An Introduction To Shopify POS- Getting Acquainted With The Basics

POS stands for point of sale and refers to the place at which a retail transaction is carried out. Shopify comes with an application for iOS and Android devices that can be used for physical transactions as well as in pop up settings. Shopify’s POS tool allows merchants to accept credit cards in-store, that is physically, on the go and everywhere in between. The  POS tool by Shopify allows for easy selling across any device of your choice. With Shopify, you can find products as well as accept payments and get your inventory automatically updated along with your orders and customer data.

An Introduction To Shopify POS- Getting Acquainted With The Basics

Shopify POS streamlines the transaction process for online as well as in-store and pop up settings

There are a number of devices you can use, to get your Shopify POS up and running. Ideally, if you want to install and use the POS app by Shopify, you can use an iPad, iPhone, iPad mini or Android devices. The app will work well on iPhone 5 or a better running iOS version 9.3 or a any version higher than that. For the iPad, an iOS version 9.3 or higher or the second generation iPad is ideal for using this app. In the iPad mini, any generation with an iOS version 9.3 or higher will work well. Android devices running version 5.0 (Lollipop) or higher will be apt for installing and using the Shopify POS app. Shopify POS will not support iOS beta versions.

One of the first steps in getting started with your own Shopify POS is to set up an account on it. Once you have installed the Shopify POS app on your device, if you already have an account, you only need to log in with your account details. Otherwise, you can opt for their 14-day free trial and start creating projects directly from the app.

Shopify POS is responsible for customer facing activities as well as in-store settings. Your Shopify store basically serves as the back end of your Shopify POS system. From your Shopify Admin, you can easily manage your customer information, your product inventory, and your Shopify account, which can be managed from any browser.

There are a few things, you will need, in order to get started with your Shopify POS. For the Shopify POS App, essentially, you require a device, i.e., an iPhone or iPad, a Shopify store, a Shopify POS app and a product to sell. Your Shopify store can be created from the app itself. Some retail hardware may also be used, like a barcode scanner, a receipt printer, an iPad stand and a cash drawer. However, you need not necessarily use these things as you can process sales without the use of these items.

Many of you may be wondering if you need to follow a particular procedure in order to merge your Shopify online store with your Shopify POS. Your Shopify online store will automatically be merged with your Shopify POS. All the transactions and business can ideally be managed from a single dashboard. Your Shopify admin will automatically take into account, all the product or inventory updates that you make in your Shopify Admin.

One of the best parts about the Shopify POS is that with the Shopify POS plan for the iPad or any higher plan, you can create specific accounts for an unlimited number of staff to use.

Shopify also allows for multiple retail locations to be easily setup at no extra charge! Even within a single store, you can synchronize your Shopify POS across numerous cash registers at no additional cost.

Although there is no limit to the number of products that you can include within your catalog, in order to avoid experiencing performance issues, you should practise following limits to the number. Different devices will have different limits to the number of products on the catalog. If you are using an iPad 2 for your Shopify POS, you can add up to 2,000 products with 4,000 variants. For an iPad 3 as well as an iPad 4, the product limit is set at 3,000 with the limit on the number of variants being 6,000. For an iPad 5, the total number of products that you can add into your catalog is 5,000 and the number of variants that these can have is 8,000. Same is the case, if you are using the iPad Air or the iPad Pro 9.7 inches. For any model of iPad mini that you are using, you should have no more than 3,000 products with 6,000 variants if you want to get the best performance out of your Shopify POS. With the iPad Pro 10.5 inches and 12.9 inches, the total number of products that you can catalog is 7,000, with 10,000 variants.

With Shopify POS, you have the option of selling products online which you may make available online or in-store or both. The best part about Shopify POS is that it can be used in almost any country and with every currency. You can use Shopify POS Worldwide, but you will have to check if the Shopify in your country supports credit card payment providers.