Material
A retail-only POS built around inventory, Shopify sync and customer retention, at a flat $99 a month with the tools other systems sell as add-ons 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, apparel, shoes, gifts, beauty, pet supply. No restaurant mode, no salon calendar, no compromise features for businesses it doesn't serve. That focus shows up exactly where retail systems usually fall apart: variants, purchasing, stock history and getting customers back in the door.
It's a connected ecosystem more than a register. The iPad checkout, your Shopify store, a boutique-only marketplace called Shoptiques, loyalty, SMS and reporting all run off one inventory. Sell the last medium in-store and the website knows instantly. No double entry, no oversold orders, no spreadsheet reconciliation on Sunday night.
Then there's the price: $99 a month per location, all-in. Most POS companies advertise a low base price and then charge separately for loyalty, texting, time tracking and integrations until the real bill is triple the sticker. Material includes them. We broker the processing behind it and we're the local team that sets it up on your counter.
What it does well
Variant-level inventory
Every size, color and SKU tracked individually, with a full stock history showing 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 automatically.
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 automated texts that bring customers back, feeding one customer database that grows with every sale.
Reporting that knows retail
Sales trends, inventory value, cost of goods and margin, live on one dashboard instead of buried in exports.
Cash discount and dual pricing built in
Posted prices, automatic math and compliant receipts and shelf labels, with no third-party 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 include the add-ons. Ours is to bid the processing behind it, so the flat software price sits on top of rates that were actually negotiated.
Cash discount and dual pricing are native to Material: both prices posted, the math automatic, the receipts compliant. Pair that with the processing we negotiate and your monthly software line stays at $99 while the fee line heads toward zero. On a retail floor with big-ticket items, customer financing runs at the same counter, so 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's Material against the three systems retail owners ask us about most, feature by feature. Included means included at $99, not available at a price.
✓ Included · $ Paid add-on or higher tier · ✗ Not available
| Feature | Material | Shopify POS | Lightspeed | Clover |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Advanced inventory management | ✓ Included | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available | $ Paid add-on |
| Customer loyalty programs | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on |
| SMS texting | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on | $ Paid add-on | $ Paid add-on |
| Employee time tracking | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on | ✓ Included | ✓ Included |
| QuickBooks Online integration | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on | $ Paid add-on | $ Paid add-on |
| Compliant cash discount and surcharging | ✓ Included | ✗ Not available | ✓ Included | $ Paid add-on |
| Ecommerce data sync | ✓ Shopify | ✓ Shopify | $ Paid add-on | $ Paid add-on |
| Boutique-only marketplace | ✓ Shoptiques | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available |
| Custom website build | ✓ Included | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available |
| Custom onboarding and product data import | ✓ Included | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available | ✗ Not available |
| 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 specialist with everything included. Tell us what you sell and we'll tell you straight which one wins for your store. Comparison based on Material's published partner pricing, July 2026; competitor pricing varies 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, backed by a cloud dashboard you can read from anywhere.
Card terminal
A paired customer-facing terminal for tap, dip and swipe.
Receipt printer and label tools
Compliant receipts and shelf labels print automatically, including dual-pricing formats.
How businesses run it
The boutique that sells on Instagram
One inventory behind the rack, the website and the marketplace, so the last unit never sells twice.
The apparel store drowning in variants
Sizes and colors tracked at the item level, with purchasing suggestions instead of guesswork.
The gift shop that runs on regulars
Loyalty points and automated texts that turn one-time browsers into repeat customers.
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 by design. Restaurants, coffee shops, bars, liquor stores and convenience stores should look at Paradise, HotSauce, Clover, Exatouch or Korona instead. And if your business doesn't sell products with SKUs, this isn't your system.
We carry eleven systems precisely so we never have to force the wrong one on you.
What you get for the $99
Four jobs carry a retail day: ringing people up, keeping your numbers in one place, getting customers back through the door, and knowing what to reorder. Material covers all four, and every piece below is already in the $99 rather than sold to you later as an upgrade.
POS software and hardware
A cloud backend behind an iPad app on your counter. Fast checkout, plus employee management and timesheets built in, so scheduling and hours are not a second subscription.
Powerful integrations
One-click sync to Shopify, QuickBooks, Google, Facebook and Instagram. Your catalog, your books and your storefronts stop being four separate jobs.
Turn every shopper into a VIP
Intelligent SMS automations, a built-in loyalty rewards program and conversational texting, so the customer who bought once actually hears from you again.
Stay ahead of demand
Real-time stock reports, inventory management tools, detailed reporting and one-click sync across every channel you sell on. You reorder off numbers instead of a hunch.
Shoptiques, the marketplace built for boutiques
Shoptiques is a marketplace only for independent boutiques, and access is included at $99. Your existing inventory goes in front of shoppers who came looking for stores like yours, without you building a second catalog or running a second inventory count.
Sell on a marketplace built for boutiques
Your products reach shoppers hunting independent stores. Their marketing and customer support teams drive the traffic and field the questions.
One-click sync
Check the Shoptiques sales channel inside Material and your products list themselves. One inventory pool 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 ecommerce marketing. That is their service, not ours, and you would arrange it with them directly. It matters here for one reason: when you are pricing Material against a POS company that sells software and nothing else, this is on the Material side of the ledger.
Brand-first Shopify builds
Fully custom Shopify sites built around your brand rather than a template, designed to convert and to keep growing instead of needing a rebuild in two years.
On-demand marketing services
Email marketing planning, design and execution handled end to end by their team, instead of landing on your Sunday night.
Strategic growth, amplified
Ad strategy built on your actual sales data, scaled to the size of the store rather than sold as a fixed package you outgrow or overpay for.
Northwest Payment Brokers does not build websites or run ad campaigns. We mention it because it changes the comparison, not because we are selling it.
Material, answered
What does Material cost?
A flat $99 per month per location, all-in. Loyalty, SMS, time tracking, the QuickBooks integration and Shopify sync are included, which is exactly the list most competitors sell as paid add-ons.
Does Material work for restaurants or coffee shops?
No, and that's on purpose. It's retail-only. For food service we'd quote Paradise, HotSauce, Clover or Exatouch.
Does it really sync with Shopify?
Yes, natively, with one-click setup. Inventory and sales flow both ways, so in-store and online stay one pool instead of two jobs.
What is Shoptiques?
A marketplace built only for boutiques. Material lets you list your products there with one click for incremental sales; you pack and ship the orders, their team handles the traffic and support.
Can Material run cash discount or dual pricing?
Yes, it's built into the platform with compliant receipts and shelf labels. No third-party software, no extra monthly fee.
I already have inventory in another system. How painful is the switch?
Material includes custom onboarding with product data import, and we're the local team walking your counter through it. Most stores switch with one slow-day changeover.
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.