Imagine this: It’s Black Friday, and your small but successful jewelry store is buzzing. A young man is ready to purchase a $5,000 engagement ring — the biggest sale of the day.
But your general retail point of sale (POS) system is fighting you. It can’t handle the custom discount you promised, won’t accurately track the serial number of the Gemological Institute of America (GIA)-certified diamond, and freezes when trying to process the installment payment. The customer gets frustrated, walks out, and you lose the sale — and potentially a lifetime of business.
That expensive lesson is exactly why choosing a POS system designed specifically for jewelry stores is nonnegotiable. Jewelry retail is big business, generating more than $380 billion per year globally, and managing high-value, serialized inventory requires software built for that level of complexity.
In this blog, we dive into the essential features that make or break a jewelry POS system, explore real-world examples of how they support jewelers, and compare the top providers on the market.
Let’s get started.
While all POS systems process transactions, a jewelry-specific solution goes far beyond the register. It provides specialized tools to handle the unique challenges of expensive products, custom work, and relationship-driven sales.
The greatest liability in jewelry retail is often inventory control. A generic retail POS sees an engagement ring as “1 unit.” This is where the costly difference lies.
A jewelry-specific POS achieves accurate serialized counts by treating every unique piece as an asset with detailed metadata. It tracks a $15,000 diamond ring by its GIA certification number, metal type, size, and any associated vendor or consignment details. This level of tracking means that when the system registers a sale, it removes that exact asset from inventory.
In contrast, a generic POS simply deducts “1 ring” from a category, creating opportunities for costly differences. When you do an annual inventory check or a tax audit, the granular data provided by a jewelry POS lets you instantly reconcile every item.
Repairs and custom work are high-margin services, but they’re also a major source of potential human error. Losing or mixing up a customer’s family heirloom stone can destroy a store’s reputation.
A jewelry POS gives your store a solid repair and work order management workflow:
The system creates an electronic chain of custody. When the customer comes to pick up their finished piece, staff can instantly verify that the correct stone and item are matched to the repair ticket, eliminating the risk of mix-ups.
Jewelry is an emotional purchase, and the best jewelers offer a high-touch, concierge-level experience. Your generic POS stores a name and a transaction history — a jewelry POS leverages data to drive lifetime value.
Your POS system acts as an indispensable sales assistant by building and accessing detailed customer data. For example, it can flag a customer’s file with their partner’s birthday and ring size.
When the customer returns six months later, your sales associate has immediate access to all their preferences.
This data — including purchase history, style preferences, and sizing — supports targeted marketing efforts beyond generic email blasts. When you know what a customer likes and when they buy, you can send personalized recommendations and turn one-time buyers into loyal, lifelong clients.
Related Read: Jewelry Store Customer Loyalty: 10 Strategies To Try Today
When you’re looking for a jewelry POS system, the key is to find a solution that meets your exact needs. POS software that works for a restaurant or clothing retailer doesn’t fit all the needs of a jewelry store. Here are some important features to consider.
Jewelry pieces are unique and rarely purchased in large quantities. A single style of ring can have many different SKUs based on the metal, type of gemstones, size, and engraving. Your system needs to offer:
Even if you have one location, it’s important to choose a POS system that can scale with your business. The best systems provide:
Safeguarding customer data and high-value transaction information is paramount. Your jewelry POS system should have:
Investing in a system that requires a steep learning curve is counterproductive, especially during peak sales periods like the holidays. Make sure your new POS software is intuitive and easy for new staff members to learn. This lets them focus on the customer experience and the details of each sale rather than wrestling with complex software.
Has your system gone down in the middle of a transaction? Is inventory not syncing between your brick-and-mortar and online shop? Check whether your new POS provider has:
Look for a jewelry POS system with adaptable features to handle the unique financial aspects of the industry:
Get a POS that gives you more than basic sales totals. It should provide valuable, actionable insights into key metrics. Make sure you can access sales trends, inventory turnover rates, profitability by item, and staff performance (especially regarding commission plans). This data helps you make smarter purchasing and pricing decisions based on what your specific clientele is buying.
Now that we’ve covered the must-have POS features, let’s see how the leading providers stack up against each other.
Here’s a short list of POS providers that are designed to make your job easier. We focus on the ones that have the specific features and dedicated help your business really needs.
Jewel360 is a modern, cloud-based POS system designed specifically for the jewelry industry. It was developed to bridge the gap between legacy desktop software and general cloud systems.
Best for:
Jewel360 is for multichannel jewelry retailers who want a single source of truth for their inventory across their physical store and website. It’s ideal for store owners who want the convenience of the cloud but need jewelry-specific features, like stone tracking and repair management, that generic systems lack.
Standout features:
It understands jewelry attributes out of the box — metal types, karat, stone color, clarity — and includes serialized tracking for certified diamonds. It leverages your sales data to automatically send text and email reminders for anniversaries, birthdays, and cleaning reminders for past purchases. A dedicated module tracks the lifecycle of a repair, including multi-tech assignments and automated text notifications to customers when their jewelry is ready for pickup.
The drawback:
Compared to legacy systems with over 20 years of edge-case development, Jewel360 is younger.
Pricing:
Jewel360 offers a three-tiered monthly subscription model — Startup, Core, and Plus — with additional features such as stone management, appraisals, repairs, multilocation sync, and e-commerce integration, all of which require a custom quote.
Lightspeed is considered one of the most powerful POS systems for retail stores, especially those that handle a high volume of unique SKUs or operate across multiple locations.
Best for:
Lightspeed is for established jewelry retailers who have moved beyond the startup phase and need robust inventory management. It works well in environments where you need to track individual serial numbers, manage complex repairs, and maintain a high-end online presence that syncs perfectly with your in-store display cases.
Standout features:
You can assign unique serial numbers to every piece, which is essential for warranties, insurance appraisals, and tracking high-value items like Rolex watches or one-of-a-kind engagement rings.
The drawback:
The feature set is complex, which means the learning curve for new staff can be steeper than simpler tablet-based systems.
Pricing:
Lightspeed’s tiered pricing ranges from approximately $89–$289 per month. Costs for the Plus plan (the highest tier) increase for integrated features, advanced analytics, and additional registers.
Square is the most popular choice for independent jewelers, artisans, and boutique owners who prioritize ease of use and aesthetic hardware over deep, technical inventory features. It’s often the first step for a jeweler moving from a booth or pop-up into a brick-and-mortar storefront.
Best for:
Square is for small to mid-sized boutiques, custom artisans, and permanent jewelry businesses. It’s ideal if you want to get up and running in a single afternoon without a long-term contract or a complex training manual.
Standout features:
If you take your jewelry to trade shows or trunk shows with spotty Wi-Fi, Square can process payments offline and sync them once you’re back on the grid.
The drawback:
Square struggles with tracking individual serial numbers for specific diamonds or high-end watches. It treats inventory more like quantities of an SKU.
Pricing:
Square’s pricing is transparent but becomes more complex as you add Retail features. The platform offers a Square Free tier, a $49-per-month Square Plus plan with advanced inventory tools, and Square Premium, which starts at $149 per month, plus standard transaction processing rates and hardware costs.
Related Read: 8 Tips To Manage Jewelry Inventory
Unlike Square or Lightspeed, which are general retail systems adapted for jewelry, The Edge was built from the ground up specifically for the jewelry industry. It’s a locally installed (on-premise) system, which means your data lives on your store’s computer rather than exclusively in the cloud.
Best for:
The Edge is for established, high-volume independent jewelry stores that require deep technical precision. It’s an ideal choice if your business revolves around complex repairs, custom designs, and detailed gemological tracking that out-of-the-box systems simply can’t handle.
Standout features:
It tracks jeweler-specific data points like metal weight, diamond clarity and color, and loose stones.
The drawback:
Because it’s desktop-based, accessing your data from home or on a mobile phone requires additional add-on services.
Pricing:
Approximate upfront costs for jewelry POS configurations range from $4,600 for a single store to $12,450 for a multi-store setup, plus additional fees for data conversion. Pricing also typically includes a recurring annual renewal fee of about 20%.
Shopify is an excellent omnichannel solution. While specialized systems focus on the jewelry bench, Shopify focuses on solving broader retail POS challenges.
Best for:
Shopify is for e-commerce-first jewelry brands and modern retailers that sell across multiple channels (Instagram, TikTok, online, and in-store). It’s a strong fit for fashion or bridge jewelry stores that prioritize marketing, high-volume shipping, and a unified customer experience.
Standout features:
Through the Shopify App Store, you can add jewelry-specific tools and loyalty programs that work both in person and online.
The drawback:
There’s no built-in repair tracker. To manage repairs, you typically need a third-party app.
Pricing:
Shopify offers tiered platform subscriptions ranging from $29–$2,300 per month, requires an $89-per-location POS Pro add-on for retail features, and includes processing fees (2.4–2.7%) and hardware costs ($49–$459).
Choosing the right POS system is the single most important technology decision you’ll make for your jewelry store. While general retail POS systems like Square or Lightspeed can process transactions, they simply can’t handle the critical details required for your jewelry store.
That’s why Jewel360 is a leading choice. It’s an all-in-one platform built specifically for jewelers. From tracking GIA-certified diamonds and managing multistage repairs to providing seamless e-commerce integration and generating data-driven sales insights, Jewel360 is engineered to eliminate costly errors and drive profitability. It gives you the specialized tools needed to turn one-time buyers into loyal, lifelong clients.
Ready to see exactly what Jewel360 can do for you?
Try our Build and Price tool to get an instant, personalized quote based on your store’s needs.