How to sell in person with a POS that syncs with your online store

A point of sale, or POS, is where an in-person sale is completed. Today it is usually software on a tablet or computer, plus a card reader and a few other devices. Staff find the product, take payment, issue a receipt and record the sale.

A standalone POS keeps its own product list and its own stock. That works until you also sell online. Then the same jacket exists twice, the stock counts drift apart, and one day you sell online an item that left the shop that morning.

A POS that syncs with your online store works from one catalog. An in-store sale lowers the same stock count your website reads, and lands in the same order list as your web orders.

• One stock count. You stop overselling, and you stop the end-of-day spreadsheet that copies in-store sales into the web store.
• One customer record. A customer who buys online and in store has one account, one order history and one loyalty balance.
• One set of reports. Sales from every channel sit in the same reports, so you can compare a market day with a normal week online.
• Pickup and returns across channels. Shoppers buy online and collect in store, and staff can see the online order when someone brings an item back.

For a pop-up or a stall, the connection matters even more. You can bring a small part of your range and still look up anything in the catalog for a customer who asks.

Start with the least hardware that lets you take a sale, and add devices as your counter gets busier.

A tablet or computer

Many modern POS systems run in a web browser, so a recent tablet works. Use a stand at a fixed counter, and keep a charger within reach at a market.

A card reader

The reader must be certified by your payment provider and paired with your POS. Buy it from the provider or a reseller they list, because a reader from elsewhere may not work with your account. Check that it takes tap, chip and phone wallets.

A barcode scanner

A USB or Bluetooth scanner speeds up checkout when your products carry barcodes. If they do not, print labels with your SKUs before you open. A tablet camera can scan too, which is enough for a small market stall.

A receipt printer and cash drawer

Many customers are happy with an emailed or texted receipt. If you take cash, a drawer is useful. Most cash drawers connect to the receipt printer and open when it sends a pulse, so the two are chosen together.

A reliable connection

Shop Wi-Fi fails at the worst moment. Keep a phone hotspot as a backup, and find out what your POS does when the connection drops.

1. Locations and stock. Create a location for the shop or the stall, and move or count the stock that will be there.
2. Products and barcodes. Make sure every item you bring has a SKU or a barcode the POS can find.
3. Staff accounts. Give each person their own sign-in, and set what they may do: discounts, refunds, voids, opening the drawer.
4. Payments. Pair the card reader, decide whether you take cash and tips, and set how split payments work.
5. Tax. Check the tax rate for the location. A market in another town may use a different rate from your shop.
6. Shifts and cash. Decide the opening float, who counts cash at the end of the day and where the end-of-day report goes.

Card payments in person go through a reader connected to the same payment provider as your online checkout, ideally the same account. Then your payouts, refunds and reports sit in one place.

• Cash. Start each day with a set float, and count the drawer when the shift closes. The POS should tell you what the drawer ought to hold.
• Split payments. A customer pays part in cash and part by card. Your POS should record both against one sale.
• Tips. If you take them, decide whether they are entered by staff or chosen by the customer, and how they are shared out.

Once you sell in two places, customers will return online orders to your counter. Decide your policy before the first one arrives.

• Can staff find an online order by the customer’s name, email or order number?
• Does a card refund go back to the original card, and who may approve it?
• Does a returned item go back into stock, or aside as damaged?
• Can an exchange for a different size happen in one step?

Give every return a reason, such as wrong size or faulty. The reasons tell you which products and which size charts cause the most trouble.

Run a full rehearsal a day before you open. Ten minutes now saves a queue later.

• Ring up a test sale with each payment type you accept, then refund it.
• Split one payment between card and cash.
• Check that the online store’s stock went down after the sale, and back up after the refund.
• Look up a customer, and check the sale appears in their order history.
• Turn off the Wi-Fi in the middle of a sale and see what happens.
• Close a shift, count the drawer and compare it with the end-of-day report.

A market day is a small store that opens and closes in a few hours. Pack a charged tablet, the card reader, a hotspot, a cash float and a printed list of your prices in case everything else fails.

Bring the products that sell best in person, and take orders for the rest. A customer who wants a size you did not bring can buy it at the stall and have it shipped from your stock. Afterwards, compare the day’s sales with your online week to decide which markets are worth a second visit.

Set up the stall as its own location with its own stock. Move the stock you pack into it the night before, and move what is left back afterwards. Your online store then never sells an item that is sitting in a box at the market, and the count you bring home matches the count on screen.