15 years helping Canadian businesses
choose better software

What Is AIM?

AIM offers retailers not only a way to manage inventory, customers and sales but also offers fully integrated add-on modules such as Accounts Payable & General Ledger, Purchase Orders, Repair & Service, Lesson/Appointment Scheduling & Billing, Short Term Rentals, Rent & Sales Contracts, Contact Management and Emailing capabilities. Build your own custom retail software solution by adding on what you need. AIM integrates with Active-e to offer a complete e-commerce retail solution.

Who Uses AIM?

AIM can be found in retail stores across the U.S. and Canada, including musical instrument, appliance stores, bicycle & fitness, vacuum & sewing, liquor, hobby, golf, gun, resale, consignment & more

AIM Software - 1
AIM Software - 2
AIM Software - 3
AIM Software - 4
AIM Software - 5

Not sure about AIM? Compare with a popular alternative

AIM

AIM

4.1 (200)
US$995.00
one-time
Free version
Free trial
42
No integrations found
3.6 (200)
4.0 (200)
4.2 (200)
VS.
Starting Price
Pricing Options
Features
Integrations
Ease of Use
Value for Money
Customer Service
US$50.00
month
Free version
Free trial
121
23
4.1 (5,261)
4.1 (5,261)
4.2 (5,261)

Other great alternatives to AIM

Dynamics 365
Top rated features
Income & Balance Sheet
Purchase Order Management
Support Ticket Management
RepairDesk
Top rated features
Contact Management Software
Email Marketing Software
Reporting/Analytics
QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise
Top rated features
Billing & Invoicing
Financial Reporting Software
Income & Balance Sheet
AmberPOS
Top rated features
Point of Sale (POS)
Reporting/Analytics
Sales Reports
RepairShopr
Top rated features
Contact Management Software
Interaction Tracking
Invoice Creation
Rain POS
Top rated features
Mobile Access
Reporting/Analytics
Website Management
Quickbooks Point of Sale
Top rated features
Inventory Management Software
Payment Processing Software
Sales Reports
Dusk IOP
Top rated features
Employee Scheduling Software
Real-time Scheduling
Scheduling Software
EPOS
Top rated features
No features have been rated by reviewers for this product.

Reviews of AIM

Average score

Overall
4.1
Ease of Use
3.6
Customer Service
4.2
Features
4.2
Value for Money
4.0

Reviews by company size (employees)

  • <50
  • 51-200
  • 201-1,000
  • >1,001
Verified Reviewer
Verified LinkedIn User
Consumer Services
Used the Software for: 6-12 months
Reviewer Source

Its really easy to make reports which is good for this type of software

5.0 6 years ago

Pros:

I really like how you can easily generate reports, that's important for my business and I believe this software can do the best job of it.

Cons:

I don't like that's a little clunky to use, but that should go without saying because this is super complex software we're dealing with here.

Mitch
Manager in US
Music, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Alternatives Considered:

Small shop with multiple needs

5.0 12 months ago

Comments: Overall the POS has helped us make large improvements to how we do bussines. In many small ways the software is inflexable and since we have an owner with a CPA he has noted that the accounting side of the software is not as intuitive as others like quickbooks. As we get more familiar with it things are making more sense but the learning curve for the accounting reports is steeper than expected.

Pros:

Customizing the menu system makes it easy to help new users get familiar.

Cons:

The bugs that we do have often leave issues that take time to find or resolve after the initial issue is corrected.

Aaron
Owner/Manager in
Retail, 11–50 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

It's a shame - good ideas, bad execution.

1.0 6 years ago

Comments: There are a lot of good ideas in this software, but things like a staff that's not on the same page, and a long-awaited refresh of their base tech keep AIMsi a frustrating software package. We stay because our lesson program is to big to be handled by any other solutions we looked at, but I would advise others to hold off until their promised rebuild is released.

Pros:

Lesson management is good. Inventory management and sales are serviceable.

Cons:

Built on outdated technology, which means the system will get slower and more bloated as your business grows. Simple ancillaries (like date lookup) require Googling to find outdated Microsoft files when you replace computers, and support won't have those files available. E-commerce is excruciatingly complex to execute; why must it be this complicated when options like Squarespace and Shopify exist? They don't require the user to learn XML to take full advantage of their features. The PO system is convoluted, the workflow makes no sense. Inventory management could stand to lose some processes to speed things up and make it more understandable. Reporting doesn't make much sense, either. But the most frustrating part for us has been the staff. Calling support is rarely a good experience; it often sounded like someone was paging through a manual to find a solution. Recently, I found out why: support is tiered, and we are on the lowest tier. I've been using this software for 5 years, and no one at TriTech offered us an upgrade. Online help files don't offer much more in the way of assistance. Navigation is clunky, and entries are often incomplete or outdated. We've also experienced the classic "sales promises features that developers say can't be done" routine. The most recent involved running their product on a Windows tablet - sales said it could be done, but later, support said it was only possible using Remote Desktop Protocol (a thing I wish I knew before I purchased the Windows tablet & an additional license). More than once, I've been scolded by sales for "not understanding how [their] software works." They require you to buy gift cards & hardware through them, at a substantial markup. I'm getting frustrated just thinking about this stuff...

Holly
Owner/Operator in US
Retail, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Pleased!

5.0 3 years ago

Comments: Overall we are very happy with AIM for our business. The tech support is awesome! They are always ready to help and super friendly. I love that they can remote in and show us what to do.

Pros:

We have been using the contract module side of AIM for our instrument rental contracts to keep track of monthly payments since the beginning of our business in 2004. We pulled away for a brief stint to try another company and it was a disaster. The instrument rental contracts are the bread and butter of our business. If it fails, we fail. If the customer doesn't feel like they can trust us with their personal info because the system fails, we fail. It's a reflection on us. We came back to AIM in 2019 and went all in with the full point of sale system and we've never looked back. We highly recommend AIM.

Cons:

We do wish that there weren't so many steps to follow. Seems like there is a huge learning curve to this program. Once you live it and breath it like it do it's one thing. But my employees tend to make mistakes often because they miss a step. And for example: having to get out of one frame and into another one for the same customer with a different question about their account is sometimes frustrating. Also. I really wish that an email went out immediately to my rental contract customers on autopay when their card is declined. The ability is there, as they receive an email immediately when the payment goes through, but not when it declines. This would help our collection dept out tremendously if this option was implemented.

Kellie
Office Manager in US
Sporting Goods, 2–10 Employees
Used the Software for: 2+ years
Reviewer Source
Source: SoftwareAdvice

Alternatives Considered:

Product Review

5.0 last year

Comments: My overall experience has been great. From the beginning the help to set this program up for our needs was challenging but very successful. Josh, our salesman has been nothing but helpful and informative and always replys quickly and is always checking in. That is very important to us, someone who takes the time to email every so often to check in and make sure everything is going well. If we have a question he always responds quickly.

Pros:

The more we use the software the more we learn and love the product. We use this software everyday runnig reports, for our POS, inventory, and much more. We love the button feature to make everyday use easy.

Cons:

I find that it is hard to find a credit card company that is compliant with AIM.