Shopify Point of Sale (POS)
Shopify · Business
Shopify Point of Sale (POS) is a retail POS system that turns an iPad or Android device into a checkout, syncing every in-store order, customer and stock count with your Shopify online store.
About Shopify Point of Sale (POS)
What Is Shopify POS
Shopify Point of Sale is the in-person arm of the Shopify commerce platform. It runs as an app on iPad, iPhone and Android devices, turns them into a checkout counter, and keeps everything it records in step with your online store. A sale rung up at the counter shows in your admin the moment it closes.
The problem it solves is split data. Most small retailers start with an online shop and a separate till, then spend evenings reconciling what sold where. Shopify POS removes that gap. One customer list. One inventory count. One set of reports, whether the order came from the website, a market stall or the shop floor. That's the reason retailers on Shopify report the unified setup lifting revenue year over year, according to Shopify.
It's best described as point of sale software that borrows the reach of a full selling platform. Because the app and the website share one record, a small shop quietly ends up running omnichannel retail without buying a second system to do it.
The catch is that POS only makes sense inside the Shopify world. It needs a live Shopify subscription, it runs only on iOS and Android rather than a laptop, and the fuller retail tools sit behind a per-location add-on. That's a real limit. If you sell on a different platform, this isn't your till.
Getting Started
- Sign up for a Shopify account and pick a paid plan, since the base in-person selling features come with every paid subscription.
- Download the Shopify POS app from the App Store or Google Play and log in with your Shopify credentials.
- Add your products and locations in the Shopify admin, then set up a payment method such as Shopify Payments.
- Buy any hardware you need, like a card reader, stand or receipt printer, and pair it with the app.
- Open a cart, scan or tap items, take payment, and let the order sync back to your store automatically.
Product Information
A quick look at Shopify Point of Sale (POS)'s pricing, supported platforms, and performance.
Best for
The users, tasks, and scenarios where this tool fits best.
Users
- Single-store shop owners
- Pop-up and market sellers
- Multi-location retailers
- Growing omnichannel retail brands
Tasks
- Ringing up in-person sales
- Tracking inventory across channels
- Managing customers in store
- Handling returns and exchanges
Scenarios
- Running a weekend market stall
- Opening a second store
- Selling at a trade show or event
- Keeping a brick-and-mortar shop in sync
Key features
Unified Online and In-Store Selling
Shopify POS shares one system with your Shopify online store, so products, customers, orders and inventory all live in the same place. A sale at the counter drops the stock count your website is showing, which cuts the odds of selling something twice. That link between channels is the main reason retailers pick it over a standalone till.
Flexible Checkout Payments
The app takes all the usual payment types: major credit cards, cash, Apple Pay, Google Pay, Shop Pay and gift cards. With Shopify Payments switched on, card rates stay flat across the plan instead of shifting per card type. Sales tax is worked out from the store's location, so you're not guessing the rate at the counter.
Touch and Hardware Checkout
Shopify POS is built for touch: tap through a smart grid of your most-sold items, scan a barcode with the device camera, or pair a dedicated scanner. It also connects to retail hardware like cash drawers and receipt printers, so a simple tablet setup can grow into a full counter as the shop gets busier.
Inventory and Customer Management
Stock counts, purchase orders and low-stock alerts sit inside the same app on the Pro tier. Customer profiles come along too, with purchase history and loyalty insights that staff can pull up before a shopper reaches the till. It means the person behind the counter knows what a regular bought last time without digging through a spreadsheet.
Omnichannel Fulfillment
The app handles more than a plain sale. You can sell items that live at another location, offer buy online, pickup in store, and email a cart to a customer so they can finish the purchase at home. Those options turn a single storefront into a network, and they're the features that matter most once a retailer runs more than one channel.
Retail Reporting
Reports show what sells best, when the store is busiest and how each location is performing, all pulled from live data rather than an end-of-day tally. On the Pro tier you get professional retail reports and can watch stores in real time from a central dashboard. For owners who used to guess, that's the difference between a hunch and a number.
Pros and cons
Pros
- One inventory pool and customer list across online and in-store selling, which kills most manual reconciliation.
- Runs on iPad, iPhone and Android devices you likely already own, so the entry cost is low.
- The base in-person features come with every paid Shopify plan, with the Pro extras as an optional add-on.
- Handles payments, returns, discounts and buy online pickup in store without extra apps.
- Live reporting from the counter makes it easier to spot what's actually selling.
Cons
- Needs an active paid Shopify subscription, so it isn't a standalone till for people outside Shopify.
- POS Pro costs an extra $89 per month per location, which adds up fast for shops with several branches.
- There's no desktop or laptop version, so the whole setup depends on iOS or Android devices staying charged and updated.
- Deeper tools like purchase orders and professional reports sit behind the Pro tier, so the free tier is fairly light.
Frequently asked questions
Shopify POS is a point of sale system for selling in person. It turns an iPad, iPhone or Android device into a checkout and keeps every in-store sale, customer and stock change synced with your Shopify online store.
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