A WooCommerce alternative with inventory and POS

WooCommerce is a good online store. I build them myself and still recommend it to businesses that sell only online. But more and more often people write to me with a different situation: the shop works, but alongside it there's an inventory program, a till and sometimes a booking system too — and all of it has to be made to fit together. That's when people start looking for a WooCommerce alternative. This article gives an honest answer on when that search is right and when it isn't.

When WooCommerce is perfectly enough

• You sell only online.
• You have no stock, or goods go straight from the supplier to the customer.
• You have no in-person till, or sales there are occasional.
• You need a plugin that no other solution offers.

In that situation there's no reason to move. Keep WooCommerce in good shape and up to date. If you're just starting out, see the online store development page — that's where I describe how I build a WooCommerce store.

When it's worth looking for a WooCommerce alternative

The problem isn't WooCommerce itself. The problem appears when a business needs, on top of the online store:

• stock, where goods are received with a barcode scanner and stocktakes are done;
• a till that sells in person from the same stock;
• bookings, if you also sell services by appointment;
• one customer register for online and in-person customers.

Then there are usually three or four separate applications that have to talk to each other. Every integration is a place where stock gets out of sync, and every application is its own monthly fee, its own login and its own product catalogue. In that case the question isn't "which online store is better" but "do I need four programs or one".

What to ask an alternative

When you start comparing, ask every vendor the same questions:

1. Do the online store, stock and till use the same stock level, or is there a sync between them?
2. Do products come across from WooCommerce with their variants?
3. How do customers come across, and does a repeat import create duplicates?
4. How are old URLs handled so that Google rankings aren't lost?
5. Can I keep my current design?
6. Where is the data stored, and is it mine alone?

NUNDINAE as a WooCommerce alternative

NUNDINAE is a platform I built for exactly this situation. The online store, inventory management, till and bookings are one application with one database. An online order, a till sale and goods-in change the same stock level at the same moment, so there's nothing to sync.

Answers to the questions above:

• One stock level for the online store, till and stockroom. You receive goods with a barcode scanner.
• Modules: online store, bookings, customer records, till, gift cards, automatic notifications, SMS and reports — you switch them on and off yourself. What you don't need doesn't appear in the menu.
• A separate solution: every installation has its own address, database and design, not a shared cloud. It runs on an ordinary web hosting plan — no separate server needed.
• Design: I can bring over your current design (logo, colours, fonts, layout) or create a new one.
• Languages: the shop works in Estonian, English, Russian and Finnish. The admin is currently in Estonian.

I wrote about combining the online store and stock in more detail in online store and inventory management in one app.

How to migrate from WooCommerce

Migration is where most people fear losing something. With good reason — which is why I do it myself.

Products with their variants. Size, colour and volume come across as options; each variant has its own SKU, price and stock level. Product information that sat under the product's attributes in WooCommerce (for example "How to use" or "Ingredients") becomes an attribute in the new system, which the shop shows on the product page below the description under its own heading.

Stock levels and EAN codes. Stock comes from a stocktake CSV (SKU;quantity or EAN;quantity), EAN codes in bulk from the supplier's price list.

Customers. From CSV with column mapping — both an export from the old shop and an Excel sheet will do. A repeat import updates existing customers rather than creating duplicates.

Old URLs and 301 redirects. Every old product and category address must lead to the new one with a permanent redirect. Otherwise the Google rankings built up over the years disappear and old links on social media return a 404. I wrote about how to do this properly in website redesign without losing SEO. After the migration, the "Broken links" view in the NUNDINAE admin shows addresses that return "page not found", and they can be redirected with one click. Later on, too, if you change a page's address, a redirect from the old address is created automatically.

Payments and shipping. Montonio bank links and SmartPost parcel lockers (both widely used in Estonia) are built in; I add other carriers on request. I wrote about setting up Montonio in Montonio payments in an online store.

Summary

If you sell only online, stick with WooCommerce. If you have stock, a till or bookings and there's daily manual work between them, it's sensible to ask whether all of that needs to be separate. I'll look over your current setup and tell you honestly which makes more sense in your situation — even if the answer is "stick with WooCommerce".

Order NUNDINAE or ask for a demo.