PHP Point of Sale Shopify App Introduction

The PHP Point of Sale software (POS) is designed for stores with physical locations to manage sales, inventory and any other business need. The PHP Point of Sales Shopify App was made to allow POS customers to expand to an eCommerce website or to allow eCommerce websites to expand to brick and mortar stores while keeping all important data centralized.

By installing and syncing your POS store and your Shopify store with the PHP Point of Sale app, you will create a centralized location to keep track of inventory, sales, and items/products going forward - allowing you to keep your business simple.

In this article you will find out about:

• Installing the App
  • Syncing with New POS and New Shopify Stores
  • Syncing with Established Shopify and New POS
  • Syncing with Established POS and New Shopify
  • Syncing with Established Shopify and Established POS
• Recommended Settings After Install
• Understanding what Syncs
  • From Shopify to POS
  • From POS to Shopify
• Default POS Settings
• Sync Intervals
• Cancel App

Installing the App

In order to install the POS app, you will need to have both a Shopify and POS store and login information.

• If you do not already have a Shopify store, sign up and create one but do not add any products. If you already have a Shopify store in use and populated with products then simply login to the store. Information on creating a Shopify storefront can be found here.
• If you do not already have a POS store, sign up and create one but do not add any items. If you already have a POS store in use and populated with items, then simply login to the store. Information on setting up a POS store can be found here.

Once you have created, or are signed in to your POS and Shopify store, it’s time to install the PHP Point of Sale App.

In Shopify go to the Apps option in the left menu.

Click to Customize your store

In the App Store type php point of sale in the search.

You will see the PHP Point of Sale application in the search results. Click on the icon, and then select to Add app. You can use the app for 14 days on a free trial when installing.

You will be brought to a confirmation page where Shopify tells you all the permissions the app will now have in your store. Scroll down in order to Install app.

Next you will be prompted to enter your POS url.

Enter your url and hit Submit.

Once Shopify connects to your POS stores, you will be brought back to the POS. You will then click Activate billing for the 14 day trial.

It will then show you the monthly cost of the app and let you start the free trial. The page will show you the date the free trial ends. Click to Start free trial.

You will be brought to the Sync page in your POS store to finish setting up the connection between your two stores.

There are five options to sync on this page, by default all are selected but you may not need them to be.

What you select to be synced depends on your initial setup. What you need synced depends on what state your POS and Shopify store are in when you install the app.

Syncing with New POS and New Shopify Stores

If you only just set up a Shopify store and a store with POS without having created any items or products, then follow the below directions so that you can connect them in the easiest manner.

On the sync page there are five options selected by default, below are the ones that you must uncheck and the ones to leave checked.

You are going to connect POS to Shopify so that you can create items in POS that will then be sent to Shopify and keep track of all of your inventory in POS.

Uncheck:

• • • • • • • Import items into phppos
            • Import orders into phppos

This will leave you with the following selected:

• • • • • • • Sync inventory changes
            • Export categories to ecommerce
            • Export items to ecommerce

Once you’ve done your selections select Save and then Next. On the following page select Sync. You will be notified that the sync is running in the background and that adjustments can be made in the Store Config feature.

For information on setting up items in POS see here.

For information about what information syncs between POS and Shopify in terms of item/product fields, see the section here.

Once this is done, you’ll want to look at the section on Recommended Settings After Install for use and what settings to use going forward. From now on you will only work in POS to create new items, both for your Shopify store and POS.

Syncing with Established Shopify and New POS

If you already had a Shopify store and it has been populated with products you want to bring into your newly created POS store then follow the directions below.

You will need to change the default options selected on the sync page.

You have only just created your POS store and it should be empty of any items. Your goal is to import the information that you have in Shopify into POS so that you do not have to reenter all of the information and can manage things from one place going forward.

Uncheck:

• • • • • • • Export categories to ecommerce
            • Export items to ecommerce

This will leave you with the following selected:

• • • • • • • Sync inventory changes
            • Import items into phppos
            • Import orders into phppos

Once you’ve done your selections select Save and then Next. On the following page select Sync. You will be notified that the sync is running in the background and that adjustments can be made in the Store Config feature.

For information about what information syncs between POS and Shopify in terms of item/product fields, see the section here.

Once this is done, you’ll want to look at the section on Recommended Settings After Install for use and what settings to use going forward. From now on you will only work in POS to create new items, both for your Shopify store and POS.

Syncing with Established POS and New Shopify

If you  already had a POS store, then your first step was setting up a brand new Shopify storefront that doesn’t have any products in it.

You will need to change the default options selected on the sync page.

You are going to connect POS to Shopify so that you can populate your empty Shopify store with items from POS.

Uncheck:

• • • • • • • Import items into phppos
            • Import orders into phppos

This will leave you with the following selected:

• • • • • • • Sync inventory changes
            • Export categories to ecommerce
            • Export items to ecommerce

Once you’ve done your selections select Save and then Next. On the following page select Sync. You will be notified that the sync is running in the background and that adjustments can be made in the Store Config feature.

For information about what information syncs between POS and Shopify in terms of item/product fields, see the section here.

Once this is done, you’ll want to look at the section on Recommended Settings After Install for use and what settings to use going forward. From now on you will only work in POS to create new items, both for your Shopify store and POS.

Syncing with Established Shopify and Established POS

It is strongly recommended not to try and combine information from two already separate and established stores if it is at all possible. If it is unavoidable, the below directions are the best to try and keep the information as organized as possible.

Before doing these settings the following steps are recommended:

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. Find any duplicate products between Shopify and POS and make sure that the SKU in Shopify matches either the UPC or Product ID of the POS item. If you do not, then you will create multiples of the same items in POS.

1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 2. Know the inventory for your products, inventory from Shopify will overwrite that in POS, the numbers will not be combined.
                  3. Make sure you read the section on Understanding What Syncs before moving forward

For people with already established and separate POS and Shopify stores the following setting are recommended:

Uncheck:

• • • • • • • Export categories to ecommerce
            • Export items to ecommerce

This will leave you with the following selected:

• • • • • • • Sync inventory changes
            • Import items into phppos
            • Import orders into phppos

Once you’ve done your selections select Save and then Next. On the following page select Sync.You will be notified that the sync is running in the background and that adjustments can be made in the Store Config feature.

This will allow Shopify to combine any duplicate products into POS and add any unique to Shopify products into POS. Once this is done, you’ll want to look at the section on Recommended Settings After Install for use and what settings to use going forward. From now on you will only work in POS to create new items, both for your Shopify store and POS.

Recommended Settings After Install

The goal of the POS app is to have one central location for you to keep track of your inventory, items, and basic reports for sales. Without the POS app you will have to manually compare and combine information from an eCommerce store with the information from your POS physical store. After install and the initial sync of information between Shopify and POS you need to set up the sync settings for your store going forward.

POS will automatically keep the sync settings that you used during setup, these need to be updated so that from now on you can work from POS first and have the information sent out to Shopify.

Go to Store Config in the left menu of POS.

In the search bar type ecommerce.

In the Ecommerce Sync Operations section change the checkmarks accordingly:

Uncheck:

• Import items into phppos

This will leave you with the following selected:

• Sync inventory changes
• Import orders into phppos
• Export categories to ecommerce
• Export items to ecommerce

Be sure to Save your new settings.

Once you have set up the above settings, you can now work entirely out of POS for inventory tracking and item/product creation.

If you create an item in POS that you do not want to have show up in your online store, look for the option to keep from eCommerce on the item creation page. 

Understanding what Syncs

From Shopify to POS

When moving information from a Shopify store into POS for the first time, it is important to understand that not all of the information you can fill in on Shopify will appear in POS and to know where the information you’ve entered will appear.

The chart below shows what information is transferred from Shopify to POS, and where in POS you can now find that information on the item’s information.

For more information on Shopify products see here.

For more information on POS items see here.

What Doesn’t Sync

It is important to note that some fields will not directly map to POS and so if there are changes done to them, they will have to occur in Shopify.

These are the only things that should be set in Shopify going forward, all other work after the initial sync should be done in POS.

For more details see Recommended Settings After Install below. To understand why you might need any of the Shopify sections, see Shopify documentation to know what they’re used for.

• • • • •   Option to charge tax
        •   Option Track quantity
        •   Option sell when out of stock
        •   Available
        •   Incoming
        •   Shipping
        •   Option physical product
        •   Custom info
        •   Area of origin
        •   HS Code
        •   Preview change price and quantity
        •   Product Status
        •   Sales Channels and Apps
        •   Schedule Availability
        •   Organization
        •   Collections

From POS to Shopify

When moving information from a POS store into Shopify for the first time, it is important to understand that not all of the information you can fill in on POS will appear in Shopify and to know where the information you’ve entered will appear.

The chart below shows what information is transferred from POS to Shopify.

For more information on Shopify products see here.

For more information on POS items see here.

All other fields from POS will not transfer over to Shopify. Any additional information that may be needed to sell your product online such as harmonization codes and country of origin for shipping will need to be entered in Shopify itself.

For services, any options selected such as series, will not show up as a series in Shopify, you will have to enter the information into the description of the product to make it clear to customers.

Default POS Settings

POS has several things checked by default once the Shopify App has been connected. All of the options can be changed and adjusted. To see these options go to the Store Config feature in the left menu.

In the search bar type ecommerce.

Under the section called Ecommerce Platform there are several options.

Select Platform

Select Shopify in this dropdown menu. If you do not see Shopify as an option, then you may not have correctly installed the app. See the directions above on Installation.

Do NOT Upload Images to E-Commerce

This is if you have images saved into POS for items, that you do not want to be sent to Shopify as the product images when you sync. Checking this box will apply to all products created and modified in POS going forward.

Any products previously synced to your E-Commerce will already have uploaded and will have to be removed manually.

Only Sync Completed E-Commerce Orders

If you want to run reports on Shopify and POS sales and orders, you will need to decide what information you want synced. By checking this option, only orders completed in Shopify will show up in reporting in POS.

New Items are E-Commerce By Default

This option is by default, check in POS. This makes it so that every product you create in POS will sync to Shopify and create a product there. If you want to specifically choose whether an item you create in POS becomes an e-commerce product, you can uncheck this box.

Store Location

If you have more than one store location, you can select which one you want your online store’s inventory tied to. You can select from the dropdown. 

Online Price Tier

If you want a specific price for products that are sold in your online stores rather than the standard one in your physical stores, you will need to create a specific tier for your products' price to be online.

To do that, in Store Config search tier.

Click Add tier and call the tier Shopify Online.

For more details on creating tiers see Tier Pricing.

Click Save.

Return to the search bar and type ecommerce.

^[b]

You may need to refresh the page to see Shopify Online in the dropdown menu. Select the new tier and select save.

Once you have done this, when creating or editing Items in POS the information filled in under Pricing for Online is what will display on Shopify.

Ecommerce Sync Operations

Sync inventory changes

This setting allows changes in Shopify’s inventory thanks to sales being reflected in POS’s inventory so that you have one place to keep track of all changes.

Import items into phppos

This will take products from Shopify and import them into POS. If a product in Shopify has a SKU that matches a Product ID or UPC in POS, then the information in Shopify will map to that item and overwrite the information in POS with that in Shopify.

Import orders into phppos

This will pull information from Shopify orders into POS. This will only be completed orders from Shopify. If it is the first time this information is being synced it will only pull from the past 60 days of sales. Once it has been selected, it will gather all sales information going forward.

Export categories to ecommerce

When this is selected, categories assigned to items in POS will become Smart Collections in Shopify. For more information on Smart Collections see Shopify’s documentation here

Export items to ecommerce

This setting will push out any new or updated items from POS to be sent to Shopify and update the site.

E-Commerce Syncing Logs

The logs show a history of when POS and Shopify have synced. If you click on the date and times listed you can see more information about what information was synced.

Sync

Sync allows you to update between your stores manually. If you have created changes to an item or inventory that you want to be immediately reflected in your store, you can manually sync the two platforms.

Go to Store Config in the left menu of POS.

In the search bar type ecommerce.

Make sure you have checked what information you want to sync. For more information on what each option does, see Change Sync Settings below.

Scroll down and you will see the Syncing Logs, under which is an option to Sync.

A confirmation dialogue will pop up. Once you hit Yes you will see the progress and when the sync is complete. You have now updated your information in real time.

Reset E-Commerce

The Reset E-Commerce button will break the connection between Shopify and POS. The only reason to use this is if you want to sync POS to an entirely different store, for example you’ve changed and are starting a new Shopify store, or are switching to Woo Commerce and want to sync POS.

It will not remove any products or inventory counts from Shopify or POS, it will simply stop them from communicating with each other.

Sync Intervals

By default the app will sync between Shopify and POS every 15 minutes. There are a few situations in which the app will automatically start syncing information:

• A bulk import of items or orders will prompt a sync to start in the background
• Creating a new item in POS
• Editing an item in POS

To change the sync interval see directions below. It is not recommended to sync the stores more often than every 15 minutes as this can slow down your site's performance. If you do want to change the settings, the method will depend on if you’re a cloud or a download customer.

Cloud Customer

If you are a cloud customer please contact us by clicking here to get this setup.

Download Customer

If you are using the popular cpanel software from your web site; you can read about setting up a cron task at their documentation website.

If you have command line access to your linux server; read more about cron tasks at:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/CronHowto

We recommend setting the task to run every 15 minutes. We don't recommend doing a shorter interval for performance reasons.

To path to the script varies per server and where you installed it; but if you installed it in /home/public_html/pos the patch to the script in the cron task for every 15 minutes would look like

• • • • Cron Task

*/15 * * * * php /home/public_html/pos/index.php ecommerce cron http://phpposurl/

Cancel App

If you are not happy with the PHP POS Shopify App, we encourage you to contact us to see if there is something we can help you with. However, if the app is simply not for you, the cancellation of the app is a two step process.

First open up the Store Config feature in the left menu options.

In the search bar type shopify settings.

You will see an option to Cancel Shopify Billing. A popup will confirm you want to cancel.

The next screen will ask you to either Activate billing or Disconnect From Shopify.

Once you select to disconnect, you will no longer be billed for the app. It is still recommended you delete the app from your Shopify store to avoid confusion.