2. About The Author
Jared P Shaner
A student of the game who believes there
are no limits to learning nor humility. I
absolutely love staying on top of the
emerging trends and technologies for my
clients and learning from those far wiser
than myself.
Ohh and I’m a Makers Mark Ambassador so
it’s fair to say I love me some bourbon and
the fine smell of mahagony
About Plum Tree
The Plum Tree Group is an Interactive Marketing and Technology
firm, we work to implement enterprise level eCommerce
solutions leveraging Magento Commerce.
jared@plumtreegroup.net
plumtreegroup.net
@Jaredism
www.linkedin.com/in/jaredshaner/
3. Bridging The Gap
Connecting Your Web and Physical
Stores Via POS
In the world of online retail, keeping your online inventory in-sync with
your retail store is vital to your operational and marketing success.
The concept of incorporating a Point of Sales (POS) system with the
legacy system running a company’s online store is actually fairly
modern technology; at least in respect to how long people have been
selling both online and through their brick and mortar locations
simultaneously. For companies simply due to the lack of technology,
they have often had to manage their online and physical store sales
separately through two different systems. If integrated correctly a
POS system can be the magic glue that makes your online and
physical stores come together as one and reduce a substantial
amount of time and effort for those trying to keep a close eye on
crucial aspects for the business such as inventory, sales, and
consumer buying behavior.
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4. The Absolute Need
4 Reasons Why You Need An Integrated
eCommerce System
As online shopping becomes increasingly crucial for success in the
retail world, it is important for retailers to find an integrated
eCommerce system. Exactly what benefits will an integrated system
provide for a retail company?
1
SAVING TIME AND MONEY:
By using just one retail software package instead of
multiple, you save money and time (switching from monitoring
one system to another really eats hours off the clock).
2
KNOW WHERE YOU STAND:
With one combined system, you know where your
inventory stands, both in-store and online. You’ll know what you
need to restock in because quantities will be automatically
adjusted at each data transfer point.
3
MORE REPORTS:
Through reports and other management tools, you have
the ability to reflect on sales history of your entire business, not
just your brick-and-mortar stores.
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5. The Absolute Need
4 Reasons Why You Need An Integrated
eCommerce System
IT’S ALL ABOUT THE CUSTOMERS:
There’s no business without customers. Running a
successful business
means keeping customers happy. An integrated
system will give them one more way to shop with you. Additionally, it
gives you more
opportunities to keep in touch with them via email and promotional discounts (which in turn allows you the
opportunity to maintain a
relationship with them and make them
not just customers, but loyal
customers). Basically, think about
them and what’s important to them.
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WAYS IN WHICH YOU CAN DO THIS?
o Is account history important to them? Give
them the option to view their history online
(including in-store purchases).
o Do they want the same presence in your
store and on your site? Give them the ability
to use the same billing options.
o Are they social media butterflies? Tweet
them! Attach an Instagram photo! Be creative
and stay tech savvy.
o Know why and how they came into your
(virtual or physical) store. This can help you
bring more people in in the future!
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6. The Problem
Integrating the POS with your legacy
system
The issues associated with
integrating your POS system
with the existing legacy setup
mostly center around DATA …
That being deciding what data
is stored and reported in which
system. The resulting
confusion can be the cause of
quite a lot headache opposed
to the expected clarity of having
additional automation.
As a company, you must also
decide how you want you POS
system to communicate with your
existing legacy system. One of the
major advantages of having both
systems connected is lost if your
online store is not in constant
contact with the system in the brick
and mortar location/s. Plum Tree
Group suggests having them send
data in flat file format for best
results.
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7. The Problem
Integrating the POS with your legacy
system
One of the biggest dangers to a company’s success is poor
communication regarding crucial data between the legacy system
and POS. The three pieces of data that should always be flowing
freely between a company’s eCommerce backend and POS
system are the following:
Sales: At all times you should have an
overall image of your sales both online
and through your brick and mortal
locations. This will allow you to properly
forecast for total company sales
opposed to breaking them up based on
location.
Customer Data: Whenever possible,
gather customer data so that you have
visibility into who, what, when, where,
and how of your business. This will
allow you to more accurately segment
your customer base.
Inventory: Simple concept. You don’t
want to sell a scooter online that you
just sold the last one of in your brick
and mortar. Communication between
systems is key in these types of
situations.
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8. Marketplaces
The Need For Connecting Your POS with
Online Marketplaces
Sure, you know your POS system does a great job creating purchase
orders, receiving and reconciling these goods. However, your POS
system also has a hidden gem . . . the collection of other information
such as name, description, size, color and especially the UPC code of
your products.
This is important … Why?
1) On September 22, 2011 Google made a change to their Google
Products feed requiring UPC codes. That’s right, if you don’t send a
product’s UPC code to Google, your goods will not show up on
Google Products.
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9. Marketplaces
The Need For Connecting Your POS with
Online Marketplaces
2) Amazon has similar, if not more extensive, requirements than
Google when it comes to selling products on their site. We have
found it extremely difficult to send a store’s product catalog to
Amazon if it is not integrated with their point of sale system.
3) All the other online marketplaces you are trying to easily get your
products listed on!!
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10. Tips for Success
POS Done Right
Like most other things in the retail world, POS is useful…when
done right. Need a few pointers on how to use it in your
favor…?
1
•
•
2
•
3
•
•
•
MANAGE WHAT GETS MEASURED
Set up your internal systems so that as much POS data
as possible is reported
Everything tied to the KPI’s of your business should be
watched under a microscope
DATA IS KING
Really…collect as much as possible. You can never have
too much data
This will be key in reference to tip #4
INVEST THE TIME AND RESOURCES FROM THE START
Make it easier on yourself and start strong
It is always better to do something right the first time,
investing the time in setting things up right now will save
time in the future
4
•
•
USE IT
The data generated from POS reports can help shape
company decisions and marketing efforts
There are two things that always lead to good decision
making…process and data
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11. Two POS Offerings That Recently
Caught Our Attention…
1) Vend
Vend is a beautiful POS software, inventory and customer
management system that thousands of retailers all over the world
love to use. Vend works just like your current point-of-sale, but,
because it is online POS software, and runs in a web browser, it
works on any computer, including an iPad, anywhere in the world. It
even keeps working in offline mode, if you lose your internet
connection. Vend takes the hassle out of running a modern
business, by seamlessly integrating your real world shop with your
eCommerce store. It also connects with Xero online accounting.
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12. Two POS Offerings That Recently
Caught Our Attention…
2) Shopify POS
Shopify POS offers the ideal offering for small and medium
businesses that lack the funding to buy POS and eCommerce
software separately and still have cash left to integrate them
together. the Shopify POS delivers inventory synchronization, outof-the-box credit card processing, and detailed reporting. The best
part is that for merchants that host their online stores on Shopify,
they can add POS for just around $50 monthly plus the upfront cost
of the hardware
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