What Shopify POS is
Shopify POS (Point of Sale) is Shopify's point-of-sale app. It runs on a tablet or phone, with compatible card readers and peripherals, and it's connected to the same admin as the online shop.
That means a product, its price and its stock exist only once. When something sells in store, inventory also goes down online; when a customer buys on the website, their profile is the same one the sales assistant will see in store.
What it lets you do
Beyond taking payments, a connected point of sale opens up cross-channel sales, which are the ones that add the most value for a brand with stores.
- Buy online and pick up in store.
- Sell in store a product the shop doesn't have and ship it home from the warehouse.
- Return or exchange in store what was bought online, and vice versa.
- See the customer's history and purchases across all channels.
- Manage stock by location and transfers between stores.
- Manage staff, with permissions and sales per employee.
Basic POS, POS Pro and Shopify Plus
Every Shopify plan includes the basic point of sale, enough to sell at events, pop-ups or a small shop.
POS Pro adds the features a physical store with daily activity needs: advanced inventory management, staff permissions, reports by store and employee, and more omnichannel selling options. According to Shopify's pricing page, it costs 89 dollars a month per location on the Basic, Grow and Advanced plans, while Shopify Plus includes up to 20 locations.
When it makes sense
Shopify POS is a particularly good fit for brands that already sell online with Shopify and have or are opening their own stores, concessions or pop-ups. Unifying channels avoids duplicate catalogues, stock mismatches and customers repeated across two systems.
In chains with many stores, the challenge usually lies in the ERP integration and store processes rather than the technology. In the Misako project, for example, the platform connects 220 stores.
How to implement it
An orderly rollout starts with a pilot store and with inventory. Before opening, each location's stock must be loaded correctly and the shipping and pickup rules defined.
- Review the catalogue and stock by location.
- Choose and test the hardware: card reader, receipt printer, cash drawer and barcode scanner.
- Define the omnichannel flows: pickup, ship-from-store and returns.
- Train staff with a pilot before rolling it out to the other stores.
- Connect the ERP and accounting so that store sales reconcile.
Frequently asked questions
Is Shopify POS included in Shopify?
The basic version is, on every plan. Advanced features for physical stores require POS Pro, which is charged per location except on Shopify Plus, which includes up to 20.
Does Shopify POS work without internet?
It can take cash and some payment methods offline for a while, but it needs a connection to sync sales and stock. It's worth having a backup connection in store.
Can I use Shopify POS if my online shop isn't on Shopify?
The point of sale is designed to work with the Shopify admin. If your online shop is on another platform, the usual route is to plan a migration or an integration project.
We’ll tell you what we would do in your case, no strings attached. A real person from the team replies.
Head of technology at Webimpacto. He leads the development teams that build, migrate and maintain shops on Shopify, PrestaShop, Adobe Commerce, VTEX and WooCommerce.