Shopify POS: Transform In-Person and Online Sales with Seamless Integration

Shopify POS is Shopify’s point of sale (POS) system, built into the same admin as your online store, so inventory, orders, customers, and reporting stay in sync whether a sale happens on your site, in your shop, or at a pop-up.

Retailers that sell both online and in person often end up with two systems: an ecommerce platform and a separate POS bolted on through integrations. Stock counts drift, customer records split, and reports never agree. Shopify POS avoids that because it is part of the Shopify platform rather than an add-on.

My Experience with Shopify POS

A few years ago, a local food delivery client decided to open a retail location to sell directly to customers. I had already built and optimized their Shopify store for delivery, so I looked into Shopify POS and was amazed at how simple it was. It took about a day to mount some iPads on stands, pair the card readers, and configure an IP printer for receipts. The store opened the next day.

Accelerate growth and sell your best with Shopify POS

What Is Shopify POS?

Shopify POS turns a phone, tablet, or Shopify hardware into a checkout that shares one product catalog, one inventory count, and one customer database with your online store. A sale in the shop updates stock online immediately, and an online order can be picked up or returned in store. It scales from a single market stall to a network of locations.

Shopify POS Features

• Unified inventory: Real-time stock syncing across every channel and location, with scheduled stock counts and quick counts from a barcode scanner to keep numbers accurate.
• Omnichannel selling: Buy online, pick up in store (BOPIS), buy in store and ship, ship from store, local delivery, and returns or exchanges at any location. Customers can even take some items home and ship the rest in a single transaction.
• Redesigned POS app: Version 10 brought faster navigation, smarter search that handles typos, an adaptable cart, and a smart grid of tiles that suggests shortcuts based on how you sell.
• Brand customization: One editor controls the customer display, smart grid, receipts, and lock screen, including your logo, colors, and media on customer-facing screens.
• Integrated payments: Accept cards, contactless payments, digital wallets, and QR code payments with Shopify Payments, plus store credit, gift cards, split payments, and tips.
• Offline mode: Keep taking payments and closing sales when your network drops. Everything syncs once you are back online.
• Hardware options: Tap to Pay on iPhone and Android, Shopify card readers, the countertop POS Terminal, the handheld POS Go, and the POS Hub for wired USB scanners, printers, and cash drawers.
• Customer profiles: One customer record across online and in-store purchases, with in-store customer recognition, lifetime value, loyalty insights, and the ability to pull up a known customer’s abandoned online cart.
• Shared carts: Recent carts are saved across devices, so any associate can pick up a sale, even through a shift change.
• Staff management: Unlimited staff, roles and permissions, manager approvals, unique PINs for login, and sales attribution for commissions and coaching.
• Inventory intelligence: Purchase orders, transfers, low stock alerts, and Sidekick, Shopify’s AI assistant, for demand forecasting and stock rebalancing between locations.
• Markets for retail: Set unique prices and publish different products for each retail location and online.
• Subscriptions in store: Customers can sign up for subscriptions at the counter through the Shopify Subscriptions app.
• Reporting and device management: Sales, staff, and inventory reports in the same admin as your online analytics, plus the status of every POS device, with the ability to revoke a missing one.
• Multi-location management: Manage inventory, staff, and sales for over a thousand locations from one back office.

Shopify POS Plans

Shopify POS is included with every paid Shopify plan for casual in-person selling: taking payments, simple customer profiles, and returns at the original purchase location. On the Basic plan, only a limited number of staff can log in to POS, while Grow and Advanced allow unlimited logins. POS Pro is a per-location add-on for permanent retail stores. It adds unlimited staff with roles and permissions, rich customer profiles and loyalty insights, returns and exchanges at any location, inventory management, professional retail reports, and omnichannel features such as in-store pickup, ship from store, and endless aisle. Several of the newest capabilities, including markets for retail, quick counts, and mixed pickup and shipping orders, are exclusive to POS Pro. Shopify Plus includes the full POS Pro feature set.

Getting Started with Shopify POS

1. Choose a Shopify plan or log in to your existing store.
2. Download the Shopify POS app on a supported phone or tablet.
3. Start with Tap to Pay on your phone, or order a card reader, POS Terminal, or countertop kit from the Shopify Hardware Store.
4. Add staff and locations, customize your smart grid and customer display, then start selling.

Because Shopify POS runs on the same platform as your online store, there is no integration to build or maintain. Your products, customers, and reports are already there.

Get Started with Shopify POS