While evaluating a new eCommerce solution one must pay close attention to Online/Offline integration capabilities. In today’s distributed computing world, real-time and perpetual connectivity with your back office systems is critical.

In this post, I want to concentrate on the integration of online commerce platforms with in-store Point of Sale systems. Obviously, Online/Offline integration goes well beyond that. ERP, Warehouse fulfillment, supply logistics and Accounting Systems are all great examples of Online/Offline integration platforms. However, for brevity and simplicity I will concentrate here on POS alone.

Many traditional “Brick and Mortar” retailers have expanded their reach to the online community with an eCommerce platform (often called Online Shopping Cart).

After all, 24 by 7 availability and the expanded geographical presence of an online store have no match in traditional retail. I find many retailers treating their online store as just another shop in their chain. In fact, with careful planning and strategy, they can leverage their Online/Offline infrastructure to great advantage.

Let’s take just a few simple real-life scenarios and see how a fully integrated retail infrastructure can help.

For most retailers, the average cost of online transactions is dramatically lower than in-store transactions. However, customer loyalty and a good geographical presence must be nurtured and capitalized on.  A traditional store’s customer-base can provide a solid early adapter crowd to a newly launched online store. A physical store can distribute personalized coupons to customers during checkout, enticeing those customers to log on and potentially makes purchases online. A convenient shopping experience builds loyalty and with just a few smart marketing techniques, a store can expand their reach virally on the web. “Refer a friend” is a feature that can work very well online. You email a product or a store recommendation to a friend and when that friend makes a purchase, you, the referrer, get a coupon towards your next purchase. This coupon can be redeemed in-store, on-line or in both. This is just another example where you can drive behavior with relative ease as long as you have a good data sharing infrastructure between your traditional POS and your online system.

Another simple advantage for integrating your two retail platforms is inventory availability.  Wouldn’t it be nice if you as a store owner can provide real-time inventory access to your customers from their home?  How disappointing is it for a customer to come in and find out that the product that was on store shelves just yesterday is no longer in stock? Many retailers provide in-store pickup - allowing a local customer to purchase online but save the shipping and handling cost by physically picking-up their purchases.

With careful strategic planning, a retailer can take full advantage of both worlds. All it takes is an open mind, an executable strategy and the technology for real-time data sharing!

Written by Erez Katz