plus a stack of add-ons. Here is Material next to the three systems owners ask us about most. We go feature by feature. Included means included at $99, not sold to you at a price.
✓ Included · $ Costs extra or needs a higher tier · ✗ Not there at all
| Feature | Material | Shopify POS | Lightspeed | Clover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced inventory management | ✓ Included | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all | $ Costs extra |
| Customer loyalty programs | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra |
| SMS texting | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra | $ Costs extra | $ Costs extra |
| Employee time tracking | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| QuickBooks Online integration | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra | $ Costs extra | $ Costs extra |
| Compliant cash discount and surcharging | ✓ Included | ✗ Not there at all | ✓ Included | $ Costs extra |
| Ecommerce data sync | ✓ Shopify | ✓ Shopify | $ Costs extra | $ Costs extra |
| Boutique-only marketplace | ✓ Shoptiques | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all |
| Custom website build | ✓ Included | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all |
| Custom onboarding and product data import | ✓ Included | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all | ✗ Not there at all |
| Card processing rates | Negotiated through us | 2.6% + $0.10 | 2.6% + $0.10 | Negotiated through us |
| Monthly price (per location) | $99 all-in | ~$89–$713+ | ~$89–$347+ | ~$85–$572+ |
Yes, Clover is on this table. And yes, we install Clover every week. Clover is the do-everything system. Material is the retail one with everything included. Tell us what you sell. We will tell you straight which one wins for your store. This table uses Material's published partner pricing from July 2026. Other prices vary by plan and add-ons.
Run a store? Get the $99 math for your counter.
The hardware
iPad register
A clean iPad checkout on a counter stand. A cloud dashboard backs it up, and you can read it from anywhere.
Card terminal
A paired terminal that faces the customer. They tap, dip or swipe there.
Receipt printer and label tools
Receipts and shelf labels print on their own, and they meet the rules. That covers dual pricing formats too.
How businesses run it
The boutique that sells on Instagram
One stock list sits behind the rack, the website and the marketplace. The last unit never sells twice.
The clothing shop drowning in sizes and colors
Sizes and colors are tracked item by item. You get buying tips instead of guesswork.
The gift shop that runs on regulars
Loyalty points and texts that go out on their own. They turn a one-time browser into a repeat customer.
Best for
- Boutiques and apparel
- Shoes, gifts and beauty retail
- Pet supply and specialty shops
- Stores that sell on Shopify
Where it falls short
Material is retail only, and that is on purpose. Do you run a restaurant, a coffee shop, a bar, a liquor store or a convenience store? Look at Paradise, HotSauce, Clover, Exatouch or Korona instead. And if you do not sell products with SKUs, this is not your system.
We carry eleven systems. That way we never have to push the wrong one on you.
What you get for the $99
Four jobs carry a retail day. Ring people up. Keep your numbers in one place. Get customers back through the door. Know what to reorder. Material covers all four. Every piece below is already in the $99, not sold to you later as an upgrade.
POS software and hardware
An iPad app on your counter, with the cloud behind it. Checkout is fast. Staff tools and timesheets are built in. Schedules and hours are not a second bill.
Powerful integrations
One-click sync to Shopify, QuickBooks, Google, Facebook and Instagram. That is your catalog, your books and your web stores. They stop being four jobs.
Turn every shopper into a VIP
Texts that go out on their own. A rewards program built in. Real back-and-forth texting. So the customer who bought once actually hears from you again.
Stay ahead of demand
Live stock reports, tools to manage what you carry, and full reports. One click syncs every channel you sell on. You reorder off numbers, not a hunch.
Shoptiques, the marketplace built for boutiques
Shoptiques is a marketplace only for independent boutiques. Access is included in the $99. Your stock goes in front of shoppers who came looking for stores like yours. You don't build a second catalog. You don't count stock twice.
Sell on a marketplace built for boutiques
Your products reach shoppers hunting for independent stores. Their marketing team drives the traffic. Their support team fields the questions.
One-click sync
Check the Shoptiques sales channel inside Material. Your products list themselves. One stock pool sits behind the counter, the website and the marketplace.
Hassle-free ecommerce
When an order comes in, you pack it and ship it. Their team handles the storefront, the traffic and the support around it.
If you also need the website built
Material's own team builds Shopify sites and runs online marketing. That is their service, not ours. You would set it up with them directly. It matters here for one reason. When you price Material against a POS company that sells software and nothing else, this counts on the Material side.
Brand-first Shopify builds
Custom Shopify sites built around your brand, not a template. They are built to sell and to keep growing. No rebuild in two years.
On-demand marketing services
Their team plans, designs and sends the email marketing. All of it. It stops landing on your Sunday night.
Strategic growth, amplified
Ad plans built on your real sales data. They scale to the size of your store. It is not a fixed package you outgrow or overpay for.
Northwest Payment Brokers does not build websites or run ads. We bring it up because it changes the comparison. We are not selling it.
Material, answered
What does Material cost?
A flat $99 per month per store, all in. Loyalty, SMS, time tracking, QuickBooks and Shopify sync are included. That is the same list most rivals sell as paid add-ons.
Can Material work if I run a cafe or a restaurant?
No, and that is on purpose. This one is built for shops. For food we would quote Paradise, HotSauce, Clover or Exatouch.
Does it really sync with Shopify?
Yes, built in, with one-click setup. Stock and sales flow both ways. In-store and online stay one pool, not two jobs.
What is Shoptiques?
A marketplace built only for boutiques. Material lets you list your products there with one click. That is extra sales on top. You pack and ship the orders. Their team handles the traffic and the support.
Can I set up cash discount and dual pricing in Material?
Yes, it's built into the platform with compliant receipts and shelf labels. No third-party software, no extra monthly fee.
My stock is in another system. How hard is the switch?
Material sets you up and imports your product data. We are the local team walking your counter through it. Most stores switch on one slow day.
Not sure Material is the one?
Tell us what your business does. We'll match the system, even when the answer is a cheaper one.