Question
We are looking for an all in one system to handle our POS, inventory, e-commerce, and mail systems… OR a solution from different modules or companies that integrates into each other to be a substitute for an all in one system. A few key points:
- Retail store – walk in and online. Need POS solution up front x2.
- E-commerce site for selling online (we currently have one with all our products).
- Both the POS and e-commerce need to feed off of and/or update one inventory database in real-time or a reasonable amount of time.
- The e-commerce site must be able to update/show inventory down to color and size of product. For example, if we are selling black or red shorts that come in size M and L, we want the inventory of all 4 variables to be listed (or grayed out) depending upon our current stock… In other words, again, each unique attribute possibility of the product must have its own inventory level.
- All systems need to interface with a mail system that’s able to print labels and stamps for USPS.
- In addition, we must be able to take and process COD orders, at least manually via a phone order. It would be nice to have that option on the website, but that’s secondary to the ability to take COD USPS orders via phone orders. I believe stamps.com has this function and ability but would need to be added somehow at checkout.
- Speaking of phone orders, we would need a streamlined system to enter in phone orders and have said order update or interface with the inventory database and mail system so it can be shipped out. Possibly through the POS system in the front? At this time we are not concerned with UPS or FEDEX.
- The ability to have wireless inventory hand scanners to scan items in the warehouse when new products come in.
My less than 2 hour research shows Quickbooks as the core, with another or QBs POS system up front, and stamps.com scales and other systems to deal with phone and website orders would be the way to go…
Answer
You have some great questions and ideas. Let me see if I can answer some of your questions and give you at least a starting point. Modern Retail can integrate Quickbooks POS with a variety of platforms including:
- Shopify
- WooCommerce
- Magento
- Bigcommerce (coming soon)
Deciding which platform is right for you really is a business decision based on your needs. You might find the following helpful when making this decision:
As you stated, some of your key requirements include shipping and COD order. For shipping we often recommend a service called ShipStation. ShipStation has integrations with most of the e-commerce platforms mentioned above, and the flexibility it provides when shipping packages to your customers is amazing. Taking COD orders is also not a problem for many of these platforms, so which one we pick will depend on the other factors you want in a website.
Regarding how you want your products displayed online, this is somewhat dependent upon how your website is developed and your POS system. Modern Retail has developed websites where the color is a dropdown just as you suggested and picking the color automatically shows that colored product. We've built many Magento websites that work exactly this way. However, sometimes the data, or the customer's budget, won't allow us to do it that way, so instead, we show a thumbnail of the other colors. Clicking on one of these thumbnail images takes the shopper to another page where they can purchase that item.
Depending on your paid advertising, this may actually be the preferred approach because it allows you to easily market the white top separate from the red and black (yes, there are other ways of doing this, but this approach makes it super easy).
Regarding Quickbooks POS, yes we can get it integrated will all the e-commerce platforms mentioned above. However, depending on which platform we pick for your store, you may have to display the alternate colors as shown above. What's nice about the Quickbooks POS Integration is it is a "two-way integration." Meaning, product information flows up from Quickbooks POS, but order and customer information also flow down.
This gives you a holistic view of your customers buying habits as your in-store, online and COD orders will all be in Quickbooks!
I think that about does it. If you have any more questions, please Contact Us. Thank you.