Retail accounting software can help you manage inventory, track taxes and sync sales across multiple channels. Which of those channels your business uses will likely determine the best option for you. Have a brick-and-mortar? You'll want accounting software that works with your POS system. If you sell online, make sure your choice integrates with your e-commerce platform.
On top of retail-specific features, look for all the basics you’d want in typical small-business accounting software — think reporting, online bank connections, live customer support and a mobile app.
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Here are NerdWallet’s picks for best accounting software for small retail businesses, organized by the capabilities that make them stand out.
Sponsored partner picks for
Best Accounting Software for Small Retail Businesses
Product | Promotion | Learn more | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
QuickBooks Online Learn more on QuickBooks Online's secure website | 5.0/5 Best for Retail stores that sell online and in person | $35/month Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235. | 50% off for first three months or free 30-day trial. | Learn more on QuickBooks Online's secure website |
Xero Learn more on Xero's secure website | 5.0/5 Best for Access for multiple employees | $20/month Additional pricing tiers (per month): $47, $80. | 95% off for 6 months. | Learn more on Xero's secure website |
Zoho Books Learn more on Zoho Books' secure website | 4.5/5 Best for In-house e-commerce website builder | $0 Additional pricing tiers (per month): $20, $50, $70, $150, $275. | 14-day free trial of the Premium plan. | Learn more on Zoho Books' secure website |
Wave Accounting | 3.5/5 Best for Free accounting for invoice-based retail businesses | $0 Additional pricing tiers (per month): $16 | N/A | |
QuickBooks Enterprise | 4.0/5 Best for Advanced inventory tracking for larger brick-and-mortar stores | $1,481/year Additional pricing tiers (per year): $1,922; $2,363; $4,668. Adding users or cloud access costs extra. | 30-day free trial |
Our pick for
Retail stores that sell online and in person
QuickBooks Online
Learn more
on QuickBooks Online's secure website
Starting at
$35/month
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $65, $99, $235.
Promotion
50% off
for first three months or free 30-day trial.
QuickBooks Online is an industry leader in the accounting field, thanks to its strong feature set, scalability and ability to accommodate small businesses with more complex financial needs. With millions of users worldwide, your accountant will likely be familiar with it.
Pros
- Built-in Amazon, Shopify and eBay store connections.
- Set custom sales tax rates and track how much sales tax you owe.
- More than 750 app integrations, including Square, Lightspeed, Gusto and ADP.
- Daily phone support and 24/7 chat support in all plans.
Cons
- Expensive compared to the competition.
- Must subscribe to Plus plan (or higher) to track inventory and cost of goods sold.
Our pick for
Access for multiple employees
Xero
Learn more
on Xero's secure website
Starting at
$20/month
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $47, $80.
Promotion
95% off
for 6 months.
Xero allows unlimited users at every subscription tier, a valuable feature for businesses where several users may need at least limited access to the system to run reports or analyze performance. Xero also has a customizable analytics dashboard that lets each user rearrange or hide panels.
Pros
- Unlimited users in all plans.
- Track up to 4,000 inventory items in all plans and calculate profit by item.
- More than 1,000 third-party app integrations, including Square, Lightspeed, Gusto and ADP.
- Set custom sales tax rates.
- Simple layout and easy to use.
Cons
- Entry-level plan limits bills and invoices to five and 20 per month, respectively.
- No phone number for customer support listed.
Our pick for
In-house e-commerce website builder
Zoho Books
Learn more
on Zoho Books' secure website
Starting at
$0
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $20, $50, $70, $150, $275.
Promotion
14-day free trial
of the Premium plan.
Zoho Books packs an impressive collection of features and capabilities for an affordable price, and higher-tier plans let users automate workflows and track project profitability. It’s an especially good choice for users that already use the company’s other in-house apps and for businesses that want software with multilingual capabilities (Zoho Books supports 10 languages).
Pros
- Design and build your online shop with Zoho Commerce (additional fees apply).
- Free accounting plan available for businesses with less than $50K in annual revenue.
- Zoho Inventory features are integrated by default and include shipping labels, inventory reports and the ability to generate barcodes.
- Set custom sales tax rates and track how much sales tax you owe.
- Email support in free plan; 24/5 phone and chat support in paid plans.
Cons
- Fewer third-party integrations than some competitors; only direct POS and payroll integrations are Square, Zoho Payroll and SurePayroll.
Our pick for
Free accounting for invoice-based retail businesses
Wave Accounting
Starting at
$0
Additional pricing tiers (per month): $16
Promotion
N/A
Unlike some “freemium” software products, Wave doesn’t put out a bare-bones free product as bait, then load it down with costly upgrades. The free accounting software lets you add unlimited collaborators, along with unlimited bank and credit card connections. It can be a simple solution for small, service-based businesses.
Pros
- Free.
- Unlimited users.
- Intuitive, customizable invoicing capabilities compete with those of more robust accounting solutions.
- Set custom sales tax rates and track how much sales tax you owe.
Cons
- Lack of third-party integrations makes it a poor fit for retail businesses that use in-store POS systems or want to sync online sales.
- Must subscribe to Wave’s paid services (payroll, payments, advisor, etc.) to receive customer support from a human.
Our pick for
Advanced inventory tracking for larger brick-and-mortar stores
QuickBooks Enterprise
Starting at
$1,481/year
Additional pricing tiers (per year): $1,922; $2,363; $4,668. Adding users or cloud access costs extra.
Promotion
30-day free trial
QuickBooks Enterprise is a feature-rich desktop software solution for larger businesses. It comes with industry-specific features that include specialized reporting for contractors, nonprofits, manufacturers, wholesalers and distributors.
Pros
- More than 200 reports, including industry-specific ones for retail businesses.
- Use mobile devices as barcode scanners to count inventory in the Platinum plan and up. Users can also track inventory parts and assemblies.
- Set up volume discounts and customize pricing rules by sales rep, item category or customer in the Platinum plan and up.
- Set custom sales tax rates and track how much sales tax you owe.
- 24/7 phone and chat support.
Cons
- Outdated user interface.
- Limited direct, third-party integrations for payroll software and popular point-of-sale systems. E-commerce integrations cost extra.
- Annual subscriptions are expensive; each additional user license costs extra.
NerdWallet’s picks for the best retail accounting software
QuickBooks Online: Best for retail stores that sell online and in person
Price:
- $35 per month for the Simple Start plan.
- $65 per month for the Essentials plan.
- $99 per month for the Plus plan.
- $235 per month for the Advanced plan.
Why we like it: All QuickBooks Online plans include a built-in connection with an Amazon, Shopify or eBay e-commerce account — a convenient feature for retail shop owners who sell products on these platforms. QuickBooks Online also integrates with a variety of retail POS systems, like Square and Lightspeed Retail. These built-in e-commerce connections plus POS system integrations make QuickBooks Online a good option for retail store owners with multiple sales channels.
QuickBooks Online’s robust feature set makes it versatile, too — it can be a good fit for very small retail businesses and growing ones alike. Whereas some competitors stand out for having excellent invoicing but potentially fall short in other categories, for instance, QuickBooks Online’s key features are solid across the board. Read our full QuickBooks Online review.
» MORE: Top alternatives to QuickBooks
Xero: Best for access for multiple employees
Price:
- $20 per month for the Early plan.
- $47 per month for the Growing plan.
- $80 per month for the Established plan.
Why we like it: For retail businesses that give multiple employees some level of access to their accounting software, Xero can be a big money saver. Whereas competitors often cap how many users can access the software or charge a monthly fee per additional user, all of Xero’s plans let you loop in as many users as you want. And you can assign them different permission levels: For example, one user might only be able to create invoice drafts and submit time entries, while another can view reports but not edit transactions.
Unlimited users aside, Xero also includes the most third-party integrations of the products listed here. Just keep in mind that some popular e-commerce store apps aren’t direct integrations, which means they may require extra steps to set up or charge additional fees. Still, the product can suit both online shops and physical storefronts alike. Read our full Xero review.
» MORE: Top Xero alternatives
Zoho Books: Best for in-house e-commerce website builder
Price:
- $0 per month for the Free plan.
- $20 per month for the Standard plan.
- $50 per month for the Professional plan.
- $70 per month for the Premium plan.
- $150 per month for the Elite plan.
- $275 per month for the Ultimate plan.
Why we like it: If you’re looking to bundle your retail accounting software with additional business tools from the same provider, Zoho Books should be on your list of considerations. On top of its accounting software, Zoho has a range of other products — like Zoho Inventory, Expenses and CRM — that conveniently integrate with each other to form an all-in-one retail software solution.
Unlike some of its competitors, it offers its own online shop builder through Zoho Commerce, which starts at $27 per month. First, you choose a website template and add images of your products. From there, Zoho Commerce lets you accept payments, manage orders and shipping, automate emails to customers and gather product reviews in a single platform.
It’s also one of the most affordable business accounting solutions out there, with plans starting at $0 per month. It’s worth noting that although Zoho Books has two lower-level plans, many of the retail-specific features — sales orders, purchase orders, etc. — are only available with the Professional plan. Read our full Zoho Books review.
» MORE: Best Zoho Books alternatives
Wave: Best for free accounting for invoice-based retail businesses
Price: $0.
Why we like it: Wave can be a simple solution for entrepreneurs who operate their retail business out of their homes and do most of their sales via invoice, as opposed to through an online store or POS system.
Unlimited online bank connections enable business-related credit card transactions to flow seamlessly into Wave, and the software automatically sends invoice payment reminders to customers for you. The software also includes basic reporting, as well as income and expense tracking. You’ll only pay associated fees if you choose to utilize Wave’s online payment processing services or integrated payroll. Read our full Wave Accounting review.
QuickBooks Enterprise: Best for advanced inventory tracking for larger brick-and-mortar stores
Price:
- $1,481 per year for the Silver plan.
- $1,922 per year for the Gold plan.
- $2,363 per year for the Platinum plan.
- $4,668 per year for the Diamond plan.
Why we like it: QuickBooks Enterprise has advanced inventory tracking and other industry-specific features you don’t typically find in competitors’ products. These can be valuable for larger small retail businesses that need more complex inventory tracking and pricing capabilities built in.
In addition to having a prebuilt chart of accounts tailored to retail businesses, Enterprise includes 14 retail-specific reports that calculate insights like gross margin by inventory item, monthly sales by customer and purchase volume by vendor. You can also track the cost of goods sold, adjust inventory for loss or shrinkage and create up to four inventory categorization levels to organize your items.
It’s important to remember that QuickBooks Enterprise is locally hosted unless you pay extra for cloud access, which starts at $171 per month for one user. If you operate multiple stores or an online business and want to be able to manage your finances from anywhere, a cloud-based accounting software might be a better fit. Read our full QuickBooks Enterprise review.
How to choose retail accounting software
You can use any business accounting software for a retail business. This being said, certain accounting software solutions offer features that are better suited for small retail businesses than others.
The best retail accounting software should help you find opportunities to save money and boost profits. For example, by calculating the cost of goods sold and collecting sales data from your POS system or e-commerce website, your software can help determine which products are most profitable or, on the flip side, not worth producing anymore.
In addition to standard bookkeeping and accounting tools, here are a few important features retail businesses should consider when choosing accounting software:
Inventory management
Inventory is the lifeblood of a retail business, so it's extremely helpful to have inventory management tools integrated within your accounting software.
However, inventory management should expand beyond monitoring the merchandise you have in stock. Along these lines, you’ll want to look for accounting software that can determine:
- Your cost of goods sold.
- The profitability of each product you sell.
- How long your inventory sits on the shelves or in the warehouse before it’s sold.
- The rate at which your entire inventory turns in a given period.
- Shrinkage due to theft or damage.
Although your POS system might be able to take care of some of these functions, having these inventory tools in your retail accounting software can be more convenient.
Sales tax tools
Most states charge a sales tax, though certain items like medication, food and clothing may be exempt in your state. With the increased impact of online business on sales tax revenues, many states are passing laws requiring out-of-state retailers to collect and remit sales taxes. You’ll want to look for retail accounting software that can track sales taxes due and customize your sales tax rates.
» MORE: How sales tax deductions work
Sales channel integrations
If you have multiple sales channels — both online and offline — it’s important to choose an accounting product that has plenty of integrations with retail POS systems and e-commerce websites. That way, all of your sales data will be centralized in one place. This makes it easier to compare how your business is doing in one sales channel versus another. While browsing integrations, make sure to note whether they come with an additional monthly fee and factor that into your budget.
Payroll integrations
If you have employees operating your retail store, payroll software will be an important consideration. Although payroll isn’t unique to retailers, it’s often one of the biggest expenses these types of businesses incur. Your accounting software should handle your payroll correctly and efficiently, whether it’s through an integration or an in-house payroll product.
A version of this article was first published on Fundera, a subsidiary of NerdWallet.
Last updated on June 18, 2024
Methodology
NerdWallet independently reviews accounting software products before determining our top picks. We collect the data for our software ratings from products’ public-facing websites and from company representatives. Information is gathered on a regular basis and reviewed by our editorial team for consistency and accuracy.
NerdWallet’s accounting software ratings favor products that are easy to use, reasonably priced, have a robust feature set and can grow with your business. The best accounting software received top marks when evaluated across 10 categories and more than 30 subcategories. Learn more about how we rate small-business accounting software.
These ratings are meant to provide clarity in the decision-making process, but what’s best for your business will depend on its size, growth trajectory and which features you need most. We encourage you to research and compare multiple accounting software products before choosing one.
NerdWallet does not receive compensation for any reviews. Read our editorial guidelines.
