Question:
Can I take a customer's information collected by my POS at checkout and upload it to the customer database on my platform? If one of these customers tries to log in to our website, will they be already setup on Shopify as a customer because we have their email address and name?
Answer:
The short answer is yes, it is possible to import your customer data to your platform, but you may not want to.
By importing customers' email information to your platform, you are creating an account for them with that email, an account they do not have the password to because they did not create it. So, when that customer visits your website for the first time and go to check out, they assume they will have to create an account or check out as a guest. When they input their email and are prompted to enter a password, they can get confused, or even made uncomfortable with the fact that their information is already stored here somehow, and may not finish their purchase.
There is no real benefit to storing customer emails with your platform, and it can have significant drawbacks.
For any other questions, please submit a support request in the Admin Panel.