November 7, 2004

Intuit vs Microsoft Point of Sale Solutions

Intuit and Microsoft are both targeting retailers with their respective Point of Sale solutions.

You can get the details about Intuit's POS solution here

If you are looking to see the differences between the two solutions, here's one side of the difference, from Microsoft. I hope to get Intuit's input later on.

Microsoft Retail Management System uses an indirect sales channel, which offers an extension of support to users through Microsoft Business Solutions and the partner.

Microsoft Retail Management System uses Microsoft SQL Server, an open database engine allowing customers access to their data. It is not held hostage.

Microsoft Retail Management System allows for an indefinite number of items, suppliers, customer records in the database. QuickBooks POS tops off at 14,000.

Microsoft Retail Management System licensing dictates the number of POS systems running at one time and allows for unlimited back office access. QuickBooks POS caps the network access to 5 simultaneous users and requires additional POS users to be purchased.

Microsoft Retail Management System is hardware agnostic. We endorse customers selecting their own hardware brands, while QuickBooks will only guarantee the hardware sold with the bundle. We believe small and mid-market retailers need the flexibility to make their own hardware choices.

Microsoft Retail Management System is built to operate from the shopkeeper?s point of view, which allows better visibility into all aspects of their store. QuickBooks POS is built to run from the bookkeeper?s point of view.

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