Shopify Introduces Redesigned POS System
Leading payments platform and payment facilitator Shopify announced this week that it is launching its “reimagined” point-of-sale system and offering it free to merchants through the end of October.
The company highlighted new features built for today’s retail environment, “bringing in-person and online sales together in one place,” it said in a press release.
The company highlighted the importance of omnichannel offerings and the ability to stay flexible as key elements of its new offering.
“Retailers need help right now. Shopify is doing everything we can to help retailers adapt to current challenges and come back stronger. We are releasing our new Shopify POS to give retailers — especially small, local businesses — every possible advantage,” said Ian Black, director of retail at Shopify.
“Retailers deserve a point-of-sale that helps them shift their sales from in-store to online, easily offer curbside pick-up and local delivery, and be ready for growth when in-store customers start to return. No other point-of-sale is as powerful for the challenges retailers face today.”
The new POS system integrates online and offline sales and includes options to enable customers to order their purchases online and pick them up in-store or at curbside. Merchants on the Shopify platform experienced a ten-fold increase in sales when offering local pickup or delivery options over a two-week period in March, the company said in a blog post.
The system also includes the ability to manage inventory across channels and to serve customers anywhere with a mobile checkout option.
In its latest quarterly earnings release, Shopify pointed out some of the patterns that it has seen on its platform due to COVID-19 and discussed the impacts of those trends on its own business.
It noted that shops on its platform are seeing more customers local to their areas. In English-speaking markets during the six-week period following March 13, the company said that the number of shops on its platform with at least one local customer had increased, and local orders had more than doubled.
It also pointed out that the number of new stores on its platform had grown 62% during the period between March 13 and April 24, when compared to the previous six-week period, as more brick-and-mortar retailers shift to selling online.
“While this increase includes both first-time entrepreneurs as well as established sellers, it is unclear how many in this cohort will sustainably generate sales, which is the primary determinant of merchant longevity on our platform,” the company said.
“Now more than ever, Shopify needs to be there for our merchants, so our focus during these challenging times is to help solve their immediate pain points,” Amy Shapero, Shopify’s CFO, said in the announcement.
“We are well positioned to help our merchants, particularly given the accelerated shift to online commerce. Our strong balance sheet provides us with the flexibility to continue investing in the right merchant-first initiatives, supporting our merchants’ success now and well into the future.”