How to build a Shopify POS Pro demo store

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Shopify isn’t just a solution for your clients to sell online. It’s an entire platform that enables your clients to sell anywhere.

Brands that use Shopify to sell both online and in-person are able to save time and earn more revenue than they would with disjointed systems. A unified commerce platform like Shopify frees your clients up to focus on what really matters: building their brand, developing their products, and strengthening relationships with their customers.

Shopify’s point of sale (POS) offers the best omnichannel solution for retailers selling online and in-person, providing a single admin to manage inventory, customers, orders, products, and more. This streamlines purchases and accounts across ecommerce and brick and mortar shops, enabling your clients to generate more income across all channels, thus directly impacting your client’s bottom line and capacity for growth.

But how do you set up a test store to demonstrate the value of Shopify POS to your clients? In this article you’ll learn how to quickly and easily set up a Shopify POS Pro demo store in five steps:

Create your demo store and add locations

To get started, you’ll need to create a development store through your Partner account. All development stores automatically receive our POS Pro subscription until the store is handed off. You can use this time to demo and test Shopify POS and the Pro subscription. Here are the steps you’ll need to take:

When you view the ‘Locations’ section of the Shopify POS sales channel, you’ll see that your location(s) are on the Shopify POS Pro subscription.

Import demo products to the store

Now that you have the POS Pro subscription enabled at the new locations you’ve set up, it’s time to add some products to the store.

To do this, there are two routes you can take:

Download the demo product CSVs we’ve created for you, or;
Have your client provide you with their product information so you can format it into a product CSV

Once you have your product CSV, import the product information into the store.

You should now have products within the demo store. Next you’ll need to make them visible on Shopify POS.

Make products visible on Shopify POS and at locations

It’s time to make the imported products available on Shopify POS and at the locations you’ve set up in the store. Here’s what you need to do:

Make sure that the desired products are available through the Shopify POS sales channel. See: Make your products available to your sales channels

For retailers with multiple locations, it may be helpful to demonstrate how certain products can be made visible (available) or hidden (not available) at specific locations. Here are two resources to help you with this:

Download the Shopify POS app to your demo device

Shopify POS runs on both iOS and Android, meaning you can demo it to clients on a variety of devices, including iPhone, iPad, Android phone, and Android tablet. However, you’ll need to download the Shopify POS app first. Here’s what you need to do:

Download the Shopify POS app for iOS or Android onto the device you’ll demo with
Log into the store on the Shopify POS app. See: How to log in to the Shopify POS app

You can find the products you’ve published to the Shopify POS sales channel within the Shopify POS app on your device. If you set certain products as visible at certain locations, you’ll need to consider what location you have your demo device set to.

Demo Shopify POS Pro

Now you’re ready to demo to your client and earn uncapped recurring revenue with Shopify Point of Sale and Shopify Payments merchant referrals.

Need a starting point? We’ve got you covered. Here’s a list of helpful features to show your clients the full power of using Shopify online and in-store:

Customer profiles
Syncing customer profiles for both online and in-store activities, Shopify POS creates an information-rich database for your client to manage their customer relationships. Your client’s store staff and managers can use information from a customer’s online profile and tailor the in-store experience to fit that customer’s needs. Merchants can also better understand their customers’ buying habits and provide a better post-purchase experience based on the context provided from a customer’s profile. Unifying the customer experience across all storefronts and touchpoints can lead to increased customer acquisition and retention, ultimately lifting sales and revenue. Learn how customer profiles helped merchant Kowtow grow in-store sales by 30%.

Products and inventory management
Products and their inventory levels can be managed from one admin, with Shopify. This means no more inventory discrepancies across systems. Inventory can be customized per location and inventory at other locations can be easily seen from the Product details page within POS. This will empower sales associates to help customers get the products they want or need. Bulk inventory adjustments can be made inside the Shopify admin and are immediately available on the Shopify POS app, in-store. This makes stock takes and updating inventory easy. Learn more about inventory management.

Smart grid
The Shopify POS smart grid provides merchants with a customizable point of sale interface. We suggest showing clients how they can create custom tiles for things like discounts, popular products, apps, creating customer profiles, and more. The smart grid can always be customized and becomes a powerful tool for common in-store actions.

Local pickup
Shopify POS can bolster your client’s buy online, pickup in-store (BOPIS) capabilities and make it a more cohesive experience for customers. Not only that, but retail staff can also easily view and prepare orders in the POS system, notify customers once their order is ready, and mark orders as fulfilled once it has been received. Streamlining BOPIS ensures that your client stays on top of their operations, inventory, and customer satisfaction. Learn more about local pickup here.

Staff permissions
A growing business means a growing team, which oftentimes means growing pains. Shopify POS takes the pain out of team growth with its staff permissions feature, which lets your client set limits on what store associates can and can’t do when logged into the POS, like changing inventory levels or a product’s price. At the same time, store managers and owners still have access to the information needed to do their job, like scheduling, managing payroll, and applying discounts. Setting permissions allows your clients to delegate the right responsibilities to the right team member, thus making sure all parts of their organization run as smoothly as possible. Learn more about staff permissions.

In-store analytics
Shopify POS provides in-store level analytics and insights into net sales, net sales by staff, average order value, average items per order, and top products by net sales for store managers. Getting visibility into and understanding these numbers enables your clients and their store managers to confidently run the store, manage staff, and ensure that they are on track to hit sales goals. Learn more about retail reports and analytics here.

Shopify POS hardware
At Shopify, we don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to your clients and future-proofing their ecommerce and in-store businesses. That’s why we’ve incorporated a variety of features when it comes to Shopify POS hardware so that they best meet the needs of your clients’ storefronts. These include: tablets, iPhones, tablet stands, card readers, receipt printers, barcode scanners, cash drawers, and barcode printers. Incorporating Shopify POS hardware into your clients’ online and in-person stores can accelerate and improve the checkout experience, therefore reinforcing customer trust and loyalty. Learn more about POS hardware.

Here are some additional links to Shopify POS help docs that you may need:

Refer brick and mortar merchants to Shopify POS

Partners will earn uncapped recurring revenue with Shopify Point of Sale and Shopify Payments.

Submit a POS Pro referral