Shopify’s Buy Online Gives You Online Shopping, Offline

Shopify is letting shoppers browse in-store and buy online with a new iPad feature for merchants.

The new feature is called Buy Online for Shopify POS and it lets merchants extend their online brand to a pop-up shop or concept store.

This is how it works: from the Shopify POS checkout, a customer’s choice of products is added to an online shopping cart. Then an invoice is emailed to the customer with those saved items, giving them the chance to decide at a later date if they want to complete and pay for the order.

For buyers, the feature means they can touch and try products for themselves, but also reap the benefits of online shopping with home delivery and no in-store lineups.

Shopify reports that 87 per cent of businesses are embracing showrooming. The company said in a release they want to create a “seamless experience” for customers by letting Shopify merchants pair an in-person experience with the online marketplace, bridging a divide for e-commerce companies.

Toronto-based Endy used the new feature at a pop-up where they let customers test out their sleep products.

“As our online presence continues to grow, pop-ups and showrooms have become an integral part of our omnichannel strategy,” said Aashish Nathwani, marketing director for Endy.

“The challenge for us has been implementing the same kind of seamless, data-driven approach to our in-store checkout that customers have come to expect from us online,” he added.

Buy Online for Shopify POS is currently available for iPad.