What in the world is Shopify doing? Last week it introduced its own POS payment hardware. The company announced it would make the POS and eCommerce proposition easier for its customers with a new in-store device.
US-based merchants can get the new credit card reader for free beginning in late June. Shopify has made POS and eCommerce part of its offering since 2013. But until now, it left the hardware to third-party providers. Unsurprisingly, the custom-device is designed to integrate with the Shopify eCommerce platform.
Unsurprisingly, the custom-device is designed to integrate with the Shopify eCommerce platform.
Shopify’s announcement can be seen in a number of ways. First, as Inc. wrote last week, the move is a swipe at Square. The POS and eCommerce company (co-founded by Twitter’s Jack Dempsey) made a POS credit card reader its first product.
The bigger issue is that Shopify recognizes that POS and eCommerce are a natural fit in a time when the distinctions between an online and physical retail strategy have blurred.
“Looking forward, all small businesses are thinking multi-channel first. If someone is opening a store, whether online or retail, they’re fundamentally thinking about the combined strategy,” Shopify’s VP of Product Satish Kanwar told Inc. “If I’m opening a retail store, I’m naturally now thinking about how I’m going to be promoting those products online. And if I’m opening an online store, I’m thinking about how I’m going to expand my business over time.”
POS and eCommerce and Everything Else
We couldn’t agree with that statement more. The reality of commerce today requires more flexibility among companies to stay competitive. Common sense suggests businesses should streamline eCommerce and POS and every other aspect of operations in order to:
- Sell to customers however they shop.
eCommerce sales in the US grew by around 16% from 2015 to 2016, while traditional retail grew by under 3%. Still, 88% of sales were through POS in brick-and-mortars. Customers continue to shop more in stores than online. But eCommerce takes the lion share of growth. This reinforces the need for companies to have both online and physical strategies in place, even if it starts with a single pop-up shop. - Make it easier to manage multiple channels.
Whether you’re a pure-play eCommerce business testing the brick-and-mortar waters with a pop-up store or a mom-and-pop realizing the benefits of eCommerce, you are adding a channel. Before the rise of cloud computing, the prospect of a new channel carried with it the burden of added systems to manage that channel. Shopify’s card reader is a case-in-point in how integrated technology makes it easier to expand a business without the need to spend a lot of time and resources making it work with the rest of your business. - Align your channels for better customer experience.
Integrating physical sales and eCommerce can help you provide a uniform customer experience. It can be part of a greater omnichannel integration strategy that assures customers they can expect the same experience whether they buy online or in the store. This is especially true when the integration includes consistently available stock and consistent pricing. When customers know they can buy what they want from you, regardless of the channel, you will build trust, and win repeat business.
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The post 3 Ways POS and eCommerce Go Together appeared first on Cin7.
