Connecting Your Inventory With a Point-of-Sale System

In a fast-paced retail environment, efficient inventory management is crucial to protecting the time you spend on your business. You have a powerful tool at your disposal: connected retail. As you expand into new channels to grow your customer base, there are tools that integrate your physical point-of-sale (POS) system with your online storefront, creating a streamlined, efficient, and connected retail experience.

Note: This article was created in collaboration with the SKU IQ team.

Benefits of connecting your ecommerce and POS systems

Many business owners face the challenge of managing inventory across separate ecommerce and POS systems. This often leads to doubled data entry, time-consuming manual tracking, and frequent errors. Disjointed systems can result in overselling products that are out of stock, leading to customer dissatisfaction and lost sales. Moreover, inconsistencies in catalog data between systems can cause significant operational headaches.

The SKU IQ extension offers seamless integration for Squarespace businesses to help you simplify inventory management across both online and physical retail spaces. 

• Real-time synchronization: The extension automatically updates inventory levels whenever you make a sale, so you have accurate counts across both sales systems.

• Centralized product management: Automate adjustments to your product information  to minimize human error and save time on inventory management. 

• Catalog sync: This keeps product details like titles, prices, and SKUs consistent, while the order management functionality seamlessly syncs orders between your Squarespace store and POS system.

Together, these features protect you from overselling risks, enhance efficiency, and provide a better customer experience. With straightforward tracking and syncing, you’ll feel more confident that your stock levels and pricing are correct, no matter how you’re selling.

Best practices for organizing your sales systems

When setting up your connected retail, there are a few practices that can keep your sales systems running smoothly and help you make business decisions.

• Choose one source of truth. Sticking to one platform for product and inventory management will prevent confusion and ensure you’re always referencing the right source of information.

• Look for sales trends. Common trends in item sales, customers, or order amounts can help you plan your inventory, prep for seasonal trends, and understand what makes certain items popular.

• Spot check your systems. A connected retail system helps eliminate a lot of errors, but it’s worth checking that your information is syncing correctly and helping you work faster.

• Document your workflow. Writing down how you manage your products and how you use your sales systems can help you find inefficiencies or train others if you bring on help.

How to connect to SKU IQ

1. Verify your POS system compatibility. Ensure that your POS system is compatible with the SKU IQ extension. Currently SKU IQ can sync Squarespace ecommerce with Clover, Lightspeed, and Square.

2. Set up the SKU IQ integration. Follow the step-by-step guide on the SKU IQ website to start connecting or book a consultation with the SKU IQ customer support team to walk you through the process. 

3. Synchronize your inventory. Use SKU IQ’s real-time synchronization feature to align inventory across your online shop and POS.

4. Confirm product information. Check and update product details within SKU IQ to ensure consistency across your sales platforms.

5. Test the system. Conduct thorough testing to ensure that the integration works seamlessly across your POS and online store.

6. Monitor and optimize. Regularly check the system for any issues and optimize the setup as needed.

By connecting the SKU IQ extension to your Squarespace store, you can run your business more efficiently and protect your customers’ satisfaction. Using a system that keeps your inventory connected will help you stay competitive and grow your business as the way you sell evolves.

Ready to transform your operations?