Step 1: List your non-negotiables
Canadian store owners choosing a retail POS should write down what they genuinely need: real-time inventory, online sync, multiple locations, gift and loyalty, staff permissions, detailed reporting. Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves. This list, not a sales pitch, should drive your shortlist. One page is enough, and it should describe a Saturday you have worked. One counter and a few staff do not need a chain dashboard yet. A second store that is already signed does need a till you can add a location to. Take the page into the demo and do not let a module tour replace it. When a must-have turns into a setup for later, cross the vendor off.
Step 2: Match hardware and integrations
Confirm the POS works with the hardware you want, receipt printers, scanners, cash drawers, and an integrated PIN pad, and connects to your accounting and ecommerce tools. Armour Payments connects to 100+ platforms; see integrations. In the demo, scan a real barcode, sell a gift card, and take a payment without re-typing the total into a separate pad. If the scanner arrives later as an add-on, Saturday becomes a name search and on-hand will not move. Confirm accounting, and the site if you have one, from the integrations list rather than a promise to look into it.
Step 3: Weigh support and reliability
A POS is mission-critical. If it goes down, you cannot sell. Prioritize 24/7 support, offline mode, and a provider that handles both software and payments so there is one number to call. Armour offers Canadian-based support around the clock. Ask what still rings when the internet blips, and who picks up on a Saturday night when the pad fails mid-line. A note you email on Monday does not help the guest standing there. Confirm whether offline mode can finish the sale or only store something you re-enter later. Put the support number where the opener can see it, not in a login only the owner has.
Step 4: Compare the true cost
Add software, payment processing, hardware, and support into one monthly figure, then compare. The cheapest sticker often hides high processing rates. See the full math in the true cost of switching, then book a demo. A low software price with a high rate on every card costs more across a season than a clearer all-in number. Include the scanner and the pad if they are not in the software quote. Add the hours you already spend on a manual count and on totals typed into a second device. If processing is a separate conversation, put it on the same page before you pick a winner.
The one-page list before anyone demos
Write the non-negotiables before anyone opens a slide. One page is enough. Real-time on-hand, the hardware you already plan to put on the counter, staff permissions, and whether you sell in more than one place. Then force the demo to follow a Saturday you have actually worked. Scan a barcode, take a return, sell a gift card, and ring a payment without re-typing the total into a separate pad. Ask what happens when the internet blips, and who picks up at 8 p.m. Armour’s support is Canadian and around the clock, which matters more than a feature you will not touch. Confirm accounting and, if you have a site, ecommerce, via the integrations list rather than a promise to "look into it." If a must-have becomes a phase-two project, it is not on the shortlist for retail POS.
Features that died on the first busy Saturday
The feature list that impressed the office often dies on a Saturday. Unlimited reports do not help if the return process needs a manager code nobody set, or if the scanner is a paid add-on that arrived later. Another miss is buying for a chain workflow when you have one counter and three staff. You pay for transfers and dashboards while the real gap is a slow card step and no low-stock alert. The reverse miss is a boutique-simple till you will outgrow the moment a second location opens and the catalogue has to be typed in again. Separate must-haves from nice-to-haves in the true cost of switching math: software, processing, hardware, and support as one monthly figure. Book a demo and spend it on a return, a stock lookup, and a close, not on the longest menu of modules.