Ecommerce
Table of Contents
Running one retail business through two or more channels seamlessly and simultaneously is hardly possible without a point-of-sale (POS) integration. It adds clarity to the data interconnection puzzle for any B2B or B2C eCommerce business.
Today, you'll learn about the types of POS integrations, their benefits, and the systems POS seamlessly integrates with. Additionally, we will share one of the NEKLO customer's success stories that testify to the efficiency of POS with eCommerce integration strategy.
POS is software or hardware that helps sellers process payments and record transactions. Whether your customer proceeds to the checkout page at your online store, approaches the counter in a physical store, or uses the self-checkout lane, they interact with your POS.
For eCommerce, point-of-sale integration means connecting a checkout page system that processes orders with other software, such as an eCommerce platform, CRM, inventory management system, and more. It works for stores with or without physical presence, as the main goal of POS integration is checkout-related data transmission.
POS integration with eCommerce means connecting your point of sale software to other business software to receive sales data in real-time. The connection is established through APIs, middleware, or eCommerce platform modules and extensions.
The process looks like this.
Let's imagine you are shopping in an online store. You add items to the shopping cart and proceed to the checkout page. POS calculates the order amount, identifies items and their quantities, and then processes the payment. When integrated with other systems, after a successful checkout, POS sends the data about the order to other systems.
How can it benefit your business? Get ready before you reveal top advantages of such an integration.
Both POS and eCommerce systems play significant roles in business development. In a nutshell, the essence of the systems can be formulated as follows:
Through eCommerce integration with POS in a physical sales point, you can synchronize, automate, and organize in-store and online operations. As a result, the chances of improving customer experience in today's online realm increase.
Running a web store and POS separately may cause an imbalance in the work of both systems. Issues might also arise because of manual data input. Fixing human errors takes time and effort. 51% of retailers consider customer data gained by POS as the most valuable one. So, why risk its quality when you can automate?
Through a POS system with eCommerce website integration, you get one system that helps you to:
Additionally, it helps to get a complete image of how your customers shop.
The time saved on manual work can be used for data analysis and further improvement of your promotional strategies. Take advantage of the opportunity to meet customer expectations through better order management and tailored offers.
As you connect POS with your eCommerce website, you can establish a retail system that supports loyalty programs, coupons, and gift card redemption for both online and in-store purchases. However, integration with loyalty features might become rather challenging if you have two separate operating systems.
The synchronization feature will help you set the prices on both channels at once. For instance, you can set up automatic handling of your store's promotional coupons. There is no need to manually enter promo codes during the checkout process online and in-store. PA positive and results-driving customer experience is critical for online retail.
As online shopping has increased, giants like Amazon have become the first to introduce express delivery. For eCommerce businesses whose sales volumes differ from those of Amazon, the optimal solution is to provide online customers with an opportunity to pick up orders in a brick-and-mortar store.
Ultimately, the eCommerce POS integration makes it possible to turn your physical store into the point of order fulfillment for your online customers. It enables buy online, pick up in-store (BOPIS), and buy online, pick up at curbside (BOPAC) options for the customers, improving omnichannel integrations. By enabling the possibility of picking up orders and effectuating POS payment in a nearby store, you reduce overall shipping costs while increasing customer satisfaction.
Along with the advantages above, you get the ability to:
A comprehensive approach to eCommerce store data gathering, processing, and seamless flow between various business apps gives a better view of retail operations, enables real-time data synchronization, and saves time thanks to automated workflows. The survey found that for 54% of respondents, gaining real-time product visibility was the top priority while integrating POS.
Further, automation saves time and redirects human resources to more demanding tasks. Streamlined operations cut inventory costs, allow business operations management from a single dashboard, and provide accurate sales data.
POS integration helps centralize data in one place. It means that you can track customer behavior across channels, better recognize their habits and preferences, and identify emerging trends early on. Moreover, POS integration with eCommerce platforms facilitates tracking pricing accuracy, sales patterns, and discrepancies in pricing.
The insights from the reports will help you adjust your product offer and supply, introduce personalized marketing proposals, reduce pricing errors, and modify your strategy to meet customers' changing needs.
Managing inventory in numerous warehouses and locations can be daunting. Even with an advanced inventory management system, making timely decisions is impossible when you lack real-time data synchronization.
You can see inventory data across all selling channels with POS systems integration. The numbers update in real-time, displaying how many items were purchased and from which channel. It allows you to:
POS integration helps monitor product stock and availability in real time across multiple channels. It facilitates goods replenishment in time and without delays. Why does it matter? Popular goods remain available all the time, and you can avoid selling out-of-stock items because of disrupted data flow between your systems. It's a win-win solution for customers and business owners!
For eCommerce, happy customers are the key priority. POS integrates with marketing and loyalty programs across the channels, providing a customer journey without disruptions, applying discounts, coupons, and special offers, and increasing customer loyalty and trust.
The integration allows customers to use various payment methods and seamless online ordering. The customer's data transmitted by POS to the eCommerce platform highlights insights about users' preferences and upgrades personalization approaches. And it matters: according to Accenture, 91% of customers are more likely to shop in stores that provide relevant recommendations and tailored offers. In 2020, 35% of retailers already offered personalized rewards for their repeat customers.
POS integration with eCommerce websites includes connecting various software solutions and providing smooth data flow. The main integrations include:
The process of POS integration looks like this: POS receives customer data, then transforms it into the format supported by integrated software, loads it into the POS integration database, and the cycle repeats. You can set the frequency of data acquisition, but most businesses prefer to look at numbers gathered in real-time. In the details, the process looks as follows:
At this step, you consolidate all knowledge about the current state of things with your POS. Do you have a POS? Does it offer integration capabilities? Check their POS integration compatibility if you use eCommerce platforms like Shopify, Adobe Commerce, WooCommerce, and others. The other key points to consider are:
What systems do you want your POS to integrate with? Think about inventory management software, customer management, and handling returns and exchanges. If you have a physical store, consider hardware requirements for your retail POS system. Progress has been made in recent decades, so make POS hardware as modern as software.
Now, you can implement the integration. Depending on the eCommerce platform and POS, the integration can be installed via API, middleware, or plugins. We suggest you seek professional ecommerce integration services to complete the process, which requires technical knowledge. Sometimes, you'll need custom integrations, such as when your POS software does not support certain integrations.
Testing and troubleshooting keep your integrations running securely and correctly. This step should be taken seriously, as errors and data breaches lead to losses in money and reputation. During the testing, ensure that all integrations work as they should: check the connection, migrate data, investigate and resolve identified issues, and conduct security testing. Do not forget to run frequent system checks to spot and fix bugs early.
Now, you should teach the stall how to use the new functionality. Set training sessions according to user roles and the systems your staff operates. Provide people with training materials in different forms (videos, manuals, FAQs, etc.) and learning channels (webinars, offline training sessions, individual learning). Ensure you have key persons who can answer emerging questions during work with new POS integrations. Issue updates on system updates and changes and schedule repeated training to refresh knowledge.
Another point in this final step is performance monitoring. Once set up and tuned, the system must be properly maintained and updated to avoid issues with data flow. You can ask your integration developer for system maintenance and support services or appoint in-house professionals to this role.
Now, let's look at the most common POS system with eCommerce store integrations.
Such integration types allow for real-time, seamless data flow, including cash flow, inventory cost, and logistics. POS integration with accounting software helps eCommerce businesses simplify tax compliance, improve their financial data management system, improve customer service, and enhance reporting.
Such integrations include QuickBooks, Xero, Sage, Wave, and other accounting software. The most valuable advantage for businesses in this sort of POS integration is error reduction in financial reporting.
If your digital store is placed on an eCommerce platform, there is a big chance that the platform already has a tailored POS extension for it. Such integrations can benefit your store with online store analytics, omnichannel loyalty, shopping cart recovery, options for selling through social media, and more.
Examples of extensions include Shopify POS, WooCommerce POS, and Adobe Commerce POS, as well as many others.
Integrating POS with your eCommerce website email marketing system helps you connect with customers, launch successful campaigns, and make personalized offers. Create emails according to customer data, such as items purchased, their category, time of purchase, and the amount spent on the order, and offer loyalty points and discounts. Send follow-ups, newsletters, and promotional emails to build meaningful customer relationships.
Examples of point-of-sale integration with email marketing systems are Mailchimp, Sendinblue, Klaviyo, Brevo, and more. Such POS eCommerce integration gives your marketing team customer insights across all sales channels, helping you to reach out.
The most obvious integration with POS systems as the data source about orders, transactions, and customer preferences is the customer relationship management system (CRM). It gives business owners a comprehensive custom view, improves customer personalized experience, improves customer service, and helps to gain data-driven insights. Knowing your customer preferences and shopping experience enables you to adjust your offers to customer expectations and increase retention rates.
Examples of POS-CRM integration for eCommerce include Hubspot, Zoho, Salesforce, Freshsales, and more. These robust integrations allow you to track customer purchasing habits, record customer feedback, and enable customer segmentation.
POS integration with inventory management systems has the main advantage of real-time data updates, which allow for better inventory tracking, error and cost reduction, and efficient inventory control. Other benefits include high inventory visibility, multichannel tracking, and optimized storage.
POS integrates with Finale Inventory, Cin7, and Unleashed Software. They enable businesses to make data-driven decisions about purchasing, pricing, and promotions based on accurate sales and inventory data.
A POS system integrated with shipping software streamlines the order fulfillment process. It automatically calculates shipping costs based on weight, dimensions, and destination and generates shipping labels. Inventory is updated in real-time as orders are processed, preventing shipping errors. Customers receive accurate shipping information and tracking numbers, enhancing the overall order experience.
Examples include ShipStation, Shippo, Lightspeed, and Square. This integration saves time, reduces manual errors, and improves order accuracy.
Now that you know about all the benefits of using POS integrations, their types, and the implementation process, we want to share our experience in eCommerce integration with POS.
As certified Magento developers, we often work on eCommerce projects, providing services to help retail businesses establish an online presence and scale their eCommerce activities.
In 2015, we received a request from Planet Blue, a California-based fashion brand, to help them go digital. The company has already successfully run a chain of brick-and-mortar stores. Now, it wishes to launch an online store and integrate with POS systems and third-party services.
Our Magento-certified specialists launched an up-to-date solution to help Planet Blue with eCommerce's point-of-sale integration.
We were responsible for:
The outcomes of our development work got the customer satisfied in the end, as we have managed to:
On our portfolio page, you will find more examples of eCommerce website development, upgrades, and setting integrations we can offer to streamline your retail business.
What is happening globally in the field of POS systems and their integrations with eCommerce? Let's discover the latest trends!
As B2B customers have become accustomed to the convenience and speed of consumer experiences, they now expect similar service levels from businesses. This shift has accelerated the adoption of B2C-style solutions in the B2B world. One prominent example is the rapid growth of buy now, pay later (BNPL) options, which have transitioned from consumer shopping to business purchases, boosting sales and customer satisfaction.
Cloud POS is rapidly replacing traditional point-of-sale systems. Storing data and running software on remote servers offers several advantages. With an Internet connection, businesses can access sales data and manage operations from anywhere. It's cost-effective, as there's no need for expensive hardware, and updates are automatic. Additionally, cloud POS integrates with other business tools, improving efficiency. The trend is driven by the increasing reliance on cloud technology and the desire for real-time data and flexibility.
AI in eCommerce integration with POS revolutionizes retail by optimizing inventory management, predicting demand, personalizing customer experiences, and automating routine tasks. It analyzes sales data to identify trends, prevent fraud, and streamline checkout processes, ultimately enhancing efficiency and customer satisfaction. It leverages machine learning to make smarter, faster decisions for businesses.
POS integration with eCommerce stores allows businesses to better manage product stocks and order fulfillment, launch targeted marketing campaigns, and introduce cross-channel promotions. On the other hand, your customers can easily return an order, pick up the order at the most comfortable location, and enjoy personalized offers and loyalty programs.
At NEKLO, we will gladly bring our eCommerce development expertise to power your idea through a well-balanced retail online integration solution for your prospect or existing retail business activity. Contact us through the form on our website for a targeted dialogue on our custom eCommerce development services.
US-based and operating globally, NEKLO spearheads digital transformation initiatives for businesses worldwide. We deliver software solutions complying with your market and legislation.
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