The Best Dispensary POS Systems for Cannabis

So you just broke ground on your brand new licensed cannabis dispensary: you’re lining the shelves with fresh nug, stuffing the fridge with the best rosin, and preparing for all your new customers to walk in and buy some bud. But what about setting up your Point of Sale (POS) software?

A POS system gathers all of your inventory, sales, and customer data, helping you manage transactions and simplifying daily business tasks. The right solution will do more than this – it'll also be key to your growth and compliance efforts.

With a well-designed solution, you can accurately track sales, manage inventory, streamline customer check-in, verify consumer ages, calculate taxes, get business insights, and enhance the overall experience you offer. Additionally, a good POS system integrates with seed-to-sale software for better traceability and reporting, which is necessary for compliance and success in the growing cannabis industry.

POS systems are used by all types of businesses but are particularly important for cannabis dispensaries. According to Statista, total revenue from cannabis products is expected to generate nearly $43 billion by 2024. So, it's crucial to be equipped with the right tools to handle sales and overall operations.

But which is the best POS system for a dispensary? Let's find out! In this article, we'll compare the three most popular options in the cannabis industry to help you pick the ideal one for your business.

These three POS systems seamlessly integrate with Distru, a leading cannabis ERP and seed-to-sale software, and are designed to meet industry-specific requirements. Read on!

Understanding Cannabis Retail POS Systems

Before exploring the three leading POS systems for cannabis dispensaries, let's learn more about these solutions, what they're used for, and how they can help you streamline your operations.

What Are Dispensary POS Systems?

A point of sale (POS) system is a specialized tool that combines software, hardware, and payment services. Previously, the term was used to refer to the cash register in a store, but the setup can look completely different now.

For example, a cannabis dispensary might need a tangible device for physical sales, but online-only businesses don't always require hardware as part of their POS systems.

Dispensary POS systems are similar to the traditional solutions used in the retail world but are designed to meet the unique needs, standards, and regulations of the cannabis industry.

A POS system specifically designed for cannabis businesses can feature inventory tracking, age verification, and budtender tools to streamline daily operations and ensure compliance with local, state, and federal regulations.

What Are the Benefits of Dispensary POS Systems?

Cannabis dispensaries operate in a complex and highly regulated industry. The legal landscape is constantly changing, federal laws create discrepancies in legalization, and there's still a stigma around cannabis products. The market is also quite competitive, and businesses face several limitations when it comes to banking, lending, and tax deductions.

Fortunately, POS systems offer many benefits that can contribute to a business's success in this industry. These solutions automate key processes, such as sales tracking, cannabis inventory management, and compliance reporting. Such automation can save you time and avoid human errors that often turn into costly mistakes and even regulatory violations.

Dispensary POS systems are equipped with features that can make it easier to stay compliant, too. For example, many allow you to automate purchase limit tracking or age verification to prevent excessive or underage sales and can generate compliance reports, which is key to meeting regulatory requirements and preparing for potential audits.

Some options also integrate with seed-to-sale tracking software, providing a chain of custody for cannabis products. With these features, you can track every item you sell from the beginning to prove that it's legal and hasn't been tampered with.

These capabilities will protect your cannabis dispensary's license, but there's more. POS systems can improve your relationship with your customers and offer many benefits from a business perspective.

A dispensary POS system can gather data about a customer's purchase history or preferences and give personalized recommendations based on this information, streamline checkouts, collect feedback, manage inquiries or interactions, and integrate with loyalty programs. If you choose an option with these features, you'll be able to ensure customer satisfaction and drive repeat business.

Moreover, POS systems collect key information about your operations, provide valuable data analytics that can be used to make better decisions about your business, and facilitate management from multiple locations to support your growth over time.

In essence, a dispensary POS system serves as a comprehensive tool that can help you manage your business on all fronts and stay compliant in such a complex industry.

Who Uses Cannabis Retail POS Systems?

These specialized POS systems have been designed to address the needs of businesses and individuals operating within the cannabis industry, including the following parties:

Dispensary Owners and Managers

If you own or run a cannabis dispensary, you can use a POS system to manage your day-to-day operations, automate essential tasks, streamline transactions, get real-time business insights to make data-driven decisions, and ensure compliance with federal, state, and local regulations.

Budtenders

By using dispensary POS systems, your front-line staff can process sales, streamline the checkout process to reduce wait time for customers, access product details and availability, check customer information, provide recommendations and personalized assistance to buyers, and inform about backorders.

Compliance Officers

Since POS systems are designed to comply with specific federal, state, and local regulations and integrate tracking and reporting features, compliance officers can use them to determine if businesses are operating legally.

Inventory Managers

POS systems have inventory management features that you can use to get accurate and up-to-date information about product quantities or stock levels, manage orders, analyze sales trends, and identify discrepancies to prevent stockouts, overstocking, and losses due to errors or theft.

Marketing Teams

Your dispensary's marketing team can greatly benefit from POS systems by leveraging their features to collect customer data and demographics, develop targeted marketing campaigns, launch personalized promotions, and support loyalty programs to build brand awareness and encourage repeat business.

Multi-State Operators (MSOs)

POS systems centralize operations, meaning you can run your business across multiple locations from a single platform if you operate in several areas. By using these solutions, you can improve efficiency and consistency while complying with varying and complex regulations in different states.

Vertically Integrated Cannabis Companies

If you engage in multiple cannabis-related activities, including cultivation or processing, an integrated POS system can help you track products from seed to sale, provide you with valuable data from various departments, identify areas for cost reduction, optimize production, and improve your overall profitability.

Delivery Services

Do you deliver cannabis? You can use POS systems to process and manage delivery orders, track their status and inform customers about them, optimize delivery routes to reduce costs and delays, and handle payment processing. Some mobile options allow for payments on the go.

Cannabis Events and Pop-up Shops

Some POS systems are portable and allow cannabis businesses to manage short-term sales and streamline the checkout process at events, pop-up shops, or temporary locations. These solutions can reduce wait times, facilitate inventory management to avoid stockouts, improve customer satisfaction, and provide valuable data to assist with future marketing plans and activities.

Financial Controllers and Accountants

Dispensary POS systems are usually equipped with features that facilitate cannabis bookkeeping, tax preparation, and financial analysis, supporting the work of financial controllers and accountants. Such professionals can use these solutions to generate detailed reports on sales data, revenue, or expenses, comply with tax regulations, and identify opportunities to reduce costs or increase profitability.

Each cannabis professional listed above interacts with different functionalities within the dispensary POS system. This powerful tool offers unique features for each role, which demonstrates its importance and versatility in managing retail operations and can be key to a business's success.

Key Features of Top Cannabis POS Systems

While your needs may vary based on the products you offer or the business activities you engage in, we believe the best dispensary POS system has the following features:

Core Capabilities

1. Customer Check-in

Due to strict laws and retail regulations, you must ensure that customers are eligible to purchase your cannabis products. Therefore, it's important to choose a POS system with the following features:

• ID scanning and validation to verify a customer's age and avoid underage sales
• Purchase history tracking to set daily, weekly, or monthly limits to prevent customers from exceeding their allotted quantities and promote responsible consumption
• Integration with state databases to set limits based on local regulations or check for specific documents, such as medical cards

2. Transactions

Transaction processing is a key feature in POS systems, but it should be tailored to your cannabis operations if you're in this industry. That's why it's advisable to choose a solution that:

• Allows customers to browse and select products and get information about their prices.
• Calculates taxes based on local rates and product categories.
• Tracks product quantities to ensure availability.
• Enables quick and intuitive sales to boost efficiency and reduce wait times.
• Supports different payment methods, such as cash, debit, or cryptocurrency.
• Captures valuable customer data, such as contact information and purchase history.
• Provides detailed reports on different areas, such as sales and customer trends.

3. Compliance Management

To operate legally in the cannabis industry and avoid potential penalties, such as fines and license revocation, you need to comply with several laws and regulations. The ideal POS system for your dispensary should be designed to:

• Automate compliance checks by tracking the journey of your products through the supply chain, verifying customers' age, setting purchase limits, and applying the correct taxes to each item.
• Integrate in real-time with your state's mandatory tracking system, such as METRC or BioTrack.
• Generate detailed and customizable reports for different regulatory bodies, including information on sales data, inventory tracking, employee records, and more.

4. Inventory Tracking

If you want to make sure you always have enough products to meet demand, avoid losses, and stay compliant in this industry, you should use a POS system that facilitates cannabis inventory management. This solution should include the following features:

• Inventory tracking based on quantity or product type
• Real-time inventory updates across all locations
• Batch and lot tracking for recall management
• Low stock alerts
• Expiration date monitoring
• Automated reorder suggestions
• Waste tracking and management
• Integrations with seed-to-sale tracking that facilitate product transfer recording and traceability report generation

Advanced Features

1. Customer Relationship Management (CRM)

A comprehensive POS system should have CRM features so that you can implement an effective strategy to build and manage solid relationships with customers. Therefore, the option you choose should allow you to do the following:

• Automatically collect essential customer data, including buyers' contact information and preferences.
• Create customer profiles based on the collected data.
• Launch targeted marketing campaigns based on customer patterns and preferences.
• Provide personalized customer service to improve the experience you offer.
• Provide product recommendations based on customer preferences.
• Track customer behavior and measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns to identify areas for improvement.
• Integrate with loyalty programs and track points, discounts, and rewards.

2. Employee Management

A dispensary POS system can facilitate employee management and improve operational efficiency if equipped with the right features, which should include:

• Time clock and attendance tracking to ensure availability and accurate payroll calculations.
• Shift scheduling creation to manage workloads.
• Role-based access controls to prevent unauthorized access and ensure security.
• Performance tracking and reviews to identify areas for improvement.
• Sales reports by employees to promote goal achievement.

3. Online Ordering and Delivery Integration

Modern cannabis dispensaries not only sell products in physical locations but also offer online ordering for greater convenience, which often requires delivery services. If you operate in the digital world, consider using a POS system that integrates the following capabilities:

• E-commerce integration to create a user-friendly online store
• Online ordering with product catalogs and menus that allow customers to browse and choose items, get pricing information, view descriptions or images, and make payments
• Shopping cart functionality that allows customers to choose products to purchase and proceed with a checkout
• Secure payment methods, such as debit or credit cards and digital wallets
• Order tracking to provide customers with real-time information about their purchased items
• Route optimization and driver management to track driver locations, monitor performance to identify areas for improvement, and optimize services to minimize wait times and costs
• Delivery dispatch and tracking to inform customers about their orders' shipment
• Delivery confirmations to ensure customers get their orders delivered successfully
• Curbside pickup management to allow customers to place orders online or by phone and then pick them up from the location

4. Analytics and Reporting

A POS system with powerful analytics and reporting features will provide you with valuable insights about your business performance and other key details that will help you identify trends and patterns to make data-driven decisions. So, this solution should be designed for:

• Data visualization, presenting information in different formats (charts, graphs, and dashboards) to make it digestible
• Custom reporting to analyze specific metrics and key performance indicators (KPIs)
• Sales trend analysis by product, category, or period to identify top-selling items and optimize inventory management or boost marketing campaigns
• Profit margin calculations and suggestions to optimize pricing
• Customer behavior analysis to learn more about buyers' preferences, purchase frequency, average order value, and other key details

Security Measures

The ideal POS system should also help you protect sensitive customer and business data, so your chosen solution should have robust security features, including the following:

• End-to-end data encryption to prevent unauthorized parties from accessing sensitive information, even if it's compromised
• Secure storage solutions, such as firewalls and intrusion detection systems, that protect data from attacks, unauthorized access, loss, or damage
• Secure cloud backups to recover important data after unforeseen events, human error, or software glitches and ensure remote access
• Two-factor authentication for user logins to ensure only authorized users have access to data
• Detailed audit logs of all system activities to track every action that occurs within your POS system
• Compliance with data protection regulations, such as the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) or the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) for medical dispensaries

Integration Capabilities

If you want to streamline your operations and improve efficiency in the fast-paced cannabis industry, you need a well-integrated tech stack. That means your POS system must integrate with other solutions. This powerful combination will allow you to create a smooth workflow, reduce manual entry to minimize errors, gain valuable insights into your performance, ensure compliance, and boost your scalability.

Ideally, your dispensary POS system should integrate with the following business systems:

• ERP systems like Distru for comprehensive business and resource management
• Accounting software, such as QuickBooks, Sage, or Xero, for streamlined financial reporting
• Inventory management systems for accurate product tracking and reporting
• Marketing tools for targeted promotions, personalized customer communications, and customer engagement and retention
• HR systems for employee management
• Delivery management systems for efficient order routing, tracking, and receipt confirmation
• E-commerce platforms for online sales

Best Cannabis POS Systems

To help you choose the ideal option for your business, we'll go over the top three dispensary POS systems in the cannabis industry: BLAZE, Dutchie, and Treez. Read on to learn more about the features and capabilities of each!

BLAZE

Launched in 2017 by founder and CEO Chris Violas, BLAZE is an industry-leading POS platform specifically designed for cannabis retailers and delivery services. It's currently available in 1,400 dispensaries across the United States, specifically in:

• Alaska
• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Missouri
• Nevada
• New Mexico
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Oregon
• Vermont
• Washington

Overview and Unique Selling Points

BLAZE is an all-in-one cannabis suite that provides all the solutions you may need to run a dispensary in this industry. Designed to make cannabis operations smooth and promote business growth, this software offers powerful features for different tasks, including an intuitive POS system.

With BLAZE, you can streamline your storefront activities, offer payment convenience, build brand recognition, and deliver a seamless online shopping experience. This cannabis software suite is flexible and compatible with different fulfillment methods and hardware configurations.

BLAZE is particularly suitable for licensed businesses establishing their first retail operations and has a strong focus on delivery services, but almost every dispensary can use it. This software offers integrated payment processing features, e-commerce capabilities, and a native mobile app for added convenience and great efficiency for both online and in-store shopping.

Recently, Blaze acquired the Canadian cannabis POS system Greenline to expand its presence in North America.

Key Features

If you use this software, you can get access to BLAZE Retail (dispensary POS system), BLAZEPAY (integrated payment platform), BLAZE ECOM (e-commerce platform), and BLAZE Apps (native mobile applications for cannabis dispensaries). Each offers unique features for different needs.

BLAZE Retail

BLAZE Retail is an innovative and flexible dispensary POS software that combines an easy-to-use, intuitive frontend with an enterprise-level backend and helps cannabis retailers streamline storefront operations to deliver an exceptional experience to customers and support staff members' work.

These are some of the features of BLAZE Retail:

• Customizable dashboard for data management
• Integration with METRC or BioTrack for automatic state reporting
• Advanced inventory management features, such as PO imports, master and global catalog, bulk editing, multi-location transfer, low stock alerts, and audits
• Customer ID scanning at check-in
• Purchase limits based on customer type
• Automated reports for insights into sales, operations, transaction time, compliance, delivery services, and more
• Access to company-wide sales, inventory, and staff reporting
• Role-based permissions for improved security
• Native e-commerce website
• Unique mobile-first online experience
• Online pre-payments with no third-party apps
• Scan to Shop features
• Concierge-style and counter-check-out support
• Product recommendations based on customer preferences
• Pre-set discounts and promotions for first-time users
• Cashless payments for streamlined checkouts and reduced wait times
• Integrations with over 50 software partners
• Built-in loyalty program
• Delivery management tools, including route optimization and GPS tracking
• State-specific templates to create compliant labels
• Compliance with HIPAA

BLAZEPAY

BLAZEPAY is an integrated cannabis platform that streamlines payments, allowing dispensaries to eliminate manual errors, offer a convenient customer experience, and increase average order values ​​over time.

Below are the most important features of BLAZEPAY:

• Integrated payment processing service
• Seamless integration with dispensary POS systems
• Automatic addition of fees and tips to order totals
• Digital analytics on all transactions and order values
• Advanced order and pre-payment for online purchases, both for delivery or pickup
• Mobile Wi-Fi or cellular terminals
• Faster reconciliation times
• Multiple payment type support
• One-time account setup for faster ordering times
• Automated Clearing House (ACH) and Cashless ATM payments

BLAZE ECOM

BLAZE ECOM is an integrated platform that allows cannabis dispensaries to build a customized, SEO-friendly e-commerce site and grow their online business. It easily integrates with POS systems and focuses on creating a recognizable brand.

These are the key features of BLAZE ECOM:

• Unique native e-commerce menu
• Scan to Shop in-store shopping for a self-guided checkout process
• Premium themes and banner ad creation features
• Integration with Google Analytics
• Specific audience targeting based on shopping preferences
• Online, in-app, and kiosk shopping
• Insights into customer behavior
• SEO-focused features, such as geolocation keywords, static URLs for each product or brand, and SEO titles
• Loyalty program and promotions engine
• Self-service kiosks with in-store and off-site support

BLAZE Apps

BLAZE Apps allows customers to use intuitive mobile apps to browse dispensary products and order cannabis online. These apps are available for both iOS and Android stores and support many integrations.

These are some of the features of BLAZE Apps:

• Seamless POS integration
• Modern, user-friendly interface
• Unlimited, targeted push notifications for marketing
• Automated order notifications
• Notification history
• Native checkout process with in-app pre-payments
• Advanced filtering
• Order status
• Cart validation
• Promo codes and rewards
• Customization capabilities, including branded banner creation
• Scheduled order support
• Sync with fees, taxes, and discounts across POS and e-commerce settings
• Live support chat
• Free app maintenance and updates

Integration with Distru

Besides offering innovative and useful features, BLAZE integrates with our seed-to-sale software Distru, creating a robust tech stack that will help you manage your business and stay compliant.

Distru can work with custom product categories created in Blaze to make sure all items are well organized on both sides. Every update you make using our software will be mirrored in your POS system to keep your inventory up-to-date.

Moreover, Distru automatically adjusts product SKUs to fit BLAZE's format and makes sure all product codes are compatible. With both solutions, you can eliminate naming errors, save hundreds of hours of work per week, and set your business up for faster, smoother scaling.

Dutchie

Dutchie was initially launched in 2017 with just three dispensaries in Oregon. By the following year, 50 stores were using this software, and the company attracted more investors.

After a successful expansion driven by further investment between 2019 and 2022, Dutchie became a popular POS solution in the cannabis industry. Currently, Dutchie is used by more than 6,000 dispensaries across the country and processes over $14 billion in sales each year.

Dutchie recently acquired Greenbits (an easy-to-use POS system) and LeafLogix (a cannabis ERP solution) to expand its offerings and add other benefits for users.

H4: Overview and Unique Selling Points

Dutchie is an all-in-one platform specifically designed for the cannabis industry. It offers multiple solutions, including a POS system, e-commerce capabilities, payment processing features, and more.

With Dutchie, cannabis dispensaries can start, operate, and grow their businesses, streamlining operations to save time and focus on building strong customer relationships, boosting sales, and achieving success.

Since it supports any operation, big or small, Dutchie's POS system is ideal for growing cannabis dispensaries. This seed-to-sale platform will bring your business together and help you stay compliant. Besides offering advanced reporting features, it integrates with METRC, BioTrack, and more.

With Dutchie, you'll no longer have to spend too much time on paperwork. Instead, you'll be able to manage all of your orders and operations in one place for added convenience, attract more customers to boost your profits, and be sure that your business is compliant with cannabis-related regulations.

Key Features

As mentioned, Dutchie offers different solutions, all in one: a POS system, an e-commerce platform, and payment processing software. Each is equipped with multiple features you can leverage for your cannabis dispensary.

Dutchie POS

Dutchie offers a comprehensive POS system that will support your business in different ways, whether you're just starting or striving to expand. This platform is fully customizable and has everything you need to manage, streamline, and scale your operations.

These are the main features of Dutchie POS:

• Advanced reporting features
• Centralized payment platform that takes orders from e-commerce, in-person, or through delivery services
• Customizable e-commerce website builder and integrations with similar tools
• Easy-to-use tools to complete transactions
• Actionable reporting and insights to track sales, busiest hours, popular products, average cart size, and other metrics
• Integrated traceability features for automation and compliance with METRC, BioTrack, and other mandatory state software
• Support for different hardware options
• Bulk delivery management with route planning and manifest printing
• Integration delivery software, such as Onfleet

Dutchie Ecommerce

Dutchie Ecommerce offers an SEO-friendly site that will make your online business more eye-catching and position your products up in search results to attract more customers. This platform has everything you need to customize your menu, manage orders, apply discounts or taxes, and more.

Below are the most important features of Dutchie Ecommerce:

• Robust order management features through Dutchie Order Terminal
• Discount and tax engine
• Built-in support for every order type, whether it's in-store or curbside pickup, delivery, kiosk, or drive-thru
• Embedded iframe menu with SEO benefits
• Customizable menu options, including subdomain menus, for marketing purposes
• Integrations with Dutchie POS and other major software providers
• Custom front-end shopping experience design (Dutchie+)

Dutchie Pay

Through Dutchie Pay, this software offers a cannabis payment processing solution that can easily integrate with your POS system and e-commerce platform. These tools are designed to provide convenience to customers and drive more revenue, streamline workflows, and eliminate redundancies and errors.

With Dutchie, you can use the ACH-based payment solution Pay by Bank, which allows buyers to use funds from banks instead of cash to purchase cannabis online or in-store. This option was created to reduce cart abandonment, gain more repeat customers, and boost on-site security.

Dutchie Insurance and Integrations

Dutchie understands the risks that cannabis dispensaries face and offers a unique benefit: insurance! You can choose from multiple plans, from business coverage to property or product liability.

Moreover, Dutchie is a flexible platform that integrates with over 100 tech solutions, including:

• Cannabis ERPs, such as Distru,
• Cannabis CRMs
• Delivery management software, such as Onfleet
• Other POS and e-commerce suites, such as BLAZE
• Employee-driven growth solutions, such as Edge
• Data collection tools, such as Google Analytics
• And more!

Integration with Distru

Dutchie and Distru have formed a powerful partnership that can greatly benefit cannabis dispensaries. The former organizes information on three levels –your entire company, every state you operate in, and every location, while the latter makes sure your data is accurate and correctly placed at each.

By combining Dutchie and Distru, you can centralize your information to easily track your inventory, orders, invoices, cost of goods sold (COGS), bill of materials (BOMs), and more –all in one place.

Distru ensures automatic synchronization with Dutchie, so every product you add through our software will appear in both places. You'll have to enter the information just once!

If you use both solutions, it'll be easier for you to stay compliant in the highly regulated cannabis industry, too. Dutchie has features and integrations designed to accommodate different state requirements, and Distru boosts such capabilities to help you adjust your business to the rules of your location.

While all cannabis dispensaries can benefit from Dutchie and Distru, this combination offers great advantages for businesses that have multiple locations or operate in different states, as it centralizes information to maintain consistency and compliance.

Treez

In 2016, a group of cannabis retailers launched Treez, a POS system designed to help dispensaries manage their businesses as the cannabis industry grew in size and complexity.

By 2018, this software had already processed 15% of total cannabis sales in California alone. After a few rounds of funding, Treez expanded its product offerings and became available in other states, including:

• Arizona
• California
• Colorado
• Illinois
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Mississippi
• Nevada
• New Jersey

Overview and Unique Selling Points

Treez provides the tech solutions, insights, and support that cannabis dispensaries need to streamline operations, simplify compliance, increase sales, and drive profitability in such a competitive industry.

This software is used by over 600 cannabis brands and more than 5 million individual customers. Additionally, it processes over $4 billion transactions each year.

Treez has been designed to solve pain points at every business level. That's why it has a strong focus on analytics. Besides that, this software can help you grow your revenues with innovative payment methods, connect your e-commerce platform to your dispensary operations as your POS, and integrate with other solutions you probably use.

While it may not be the ideal choice for larger-scale cultivation or manufacturing facilities, Treez is a good fit for cannabis businesses operating in the retail sector, big or small.

Key Features

Treez offers multiple solutions to cannabis dispensaries, including a POS system, an e-commerce platform, payment processing software, retail analytics, and numerous integrations.

SellTreez POS

With SellTreez POS, you can optimize your inventory management efforts, increase sales, identify new opportunities in the market, and streamline your overall operations. These are the features that this solution offers:

• Dedicated customer success manager for each POS client
• Robust data analytics for enhanced decision-making
• Single source data for multi-store management
• Built-in compliance tools
• Streamlined error resolution and stock counts
• Top-selling SKUs identification
• Tracking of products near expiration
• Personal in-store experiences to build customer loyalty
• Streamlined workflows tailored to each region
• Employee management
• Self-service user onboarding and deactivation for improved security
• METRC report and manifest automation
• Automated compliance to-do lists
• Reduced workload for security personnel and receptionists
• Decreased customer wait times
• Cash drawer management
• Sell payment management
• Cash movement tracking
• Customizable and interactive menus for product showcasing and educational content
• In-store and online product menu unification
• Integration with e-commerce platforms

TreezPay

TreezPay allows cannabis dispensaries to integrate cashless payment options to improve customer experience and increase revenue, which can be particularly useful for cannabis businesses due to industry-wide banking restrictions. These are the features of this solution:

• Reduced cash usage on-site
• Simplified shopping with reduced average ticket times
• Integrations with third-party payment platforms through TreezPay Gateway
• A safe and secure digital portal (TreezPay Portal)
• Sale reconciliation across different payment types, such as cash, debit, credit, and ACH
• Single application for all cashless payment products
• Payment reports
• Reduced processing fees
• Secure funds transfer
• Pre-payment for all orders, including online ones

Treez Ecommerce

Treez also offers a feature-rich e-commerce platform that connects deeply with your dispensary operations. Although relatively new and only available in California so far, this tool creates an exceptional shopping experience that can help you stand out among competitors, attract more customers, and boost sales. These are the features of Treez Ecommerce:

• SEO benefits to increase organic web traffic and sales
• Built-in, industry-tailored pages to stand out among competitors
• Integration with SellTreez POS
• Online menu on the main website
• Advanced discounts engine
• Frictionless promotion of BOGO deals, coupons, rewards, and discounts
• Full control over the website's imagery and content
• Multiple options to customize your online menu's look, feel, and navigation

Analytics and Integrations

Treez promises to help cannabis dispensaries drive growth and profitability in record time by providing industry- and product-specific insights, focusing on the following:

• Performance
• Sellable velocity
• Ordering
• Merchandising
• Top- and bottom-line returns
• Inventory waste and related costs
• KPIs and related changes
• Growth and efficiency at store, office, and conference level

Furthermore, Treez Open APIs allow you to connect a business's retail systems with the most popular platforms in and out of the cannabis world, including the following:

• Headset Data
• Seed
• Quantumleaf
• Weedmaps
• Bookkeep
• Distru
• Happy Cabbage
• Dispense
• Lendica
• Alpine

Integration with Distru

By connecting with Distru, our powerful seed-to-sale and ERP software, Treez offers even more benefits to cannabis dispensaries. This integration facilitates standardization, naming, and subcategory mapping, for example.

Treez uses fixed product categories for most businesses (with a few exceptions). Distru aligns your products with such categories and ensures subcategories match the system correctly to maintain detailed and accurate classifications.

Since Distru can automatically match your products with the correct entries in Treez and double-checks everything is categorized correctly, you won't have to deal with inconsistent nomenclature but can keep your inventory naming conventions aligned across multiple retail stores.

Connecting Treez to Distru also simplifies inventory management and reduces manual entry by synchronizing updates between the two systems and automating data transfer. Additionally, this integration increases efficiency, improves order fulfillment, minimizes human error, provides better data insights, and boosts compliance efforts.

While Distru and Treez can be excellent tech solutions for all cannabis dispensaries, this integration is particularly beneficial for businesses that want a standardized, consistent approach to product categorization. It helps ensure that your product organization is always aligned with industry standards, reduces manual errors, and saves you time, which is essential for compliance and efficiency.

The Importance of POS and ERP Integration

Having a powerful tech stack that incorporates a POS system and ERP solution is increasingly important in the rapidly evolving and highly regulated cannabis industry. Integration with an all-in-one seed-to-sale software like Distru can help you operate more efficiently and effectively, stay compliant, and elevate your business in every way possible.

Overview of Distru (Cannabis ERP and Seed-to-Sale Software)

Distru is a seed-to-sale software that offers all the tools and integrations you need to run a business in the cannabis industry. Our solution centralizes data and key tasks, functioning as a central hub where you can manage all the essential aspects of your company.

Some of the main features of Distru include:

• Inventory management: With Distru, you can track cannabis and non-cannabis products, such as source materials, ingredients, packaging parts, and more.
• Cost tracking: Distru allows you to create BOMs and COGS to associate them with your inventory and other processes for robust cost accounting.
• Centralized information: If you use Distru, all team members can access and edit information from just one place.
• Compliance management: Distru offers live 2-way integration with METRC and will soon integrate with BioTrack, reporting all your inventory changes and sales to comply with state and local regulations.
• Integrated ecosystem: By integrating with other solutions – such as LeafLink, QuickBooks, Trym, Sage, Xero, and the three POS systems mentioned above, Distru creates a connected ecosystem for your cannabis software stack.

Benefits of Integrating Your POS with Distru

Do you want to know why you should connect your dispensary POS system with Distru? Here are the benefits of this integration:

1. Streamlined Operations

By integrating your POS system with Distru, you won't have to enter data manually, which can significantly reduce errors and ensure accuracy.

If you automate inventory updates across both systems, you don't have to look at different software or databases to get the work done. Distru serves as a reliable point of reference to find the information you need, which also reduces the time it takes to complete tasks.

2. Enhanced Data Accuracy

Integrating Distru with your POS system ensures data remains consistent across all platforms, meaning you can trust that information.

If data is up-to-date and accurate, you can make better decisions and maintain compliance in the highly regulated cannabis industry.

3. Improved Inventory Management

Integrating your POS system with Distru allows you to:

• Automate your retail intake process, which will save you hundreds of hours of work each week
• Have a real-time view of your inventory, which is key to preventing stockouts
• Avoid overstocking, which can tie up capital that can be used for other investments
• Synchronize online and in-store menus for consistent availability

4. Better Compliance Tracking

Maintaining accurate records is easier when you integrate your POS system with a seed-to-sale software like Distru, and this is key for compliance purposes.

Thanks to its live 2-way synchronization with METRC and BioTrack (coming soon), Distru will communicate your inventory changes and sales right when they happen, keeping data consistent on both sides. This real-time tracking allows you to generate accurate reports for regulatory bodies in just minutes, helping you prepare for potential audits or inspections.

Specific Advantages for Vertically Integrated Retailers

Do you control multiple stages of the supply chain for your cannabis products? These are the benefits of integrating a POS system with Distru for vertically integrated retailers:

1. Seed-to-sale Tracking

With this integration, you can seamlessly track cannabis products from cultivation to sale, which often results in better quality control throughout the entire process, promotes efficient recall management when there are issues, and enhances transparency for regulatory compliance and customer trust.

2. Supply Chain Optimization

Since integrated data improves planning and forecasting, connecting your POS system with Distru can help you adjust your production based on real-time sales information, optimize cultivation and processing schedules to improve overall efficiency, and reduce waste.

3. Comprehensive Analytics and Reporting

Integrated systems provide you with powerful insights that are essential to developing an effective business strategy, including the following:

• Production efficiency and performance metrics
• Sales trends across different product categories
• Customer segmentation
• Customer behavior indicators, such as preferences, trends, and buying patterns
• Profitability by product, category, or location
• Customer feedback and satisfaction
• Demand forecasting
• Marketing campaign performance
• Return on Investment (ROI)

Benefits for Multi-State Operators (MSOs)

Integrating a POS system with Distru also offers many benefits to businesses that operate in multiple states, including the following:

1. Centralized Data Management Across Multiple States

By integrating your dispensary POS system with Distru, you can manage data from multiple locations from just one hub, which provides a single but reliable point of reference for all operations and streamlines management, reporting, and analysis across the entire business.

2. Standardized Processes and Reporting

This integration allows you to implement consistent procedures across all your business locations, which streamlines operations management and staff training, improves efficiency and quality control, and makes it easier to adopt industry best practices.

3. Scalability for Expanding Operations

If your main solutions are integrated, your tech stack will easily accommodate new locations or states and support growth or market expansion. With a system that promotes scalability, you can:

• Set up new locations with proven software and processes in less time
• Overcome technology limitations to take advantage of new market opportunities
• Maintain consistency and accuracy across all your operations as your business grows

4. Compliance Management Across Different State Regulations

Meeting regulatory requirements is particularly challenging for MSOs, but integrating your POS system with Distru will make it easier. This combination will allow you to manage compliance across different states by:

• Connecting to METRC or BioTrack.
• Adapting to state-specific regulations.
• Simplifying compliance management across multiple locations:
• Ensuring all locations follow the correct procedures requested by each jurisdiction.

5. Consolidated View of Multi-State Inventory and Sales

By integrating your POS system with Distru, you can get a bird's-eye view of your entire operation, which will provide you with comprehensive business data, support strategic decision-making, and promote efficient resource allocation across different locations and states. Additionally, it'll be easier to identify trends or opportunities in each market.

Choosing the Right Cannabis POS System

Since it's such an important tool for your dispensary and can affect different aspects of your business, from your operations to compliance, choosing the right POS system is a critical decision and should be made with the utmost care.

Here's what you should consider to make the right choice:

Assessing Your Business Needs

The first step to choosing the best dispensary POS system is to understand your needs and goals. Every business is unique, and the appropriate solution should adapt to it.

If you're evaluating different dispensary POS systems, consider the following questions to make sure you choose the ideal one:

• What is the size of your operation? (single location, multi-location, or multi-state)
• What types of products do you sell? (flowers, edibles, concentrates, or others)
• Do you offer delivery or online ordering services?
• How many transactions do you process daily?
• Do you have plans for expansion in the near future?
• What are your reporting and analytics needs?
• Do you need specific features, such as customer loyalty programs or inventory forecasting?
• How tech-savvy is your staff?
• Are you planning to expand to another state?

Evaluating Compliance Requirements

All cannabis businesses must meet strict regulations, and your POS system plays a key role in keeping you compliant. Therefore, you should:

• Choose a POS system that complies with the regulations set by your state or locality.
• Consider dispensary POS systems with built-in compliance features, such as integration with METRC or BioTrack, automatic tax calculation, purchase limit tracking, and age verification tools.
• Evaluate the system's ability to adapt to changing regulations and accommodate new rules or requirements.
• Check if the POS provider offers regular system updates to stay compliant with new regulations.

Considering Integration Capabilities

In today's interconnected business environment, your dispensary POS system shouldn't be isolated but seamlessly integrated with your primary solutions for maximum efficiency.

Ideally, your POS system should connect with the following tools:

• Seed-to-sale tracking software, such as Distru
• E-commerce platforms
• Accounting software
• Inventory management systems
• CRM tools

Additionally, you should look for systems with open APIs that facilitate integration with other software, consider providers' partnerships or potential future integrations, and evaluate your long-term needs.

Budgeting for Hardware and Software

Budgeting is also important when looking for a dispensary POS system. Below is what you should consider to determine how much money you need:

• Software costs, such as monthly or annual subscription fees and payments for premium features or support
• Hardware costs, such as computers or tablets, cash drawers, barcode scanners, receipt printers, and card readers
• Installation and training costs
• Ongoing fees, including software updates, maintenance, and customer support
• Potential costs for integration with other systems

While it may have a higher upfront cost, a robust dispensary POS system offers many benefits, including a significant ROI due to the following:

• Increased operational efficiency can reduce labor costs.
• Better data and analytics can help you make smarter business decisions.
• Optimal inventory management can reduce waste and improve cash flow.
• Enhanced compliance can help avoid costly fines and legal issues.
• Improved customer experience can drive customer loyalty, attract more buyers, and boost sales.

Pro tip: When evaluating costs for your dispensary POS system, consider not just the price but the value it'll bring to your cannabis business in the long term.

Final Thoughts: Which Is the Best Dispensary POS System in the Cannabis Industry?

A robust and well-equipped POS system can make or break your business. If you operate in the cannabis industry, you should choose one with the right features, such as inventory tracking, CRM, customer check-in, and compliance management.

BLAZE, Treez, and Dutchie are the three most popular options for cannabis dispensaries. They all have the required features for such a demanding and highly regulated industry and can easily integrate with Distru. So, choosing one will depend entirely on you.

Assess your needs and budget, explore each POS system's features, determine if it's compatible with your existing solutions, and pick the best one for your cannabis dispensary.

If you use Distru and need help choosing the right POS system, don't hesitate to contact us for more information or guidance!

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