BigCommerce POS Integrations: A Complete Guide

This is a complete guide about BigCommerce POS, in particular BigCommerce POS integrations.

In this deep dive, you’ll basically learn:

• why you need to integrate a POS system with your BigCommerce store
• what the 5 best BigCommerce POS apps are
• how to set up a BigCommerce POS app

Does BigCommerce have a POS system?

BigCommerce doesn’t have a built-in POS system, even though it is a feature-rich e-commerce platform with many out-of-the-box functionalities.

Therefore, if you want a POS system for your BigCommerce store, you’ll have to use a third-party POS integration on BigCommerce.

10 benefits of using a POS system for your BigCommerce store

1. Enhanced Productivity

The traditional checkout process is lengthy and not productive. With a BigCommerce POS app, you’ll be able to avoid human errors and shorten the checkout process.

Besides, because it gives you unified real-time data – which is an essential foundation for you to make business decisions for improvement – your productivity will more likely soar.

2. Accessibility

Cash registers are becoming increasingly outdated as analog hardware disappears from view.

All are digital nowadays, and a touchscreen regulates everything. Using a touchscreen has been second nature to almost all of us.

Therefore, all employees can master POS tech quickly thanks to its simple, easy-to-use design, which will reduce training time and make them more effective overall.

3. Grow more Payment Capabilities

The POS system allows you to accept various payment forms at the point of sale including EMV chip cards, contactless payments, and mobile wallet payments like Apple Pay, Android Pay, and Samsung Pay.

You can improve sales and membership sign-ups by allowing customers to use a variety of payment methods.

4. Increased Accuracy

All the specifics the sales associates and cashiers need are at their fingertips with a point-of-sale device and an easy-to-use touchscreen device.

It removes the need to manually enter the product code and price, as in a cash register. With real-time data, point-of-sale technology increases accuracy in the entire operation.

By eliminating the need to import or insert data into back-office processes, we can minimize human errors.

5. Inventory Management

Point of sale equipment, unlike a cash register, provides highly developed stock management functions.

POS tools will save you hours of inventory management each week, from monitoring a product’s quantity on hand to setting up reorder triggers and a store matrix.

The best thing is that your POS device can provide you with real-time inventory info, which even the most advanced cash registers cannot offer.

6. Employee Management

Your POS app will reduce the amount of time you spend on scheduling and enforcing plans.

Employees will clock in and out on a POS terminal using today’s POS systems’ time clock features. This helps reduce employee frauds and to ensure logs of employee identification for clock-ins and access to your system — especially for functions like voids and returns.

7. Reporting

Reporting features in point-of-sale systems enable you to keep track of revenue, earnings, and expenditures, including the Cost of Goods Sold (COGS).

POS reports have real-time data in a format that is straightforward and simple. You can read reports anywhere, even at home or on the go, with cloud POS reporting.

With the necessary information, you’ll be able to make data-driven strategic decisions.

Key Performance Metrics (KPIs), including overall consumer revenue, merchandise turnover, and sell-through rate, can all be tracked using your POS data anytime, anywhere.

This insight into your business’s success will help you identify parts of your company that are doing well and those that could have room for improvement.

8. Optimized Bookkeeping

The accounting process can be simplified with the use of a point-of-sale system.

POS systems allow you to print reports and, in many cases, import data directly into your accounting program, while traditional cash registers require accountants to search through hundreds of receipts.

9. Informative Receipts

Rather than just a piece of paper with the transaction’s date and price, POS apps send your customers a more detailed receipt.

Product data is used by POS programs to offer a range of additional details, such as item description, value, and savings from a sale or coupon.

10. Instant Service

Customers will get frustrated and possibly return the goods they want to buy if checkout lines are too long.

A POS solution, especially if the items are scanned with a barcode scanner, is way faster than a traditional cash register at the checkout step.

Using POS technologies, you can maximize the checkout experience to attract consumers and ensure that they leave with a positive view of your business.

How to choose a BigCommerce POS integration

When it comes to choosing a POS app for your BigCommerce store, you should consider all of the following key features of that app. These features are all essential to your business development.

Inventory tracking

Inventory tracking is arguably the most critical aspect to consider.

Learn the ins and outs of each POS system. What is your perspective on inventory? Early alarms of low stock?

Check to see if your POS framework has a Quickbooks feature. That would make handling the back office a lot simpler.

Customer relationship management (CRM)

Using your POS system to maintain customer relationships can be a massive help to your business.

Make sure you know how to use the following features: Customer accounts and assistance; Online ordering; In-store pick up (or door-to-door delivery), and mobile purchases.

Returns and exchanges

Do you ever have a customer who wants to refund an online order in person, or request to return an item they bought from your storefront through the mail? If so, is it easy for your retail store to deal with these transactions?

Remember that the customer process does not always end with a sale. In that case, returns and transfers should be done conveniently by the POS system.

Hardware specifications

In the last few decades, POS hardware has come a long way.

Your supermarket POS machine hardware will look just as sleek as the program itself, from clunky cash registers, barcode scanners, and receipt printers to the newest iPads, iPhones, and Google Androids.

“Hardware isn’t that important,” you might presume. That is wrong, and we are here to tell you so.

Top 5 best BigCommerce POS integrations for BigCommerce retailers

There are many POS apps on the market, and here are our short-listed candidates based on their popularity and user reviews.

Note that all of the BigCommerce POS systems below support the offline mode feature. That means when you go offline, the data will be saved locally on the device. And when you go online, it’ll automatically sync.

Square Point of Sale

Square Point of Sale is a cloud-based point-of-sale system suitable for all types of businesses. It is built by BigCommerce. This app manages your customer’s data, orders, inventory, invoicing, and refunds, providing insight for handling customer care, marketing, staffing, and salaries.

Square POS is a free POS integration.

Lightspeed POS

Lightspeed POS is considered one of the best cloud-based POS software on BigCommerce. They unify the data of your online and offline store, giving you reports in minutes. As it closely keeps track of and provides an insight into your sales, like what is best-selling, you’ll be able to adjust your plan according to customer buying preferences. Users of Lightspeed POS reviewed that it has a user-friendly, easy-to-use interface and also offers a free, 24/7 support.

It offers a 14-day free trial, and you’ll be charged $150.00/month after the free trial.

Thrive by Shopventory

Thrive by Shopventory is a multi-channel inventory and sales management solution that is fully integrated with BigCommerce and other POS apps. It can give you real-time insights into how your business is performing and produce a forecast with accuracy. It is easy to set up and easy to use, helping you easily keep track of important data.

You can enjoy a free trial for 30 days. After that, it will charge $99.00/month.

ConnectPOS

ConnectPOS is an award-winning cloud-based POS integration with an affordable price for small businesses (starting from $49.00/month). It synchronizes well, is very easy to set up and has quick support. Noticeably, ConnectPOS allows store owners to collect split and partial payments from customers at the time of purchase.

Hike POS

Hike POS is an award-winning omnichannel POS solution, suitable for a wide range of companies. Hike fills the gap between the brick and mortar stores and online stores by integrating all of your distribution platforms into a single system. This assists in inventory management, distribution channels, special offers, and other areas.

It’s a feature-rich POS app with resource management, CRM, a membership platform, real-time analytics, workforce management, and round-the-clock service.

Hike is a free POS integration on BigCommerce.

How to connect BigCommerce with a POS

Now that you understand why you should integrate POS with BigCommerce and which integration you may choose, let’s dive into the how.

Step 1: Evaluate a POS system.

Investing in any technology is crucial as it could change your business for better or for worse.

Before integrating your POS scheme with your online shop, you should consider your situation first.

• Situation 1: I’ve set up a point-of-sale framework.

If your current POS system has an API, combine it with an eCommerce platform like BigCommerce, which also has an open API design.

And if your new POS system is ecommerce compatible, you can also weigh your current POS system’s benefits and drawbacks. What do you like, and what can you modify?

If the benefits outweigh the drawbacks, move on to the next level and question your POS provider’s choices for integrating with your eCommerce platform.

Think about it: How does an online shopping cart look? What functions and enhancements are built-in to their online software?

Confirm if you wish to keep using the current POS system. Keep in mind that this decision will significantly impact how you perform your online and offline business in the future.

• Situation 2: I have a POS device that does not work for ecommerce.

Now that your new POS infrastructure is obsolete, with no eCommerce integration.

Don’t worry. There are plenty of excellent POS alternatives for you.

Consider what fresh modern-day experiences you’d like to have for your clients.

Maybe it’s the convenience of contactless payments. Perhaps it’s a multi-tiered loyalty package.

Create a list of what you must have, what’s nice to have, and things you can operate even without it.

• Situation 3: I’m starting from scratch.

You won’t have to think about transferring your data if you are starting from scratch.

Consider how well a POS app works through different areas of your company while selecting from every one of the available choices. You should consider functionalities like inventory tracking, relationship with customers, returns and exchanges, and hardware specifications.

Specifically, when considering bigcommerce development services, it’s crucial to select a POS integration that seamlessly blends with your store’s infrastructure, ensuring a smooth operation that can adapt to evolving retail trends, such as BOPIS(Buy Online, Pick-up In-Store). This feature has become increasingly important for retailers looking to offer more flexible shopping options to their customers.

Step 2: POS and The Online Store: What to consider

You’ve chosen whether to continue with your current POS, switch to a new one, or start from scratch. Here is the point at which the actual analysis starts.

It’s essential to understand how your POS and online shop can fit together.

While each POS device integration is unique, here’s a high-level overview of what to expect.

The information communicated between the two is as follows:

• Automatic inventory changes anytime you make a deal, whether online or in person.
• Data transfers back and forth between your POS inventory and your online shop.
• A variety of payment processing services for online and in-person purchases, providing you with a convenient single contact point for all activities.

Data from the two systems are constantly updated in real time. Detailed info is a big bonus of combining your POS scheme with your online shop. And yes, some POS programs may include business management software like the eCommerce shop.

We suggest you consider getting a POS scheme that includes accounting tools, at the very least, to protect your bases (e.g., Quickbooks).

You can also use software such as an email marketing interface to allow order alerts and other features.

Evaluate if you can make customer management smoother in your POS system.

Finally, you wonder how much eCommerce and POS integration cost in total. Your infrastructure system will decide this matter.

When estimating costs, don’t forget to include your eCommerce website’s average price (monthly or annually), the cost of integrating your POS, and any additional functionality and benefits.

Some eCommerce sites have free proprietary POS device integrations but charge third-party app fees for linking to the POS methods described above, as well as additional transaction fees for all purchases completed.

Step 3: Set up a POS system and an online store

You’ve chosen a POS scheme. It’s now time to get things all lined up.

This finishing touch may be a self-service job or one that requires assistance from a customer service agent, depending on the arrangement with your POS device supplier.

Step 4: Make improvements to product descriptions

Product details are often overlooked.

Nevertheless, we still emphasize the importance of writing high-quality explanations as former eCommerce merchandisers.

While some customers can search by SKU, product specifications are vital for understanding the case size or total amount.

Bear in mind that your buyers rely on your product pages to know what you’re offering.

A weak product summary can stymie sales (also, possibilities of returns are higher!)

Step 5: Evaluate, Evaluate, Evaluate.

You’re ready for up and going, but the struggle isn’t over yet.

Make sure the store’s processes and integrations are running well by implementing regular checks.

This will help you avoid troubles and learn directly from your clients about any problems.

Final thoughts

To make your multi-channel business on BigCommerce run effectively and consistently, using a BigCommerce POS integration is no doubt critical. So basically, if you haven’t had a POS system installed yet, we recommend that you consider our top 5 POS integrations and learn how to set one up. Then just wait and see how it will tremendously benefit your business.