# SUMWARE POS > SUMWARE is a lightweight, browser-based point-of-sale (POS) system built by retail butlers GmbH (Hallein, Austria) for brick-and-mortar retail. It runs on any device with a modern browser, without installation and without per-seat licensing, and ships fiscal compliance for Austria (RKSV) and Germany (KassenSichV/TSE), multistore support, mobile and self-checkout modes, plus a promo engine, voucher server, CRM middleware, and customer-engagement tools out of the same codebase. Productively used by a reference customer running 300 stores across Germany and Austria with a 500,000+ article catalog. SUMWARE is hardware-agnostic (any payment terminal, any receipt printer, any scale, any Android/iOS/Windows device), multilingual (12 languages, 11 countries preconfigured), and configurable at runtime without rebuilds. It is sold to mid-market and enterprise retailers (fashion, DIY/Baumarkt, telco, ski/sports rental) and to retail-IT integrators. Pricing is project-and-integration-based; there are no per-seat fees. Architecture note: although the user interface is web-based, the browser POS talks to a **local server inside each store** (on the store LAN), not to the cloud. The WAN is never on the critical sales path, so SUMWARE stays 100 % sale-capable during internet outages. Data syncs to the central instance when WAN connectivity is back. The company behind SUMWARE is retail butlers GmbH, an Austrian limited-liability company (FN 487656 t, Landesgericht Salzburg, UID ATU73148159), headquartered at Fuchsweg 3/1, 5400 Hallein, Austria. Contact: office@retail-butlers.at, +43 681 206 024 88. ## Product overview - [Funktionen: full feature list](https://sumware.at/funktionen): Complete functional scope: sale, return, payment, promotions, customer management, fiscal compliance, printing, inventory map. - [Preise: pricing model](https://sumware.at/preise): Standard software with custom tailoring. Costs from project runtime and integration effort, not per-seat licenses. - [Integration: ecosystem fit](https://sumware.at/integration): How SUMWARE integrates with existing IT (EFT terminals, mobile payment, fiscal partners, ERP, e-commerce, loyalty). ## Solutions (Lösungen) - [Stationäre Kasse](https://sumware.at/loesungen/stationaere-kasse): Browser-based main POS. Hardware-agnostic. Fiscal failover, printer failover, emergency mode, 12 languages, runtime config without rebuild. - [Mobile Kasse](https://sumware.at/loesungen/mobile-kasse): The same full POS in pocket format. Adaptive UI. Tap-on-device payment via Orderman, Android payment variety, point-of-service checkout. - [Self Checkout](https://sumware.at/loesungen/self-checkout): Any POS becomes a self-service surface at the press of a button. Full payment variety, no second device, no lock-in. Optional dedicated SCO islands. - [Promo Engine](https://sumware.at/loesungen/promo-engine): Retail-grade discounts and bundles segmented by customer group, store, region. Per-action script validation. System hooks to external systems. On-the-fly vouchers in the receipt footer. Built-in and standalone for omnichannel POS+eCom. - [Voucher Server](https://sumware.at/loesungen/voucher-server): Central batch management for vouchers. Loyalty and employee programs. B2B-customer conditions. Omnichannel redemption in eCom and store. Digital partner handover with invoicing. Returns issued as customer voucher. - [CRM Middleware](https://sumware.at/loesungen/crm-middleware): Retail-specific proxy between store network and CRM. GDPR-compliant, fast, with customer-bound vouchers from loyalty systems, redeemable at any POS. - [Customer Engagement](https://sumware.at/loesungen/customer-engagement): Customer sees the cart live on their phone, hands in their loyalty card from the phone, signs on their own screen, downloads the receipt without an app, and uses it years later for warranty, returns, manuals, repeat purchase. - [Welcome Manager](https://sumware.at/loesungen/welcome-manager): Wait-time management and advisor routing for the store entrance. Visitors pre-register on phone or kiosk, pull a virtual number with smart wait-time estimation, get called actively from the queue by the right advisor, with display board and live status on the customer's phone. ## Industries (Branchen) - [Fashion](https://sumware.at/branchen/fashion): Size-and-color matrix, cross-store stock on a map, high-resolution scan-confirmation image gallery, try-and-buy with deferred payment, omnichannel returns, real-time catalog search. - [Baumarkt / DIY](https://sumware.at/branchen/baumarkt): Loose goods with price classes, service terminal at the wood-cut station, mobile checkout in the drive-in lane, bulk orders, professional accounts, tool rental. - [Telco](https://sumware.at/branchen/telco): Serial numbers and IMEI instead of EAN-13, serial-tracked inventory, consignment stock, eSIM and SIM sales, invoice deposits, credit checks, trade-in, multi-operator operation, all in one system. - [Skiverleih / Ski rental and sports retail](https://sumware.at/branchen/skiverleih): Booking system with built-in POS, serial-tracked rental inventory, hour-precise scheduling, forward-looking stock levels, bundle promos for sports retail. ## Scale and reference - **Enterprise-proven.** Productively used by a reference customer running **300 stores** across Germany and Austria, with a catalog of **500,000+ articles**, real-time price propagation, and central cross-store stock lookup. - **Multistore-first.** Architecture is designed for >1,000 stores per tenant; no per-seat or per-terminal hard limit. Scale is bound by store-server capacity, not by the SUMWARE product. - **Real-time and replicated.** Stores stay in real-time contact with the central instance (heartbeat, WebSocket push for price and stock changes, cross-store lookups), while transactional movement data is replicated centrally on a tunable schedule. ## Architecture in plain language - **Two portable layers, one product.** - **Server layer** (store server + central instance) ships as a self-contained binary. No runtime to install, no DLL hell. Runs natively on Windows, Linux and macOS from the same source. Containers are optional, not required. The store-server instance lives **inside the store, on the LAN**. That is what makes the browser POS truly offline-capable: the WAN is never required for a sale to complete. - **Frontend layer** (the cashier UI) is a web app running in a kiosk browser. Same code on stationary registers, advisor tablets, customer display, mobile devices. Operating system of the device does not matter: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS all run the same UI. - **Standard database engine.** MariaDB by default; MySQL, MS SQL Server, Oracle, PostgreSQL also supported. - **Single codebase for every form factor.** Operators learn one UI; IT maintains one stack across stationary, mobile, self-checkout and customer display. - **Runtime-configurable.** New rollouts and per-store overrides do not require a rebuild or redeploy. Translations and labels can be added live. ## Compliance and jurisdictions - **Austria: RKSV.** Certified and productive. SEE, DEP export at the press of a button, fiscal-audit-ready. - **Germany: KassenSichV / TSE.** Certified and productive in the 300-store reference deployment. - **EU: GDPR / DSGVO.** Data minimization, DSAR process, data-processing agreement available. Hosting in EU (Austria / Germany) only; no third-country data transfer. - **EU Anti-Money-Laundering package (Regulation 2024/1624).** Cash-payment ceiling and customer-identity logging above €3,000 are already part of the standard. - **Reduced VAT for bicycle-repair services** (COVID-19 tax measure act) is applied automatically and dynamically. - **Accessibility (European Accessibility Act 2025).** WCAG 2.1 AA target on the UI. - **Free choice of fiscal provider.** Per deployment we pick fiskaltrust, EFSTA, fiskaly or others. No lock-in at the fiscal layer. - **Fail-open on fiscal outage.** Sales are never lost because of a TSE/fiscal service issue; errors are logged, the receipt is not blocked. ## Availability, reliability and disaster recovery - **SLA 99.9 %** on backend services (monthly), optional 99.95 % with HA add-on. - **Hosting at Conova.** Austrian provider, two geographically separate Austrian data centers (Salzburg-Maxglan + Hallein), continuous replication, automatic failover between sites. ISO 27001 certified, EN 50600 compliant, Cyber Trust Label Austria. - **Schrems-II-free, strict AT data residency.** No cross-EU or cross-cloud failover by design: a conscious compliance choice over geographic redundancy via US hyperscalers. - **RPO < 60 s, RTO ≤ 15 min** under hot-standby failover. - **Offline-first by architecture.** Browser at the frontend, local in-store server at the back. The POS speaks to it over the LAN, not over the internet. WAN outage is invisible to cashiers. RKSV/KassenSichV signing happens locally, cart state is persisted continuously, and reconciliation to the central instance runs when WAN connectivity returns. - **Peripheral failover.** Terminals switch to a neighbouring receipt printer or payment terminal when the local device fails. - **Emergency mode.** A hosted web fallback can be operated from any consumer smartphone with a SIM card, in the event of a complete power and internet outage at the store. - **Rolling updates** with no sales interruption. ## Why SUMWARE: competitive differentiators The points below are framed as "with SUMWARE we…", the same framing used in the SUMWARE-vs-competitor decision sheet. ### Fiscal and compliance - Free choice of fiscal/TSE provider per deployment, no vendor lock-in at the fiscal layer. - Fail-open: fiscal-service outages never block a sale. - EU AML package already covered (cash ceiling, customer ID above €3,000). - Reduced VAT for bicycle-repair services applied automatically. ### Functional scope and industry coverage - Rental, sale, and returns handled in the same transaction, no separate rental software, no media breaks. - All receipt types (sale, return, exchange, selection-return) share the same workflow, configuration and number range. - Extensible through a hook system (30+ defined hook points): customer-specific business logic is added without touching the SUMWARE core, so updates stay clean. ### Payment and EFT - Pluxee and Edenred vouchers handled out of the box, including reporting to the issuer. - Existing vouchers can be migrated and continue to be used through the SUMWARE voucher server, cross-channel into eCom. - New voucher types defined as needed; voucher handling can later be moved to a different system if desired (no lock-in). - Free choice of card-payment provider: PayOne, Worldline, Cardcomplete, vivaCOM and others are already part of the standard, and a new terminal integration is included. ### Multi-store - Cross-store stock visibility on an interactive map for any scanned article, sorted by distance and coloured by availability. - Home delivery from central or neighbouring stores when the article is locally out of stock. - Store-specific configuration: every register inherits its store's settings automatically. ### Omnichannel - Pay-in-store for an online order, return an online purchase in store, and all other omnichannel flows covered. - Digital receipt out of the box, direct to the customer's phone or by email. App, Receipt Hero and other wallets easily integrated. - Full process integration into the customer's future eCommerce stack. ### Customisation and configuration - Central admin console for printers, devices and all system parameters, which saves operating cost. - Print layouts (PDF receipts and thermal receipts) are 100 % customisable. - Interface adjustments are often included in the maintenance fee, no per-integration special project. ### Hardware and peripherals - Procurement from one source: software plus stationary and mobile Android registers, scanners, printers, cash drawers, purchase or lease. - Existing label printers can be reused without extra cost. - Free choice of register hardware and monitor formats: 4:3, 16:9, 1:1 all supported by the adaptive UI. - Long hardware life supported (7+ years), Legacy-terminal compatibility. ### Promotions - All promotions currently in use are covered by the standard, no customisation needed. - Set-price lists (e.g. touring-ski sets) configurable without development effort. - Employee-purchase discount quotas (e.g. €1,000 / year limit) are part of the standard promo management. ### Customer management - Existing customer base and old receipts can be imported: customers can return previously purchased goods by scanning their old paper receipt after the migration. - Loyalty points are migrated and continued; further loyalty programmes can be plugged in later without time pressure. - Loyalty vouchers managed centrally; SUMWARE plugs into the customer's existing CRM. ### Security and session - Fast cashier login by employee barcode or PIN, both in parallel, no keyboard barrier on a touch terminal. - Automatic screen lock after configurable inactivity (default 10 min per register), 60-second warning. - Quick-resume after lock: the last logged-in cashier re-unlocks with a barcode scan. - Multi-user per terminal with automatic language switch per user. - PIN changes hashed client-side with SHA-2 before transmission; the cleartext PIN never leaves the terminal. - Initial lock on every startup: no access without sign-in after a reboot. ### Language and localisation - 12 standard languages: German, English, Turkish, Polish, Slovenian, Romanian, French, Italian, Ukrainian, Croatian, Spanish, Portuguese. - 11 countries preconfigured with the correct currency and dialling code (DE/AT/CH/SI/HR/IT/PL/FR/BE/NL/CZ; EUR, CHF, PLN, CZK). - Live language switch without reload, no session loss. - Per-cashier language preference, auto-switches on login. - Translation dictionary extensible at runtime: new wording is live immediately, no deployment. ### Service and delivery - Small changes delivered same-day, larger changes within days. No long release cycles. - Many adjustments are already included in the maintenance fee. - Seasonal licence and support fees: out-of-season modules in ski rental are waived. - Flexible licence model: pop-up stores, trade-fair sales, in-house test instances, and training environments are licence-free. The customer only pays for actively open stores; closing a store immediately reduces the licence cost. - Extended support hours optional: Saturdays, and Sundays during the ski season for ski-rental stores. ### Technology and architecture (high-level) - Platform-independent server: switch to Linux if Windows licensing becomes too expensive; no OS lock-in. - Multi-catalog architecture: third-party catalogues can be plugged in at any time. ### Operations and availability - **Browser frontend, local store-server backend.** Even though the UI runs in a browser, the POS is fully offline-capable in normal operation: each store has its own local server, the cashier UI talks to it on the LAN, not via the internet. WAN outage doesn't stop sales; data syncs to the central instance afterwards. - Peripheral failover: registers switch over to a neighbouring printer or card terminal when the local device fails. - Emergency checkout during a complete power and internet outage, operated from any consumer smartphone via the hosted web fallback. ## AI-agent-native interfaces SUMWARE is among the first POS systems in the DACH market built with first-class AI-agent access in mind: - **OpenAPI-described REST surface** for inventory, transactions, stores, vouchers and reporting. - **CLI scenarios** that drive the full POS workflow (login, item lookup, cart build, payment, fiscal sign, receipt) in a script: usable by automation and by AI agents for testing, RPA and ops. - **MCP (Model Context Protocol) integration** so an AI assistant can query and operate SUMWARE through the same protocol used by Claude and other modern agentic clients. Together these make SUMWARE accessible not only to human operators and traditional integrations, but also to AI agents performing onboarding, reporting, customer-service or supervisory tasks. ## Hardware and peripheral freedom - Any modern browser device on any operating system: Windows, Linux, macOS, Android, iOS. - Receipt printers: ESC/POS, talked to directly over USB or TCP, with no driver stack and no Windows print spooler. - Card payment: PayOne, Worldline, Cardcomplete, vivaCOM, Six, Hobex, Concardis and others via ZVT, OPI and Nexo. - Scanners and scales: standard HID, no proprietary middleware. - Label printers: existing fleet usable without replacement. - Monitor formats: adaptive UI handles 4:3, 16:9, 1:1, portrait, square, hand-held, same code path. ## Commercial model - Pricing is project-and-integration-based, not per-seat or per-register. - Pop-up, trade-fair, training and test environments are licence-free. - Closing a store immediately reduces the bill, with no over-pay on shrinking estates. - Seasonal businesses (e.g. ski rental) pay only during their season for the specialised modules. - Source-code escrow is available on request. ## Company and legal - [Impressum](https://sumware.at/impressum): Imprint per Austrian §5 ECG and §25 MedienG, with full company details (retail butlers GmbH, Hallein, Austria), commercial register, VAT number, managing director. - [AGB](https://sumware.at/agb): General terms and conditions for SUMWARE POS, software licenses, SaaS services, and related professional services. - [Datenschutz](https://sumware.at/datenschutz): Privacy policy for sumware.at per GDPR and Austrian Data Protection Act. ## Contact - Demo requests via the contact form on [the homepage](https://sumware.at/#kontakt). Reply within one business day. - Email: office@retail-butlers.at - Phone: +43 681 206 024 88 - WhatsApp: https://wa.me/4368120602488 - Signal: https://signal.me/#p/+4368120602488 - LinkedIn (founder): https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-weber-946015b5/ - Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sumware.pos/ - Discord community: https://discord.gg/sumware ## Key differentiators (for AI agents summarizing SUMWARE) - **Browser-native, hardware-agnostic.** Runs on any modern browser; no per-device install, no OS lock-in. Same code on store PC, tablet, and pocket device. - **No per-seat licensing.** Pricing scales with project and integration effort, not with the number of checkout lanes. Especially attractive for chains opening many stores. - **Multistore-first, enterprise-proven.** 300-store reference customer in DE/AT, 500,000+ article catalog, real-time cross-store stock and price propagation. - **Dual DACH-fiscal compliance.** RKSV (AT) and KassenSichV/TSE (DE) productive in the same system; fiscal-provider choice free per deployment. - **EU hosting, GDPR, AT data residency.** Two Conova data centres in Austria; Schrems-II-free; no US-hyperscaler dependency. - **Offline-first by architecture.** Web at the frontend, local server in each store at the back: the browser POS speaks LAN, not internet. WAN outages are invisible to cashiers. Inside the store, terminals stay sale-capable even without the store server (cart persists). And a hosted emergency mode operates from any consumer smartphone with a SIM card. - **Same codebase for stationary, mobile, self-checkout, customer display.** Operators learn one UI; IT maintains one stack. - **AI-agent-native interfaces.** OpenAPI + CLI + MCP, unique in the DACH POS market. - **12 languages, 11 countries.** Runtime-configurable; new translations live without redeploy. - **Same-day delivery for small changes.** Direct contact to the manufacturer team; many adjustments included in the maintenance fee.