Learning Hub | E-Commerce

WooCommerce & Point of Sale (POS) Integrations: What You Need To Know

They say the days of brick and mortar shopping are gone, but I disagree. Sure, the average consumer’s shopping habits have certainly changed since the introduction of online shopping, and yes, there are shells of once-bustling shopping malls scattered across the US. The landscape has just changed. 

There’s so much coverage of booming online retailers that many people don’t even know that 85% of shopping still happens in physical stores. In fact, the International Council of Shopping Centers found that when a previously online-only retailer opens a physical store, traffic to their website increases by 37%.

That’s why it’s so important that brick-and-mortar stores with an online shop have seamless integration between both entities. That starts with integrating their point of sale system and e-commerce platform. 

Why not keep them separated?

Is all of your inventory coming from the same place? Then why manage two stores for one set of inventory? When your POS system and WooCommerce are integrated, your inventory will be updated in real time, so if someone purchases the last of an item in-store, it’s unavailable online as well. Nobody likes to send those “Oops we made a mistake!” emails when someone purchases something that’s actually out of stock. This also makes it simpler to offer in-store pickups and returns for your online customers—no shipping charges, for the win!

Chances are, you offer your customers promotions and discounts throughout the year—do you offer the same deals to your in-store and online customers? With seamless WooCommerce and POS integration, you can allow your customers to redeem their coupons through either channel, as well as apply their loyalty points.

What if I have a custom POS?

Not all POS systems are made to integrate with WooCommerce… but don’t worry, even if you have a custom POS, you can make it work, as long as it has an API. An application programming interface allows your POS to be integrated with an e-commerce platform, as long as it also has open API architecture. Some e-commerce platforms with open API architecture include:

  • Epos Now
  • ShopKeep
  • Square
  • Clover
  • Lightspeed
  • Revel
  • Vend

How to integrate WooCommerce with Your Point of Sale (POS) System

There are two ways to integrate your POS system and WooCommerce: through a plugin, or through custom coding. If you’re working with Epos Now, Square, Lightspeed, or Vend, there are plugins available to integrate. If you’re working with Shopkeep or another e-commerce platform that doesn’t have a WooCommerce integration plugin available, though, all hope isn’t lost! You don’t have to start from scratch.

Like we mentioned before, open API documentation is all you need. Well, that and an experienced developer. An API is a standard set of programming protocols that allow two different platforms to talk to each other—in this case, Shopkeep and your website. Then, your programmer creates a custom code, finishing the integration and building a bridge between your POS system and your website.

Did all of this tech talk make your eyes glaze over? Luckily, Verde Media is here to help. Let’s schedule a call and figure out how we can integrate your WooCommerce website with your POS system.