Custom POS Systems: When Retail Outgrows Square and Shopify

Square and Shopify POS are great until they're not. For most retailers in their first 5 years, they're the right answer — fast setup, low monthly fees, decent payment processing. Then growth changes the math. Multi-location operations, custom inventory workflows, specialised promotions, vendor relationships — eventually the off-the-shelf POS starts shaping how you do business instead of the other way around.

Here are five signs your retail business has outgrown generic POS, and what custom alternatives actually cost.

5 signs you've outgrown Square or Shopify POS

1. You're paying $500+ per location per month and growing

Generic POS pricing looks reasonable at 1–2 locations. At 5+ locations with add-ons (gift cards, loyalty, advanced inventory, analytics, payroll), monthly fees compound. $500/location × 8 locations = $48k/year, indefinitely.

2. Your inventory workflows don't fit

You move stock between locations daily. You have consignment items with revenue splits. You have custom SKU structures (apparel by colour/size/season). Or you sell by weight, by yard, by linear foot. Generic POS forces you into their inventory model; custom POS adapts to yours.

3. You can't get the reports you need

The reports that would actually help you decide what to reorder, which staff are pulling their weight, which products to discontinue — those reports don't exist in the standard menus. You're either exporting to Excel weekly (workaround tax) or making decisions on incomplete data.

4. Integrations are limited

Your accounting software, your e-commerce platform, your wholesale orders system, your vendor invoicing — generic POS supports some integrations but not the specific ones you need. You're paying middleware (Zapier, custom CSV imports) to bridge gaps.

5. You have edge cases that won't fit

Layaway, custom orders, in-house financing, deposit-based pricing, on-account customers, complex returns/exchanges. Each of these works around generic POS, not with it. Workarounds compound.

What custom POS actually costs

Tier 1 — Single-location specialty retail ($30k–$60k)

3–5 register support, inventory management, customer profiles, basic loyalty

Stripe/Square payment processing integration

QuickBooks/Xero accounting export

6–10 week build

Tier 2 — Multi-location retail ($75k–$150k)

5–20 locations with centralised inventory, transfers between locations

Custom workflows (specialty inventory, on-account, layaway)

Customer-facing app + employee app + manager dashboard

8–12 integrations (accounting, e-commerce, payroll, vendor systems)

12–18 week build

Tier 3 — Enterprise retail / franchise ($175k–$400k+)

20+ locations, multi-tenant for franchise/dealer networks

Real-time inventory sync, advanced demand forecasting

Custom analytics dashboards

15+ integrations

20–30 week build

4 things only custom POS can do

Adapt to your actual workflow. Not your workflow forced into someone else's UX.

Run on your hardware. Tablets, phones, terminals — whatever you already have.

Own the customer data. No third-party vendor sitting between you and your repeat customers.

Integrate with anything. If it has an API or database access, custom POS connects.

Migration considerations

The realistic timeline for moving off Square/Shopify POS:

Week 1–2: data export from current POS, schema mapping

Weeks 3–N: parallel build (your team keeps running on old POS)

Last 2 weeks: dual-running, validation, staff training

Cutover weekend

Don't big-bang migrate. Especially not during peak season. Most retailers cut over in January or July.

For a transparent cost estimate for your specific retail scope, our cost calculator walks through 5 quick questions. Or browse /industries/retail for examples of what we've built.