The Benefits Of POS Apps With the Shopify App Bridge
6 Min. Read
In the past, before Shopify introduced the Shopify app bridge, online merchants would find it difficult to make technology decisions. This was part of the reason why Shopify started: “to take the stress out of building Point of Sale (POS) apps”.
However, with stores moving into new premises both online and in the brick-and-mortar world, the questions on how to handle POS transactions have come bubbling up to the surface.
Thankfully, Shopify came up with a solution, they provided the capability to extend your POS app with the Shopify App Bridge, something which was in-focus at the Shopify Unite 2019 event. Shopify App Bridge now uses feature detection which connects apps to hardware capabilities, i.e. allows apps to access cameras, barcode scanners, USB devices, etc.
The Shopify App Bridge - TOC
Uses of a POS
How you choose to use your POS app will be dependent upon your business model, so before even beginning to look at the Shopify App Bridge, determine where you will need to use your POS app. Most sellers use POS apps for up to four things: administration, adding to cart, editing the cart, and completing an order.
Advantages of POS
- Reduce administration time
- Improved inventory management
- Provides improved data from advanced ordering
- Help improve marketing campaigns through improved targeting
- Instant access
- One centralized database for managing all sales channels
Disadvantages of POS
- Typically – costly to setup
- Mix of technologies that when fails is costly.
Administration
The first of these four is the only one that has nothing to do with checkout: these include features like staff training and employee management systems like timesheets and wage calculation. Teresa Malik, an app developer at 1Day2Write and Britstudent, points out that “You can use a POS app to automatically track clock-in and clock-out of employees, as well as send virtual schedules over email or apps, helping to keep track of employee management without having to rely on paper records.
Source: Shopify
A POS app can also be used for managing top-level information about your stores, both online and on the high street. Apps can track foot traffic and online clicks, helping you analyze where to best allocate your marketing attention. This information can also help you create staff rotas, determine recruitment needs and make informed decisions about store opening times.
Checkout Functionality
The remaining three are essential during the checkout process. Adding to the cart can be simplified with an integrated app that bundles commonly bought items together, includes donations in purchases, or non-product purchasable services like installation or customization. Using apps integrated into cart editing can be useful for non-sales aspects like loyalty programs or discounts that nonetheless affect the customer’s checkout experience. Finally, completing an order can be amplified by a POS app that provides receipts, surveys, and item or delivery information.
Source: Shopify
POS apps can also continue to help after a sale has ended. Accounting and tax management services can help to keep track of purchases (and purchasers) after the end of a transaction, contributing to better asset management and easier tax reporting.
How to analyze your POS orders?
To list which orders have been received through the shopify POS system, log in to your Conversific account and open the Executive Report. List your order by Sales Channels.
If you had POS orders in that period, our system will list their cumulative value. You will see Total Sales, Number of Orders, Net Sales, Average Order Value, Tax & Shipping cost. If you want, you can even list exactly which orders came through your POS system and examine the patterns.
If you did not heard about Conversific before, check our intro video below. Shopify stores from almost every industry and size use Conversific to understand their customer better.
Conversific is required if you plan to run a business. Most Shopify sites think you put up a site and magic happens, it's a hobby to them. Our combined companies do over 600M in revenue online. You can't manage what you don't measure. It is the best product in the Shopify app store times 10.
Cameron J.
Spirit Wrist
What is the Shopify App Bridge?
In short, the Shopify App Bridge is a JavaScript library specifically tailored to embedding your POS app in Shopify. It allows Shopify merchants to seamlessly transition from their service to your app, creating a consistent user experience across platforms and devices.
Tomas Aquinas, a tech writer at Write My X and NextCoursework, points out that the Shopify Bridge App, “is wonderfully easy to use for developers as well as customers. First of all, it reduces the amount of time you have to spend coding, as it creates a single access point across desktop and mobile devices, across apps and web-based platforms. Secondly, it’s flexible enough to facilitate modular JavaScript, CDN or TypeScript.”
How To Engage the Shopify App Bridge
If you’re interested in integrating your POS app with the App Bridge, you can do so easily following Shopify’s instructions. How you initialize depends on your store’s set up, whether you use a build system, CND-hosted versions or JavaScript. Examples of the various code are available through the Shopify website.
Takeaways
POS apps are incredibly useful for a wide range of commercial merchants and are flexible enough to suit however you run your store. On top of that, Shopify’s App Bridge is easy to use for both customers and developers, providing plenty of room for customization.
At the end of the day, regardless of whether you want to simplify your internal administration or improve your customer experience, the way in which you integrate these technologies together is up to you and will depend on what you want to get out of your business.
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Mildred Delgado
Mildred Delgado is a responsible marketing strategist at Academic Brits and PhD Kingdom. She works closely with organizations to develop fully-functioning websites in-keeping the organization's brand image and mission statement. The majority of her work regards eCommerce functionality, and her many marketing proposals are available to view at Coursework Help Service.
