A supermarket has two requirements no brochure measures: how many items pass per minute, and how the system behaves when three tills run at once. Add the fact that a queue cannot wait for the line to come back, and the ranking on this page becomes fairly simple.
The short answer
- Shopify POS Pro is billed per location, at $89 a month, on top of the subscription. For a supermarket with three tills, that question gets serious.
- Neither takes cards in Morocco, which forces a separate bank terminal and double entry on every payment.
- The decisive point is the connection dropping. In a supermarket, a till stopped for ten minutes shows in the length of the queue.
- BelloPOS Pro networks the terminals and runs entirely offline, for 40,000 MAD paid once.
- Throughput is tested, not read: fifty real items, stopwatch in hand, on each candidate.
The solutions compared
Two cloud platforms built for modern retail, against desktop software built around a single constraint. In a supermarket, that constraint becomes the main criterion.
Shopify POS
Shopify’s till, in two tiers: POS Lite, included with any Shopify subscription, and POS Pro, an add-on billed per retail location. Its reason to exist is to make online stock and in-store stock one single stock.
Square Point of Sale
Square’s till (Block, Inc.), very widespread in North America and a few European countries. The base software is free because the company earns from processing card payments. Its pricing page now shows a single ladder: Basic, Plus, Premium and Square Pro on request.
BelloPOS
Our Windows till software, built in Morocco. It runs 100% offline: no sale depends on the connection. The interface and the receipts exist in French, Arabic and English. Three tiers: Lite free for life, Go and Pro bought once, never subscribed to.
The comparison, criterion by criterion
The first four criteria belong to the whole group. The ones after are those of volume.
| The criterion | Shopify POS | Square Point of Sale | BelloPOS |
|---|---|---|---|
| Card acceptance in Morocco | No. Shopify Payments does not cover Morocco and their readers depend on it. | No. Square limits card acceptance to eight countries. | Through your bank’s terminal, like most Moroccan businesses. |
| Pricing model | Shopify subscription from $39/month, POS Pro + $89/month per location. | Free app, tier prices not readable in their page’s code. | Lite free for life, Go 9,000 MAD, Pro 40,000 MAD, once. |
| Works offline | Limited degraded mode, the solution is built for the cloud. | Limited degraded mode. | Yes, 100% offline. |
| Receipt languages | International orientation, Arabic depends on your configuration. | Same point. | French, Arabic, English, built in and tested. |
| Several tills | Yes, but POS Pro is billed at $89/month per location. | Yes, per their grid, not readable in the page’s code. | Networked terminals included in BelloPOS Pro, with no per-station cost. |
| Stock depth | Very good, a strength of the platform. | Good, with detailed reporting. | Tracking included from Lite, analytics dashboard on Pro. |
| Behaviour when the connection drops | Limited degraded mode. In a queue, that is the main risk. | Limited degraded mode. | No impact: the system is offline by design. |
| Cost for three tills over 5 years | About 178,000 MAD with Basic and three POS Pro. | Not calculable: amounts not published in the page’s code. | 40,000 MAD once, whatever the number of networked stations. |
| Catalogue import | Full CSV import, one of their strengths. | Catalogue import. | Catalogue import, plus loading of 1,000 products included in Pro. |
| Who it suits here | A chain that also sells online on Shopify and runs several sites remotely. | A business located in a country Square covers. | A Moroccan supermarket that cannot afford a till to stop. |
What it really costs over five years
The cost of an equipped supermarket. Note the Shopify line: it is for a single location, and multiplies by the number of tills.
| The solution | Over 1 year | Over 3 years | Over 5 years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shopify Basic + POS Pro ($39 + $89/month per location) | 14,438 MAD | 43,315 MAD | 72,192 MAD |
| BelloPOS Pro (40,000 MAD, once) | 40,000 MAD | 40,000 MAD | 40,000 MAD |
| BelloPOS Go (9,000 MAD, once) | 9,000 MAD | 9,000 MAD | 9,000 MAD |
| Caisse Manager, till + stock + mobile (410 MAD/month) | 4,920 MAD | 14,760 MAD | 24,600 MAD |
The amounts above are worked out from the public prices recorded on 27 July 2026, with VAT added where a price is quoted excluding tax, and with no commercial discount. For prices in dollars, the rate used: 1 USD = 9.4 MAD, recorded 27 July 2026. Redo the sum with the day’s prices before you decide: they move, and it is your money.
The multiplier changes everything in this trade. Since POS Pro is billed per location, three tills come to about 178,000 MAD over five years, against 40,000 MAD paid once with us whatever the number of networked stations. It is the one figure in this article worth writing down.
Throughput, and why no product sheet shows it
Throughput depends on three measurable things: the delay between the scanner’s beep and the item appearing, the number of keystrokes for a mixed cash-plus-card payment, and the time to find a product with no barcode. None of those three appears on a marketing page, and all three can be tested in twenty minutes.
On this specific point, whether the system is cloud or local genuinely matters. A local till reads its database from disk; a cloud till queries a server. In perfect conditions the difference is invisible, but a Moroccan supermarket does not work in perfect conditions every Saturday afternoon. Run the test at peak hour, not at ten in the morning.
- Prepare fifty real items, including two with no barcode and one to weigh.
- Time the full run on each candidate, on the same machine.
- Repeat with two connected stations, then three. That is where the gaps appear.
- Do it again at peak hour, with the shop’s connection genuinely loaded.
What Shopify does better, and for whom
Neither Shopify Payments nor Square processes card payments in Morocco. Shopify lists 46 countries and regions for Shopify Payments, Morocco is not among them, and Shopify’s card readers depend on that service. Square, for its part, writes that card acceptance is available “in the US, Canada, Australia, Japan, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland, France and Spain” and that it does not support payment processing outside those countries. In practice you can use these tills as a catalogue and a stock tracker, take cash and go through a separate bank terminal, but the brand’s own payment hardware will not work in your shop (checked 27 July 2026).
That said, Shopify deserves credit for what is real: their catalogue management and CSV import are among the best on the market, their remote multi-site control is excellent, and for a grocery chain that also sells online, unified stock has concrete value we do not offer. If that is your case and your cards go through a bank terminal anyway, their solution becomes defensible again despite its cost.
What breaks a Moroccan supermarket, whatever the software
Two local realities dominate, and no software on this page solves them for you. Goods with no barcode first (imports, loose, repackaged): the answer is a label printer used from delivery onwards. Then buying for cash with no document: note quantity and purchase price at delivery, or your margin becomes incalculable. Sort those two out before choosing a till; they weigh more than the choice itself.
How to choose: the twenty-minute method
The general method, with the two tests specific to volume.
- Count your real needs before you look at a single price. How many tills, how many users, do you invoice businesses, do you need stock, do you take delivery orders. Five answers, and half the offers rule themselves out. Our guide to choosing a till works through this questionnaire.
- Test the checkout, not the demo. Ask to ring up ten items, one return and one split payment, yourself, and time it. A well-rehearsed demo tells you nothing about what your cashier will face on a Saturday.
- Pull the internet cable and try to sell. That one test splits the whole market in two, and it takes thirty seconds. We go through it in detail in our offline or cloud POS comparison.
- Ask for an export of your own data before you pay anything. Products, customers, sales, in a file you can open. If the answer is vague, you already know how this ends.
- Add up five years, not one month. A subscription is compared with a one-off purchase over the time you will actually use it.
- Check that the receipt prints correctly in Arabic before you commit. On a thermal printer that is not a given, and it takes a minute to see.
- Ask who answers the phone on a Saturday at 8pm, and in which language. That is exactly when a till breaks.
- Time fifty items on each candidate, at peak hour.
- Multiply the price by your number of tills when it is billed per location.
What each solution does better
Shopify POS
Single stock between the online shop and the store. That is a real advantage and it deserves saying plainly: if you already sell on Shopify, a sale at the counter decrements the website’s stock within the second, and the reverse too. Catalogue, customers, orders and reports sit in one place. No assembly of two tools does that as cleanly as a product designed as one, and we are not going to pretend otherwise.
Square Point of Sale
The payment experience and the hardware, where the service exists. Square probably has the most polished card checkout on the market: a reader that pairs itself, a payment in two seconds, a receipt sent by text, readable fees and no contract. The software is free and genuinely complete. It is an excellent product, and its business model is precisely the reason it does not cover Morocco.
Mistakes to avoid
- Counting POS Pro once when you have three tills. The price is per location.
- Choosing without timing a real basket. Throughput is not read, it is measured.
- Neglecting the degraded mode of a cloud till in a trade where the queue is visible from the street.
- Forgetting the label printer. With no barcode, no software will be fast.
- Buying the brand’s hardware before checking it works in Morocco.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify POS suitable for a supermarket in Morocco?
As a till and stock manager, technically yes, and their catalogue management is excellent. But POS Pro is billed at $89 a month per location, card acceptance is not available in Morocco, and the offline degraded mode is limited, which is risky in a queue-driven trade.
What does Shopify cost for three tills?
A Basic subscription at $39 a month plus three POS Pro at $89 each, or $306 a month, about 34,500 MAD a year and close to 178,000 MAD over five years at the rate of 27 July 2026.
Can you network several tills with BelloPOS?
Yes, with the networked terminals in the BelloPOS Pro tier, at 40,000 MAD paid once, with no additional per-station cost. That is where the gap with a per-location price becomes clearest.
What happens if the connection drops mid-day?
On a cloud till the degraded mode is limited and the queue grows. On BelloPOS nothing changes: the software is offline by design and queries no server to make a sale.
How do you handle products with no barcode?
With a label printer, used from the moment goods arrive and never later. That holds whatever the software, and it is the first investment to make even before choosing a till.
What if my supermarket also sells online?
That is the case where Shopify becomes relevant again, since stock becomes one. Our article on selling online and in store covers that situation in detail, with the BelloPOS plus BelloCommerce alternative.
Our recommendation
For a Moroccan supermarket, the per-location cost rules out Shopify POS Pro before the payment question even arises. Three tills come to nearly 178,000 MAD over five years, for a till whose card side does not work here.
BelloPOS Pro is the fitting answer: networked terminals, offline operation, Arabic printing, local support, 40,000 MAD paid once whatever the number of stations.
If you are a chain that also sells online on Shopify, reconsider them. Unified stock and remote control are real and we do not match them; you will simply have to handle cards separately.
Sources
Every claim made here about a competing product comes from its publisher’s own public page, consulted on 27 July 2026. No figure is taken from a review aggregator or another comparison.
- Shopify POS: https://www.shopify.com/pos
- Shopify POS: https://www.shopify.com/pos/pricing
- Square Point of Sale: https://squareup.com/
- Square Point of Sale: https://squareup.com/us/en/point-of-sale/pricing
- BelloPOS: https://bellocommerce.com/fr/bellopos/
- BelloPOS: https://bellocommerce.com/fr/bellopos/pricing/
- Shopify, countries where Shopify Payments is available (46 countries and regions listed, Morocco is not among them)
- Square, international availability of card acceptance
The trademarks named here belong to their respective owners. They are mentioned for the purpose of comparison, and this article implies no partnership with or endorsement by them.
Measure throughput before choosing
Install BelloPOS Lite free, time fifty real items at peak hour, and compare. It is the only test that counts in this trade.
Read next
Other practical guides on the same subject: