Article

Akashdeep Sharma
Akashdeep Sharma 9 October 2017

Top POS Solutions for Magento Store

The evolution of in-store retail is necessary to cater to fast paced shoppers who aren’t willing to wait in line to conduct purchase transactions that take minutes! With an omnichannel setup, modern business owners can operate both an online and an offline revenue channel with a single setup.

The evolution of in-store retail is necessary to cater to fast paced shoppers who aren’t willing to wait in line to conduct purchase transactions that take minutes! With an omnichannel setup, modern business owners can operate both an online and an offline revenue channel with a single setup. In this article, we will consider the various facets of an omnichannel setup with the Magento CMS and recommend few top of line POS solutions to integrate into the brick-and-mortar store.
 
A POS Solution is Ideal

A recognizable feature of the 2017 onwards offline and online commerce would be the importance of the mobile POS. The ability for a smartphone to perform the functions of an electronic cash register is becoming a predominant demand in the global business space. Businesses realise the need to offer buyers the flexibility and convenience to use smart devices with POS components for a simplified checkout process and ensuring that the transaction process works both in the online and the brick-and-mortar business.

In a world where ecommerce is becoming dominant, it is necessary for brick-and-mortar shops to retain its relevance through adopting technological advancements. In a research by the Boston Retail Partners, it was found that 85% of the retailers consider the creation of a truly unified commerce environment as a top priority for 2016, followed by improving customer engagement and experience.

The adoption of mPOS is beneficial for a brick-and-mortar business, especially during the holiday seasons and the peak hours. Security is another major concern. The same research mentioned above identified that 38% of retailers are worried about security compliance, and understands the need for maintaining PCI compliance to ensure transaction security.

Choosing an omnichannel POS system that integrated with the Magento ecommerce store is the idea way ahead post 2017.

Custom POS Integration with Magento Store

Here are some POS solutions that can be integrated with the Magento store.
 
1. X-POS

The X-POS system for Magento 1 and 2 offers a delicate yet robust store management infrastructure that works in building, managing and growing the omnichannel business. Easy to install, it syncs with the Magento CMS in real-time and works with great precision when handling taxes and discounts. The business admin can add new registers and stores seamlessly, and generate diversified reports to understand business performance.

Any activity that an online and offline store would require is handled by the X-POS system. There is:

1. Product & Inventory Management – to sync all the Magento store and offline listings, assign SKU’s or barcode, and check stocks.

2. Order & Checkout – easy checkout option for the buyer with supported reward points and gift cards, refund and exchange processing, printing receipts and creating invoices, and discount calculations.

3. Payments – to accept payments by cash or card, and the possibility to customize up to 20 payment options.

4. Customer Management – to create and manage customer data, maintain purchase records, generate reports and share with accountants, and a unified dashboard for customer acquisition management.

5. Multi-Store Management – to add various registers and stores anytime, and handle warehouse stock.

The X-POS works with multiple devices and synchronizes data in real-time.  An addition to this system could be the iPad X-POS for store owners with iPad devices.

2. PayPal In-Aisle Selling

Existing PayPal users can use the PayPal In-Aisle Magento extension to turn the store into a “concierge” sales tool for buyers. With this setup, you can help buyers in the aisle at any of the business locations to charge their PayPal account. The Magento storefront needs to have PayPal Here payment method enabled, and when the customer is on the aisle, the buyer needs to check-in from the PayPal app installed on their smartphone to pay or process the payment via debit card, credit card, check, or cash. Once the extension is installed, the “Charge with PayPal Here” will be visible on the checkout page. Upon successful transaction, the same will be recorded on the Magento CRM for record keeping and tally.

This extension bypasses the Magento 1 page checkout and processes the PayPal payment quicker. The payment page adds fields like buyer name, email, address, and phone number to complete the purchase, and the buyer may opt out of receiving the receipts.

3. Lightspeed POS

A one-stop solution for all sales needs, the Lightspeed POS is one of the highly recommended POS systems for the Magento-based ecommerce stores. It offers both local server POS system and cloud-based POS system, and as hindsight, do remember that the Lightspeed POS works solely on Apple products. It offers OnSite POS, Restaurant POS, Retail POS and a general version for other kinds of ecommerce systems. All these four categories come with its unique set of features so go through them and choose the version which suits the business best.

Lightspeed is not just a POS. It’s truly a one-stop solution as it offers multiple functionalities like integrated SEO system, marketing, connectivity with apps, design and theme marketplace, integrated shipping and tons of product customization options. With Lightspeed, integrate the Magento store with Facebook and sell directly on the social platform. Pull social reviews and display on the ecommerce store, set special prices for repeat customers, cross sell and upsell, establish shipping parameters and more.

Choosing a POS System

How to identify and select the best POS solution for the business? Identifying and choosing the best POS system that proves to be an ideal combination of the online and offline store is essential. Let us learn some pointers.

1. Desktop or Mobile

Choose a system that integrates seamlessly with the mobile devices because customers are increasingly shopping on mobile, and it should be a priority. The ideal POS should not only assist in creating an omnichannel system for the business but effortlessly integrate the desktop and smart devices in real-time to get an accurate picture of the businesses.

2. Cost

Either a one-time purchase or a monthly subscription system are the only two options with POS systems. Most of the POS systems have similar features such as barcode scanning, receipt printing, and inventory tracking. The cost varies based on the nature of software technology. Decide based on business volume. If it’s a startup, choose monthly subscriptions and if the business already processes quite a volume every month, choose a one-time purchase.

3. Features

The choice of features depends on the nature of the brick-and-mortar business and how much of the same business is conducted online because that would determine the features needed for creating the perfect omnichannel experience. The basic features include generating sales reports, calculating and tracking checkouts, integration with inventory management systems, tracking available cash, maintaining proper customer database and more. 

The ideal POS system will help in saving the time usually spent in operating the business.

 

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