Virtual sales in reality.
The venture for creating most comfortable shopping experience has just went from offline to e-commerce and from e-commerce back to physical stores all over again. But now, the process has new features, and just like Iron Man 3 it’s well equipped to serve the world of shoppers.
Probably you have already heard about Internet of Things… Just as a reminder, the term states the integration of physical devices with internet, making them “smart accessories”, filled with software, that gets the message to an app or a online service. Long story short, the trend for integrating online back with physical is thriving, and not long ago it reached retailers. They have demanded a full integration of their physical stores with their own e-shops, so developers responded. Now, you can integrate Point of Sales (POS) in-store device with your online store, managing the stock that you provide, building up your client’s community and keeping up to date with leads.
Integrated applications provide sellers with “everything in one place” systems. Clients can buy items online, in store and even on the go, by a tablet or any other mobile device. This allows to manage the quantity of items on one platform, provide promotions or different types of payment (cash, credit cards, transfers and other are included) and, mostly, customers are introduced to online store, possibly leaving an e-mail or some contact information. Sounds too perfect to be true? There are also disadvantages of that kind of integration, especially if you are using open licence e-commerce. Nearly all applications committed to integrating POS with online shop have a struggle connecting with PrestaShop or Magento — as it turns out, you better be a pro in programming to make things work. This is why a SaaS solution like Shopify or DreamCommerce decided to build in the integration for resellers — less fuss, more pleasure for the final clients. Also, there are a few devices dedicated to that integration — you can find tablets, PayPass plugins for your mobile phone, or the old well known card readers, connected to your computer. Just imagine for a minute… Click on and ad on product system, payment fully on the go, integrated with hardware like check printers, tablets an other. There and back again: internet of things in sales launches first few steps.
