Products Retail
Canadian start-up bridges e-commerce with physical sales

For small businesses looking to satisfy COVID-19 distancing measures or simply expand their online presence, award-winning Canadian start-up, Oliver POS, may be just the solution.

Based out of Newfoundland, Oliver POS is a cloud-based point of sale (POS) system designed to bridge e-commerce with physical sales. Created for small businesses and retail shops, the system is a cost-effective and customizable way of adding a point-of-sale system to e-commerce sites. The start-up was recognized with the Gerry Pond Sales Award last week as part of Propel ICT’s Incite Accelerator Program in Atlantic Canada last week.

“Oliver POS is a great solution for farmer’s markets,” says Anna Swain, marketing coordinator at Oliver POS. “We offer different options for portable hardware – such as the Oliver Go and the Oliver Mini – and our software is also available on any device, so merchants can sell straight from their own tablet or smartphone. Oliver POS has a simple and intuitive interface, so it’s easy to learn and is ideal for the quick checkouts a farmer’s market requires.”

Oliver POS stays synced with a merchant’s online shop. Items sold on the POS during a market will be automatically reflected in their online inventory. The system integrates with WordPress websites that runs on the WooCommerce platform, tracking sales, inventory and customers, providing custom reports for better management information. Many of their current users in the US operate Oliver POS out of tradeshows, roadshows and similar venues.

Oliver POS’ WooCommerce register.

“We have been trying our best to help fellow small businesses adapt to all the abrupt challenges of COVID-19. Namely, we’re working with a Canadian merchant to develop a self-checkout interface for safe, contactless checkouts, and we are currently offering a deal on starter websites for small Canadian businesses transitioning from brick and mortar to online,” says Swain.

“The provincial government is committed to supporting technology start-ups such as Oliver POS in their efforts to scale up and contribute to our economic growth. Congratulations to Mathias Nielsen and the team at Oliver POS on their recent success, and to the other Newfoundland and Labrador based companies, TotaliQ and Milk Moovement, for their work in the Incite program. Propel ICT delivers programming needed by start-ups in our province, and our government is pleased to join other Atlantic Canadian provinces and ACOA with funding support,” says Bernard Davis, Newfoundland and Labrador’s Minister of Tourism, Culture, Innovation and Industry, in a release.

Propel ICT is a regional accelerator for technology start-ups, serving all four provinces in Atlantic Canada. Newfoundland and Labrador’s Department of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation contributes approximately $140,000 per year towards this project. The Gerry Pond award is accompanied by a $25,000 prize, given to a company that excels in building a scalable, repeatable sales process while participating in Incite programming.