Smaregi

Smaregi, Inc. operates as a key player in the cloud-based Point of Sale (POS) market, providing a suite of services designed for retail and restaurant businesses. The company's journey began in 2005 when it was established as genephics design, Inc. by Makoto Tokuda, initially focusing on webpage design. Hiroshi Yamamoto, an IT engineer who joined in 2006, was pivotal in the company's transition. He launched the cloud-based POS system "Smaregi" in September 2011 through a subsidiary, recognizing a market shift away from hardware-centric POS solutions.

The firm's core product, Smaregi, is a tablet-based POS system that offers much more than basic cash register functions. It provides real-time sales analysis, advanced inventory management, and customer data management. This cloud-based architecture allows business owners to access and analyze store data from anywhere, a significant departure from traditional POS systems. The system supports a wide range of peripherals and services, including credit card and e-money payments, barcode readers, and RFID technology. Smaregi operates on a freemium business model, offering a free basic plan alongside several paid subscription tiers (Premium, Premium Plus, Food Business, Retail Business) that provide more advanced features. Revenue is primarily generated through these monthly subscription fees for its cloud services and the sale of hardware peripherals like tablets and receipt printers.

Over the years, Smaregi has expanded its product portfolio to create an integrated platform for store operations. In 2012, it launched "Smaregi Waiter," an order entry system for restaurants. This was followed by "Smaregi TimeCard" in 2014, a cloud-based service for time and attendance management, shift scheduling, and payroll calculations. A significant development is the "Smaregi App Market," a platform that allows third-party developers to create and sell applications that extend the functionality of the core POS system, catering to the specific needs of various industries like medical institutions and service businesses. The company also engages in strategic acquisitions and operates a corporate venture capital arm, Smaregi Ventures, to invest in related software startups and strengthen its ecosystem.

The company's growth trajectory includes a listing on the Tokyo Stock Exchange's Mothers market in February 2019 (Securities Code: 4431), later moving to the Growth Market. As of April 2025, the platform served over 50,000 active stores and had processed a cumulative transaction value exceeding ¥11.2 trillion. In July 2024, Ryuhei Miyazaki was appointed President and CEO, with founder Hiroshi Yamamoto taking the role of Chairman, continuing to guide corporate strategy.

Keywords: cloud POS, point of sale, retail management, restaurant POS, inventory management, sales analysis, SaaS, freemium model, customer relationship management, time and attendance, order entry system, payment processing, Smaregi App Market, tablet POS, workforce management, e-commerce integration, omnichannel retail, data platform, business intelligence, stock management, payroll service, customer data platform, mobile payments, hardware peripherals, restaurant management