Keeping your payments integrated across your entire system will not only keep everything centralized and better organized, but ensure that your financial numbers are always accurate.
If you’re running both a storefront and a website, it’s vital that your numbers always match up and that each system is communicating well with the other.
Keep reading to learn more about how you can integrate online and in-store payments for maximum synchronicity.
Set up Your Site for a Payment Gateway
The first thing you’ll need to do for your new website is set up a payment gateway. If you’re already using POS software in your storefront, this will be simple; you’ll use the POS software you’re already paying for.
Many POS systems are simple to integrate into a website. This makes the entire integration process that much simpler, synchronizing your website and in-store sales on the same POS sales system.
Inventory counts will be automatically updated for both ends when a purchase is made, so your numbers will always be accurate and your inventory counts will contain fewer errors.
There’s nothing worse than a system that doesn’t sync at both ends, showing a different inventory count on your website than you have in-store.
This can be incredibly frustrating not only for your customers but also for your employees; who will be scrambling to find and fix the error to avoid the customers’ frustrations.
You can, of course, choose to use third-party software to set up your site’s payment gateway, but in doing so you risk the chance of desynchronization on either end of your payment network.
There exist both paid and open source options for this software, so you’ll likely have more choices than you would with your POS system.
Accept the Same Payment Methods on Both Ends
Keeping your accepted payment methods the same across both ends of your sales network will help avoid confusion and keep things unified.
If you accept PayPal on your website, your POS system will allow you to accept the same payment method in-store.
You’ll likely run into at least one customer who would be distressed if they could pay one way on your website, but not in the store.
Keeping payment methods the same across both ends of your payment processing system will keep things simple for both you and your customers.
Connect Both to Your Accounting Software
Remember the old way of storing and entering transactions into Quickbooks or other accounting software? It involved a lot of printing, stapling, and manually entering transactions into the software.
This can cause errors, of course, especially when you’ve been at it for a few hours.
With integrated payments, your transaction is synched with your accounting software as soon as it’s processed, eliminating that time-consuming process and keeping things accurate.
Accuracy in your financial reports cannot be understated, it’s absolutely vital to keeping your business compliant and reducing errors in cash flow.
With a POS system, both your online and in-store payments are integrated directly into your accounting software, so you can be sure that numbers are always accurate on both ends for inventory counts and sales numbers.
Minimizing the stress involved with tracking transactions and inventory sounds pretty good to us!
Choose the Right POS Software for the Job
Not all POS systems can function in this way; integrating payments across both online and in-store transactions, and the wrong software can leave you dead in the water and taking a loss on whatever you paid for the software and hardware setup.
Don’t make the mistake of thinking that all POS systems function the same. This is simply not the case, with many POS systems specifically designed to perform certain tasks or operate with businesses of a certain size.
If you’re running a small business, POS systems like Square, Vend, or Lightspeed can help integrate payment while performing a variety of other tasks.
Cloud-based software is your best bet as a small business, as it’s more secure, usually works offline, and constantly synchronizes with the cloud as long as there’s a stable internet connection available.
Not to mention, cloud-based software is more versatile when it comes to compatible hardware, so unlike iPad POS systems, you won’t be stuck only being able to use an iPad with your POS software.
Don’t limit yourself with purely iPad-base software; after all, versatility can mean less costly maintenance and startup costs for your new POS system.
Greater Efficiency Equals Greater Success
Payment integration increases your business’s efficiency, centralizing payment processing and bookkeeping and eliminating the need for endless manual financial counts and data entry.
Make no mistake, a more efficient business is always more successful than one that is inefficient as far as both time and money go.
Put yourself ahead of the competition by streamlining the payment processing system of your business.
Your sales will be processed with greater accuracy, your customers will appreciate the ease and convenience of your POS process, and you’ll have an easier time managing the business as a whole using the many other tools your POS system provides.
Read Next: Hot Standalone e-Commerce Carts For Your Website
Conclusion
Integration is made simple with modern POS systems. Keep in mind that not all systems are designed the same, and some have more tools than others.
Choose a POS system that will meet your specific needs as a business, and you’ll set yourself up for continued success in your payment integration.
