What Is Shopify POS?
- Manage online and off-line transactions from one dashboard
- Accepts credit cards, debit cards, mobile payments and cash
- Lite version is free with a Basic Shopify plan or higher (which starts at $29 per month, billed annually)
- Number six on our list of the best POS systems for small businesses
Pros
Shopify POS is ideal for omnichannel commerce thanks to its seamless integration with its online platform. Customers can shop in-store and online, and you can even send customers an email with their cart if they abandoned it in-store. When a customer buys online, inventory is automatically updated for all channels, so you never have to worry about selling out of stock. Plus, you can get low stock reports and make sure that you’re always well-stocked.
Depending on your plan, you can manage staff with features such as staff roles and permissions, so you can limit what employees have access to, as well as track their time, sales and productivity.
Another feature setting Shopify POS apart is its marketing tools. These include product reviews, email marketing, social media integration and the Google Merchant Center, which helps your products show up on Google Shopping.
Cons
One potentially negative aspect of Shopify POS is that it does not come with a free option, meaning users have to pay for a plan to access the service. Users must have a Basic plan or higher to use Shopify POS, which may not be feasible for small businesses with limited budgets. Additionally, the free trial period has been reduced to three days, down from its previous 14-day free trial, which may not be enough time for some users to fully test the platform.
How Shopify POS Works
Shopify POS is a complete point-of-sale system that simplifies the process of managing sales, inventory and customer data for retailers. It comes equipped with an array of features such as payment acceptance, staff performance tracking and detailed reporting and analytics.
Shopify POS also provides fully integrated hardware and a customizable POS app to suit individual business needs. With Shopify POS, businesses can streamline their sales processes and inventory management while providing a seamless shopping experience for their customers across all channels. With the Shopify POS Pro plan, when a customer makes a purchase online, inventory syncs across all sales channels, so there’s no risk of selling a product that’s sold out.
What Sets Shopify POS Apart
One of Shopify POS’ most valuable features is its seamless integration with Shopify’s online store platform. This allows businesses to manage their sales, inventory and customer data from a central dashboard, providing an omnichannel experience for customers. This is valuable for businesses with both brick-and-mortar and online stores, as it allows them to make syncing their inventory easy and avoid overselling. And when a customer makes an online purchase, they can make a return in-store, provided you’ve got its Shopify POS Pro plan.
Shopify POS Core Features
With Shopify POS, you can sell to customers both in-store and online while keeping everything organized in one centralized dashboard. You can manage local pickup and delivery orders, easily exchange items across different locations and attach QR codes to products for online purchasing.
Additional features include:
- Smart inventory management: Offers personalized recommendations based on your sales data, helping you stay on top of your inventory. You can create purchase orders, receive alerts for low stock levels and track inventory across all your locations.
- Staff management: Enables you to control and monitor staff access and performance. You can specify permissions, add and manage staff accounts, assign custom roles and attribute sales to staff members.
- Checkout: Streamlines the purchase process for both customers and staff. You can exchange items from any location, manage shopping carts and customize printed receipts with your store information.
- Products: Makes it easy to add, organize and track your inventory. You can categorize your products, add multiple variations and allocate inventory to different sales channels and locations.
- Customers: Allows you to create customer profiles, track purchase history and build relationships with your customers through personalized outreach and rewards.
- Reporting and analytics: Gives you actionable insights into your business performance. You can view and analyze sales data, track orders and manage chargebacks.
